Theatre – A London Journal

A Door, A Gain

Performances are in a new venue, the Nicholas Nickleby, an ace pub serving their own range of Czech-style lagers (and boy do you need a lager right now!). 1.15pm on Sat 13th and Sun 14th June. Tickets as usual from the Playaz.

New show! Halloween double bill

It's autumn so it must be show time! This time around we're putting on a double bill by Simon A. Brown of one original play and one Edwardian classic.

Bothy is a modern chiller set in a remote Scottish bothy. Who is that banging on the door in the middle of the night? And why do they have half a bottle of whisky but no walking boots?

The Monkey's Paw is W. W. Jacobs classic telling of a careful what you wish for fable. Previously adapted by The Simpsons Simon has put his own spin on a horrific tale of magic and unintended consequences.

Show week is 30th October to 2nd November and you can get your tickets here.

Vanya tickets on sale

The translation of a major work of global literature is something one does lightly or not at all.

A new play, A Misunderstanding

The approach of summer means that it will soon be time for the Crouch End Festival once more. This year I’m producing an adapted play amongst a trio of short original works by members of the Crouch End Players to be performed once more (we hope!) at the Great Northern Railway Tavern. The piece I’ve…

Cruel Comedy

Cruel Comedy is a double bill of short plays by the French anarchist writer Octave Mirbeau from his set of Farces et Moralités, first published in 1904. Mirbeau was a pretty savage critic of the society in which he wallowed and I hope I've carried through some of the anger and incredulity that informs Interview, a satire on the press of his day which we've updated to be a take on social media as Snoop. Les Amants - which I've translated as Lovers - is on the other hand a satire on the personal rather than the public.

Translating Sartre

Looking at my diary 16th April 2020 was a very French day. As well as listening to Building a Library on Fauré and reading Julian Jackson’s biography of de Gaulle, it was also the day where I noted, ‘Started Huis Clos translation.’ What brought that on? Well, the first entry in that diary reads: Today,…

No Exit – Tickets on Sale!

20th Century masterpiece, ‘No Exit’. Written in the claustrophobic atmosphere of wartime Paris this up-to-date production resonates with recent events when lockdown meant that for many the blackly comic aphorism, ‘Hell is other people’, was all too true.

Resto 17 Théâtre de Poche, Montparnasse

We took the salad of the day and a big planche of cheese with a couple of glasses of Chablis on the side. The salad turned out mostly to be pesto-stirred pasta with a few bits of veg secreted within. Palatable but not exactly what we were looking for. The cheese on the other hand was five varieties of the runny shiznit with a generous helping of rustic bread alongside - definitely a better option. The wine was too warm.