Over There, Royal Court | reviews, news & interviews
Over There, Royal Court
Over There, Royal Court
Brilliant!
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Why do writers end up parodying themselves? The late Harold Pinter was a case in point: in the 1950s and 1960s, his voice was fresh, his pauses enigmatic and his style delivered the shock of the new. In the 1970s, he played imaginative games with theatre form; in the 1980s, he discovered politics. By the 1990s, his new plays seemed to be parodies of his own style. The dialogues were too Pinteresque, the pauses risible, the form contrived.
Why do writers end up parodying themselves? The late Harold Pinter was a case in point: in the 1950s and 1960s, his voice was fresh, his pauses enigmatic and his style delivered the shock of the new. In the 1970s, he played imaginative games with theatre form; in the 1980s, he discovered politics. By the 1990s, his new plays seemed to be parodies of his own style. The dialogues were too Pinteresque, the pauses risible, the form contrived.
more Theatre
Laughing Boy, Jermyn Street Theatre review - impassioned agitprop drama
Strong ensemble work highlights the plight of people with learning disabilities
Minority Report, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre review - ill-judged sci-fi
Philip K Dick’s science fiction short story fares far better on screen
Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Criterion Theatre review - rueful and funny musical gets West End upgrade
A Brit and a New Yorker struggle to find common ground in lively new British musical
Testmatch, Orange Tree Theatre review - Raj rage, old and new, flares in cricket dramedy
Winning performances cannot overcome a scattergun approach to a ragbag of issues
Banging Denmark, Finborough Theatre review - lively but confusing comedy of modern manners
Superb cast deliver Van Badham's anti-incel barbs and feminist wit with gusto
London Tide, National Theatre review - haunting moody river blues
New play-with-songs version of Dickens’s 'Our Mutual Friend' is a panoramic Victori-noir
Machinal, The Old Vic review - note-perfect pity and terror
Sophie Treadwell's 1928 hard hitter gets full musical and choreographic treatment
An Actor Convalescing in Devon, Hampstead Theatre review - old school actor tells old school stories
Fact emerges skilfully repackaged as fiction in an affecting solo show by Richard Nelson
The Comeuppance, Almeida Theatre review - remembering high-school high jinks
Latest from American penman Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is less than the sum of its parts
Richard, My Richard, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmund's review - too much history, not enough drama
Philippa Gregory’s first play tries to exonerate Richard III, with mixed results
Player Kings, Noel Coward Theatre review - inventive showcase for a peerless theatrical knight
Ian McKellen's Falstaff thrives in Robert Icke's entertaining remix of the Henry IV plays
Cassie and the Lights, Southwark Playhouse review - powerful, affecting, beautifully acted tale of three sisters in care
Heart-rending chronicle of difficult, damaged lives that refuses to provide glib answers
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