- Charles Spencer, reviewing Nathan the Wise that opened at Hampstead Theatre on Monday, in the Daily Telegraph on September 25: ”Noel Coward’s advice to actors was to remember their lines and not bump into the scenery, but in a wretched performance on the first night, Anna Carteret failed both these rudimentary tests.”
- In a feature on the last night that James Lomas appeared in the title role of Billy Elliott on Sat September 17, published in the Daily Telegraph on Mon September 19, his mother is quoted as saying: “We used to think nobody wants you if you come from Sheffield. Frankly, I’d like James to be a joiner and live round the corner, but this is his dream.” And James, now fifteen years old, says of Elton John: “He’s proper down-to-earth – he’s like someone you meet every day, except he looks really posh.”
- In a feature entitled Right to Reply in The Guardian on Wednesday September 21, Richard Bean writes about the reviews for his new play Harvest, currently playing at the Royal Court. “During previews I don’t sleep well. I lie in bed making up alternating fantasy and nightmare reviews. ‘The first great play of the 21st century’. ‘Execrable nonsense’. ‘Surely a knighthood is only a matter of time.’ ‘Why, oh why, oh why?’…” He then quotes extracts from reviews that have ranged across exactly that spectrum. “On balance the critics have warmed to the play’s mad ambition, deliberate dramatic excess and unfashionable political message. The word ‘extraordinary’; keeps popping up. At least three of the critics have described it as ‘one of the best new plays of the year’. Fantasy fulfilled. Three critics have hated it. Nightmare fulfilled.”
Quotes of the Week
Content is copyright © 2008 The Stage Newspaper Limited unless otherwise stated.
All RSS feeds are published for personal, non-commercial use. (What’s RSS?)