Tag Archives: sex

Dull girl power speeches and wild sex do not make Bridgerton a feminist triumph

Posted on January 2, 2021 by mkmswain

“We’re seeing this Regency romance through a feminist lens,” proclaimed actor Regé-Jean Page, who plays the hunky-but-tortured Duke of Hastings in Netflix’s bodice-ripper Bridgerton, in a recent interview. Co-star Phoebe Dynevor has also thrown around the F word, saying that … Continue reading →

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Falsettos, The Other Palace

Posted on September 6, 2019 by mkmswain

William Finn and James Lapine’s musical – which combines two linked one-acts, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, set in late 1970s/early 1980s New York – picked up Tony Awards in 1992 for its book and score, and was nominated again in 2016 for an acclaimed revival. Yet the UK … Continue reading →

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Noises Off, Lyric Hammersmith

Posted on July 3, 2019 by mkmswain

Do not anger the theatre gods, for their vengeance is swift and mighty. On press night of Michael Frayn’s peerless portrait of backstage disasters, the Lyric suffered its own “technical difficulties”, adding a distinctly meta frisson to this already gloriously … Continue reading →

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Present Laughter, Old Vic

Posted on June 26, 2019 by mkmswain

Great Scott! His recent turn as Fleabag‘s Hot Priest made him a global sex symbol. Now, Andrew Scott reminds audiences that he’s just as irresistible on stage, leading Matthew Warchus’s absolute romp of a Noël Coward revival with the kind of panache … Continue reading →

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When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, National Theatre

Posted on January 24, 2019 by mkmswain

Step away from the returns queue. The rare presence of Hollywood star Cate Blanchett on a London stage has caused a box office frenzy, but sadly this would-be provocative vehicle – Martin Crimp’s loose variations on Samuel Richardson’s 1740 proto-novel Pamela, … Continue reading →

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Company, Gielgud Theatre

Posted on October 17, 2018 by mkmswain

The most thrilling revivals reinvigorate a classic work, while revealing its fundamental soul anew. Marianne Elliott’s female-led, 21st-century take on George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical company Company makes a bold, inventive statement, but somehow also suggests this is how the … Continue reading →

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Measure for Measure, Donmar Warehouse

Posted on October 12, 2018 by mkmswain

It’s a #MeToo-era Measure for Measure over at the Donmar, with Josie Rourke conducting a fascinating experiment: abridging Shakespeare’s problem play to just over an hour and running it twice, once in period, once in modern dress. And with the … Continue reading →

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Pinter One and Pinter Two, Harold Pinter Theatre

Posted on September 28, 2018 by mkmswain

Jamie Lloyd is marking the 10th anniversary of Harold Pinter’s death in remarkable style with his Pinter at the Pinter season, staging all the great man’s 20 short plays, plus some sketches and poetry – grouped into seven productions – at the … Continue reading →

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Julie, National Theatre

Posted on June 8, 2018 by mkmswain

Polly Stenham’s updating of Strindberg’s Miss Julie moves the action to contemporary London, and finds both contempt and sympathy for this new version of the idle rich. But, shorn of its 19th-century context, the play struggles to make the class transgression feel … Continue reading →

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Summer and Smoke, Almeida Theatre

Posted on March 8, 2018 by mkmswain

That this 1948 Tennessee Williams play is rarely performed seems nothing short of a travesty, thanks to the awe-inspiring case made for it by Rebecca Frecknall’s exquisite Almeida production. Aided by the skyrocketing Patsy Ferran, it also makes a case for director Frecknall as … Continue reading →

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