Tag Archives: writing

Sex with Strangers, Hampstead Theatre

Posted on February 8, 2017 by mkmswain

This is pure titular titillation – a strategy that backfires with this dated, laboured and distinctly unsexy piece. “Serious” writer Olivia (Emilia Fox) at one point bemoans the fact that her failed first novel was falsely marketed as a chick-lit … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged author, book, broadwayworld, divergent, emilia fox, hampstead theatre, laura eason, london, love, peter dubois, publishing, review, sex, sex with strangers, theatre, theo james, writer, writing | Leave a comment

Listed: Precocious Writers

Posted on July 18, 2015 by mkmswain

Once upon a time… Storytelling is an integral part of all human cultures, and a central pillar of an enlightened education. Some children get the hang of it quickly – they are, as the phrase has it, natural storytellers. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Journalism, Theatre | Tagged anne frank, book, bronte, caitlin moran, child, children, daisy ashford, diary, dorothy straight, drama, how to build a girl, how to talk to girls, Jane Austen, john kennedy toole, kid, Malala Yousafzai, novel, novelist, play, playwright, published, royal court, teenager, the arts desk, the chronicles of narmo, the young visitors, theartsdesk, theatre, virginia woolf, writer, writing, young | Leave a comment

Bold Chekhov for our times

Posted on July 3, 2015 by mkmswain

Art imitates life in Chekhov’s tale of parasitic creatives, and on opening night in Regent’s Park, the reverse also came to pass when a resident moorhen waddled over to greet the dead seagull. It’s a compliment to Matthew Dunster, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged acting, actor, actress, adaptation, book, celebrity, chekhov, famous, ham and high, hamlet, hampstead and highgate express, janie dee, jon bausor, london, mirror, north london, novel, open air, park, play, regents park, review, russia, russian, seagull, shakespeare, star, the bard, the seagull, theatre, torben betts, writer, writing | Leave a comment

The Seagull, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Posted on June 25, 2015 by mkmswain

Hamlet instructs his players to hold “the mirror up to nature”, advice taken literally in this arresting 120-year anniversary staging of Chekhov’s homage to the Bard. Jon Bausor’s set is dominated by a vast angled mirror, offering an appropriately bird’s-eye … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged actress, art, bird, celebrity, chekhov, drama, fame, hamlet, janie dee, london, mirror, mother, open air theatre, park, play, playwright, puck, regents park, review, russia, seagull, shakespeare, son, the arts desk, the bard, the seagull, theartsdesk, theatre, torben betts, writer, writing | Leave a comment

Stop! The Play, Trafalgar Studios

Posted on June 4, 2015 by mkmswain

The play’s the thing, once again, in the latest backstage comedy, an affable if limited dig at luvvie pretensions. Noises Off still reigns supreme in this genre, with successors unable to match the bravura precision of Michael Frayn’s masterful multitasking … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged acting, actor, actress, art, artist, backstage, banksy, behind the scenes, chaos, comedy, director, disaster, drama, farce, london, michael frayn, noises off, parody, play, play within a play, playwright, protest, reduced shakespeare company, rehearsal, review, sex, sketch, stand-up, stop the play, the arts desk, the play that goes wrong, theartsdesk, theatre, trafalgar studios, writer, writing | 1 Comment

Stevie, Hampstead Theatre

Posted on March 17, 2015 by mkmswain

Writing about writers: exploring what you know, or the very definition of stifling egoism? Either way, it can be a terrible trap for the playwright, with craft becoming not just the subject of a work, but its defining feature. Hugh … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged chichester festival theatre, christopher morahan, commute, death, drama, hampstead theatre, london, mitford, morbid, not waving but drowning, novel, novelist, palmers green, play, poet, poetry, review, stevie, stevie smith, suburban, suburbs, suicide, the arts desk, theartsdesk, theatre, write, writer, writing, zoe wanamaker | Leave a comment

10 questions on Chekhov for playwright Simon Stephens

Posted on October 16, 2014 by mkmswain

Fresh from global domination with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, currently garnering rapturous reviews on Broadway, inexhaustible playwright and adaptor Simon Stephens has swapped Mark Haddon for Anton Chekhov and a new version of The Cherry Orchard, … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged a doll's house, adapt, adaptation, anton chekhov, aristotle, birdland, book, brecht, carrie cracknell, chekhov, christmas, christopher hampton, comedy, david lan, drama, fiction, first world war, ibsen, interview, ivanov, john donnelly, katie mitchell, leonard cohen, london, lyric hammersmith, mark haddon, michael frayn, play, playwright, q and a, raymond carver, royal court, russia, russian, russian revolution, sean holmes, shakespeare, short story, simon stephens, story, the cherry orchard, the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, the seagull, theatre, three sisters, tom stoppard, tragedy, uncle vanya, white bear, world war one, write, writer, writing, ww1, young vic | Leave a comment

School of hard knocks

Posted on October 2, 2014 by mkmswain

Writing is not a spectator sport. Theresa Rebeck’s wryly cynical 2011 play sets out to disprove that fact by focussing on the hoopla surrounding the act of putting pen to paper, from battling personal demons to the grim pragmatism of … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Theatre | Tagged alan rickman, america, book, charity wakefield, class, drama, hampstead, hampstead theatre, hollywood, literary, london, new york, novel, novelist, play, review, roger allam, seminar, student, tamara drewe, teacher, terry johnson, theatre, theresa rebeck, writer, writing | Leave a comment

Through the keyhole

Posted on April 9, 2013 by mkmswain

Someone enters a strange house. Observes a family. Influences their actions. Toys with their emotions. Gathers their secrets and whispers them to the world. Voyeur? Stalker? Unfeeling sociopath? Or just a writer? This is the delicious premise of François Ozon’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Film, Theatre | Tagged adaptation, alys always, barthes, book, brideshead revisited, cinema, dans la maison, fiction, film, flaubert, french, harriet lane, in the house, kristin scott thomas, movie, narrative, novel, review, ruby sparks, story, stranger than fiction, talented mr ripley, thriller, write, writer, writing, yasmina reza | Leave a comment

Life after death

Posted on April 8, 2013 by mkmswain

Sonali Deraniyagala’s Wave is not an easy read. I’ll say that again (it definitely bears repeating): Sonali Deraniyagala’s Wave is not an easy read. It is, however, an important one. An exceptional one. And a profoundly moving one. We often … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | Tagged alcohol, book, children, death, depression, family, grief, leonard cohen, life, london, loss, memoir, novel, read, review, sonali deraniyagala, sri lanka, sylvia plath, the bell jar, therapy, tsunami, wave, writing | 2 Comments

Tag Archives: writing

Sex with Strangers, Hampstead Theatre

Listed: Precocious Writers

Bold Chekhov for our times

The Seagull, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Stop! The Play, Trafalgar Studios

Stevie, Hampstead Theatre

10 questions on Chekhov for playwright Simon Stephens

School of hard knocks

Through the keyhole

Life after death

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