Director William Friedkin is often portrayed as an erratic genius. He’s made some amazing films (The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA) and some outright turkeys (Jade, The Guardian). But the film which most people associate with his name is...
‘Fringe theatre’ is a nebulous term that most people will be familiar with but perhaps struggle to define. Usually it conjures up images of a group of ex drama students, gamely staging a piece of new writing – on a zero budget – in a pub back-room...
The first thing that strikes you about this National Theatre of Scotland production is Simon Kenny’s set, the centrepiece a 30-foot high wooden picture frame, with the top corner a wild, untreated tree branch. Initially, this appears to be something...
Playwrights are a funny lot: Many are reticent to reveal their precise dramatic intentions. ‘I meant what I said’, was the best Samuel Beckett could offer. Harold Pinter was similarly cryptic, describing himself as ‘the weasel behind the...
One of the most remarkable theatre productions I’ve seen in recent years was Feelgood Theatre’s Macbeth, staged in Heaton Park 10 years ago, and which coincided with a week of torrential rain; performing in a muddy pool in damp costumes sorely...
Steve Timms