Theatre Archives - Page 5 of 8 - Blog Bellew

Upstairs, Downstairs

My memory plays tricks. I thought I watched Upstairs, Downstairs upstairs in the library at Barmeath with a TV supper on this tray and my terrier squashed beside me in an armchair. That was how I watched lots of other TV while my mother and grandparents were downstairs in the dining room.

Allelujah!

Yesterday morning’s Ancient World Breakfast Club (AWBC) talk was given by Dr Aggeliki Kompoholi who teaches at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Red

Nine years ago I’d like to have seen Red at the Donmar. Alfred Molina played Mark Rothko, Eddie Redmayne his assistant (Ken) and Michael Grandage directed. Tant pis, I missed it but it’s on again in the West End now with most of that dream team – Molina and Grandage.

The Betrayal of Nora Blake

Size isn’t everything. The Jermyn Street Theatre is beneath an Italian restaurant, in what was the waiters’ changing room. This is glossed over in their programmes. They prefer their 1930s heritage as a night club called Monseigneur.

At the Theatre

The Jermyn Street Theatre have taken on a project of Wagnerian proportions. They are putting on a cycle of nine one-act plays by Noël Coward. It is the first complete London revival of Tonight at 8.30 since 1936.

Painting Theatre

Yesterday took the train to Chichester to go (again) to the Pallant House Gallery. I was surprised (in a good way).

This & That

The Jermyn Street Theatre has another winner: Woman Before A Glass.

Breaking the Rules

Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Spacey in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow at The Old Vic were stupendous. Mamet’s plays and films are sensational. So it was a no-brainier to go to Glengarry Glen Ross in the West End.

Gainsborough Girls

I saw this Gainsborough at the Fitzwilliam when I went to their Degas exhibition before Christmas. Incidentally the Fitzwilliam had bad luck because there is Degas at the Petit Palais in Paris running concurrently and they probably picked the plums.

A Splash Hit

The Châtelet is closed for two years for repairs. Their Christmas show this year is Singin’ in the Rain and it is staged in a temporary theatre in the Grand Palais.