We’ve been enjoying the National Theatre (NT) Live showings in one of our local cinemas in Vancouver (International Village, for anyone who cares). These are recordings of NT productions from London and they’re very well done and very recent, only a few weeks after their runs and it’s a very good (and much cheaper and more convenient) way to see those plays. The ones we’ve seen recently are:
- Inter Alia: Rosamund “Moiraine Sedai” Pike does a frenetic almost one-woman play about a progressive judge whose life is ripped apart when her own teenage son is accused of rape. It’s fantastic and very well judged.
- Mrs Warren’s Profession: Imelda “the Queen” Staunton and her daughter Bessie Carter play the two leads in one of George Bernard Shaw’s best plays about a young graduate who discovers where her mother’s money comes from. The play is unflinching about sex work, capitalism, and the waste of women in society; honestly, nothing has changed in over a century. Both leads are excellent.
- The Fifth Step: Martin “Bilbo” Freeman and Jack “River Cartwright” Lowden do a two-man play about a young incel coming to Alcoholics Anonymous for the first time and his sponsor. It’s energetic, messy, and surprisingly funny, covering addiction, toxic masculinity, religion, and loneliness in equal measure.
We’ve also been watching actual plays and musicals at the Metro Theatre. I didn’t expect to like the last one we saw - Christmas at Pemberley - quite as much as I did. It’s made me look up Lauren Gunderson and her plays. I must see the sequels.
Currently watching Around the World in Eighty Days (2021 version with David Tennant et al) and it’s excellent, if a bit artificial in the way it sets up and resolves character conflicts. It’s almost like the writers are running a Smallville RPG campaign.
The above is on PBS Masterpiece, on which we’ve also watched The Gold (the recent BBC series based on the Brinks Mat robbery - good but imperfect, quite Blue Labour but not at all brave with the writing) and The Mirror and the Light (the sequel to Wolf Hall - compelling viewing but not as historically accurate as it could be).
- Inter Alia: Rosamund “Moiraine Sedai” Pike does a frenetic almost one-woman play about a progressive judge whose life is ripped apart when her own teenage son is accused of rape. It’s fantastic and very well judged.
- Mrs Warren’s Profession: Imelda “the Queen” Staunton and her daughter Bessie Carter play the two leads in one of George Bernard Shaw’s best plays about a young graduate who discovers where her mother’s money comes from. The play is unflinching about sex work, capitalism, and the waste of women in society; honestly, nothing has changed in over a century. Both leads are excellent.
- The Fifth Step: Martin “Bilbo” Freeman and Jack “River Cartwright” Lowden do a two-man play about a young incel coming to Alcoholics Anonymous for the first time and his sponsor. It’s energetic, messy, and surprisingly funny, covering addiction, toxic masculinity, religion, and loneliness in equal measure.
We’ve also been watching actual plays and musicals at the Metro Theatre. I didn’t expect to like the last one we saw - Christmas at Pemberley - quite as much as I did. It’s made me look up Lauren Gunderson and her plays. I must see the sequels.
Currently watching Around the World in Eighty Days (2021 version with David Tennant et al) and it’s excellent, if a bit artificial in the way it sets up and resolves character conflicts. It’s almost like the writers are running a Smallville RPG campaign.
The above is on PBS Masterpiece, on which we’ve also watched The Gold (the recent BBC series based on the Brinks Mat robbery - good but imperfect, quite Blue Labour but not at all brave with the writing) and The Mirror and the Light (the sequel to Wolf Hall - compelling viewing but not as historically accurate as it could be).
