Last modified on Mon 4 Jan 2021 07.24 EST
Theatre
Crips Without Constraints Part 2
Harriet Walter, Mandy Colleran, Naomi Wirthner and Mat Fraser feature in six online plays written by a new generation of D/deaf and disabled artists. Filmed on Zoom, they follow the success of a quirky original series by Graeae Theatre Company that was streamed during lockdown.
graeae.org, 19 January-23 February
Hymn
Lolita Chakrabarti’s play about masculinity and ambition stars Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani as two men who meet at a funeral, and whose lives as fathers, sons and brothers are illuminated through music and song. Blanche McIntyre returns to the Almeida, following her directorial success with The Writer.
Richard Armitage on how TV saved West End play Uncle Vanya
radiotimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from radiotimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mackenzie Crook admits he had a rocky start in showbiz (Image: Getty) That s never been a strong point of mine but when we were filming there were some kids who came to set and I went over to speak to them in character and I was able to know exactly what Worzel would say to them.
Ironically given Mackenzie s affection for the scarecrow - he wrote, directed and starred in a two-part Worzel series last Christmas starring Zoe Wanamaker and Michael Palin - he didn t watch any of the earIier TV programmes, which ran for two years from 1979, and launched the character into the national consciousness.
Last modified on Wed 23 Dec 2020 04.02 EST
10
National Theatre, London
Rafe Spall gave one of the most virtuosic performances of the year in Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ one-man show about class, race, identity and inheritance. He played Michael, a tormented working-class man grappling with the legacy of a racist father. Stalking the length and breadth of the stage, which was designed in the shape of a St George’s Cross, Spall performed with the punkish energy of a man possessed. His drunken eulogy at his father’s funeral was an exemplar of a dramatic meltdown. Read the full review.
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Chichester Festival theatre and online
© Elias Djemil-Matassov
What a year it has been, one which has proved three things simultaneously. The first is that faced with a disaster, theatre people are inventive, resourceful, and endlessly resilient.
The second is that there is a real thirst among the public for what they do; since theatres closed across the country in March, every single flicker of activity and life, be it online or in socially-distanced spaces, has been supported, enjoyed and cheered to the rafters.
The third is that for all their fine words, and a modicum of financial support, our government doesn t quite understand either of these things. Of course, the arts aren t the first priority in a pandemic, but the theatre business, and in particular its endlessly creative and hopeful freelances, have been treated shoddily, thanks to a lack of knowledge about how theatre actually works (it was heartbreaking to see houses struggle back to life only to be instantly closed, and at some cost) and a lack of sympath
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