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Masks and Faces – Finborough Theatre Click here to watch First performed in 1852, Masks and Faces is rooted in Kensington and Chelsea and the local area around the Finborough Theatre. It provided Dame Ellen Terry – a former resident of Finborough Road, and a longterm resident of Earl’s Court – with one of her first and most successful leading roles. In the tradition of The School for Scandal and The Rivals, Masks and Faces is both a 18th century period caper and a tribute to the backstage world of the theatre, complete with the hapless failed playwright, Triplet, and his hungry family, to real-life writer Colley Cibber, and the ghastly critics Soaper and Snarl, played by two real-life former critics, Michael Billington and Fiona Mountford. Country gentleman Ernest Vane comes to London and is seduced into the celebrity lifestyle of a group of players – soon discarding his new wife for the more obvious charms of the great stage actress Peg Woffington. Set in the 18th century, written in the 19th century, filmed in the 20th century (with an all-star cast), and now presented for the first time online, Masks and Faces is a celebration of making theatre. The production is supported by the Friends of Brompton Cemetery, next to the Finborough Theatre, where the co-author Tom Taylor, and actors Ben Webster and Sir Squire and Lady Bancroft – all known for their roles in Masks and Faces – lie buried. July 28-Aug 5 joyUS justUS, - CONTRA-TIEMPO Click here to watch CONTRA-TIEMPO is a bold, multilingual dance theater company that draws on their Los Angeles lineage with work rooted in Salsa, Afro-Cuban, hip-hop, and contemporary dance. In their Jacob’s Pillow debut, they perform the evening-length work joyUS justUS, as an embodiment of radical joy and justice. Featuring original music by East Los Angeles Chicano band Las Cafeteras and d. sabela grimes, the dance engages local communities as participants and collaborators as an exuberant reminder to connect, come together and celebrate. On-demand July 22-Aug 5 The Wolves - Lincoln Center Private Reels Click here to watch The Lincoln Center Theater production of The Wolves opened at the Mitzi E. Newhouse in November 2017 and was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Additionally, the production won an Obie Ensemble Award shared by director Lila Neugebauer and the acting ensemble, a special Drama Desk Award for its acting ensemble, and was nominated for Lucille Lortel and Drama League awards for Best Play, as well as the Outer Critics’ Circle John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play. A girls’ indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. The Wolves is a portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American teenage girls who just want to score some goals. July 22-Aug 15 The Odyssey – Jermyn St Theatre Click here for tickets Now, just in case you have nothing to do on Sunday, Jermyn Street Theatre has the answer. And if, like me, you’re obsessed by Ancient Greece, in myth or fact, Homer, translated by Emily Wilson and directed by Jermyn Street’s Artistic Director Tom Littler, will entertain you for the entire day. The play will be presented in six chunks, starting at 9.30am. They are: 9.30am: The Boy and the Goddess 12.30pm: The Songs of a Poet 2.45pm: The Winds and the Witch 5.30pm: Father and Son 7.45pm: The Queen and the Beggar 10.00pm: The Olive Tree Bed Some pretty fancy actors will be taking part. James Purefoy stars as Odysseus, the Greek hero whose ten-year journey home from Troy is the heart of Homer’s epic poem. Purefoy is joined by Susannah Harker as his wife Penelope, Chirag Benedict Lobo as his son Telemachus, renowned Shakespearean actor Michael Pennington as his father Laertes, Clare Perkins as Athena, the goddess who guides his journey, and Marion Bailey as his devoted nurse Eurycleia. The ensemble cast is full of Jermyn Street regulars including Jim Findley, Sam Crerar, David Sturzaker and Robert Mountford. Each of the six parts features a guest narrator: Dona Croll narrates The Boy and the Goddess at 9.30am; Dame Janet Suzman leads The Songs of a Poet at 12.30pm; Lisa Dwan plays Circe in The Winds and the Witch at 2.45pm; Miranda Raison narrates Father and Son at 5.30pm; Hattie Morahan narrates The Queen and the Beggar at 7.30pm; and Rachel Pickup closes the story with The Olive Tree Bed at 10pm. Each segment is separately charged. £15 per segment, £20 more than one viewer. Aug 1 Where in the World – Frick – Mahogany Click here to watch In view of the sad news that the Frick is discontinuing their very popular Cocktails with a Curator series, I probably shouldn’t tell you that there are three final episodes which I’m hoarding to give you on the lean weeks when there’s not much coming out of the art world online. Instead, the Frick has embarked on a new series called Where in The World, examining elements in their paintings. Here is the first one with the incomparable Aimee Ng, whom we have come to know well from the Cocktails series, talking about mahogany. I can’t say I have any particular interest in wood but, as always, I’m fascinated by what she has to say and, on this occasion, she’s talking about the wood which certain important painters, such as Rembrandt, used instead of canvas. The Fairy Queen – Glyndebourne Click here for tickets Glyndebourne Opera House, with its intimate auditorium, is the perfect setting for a drama which is partly spoken and partly sung. Jonathan Kent’s spectacular production of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, a huge semi-opera, is joyous, imaginative and witty. And often very funny. Based on an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the story is lavished with a brilliance that justifies this production’s acclaim. Seeing it online gives an added dimension to Paul Brown’s designs, Kim Brandstrup’s choreography and an excellent cast of actors and singers including Desmond Barritt, Lucy Crowe, Carolyn Sampson, Ed Lyon, Andrew Foster-Williams, Sally Dexter, and Joseph Millson, and the outstanding playing by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under William Christie combine to make a memorable theatrical experience. Kent’s production spreads Shakespeare and Purcell’s various timeframes over the entire semi-opera so no period is left out from ancient to contemporary. There are some wonderful touches here, especially in the casting of the Rude Mechanicals which, as Shakespeare intended, make me laugh out loud. Shakespeare and Purcell are an unbeatable combination. £69.99 is the new introductory price for an annual subscription to Marquee TV, usually £99.99. Noir - Vertigo Theatre Productions Click here for tickets After a critically acclaimed try out production in 2017, Craig Hepworth's original play Noir shuld have returned in 2020, but then the world stopped. Wanting to keep theatre alive, actors acting and audiences enjoying, Hepworth and Vertigo Productions, armed with only camera phones, gathered the cast safely to make the production without an audience and film the show on their phones, in the style of a black and white movie. Noir is set in past New York and tells the story of Veronica Smart, a beautiful but manipulative woman who is married to a man unworthy of her as she lives a life she never really wanted. After starting a job at the local high school, Veronica manages to the capture the attention of a few students, but teaching them is the last thing on her mind. It's not long before Veronica is spinning a web of lies that will lead to infatuation, obsession, manipulation and murder. Loosely inspired by a true story, Noir is an original play shot on stage in the style of a movie. With a tiny budget, dedication and imagination, this exciting capture of the show sends you back in time to witness the crime. Paying homage to black and white movies of the 40's,50's and 60's, join us for a night of suspense, melodrama, bad behaviour and murder. Technically, Noir is not what you’re used to but do remember as you enjoy the show that the visuals and audio are made by mobile phones. On Demand July 26- Aug 8 £10.00 plus £3.00 transaction fee National Theatre - New Releases Click here for tickets Each month, the National Theatre releases its productions for online viewing a few at a time. This latest batch includes Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum Dreams, the Young Vic’s A View from the Bridge directed by Ivo van Hove with Mark Strong and Nicola Walker, and Rufus Norris’ production of Everyman with Chiwetel Ejiofor. Medea with Helen McCrory and The Comedy of Errors with Lenny Henry are now streaming with audio-description. These are all available worldwide. Due to issues with rights, however, Danny Boyle’s production of Frankenstein and Sonia Friedman Productions’ Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch are only available for audiences outside the UK and Ireland. £9.99 a month £99.99 annually for unlimited access (although if you only want to watch a single play you can join for a month and cancel within 30 days). T’aint Nobody’s Business If I Do – American Dance Machine for the 21st Cent. Click here to watch Want a pick-me-up? Here it is. The great Broadway choreographer Susan Stroman recreates her own choreography from Bullets Over Broadway for this production number, "T'aint Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do" as a tribute to the late Nick Cordero who starred in the show and who died, tragically, a year ago, from Covid. Dozens of Broadway’s best male tappers and show dancers, led by Preston Truman Boyd, take part in this quintessentially New York number on a Manhattan rooftop, directed by Sam Hoffman, and it’s Broadway at its exuberant best.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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