theatARGH
thoughts and frustrations on Melbourne theatre through bright young eyesArchive for Martin Crimp
Review of The Country, Tabard Theatre
July 30, 2008 at 2:46 am · Filed under General, Reviews and tagged: Martin Crimp, Tabard Theatre, The Country
I was absolutely devastated to have missed Katie Mitchell directing Martin Crimp’s latest, The City, at the Royal Court Theatre. While I consoled myself with a copy of the script, subsequently drenching it in tears thereby making it almost entirely unreadable, I decided that having traveled halfway round the world I would have my Crimp from London yet. Luckily enough, the internet led me to Tabard Theatre, perched over a small bar and cobbled courtyard in Turnham Green, a thirty-minute tube ride away from the city centre. As one of only six in a theatre for about fifty (London too has suffered from a decline in numbers at their theatres, although the scale is hardly comparable to Australia) I was able to experience the companion play to The City, The Country.
Review of This is Good Advice, Welcome Stranger
February 10, 2008 at 12:40 am · Filed under General, Reviews and tagged: Caryl Churchill, emerging, Lauren Barnes, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Welcome Stranger
For my argument that they are an ‘oddity on the Australian stage’, it seems slightly paradoxical that the first two feature pieces published on this blog deal with double bills. Pre-empting Platform Youth Theatre’s onslaught of Aussie writers in March is Welcome Stranger’s This is Good Advice, featuring two shorts from two of Britain’s most important contemporary theatre artists, Caryl Churchill and Martin Crimp. The back-to-back combination is additionally tantalising as audiences do not get enough opportunities to experiences these writers, particularly Churchill, on our stages. Perhaps I have been living under a rock, but this is first time I have actually seen a Churchill play performed (my third Crimp – he has been slightly more in vogue over the last few years).
