Adapting Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel – set over one day in London, as Clarissa Dalloway prepares to throw a party – is always likely to be tricky. Its stream-of-consciousness style swirls together shifting impressions of the present and reflections on the past, and Woolf switches between the interior monologues of a whole host of characters beside Mrs D. Continue reading “Review: Mrs Dalloway, Arcola”
Tag: Arcola
Review: Richard III, The Arcola
Snarling, gurning, clad in black leather and dragging his deformed leg around by a chain… this Richard III could only telegraph ‘villain’ stronger if he came accompanied by a boo-hiss chorus. Yet Greg Hicks’ supple, detailed performance never tips into caricature. He’s by far the best thing in an otherwise rather pedestrian production by Mehmet Ergen. Continue reading “Review: Richard III, The Arcola”
Review: peddling, Arcola
Into a black gauze cube, Harry Melling drops from the ceiling to a burst of loud dance music. It may only be a couple of metres squared, but Melling will rattle around in this cage effectively, taking us on a journey through London: from so-posh-they’re-empty mansioned streets to multi-storey car parks where the down-and-out can kip. It’s a journey of self-discovery too for the “Boy”, as this unnamed disaffected youth struggles to make sense of his place within the world, and his own troubled upbringing.
Melling penned the piece; his first play, it opened at the HighTide new writing festival before proving a hit in New York. The Boy is engaged in a scam for a “bossman”, going door-to-door peddling his wares (household cleaning products), supposedly as part of “Boris’ young offenders scheme.” Continue reading “Review: peddling, Arcola”