Is there a new interest in long-neglected Sixties playwright Peter Barnes? Two revivals do not a come-back make, but this production of his 1969 play, following Jamie Lloyd’s James McAvoy-starring The Ruling Class, is at least putting his name back on people’s lips. And reminding us what a bold playwright Barnes was: his work smashes together big ideas about religion, class, madness and human nature with zinging dialogue, song-and-dance routines, physical madcappery and fleshy rudeness. Continue reading “Review: Noonday Demons, King’s Head Theatre”
Tag: extremism
Avaes Mohammad and Rod Dixon on staging twin dramas of extremism
Avaes Mohammad wanted to write a play about Muslim extremism in the North of England. Actually, he wanted to write three – a trilogy, going from 9/11 to the present moment. But when he approached Rod Dixon, of the Red Ladder Theatre Company, he was persuaded to look at two different versions of extremism in modern Britain: Muslim terrorism and white, working-class fascism. Continue reading “Avaes Mohammad and Rod Dixon on staging twin dramas of extremism”