As well as a double dose of Terence Rattigan and a production that passes its MOT with flying colours also features, a fascinating report on artistic dissent in Malaysia is looked at in The Arts Desk's theatre reviews.
The covert crack down on artistic freedom and dissident voices in Malaysia is reported by Terry Friel for The Arts Desk in Kuala Lumpur feature. Despite the constant risk of arrest, the discussions and art exhibitions at the Annexe Gallery in the city's Art Deco Central Market criticise and ask questions and calls itself an arts centre that dares to speak out.
The Globe is one of the most popular London theatres and played host to Howard Brenton's 'Anne Boleyn' as part of The Arts Desk's MOT. Various liberties are taken with the truth as the story mixes history with fantasy. The show borders on comedy theatre at times and even farce at one point and is incredibly fun.
BBC Four documentary 'The Rattigan Enigma' was an absorbing survey of the playwright's life and work. The programme posed the question of whether Rattigan is being deservedly lauded as a national theatre treasure or whether he is instead a middlebrow writer whose privileged upper-middle-class perspective alienates the average audience. Rattigan emerged as being a truly chameleonic figure and was a social insider and an emotional outsider.
The Chichester Festival Theatre was home to two more contrasting Rattigan plays that added to the debate. 'The Deep Blue Sea' is classic Rattigan and has an emphasis on characters subtly exposing their concealments and disappointments. Nicholas Wright's companion piece, 'Rattigan's Nijinsky' however, was pale in comparison. It incorporates an unproduced script wrote by Rattigan about the Ballets Russes dancer Nijinsky, into his own drama about why Rattigan then pulled the script with no explanation. The theatrical gameplaying unfortunately outdid the characterisation and left the tone quite alien to Rattigan's own.
The covert crack down on artistic freedom and dissident voices in Malaysia is reported by Terry Friel for The Arts Desk in Kuala Lumpur feature. Despite the constant risk of arrest, the discussions and art exhibitions at the Annexe Gallery in the city's Art Deco Central Market criticise and ask questions and calls itself an arts centre that dares to speak out.
The Globe is one of the most popular London theatres and played host to Howard Brenton's 'Anne Boleyn' as part of The Arts Desk's MOT. Various liberties are taken with the truth as the story mixes history with fantasy. The show borders on comedy theatre at times and even farce at one point and is incredibly fun.
BBC Four documentary 'The Rattigan Enigma' was an absorbing survey of the playwright's life and work. The programme posed the question of whether Rattigan is being deservedly lauded as a national theatre treasure or whether he is instead a middlebrow writer whose privileged upper-middle-class perspective alienates the average audience. Rattigan emerged as being a truly chameleonic figure and was a social insider and an emotional outsider.
The Chichester Festival Theatre was home to two more contrasting Rattigan plays that added to the debate. 'The Deep Blue Sea' is classic Rattigan and has an emphasis on characters subtly exposing their concealments and disappointments. Nicholas Wright's companion piece, 'Rattigan's Nijinsky' however, was pale in comparison. It incorporates an unproduced script wrote by Rattigan about the Ballets Russes dancer Nijinsky, into his own drama about why Rattigan then pulled the script with no explanation. The theatrical gameplaying unfortunately outdid the characterisation and left the tone quite alien to Rattigan's own.
About the Author:
Steve Alexander is an arts writer and has a good knowledge of the best comedy theatre in the UK. For more reviews from the London theatres, visit theartsdesk.com.
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