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2 weeks ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
“All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.” So said Enoch Powell in his biography of the nineteenth-century statesman Joseph Chamberlain. And, if you look back, this is very true.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
Theatre503 has unveiled a new play in its Rapid Write Response programme in the form of Niall McCarthy’s debut show Derry Boys, which I went along to see recently. The story follows the lives of two Northern Irish lads from Derry/Londonderry, Mick (Matthew Blaney) and Paddy (Eoin Sweeney), over a twenty-year period.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
Last night I was invited along to the world premiere of Nancy Netherwood’s play Radiant Boy: A Haunting at Southwark Playhouse Borough. College Student Russell (Stuart Thompson) has a problem, and like many a young man before him, this means his thoughts have turned to home. So, he has left his London college and returned to the North East and the warm(ish) embrace of his mother, Maud (Wendy Nottingham). Russell’s problem is psychological.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
If you have never been to a boarding school, then you probably have no real idea of what life in one is like apart from snippets in ‘The Crown’ and the Harry Potter films. But life as a pupil in an all boys boarding school can be tough, especially if the pupil in question happens to be gay. If you would like to see a first-rate example of this then pop along to the Waterloo East Theatre which is showing Ned Blackburn’s one act play An Adequate Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
Up to Camden for a new show at the Etcetera Theatre. The play is Sarah O’dell’s Love You More. Matilda Burton (Sarah O’dell) is a woman with the perfect career, hosting her own show interviewing celebrities over a bag of chocolates. She loves this and today is a really special show as she is interviewing her teenage obsession, the singer Henry Steel (Dan Nash). Trying to stay professional – while inwardly probably giggling like a schoolgirl – Matilda starts to bond with ‘H’ as he likes to be called.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
Never has a piece of art attracted more interest than a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. People stand in line for hours to catch a glimpse of it. Songs have been written about it. Learned professors have spent centuries trying to analyse the subject’s enigmatic smile and conspiracy theorists make up new and imaginative stories about the ‘true’ picture and its meaning. It’s even been a major storyline in the original series of Dr Who.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
In some ways, politics can be described as Game of Thrones without the bloodshed, and I love it. I love the intrigue, the back-stabbing, and watching people promise one thing to get into office, then do a complete one-eighty once they have a red box and a government car. Of course, the best political stories are based on real life and usually concern the conversations that take place away from the public eye, for example, Peter Morgan’s “The Deal”.
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1 month ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
It’s May and while there are a few minor things happening in the world, the really important stuff is occurring in Basel and here in London. Yes, it’s Eurovision. Basel has the honour to be hosting the actual show but the pre-Eurovision fun is kicking off at the world-famous Royal Vauxhall Tavern with Eurovision Your Decision. The format is simple, really. A mini-Eurovision hosted by Katie (Lucy Penrose) and Demetrius (Tim McArthur).
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2 months ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, “You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you as you are to them.” If the good Archbishop was right, then it’s possible God was having an off-day when he put together the family in Sarah Majland’s play The Summer After Dad Died, currently playing at the Hen & Chickens Theatre.
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2 months ago | 
londontheatre1.com | Terry Eastham
Back in 1970, a famous entertainer had an interesting experience in a Torquay Hotel run by its eccentric owner, Donald Sinclair. This gave him an idea and working with his wife at the time, they came up with an idea for a television series based around a dysfunctional hotel on the English Riviera. The series was a huge hit and even today, people can quote virtually entire episodes to each other – though that may just be me and my friends.
