Four Theatre Visits

I have not been to the theatre for ages then all of a sudden....
I saw Diary of a Football Nobody at Nottingham Playhouse. It is about Notts County in the 70s and I loved every minute. I guess it helps to be a football fan and to be aware of some of the characters of that era. Jimmy Sirrell was a wonderful man and so the play had nostalgia, lots of laughs but some very tender moments. All expressed with a lot of industrial language!

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was at the Playhouse and I saw it on 27 October. Alan Sillitoe's book was brought up to date with a black man, who really could run, playing the lead. There was a treadmill on stage and that had our hero centre stage or carried to the back of the stage for others to come forward to play their parts. There was film of the riots and Cameron's speech that followed to put the action into a modern setting. Brilliant set and a great interpretation.

I saw The Ladykillers at the Theatre Royal with Begonia on 1 November. This was the classic Ealing comedy brought to the stage in a classic setting, in contrast to the very modern productions at the Playhouse. That is not a criticism because it properly created the right atmosphere for the outrageous happenings.  It was laughs from beginning to end and, of course, Begonia has perfect command of English and giggled in all the right places and never missed any innuendo. An excellent evening out.

Cheryl and I saw Of Mice and Men at the Playhouse on 5 November. We were worried that we might not hear anything because the audience was nearly all school kids. It must be a set book. What little faith we had in the youth of the country! The audience was excellent. Very respective and very responsive. Oohs and aahs when the dog came on the stage and a few screams at the dramatic end! Another modern minimal set but that reflected the barren lives they lived. I had some problem hearing everything that was said, maybe due to the American accents used, but there was no problem in the development of the story. A memorable production.