A House of Stone
✮✮✮ 1/2 Simon Stone's Ibsen House Toneelgroep | Amsterdam directed by Simon Stone Simon Stone has turned yet again to the works of Henrik Ibsen as a source of inspiration. Ibsen House is produced in cooperation with the Toneelgroep Amsterdam and performed at the companies’ home base, the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg. Over the course of last season Stone has worked together with the Netherland’s largest repertory company on no less then three productions. This new piece, however,
From Moscow to Basel
✮✮✮✮ 1/2 Simon Stone's Three Sisters Theatertreffen | Berlin directed by Simon Stone Simon Stone’s modernisation of Anton Checkov’s Three Sisters opens Germany’s 53rd annual Theatertreffen as a guest production by Theater Basel at the Berliner Festspiele. Three Sisters has been selected as one of the “ten most notable productions” of the year in the German-language region selected by the jury from 344 productions in 63 cities. The festival is introduced by the director of the
Mother's Ruin
✮✮✮✮✮ Simon Stone's Yerma Young Vic | London directed by Simon Stone Obsession is one of the inexplicable tics that make or mar our species. It builds pyramids, cracks mathematical problems, puts man on the moon. In modern times this obsession has contracted towards the self: self-actualisation, self-promotion, self-destruction. But the oldest obsession – and the most biologically sound – is the idea of reproduction. It's curious that in this age of science and common sense o
A Little Bird Told Me
✮✮✮✮ 1/2 Ibsen's The Wild Duck in a version by Simon Stone & Chris Ryan Barbican Theatre | London directed by Simon Stone At the heart of Ibsen’s Wild Duck is the killer concept of the ‘life-lie’ – the big fib that we all rely on, consciously or not, in order to get by. It’s cognitive dissonance at its most benevolent. The question is what happens when a well-meaning Samaritan comes along to kick the psychological crutches away. It’s testament to both the self-sufficiency and
Modernised Snippets of Gory
✮✮✮✮ 1/2 Seneca's Thyestes in a version by Thomas Henning, Chris Ryan, Simon Stone & Mark Winter Holland Festival | Amsterdam directed by Simon Stone If at this moment in time you believe theatre within the British community is exciting, fresh, challenging and most importantly, life-changing, I’d beg to differ. With a few exceptions, such as Marianne Eliiott and Simon Stephens’ The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, British theatre has the tendency to reside on the
From Gogol to the Age of Google
✮✮✮✮ Simon Stone's The Government Inspector inspired by Nikolai Gogol Belvoir St Theatre | Sydney directed by Simon Stone First published in 1836, Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector has long been considered a masterpiece in comedy, farce, and political criticism. This co-production by Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre and Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre takes its inspiration from Gogol's work, and while retaining certain thematic and structural features of the original, it stra
It's Not Going to Be OK
✮✮✮✮ 1/2 Simon Stone's Miss Julie after August Strindberg Belvoir St Theatre | Sydney directed by Letitia Cáceres It’s not going to be OK. The realisation dawns early, as a menacing depth charge of music signals the show is about to begin. The housekeeper is warm and humane, the bodyguard is loyal and long-suffering, the kitchen is spotless, but it’s not going to be OK. Simon Stone’s bold rewrite of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie takes a text which was shocking when it firs
