theatreVOICE

British dramatists are not exactly fêted in the German-speaking theatre at the moment. A notable exception is the way the Volkstheater Vienna accompanied the German première of Lee Hall’s “The Pitmen Painters” with a whole series of events. Not only did they bring over the team of the successful original production at Live […]

Next week I’ll be off to Vienna for the German-language première of Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters which I translated. As the director is Max Roberts who already did the first production at Live Theatre Newcastle, moving on successfully first to the Cottesloe and then to the Lyttelton, I am rather optimistic. Hopefully […]

In England it is common practice for an actor to count the number of laughs he can get when first reading a text. With Laurence Olivier this was the case even when he played King Lear. (A famous German Lear like Bernhard Minetti would seriously have contested the notion that the play contains […]

I’m impressed by the spread of this year’s Laurence Olivier awards. Good to see the Donmar’s sensational revival of The Chalk Garden being rewarded in the best actress and lighting categories. Top marks for the championing of Elena Roger, too, as Piaf, a knock-out performance. And the acknowledgement of the RSC’s Histories was more than […]

When I uploaded my last theatreVOICE posting its title was: “Who pissed against Melbourne city gate?” – a job for Harold Pinter’s ghost. Mysteriously on the website the first half was missing. Naturally I assumed that the system was programmed to remove “offensive” words like “pissed”. Immediately Dominic Cavendish reassured me that the […]

Although these are nervous times in critic-land, as they are in pretty much every other land you care to mention, including the one beginning with Ice, it’s always reassuring for those who fear the professional reviewer is a dying or doomed breed, to see luminaries from the world of British theatre turning out in force […]

As a translator you should not sound too flippant about colleagues. We all make mistakes, and I know myself only too well the feeling of sitting in a first night and flinching at some turn of phrase because you only then realize how stilted it sounds. Paradoxically, in many cases this is because one tends […]

Hi all, just a quick note to say that the podcast problems identified last month have now been rectified, we’ve been assured by our web-designer. If you notice any further problems, best - and quickest - to report them via the theatrevoice facebook group. Thanks

As you stagger bleary-eyed to your computer terminals at the start of 2009, hungover from the end of year celebrations or afflicted by those January / recession blues, you should do your ears - and imagination - a favour and give up eight minutes of your time to listen to Chips Hardy’s delightfully fresh comedy […]

The theatre world is still digesting the news of Harold Pinter’s death on Christmas Eve. A great, great loss. In latestNEWS, you’ll find a clutch of links to news items and obituaries. Best thing to do, though, I think, is to listen to the man himself, recorded at the British Library shortly after the death of […]