The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I watched a beautiful play called "A Monster Calls" from the Old Vic and Bristol Old Vic on YouTube this week. It is what I would describe as quite a theatrical piece with a lot of movement sequences and imaginatively used props - namely ropes which became a Yew tree. It's the kind of play that had I thought about it, I'm not sure would work when watched from home, but it totally did.  It was mainly just one static shot from the stalls so the whole stage was visible the whole time and maybe that's why it still translated well.  It wasn't trying to be a film, it was being viewed as it would have been by most audience members. I loved the fluid direction and performances from the cast, telling a tough story.  Great stuff. https://www.oldvictheatre.com/whats-on/2018/a-monster-calls

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I always think it's great when you see an actor perform a role that you never would have imagined them doing. One example is Hugh Grant who has thoroughly shaken his foppish persona in recent years taking on roles such as  Jeremy Thorpe  in A Very English Scandal , the baddie  Phoenix Buchanan  in Paddington 2 and probably my favourite, the tabloid journalist (who Grant is well known for detesting) called Fletcher in The Gentlemen . Another such performance for me was Benedict Cumberbatch in Frankenstein , this week's NT Live.  I have always thought he was a good actor, but I've never seen him take such a physical role as that of the Creature in this production.  He totally commits and is on stage for the majority of the 2 hour run time - it must have been exhausting!  Catch it while you can: Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...