The Archive
Recordings from January 2004
Total Number of Recordings from this month: 17
- REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2003 (2/2) The worst shows, as decided by David Benedict, Rhoda Koenig and Mark Shenton. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“It should be called Ben Elton's Tonight's the Night because he wrote and directed this abomination.”
- Recording Date: 02-Jan-2004
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- YEAR AHEAD 2004 David Benedict thumbs through the calendar and picks out the theatregoing highlights of 2004. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“The year will certainly end on a high because finally, after much planning, we've got Mary Poppins.”
- Recording Date: 02-Jan-2004
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- HIS DARK MATERIALS Oliver Jones, Madeleine North and Charles Spencer disagree about the eagerly awaited staging of the Philip Pullman trilogy at the National. Mark Shenton hosts.
“They're just trying to cram too much in. It's just one damned thing after another.”
- Play: His Dark Materials
- Theatre: National Theatre, Olivier
- Recording Date: 09-Jan-2004
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- INTERVIEW: MAX STAFFORD-CLARK The artistic director of Out of Joint talks to David Benedict about The Permanent Way by David Hare and the genre of documentary theatre.
“What we are trying to present in verbatim theatre is a closer encounter with the truth.”
- Play: The Permanent Way
- Theatre: National Theatre, Lyttelton
- Recording Date: 09-Jan-2004
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- COMEDY: ROBIN SEBASTIAN The actor who plays Kenneth Williams in the first theatrical staging of Round the Horne, the cult 1960s radio series, talks to Dominic Cavendish.
- 1 comment
“I really do feel that I'm becoming Kenneth Williams.”
- Play: Round the Horne... Revisited!
- Theatre: The Venue
- Recording Date: 09-Jan-2004
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- THE PERMANENT WAY David Hare's state-of-the-railways piece, produced by Out of Joint, is reviewed by David Benedict, Jane Edwardes, Patrick Marmion and Carole Woddis. Rachel Halliburton hosts.
“It looks like they haven't done anything - in fact, they've done an awful lot of skilled theatrical work.”
- Play: The Permanent Way
- Theatre: National Theatre, Lyttelton
- Recording Date: 16-Jan-2004
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- HONEYMOON SUITE Divided opinions greet Richard Bean's latest at the Royal Court. David Benedict, Jane Edwardes, Patrick Marmion and Carole Woddis discuss. Rachel Halliburton hosts.
“You could certainly raise the issue: is this the kind of play the Royal Court mainstage should be doing?”
- Play: Honeymoon Suite
- Theatre: Royal Court Downstairs
- Recording Date: 16-Jan-2004
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- INTERVIEW: JON HARRIS The multi-million pound arts centre at Stratford East closed within two years of opening. Its former artistic director revisits the Lottery fiasco. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“It wasn't the first Lottery disaster - and presumably it won't be the last.”
- Recording Date: 16-Jan-2004
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- REGIONAL THEATRE: LIVERPOOL Gemma Bodinetz (Artistic Director) and Deborah Aydon (Executive Director) of the Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman have big plans for the future. Dominic Cavendish reports.
“I was worried us southerners would be resented, but nothing could be further from the truth.”
- Recording Date: 20-Jan-2004
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- AMERICAN THEATRE SPECIAL The Riot Group's Adriano Shaplin and Paul Schnabel, over in the UK with their hit play Pugilist Specialist, talk to Rachel Halliburton.
- 1 comment
“We need a more complicated and nuanced portrait of the way wars are planned and fought.”
- Play: Pugilist Specialist
- Theatre: Riverside Studios
- Recording Date: 21-Jan-2004
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- THE TAMING OF THE SHREW/THE TAMER TAMED The RSC's West End double-bill scolded by Jane Edwardes, Rachel Halliburton, Ian Shuttleworth and Robert Tanitch. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“I couldn't believe the audience. I thought there must be some woman who'll stand up and complain.”
- Play: The Taming of the Shrew
- Theatre: Queen's Theatre
- Recording Date: 23-Jan-2004
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- RIGHT TO REPLY Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith of Tamasha Theatre Company hit back after mixed reviews greet their latest show Strictly Dandia.
“British theatre is racist... What I find in those harsh criticisms is an unpleasant underlying agenda.”
- Play: Strictly Dandia
- Theatre: Lyric Hammersmith
- Recording Date: 23-Jan-2004
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- BLACK VOICES: RAY FEARON The actor, appearing in World Music at the Donmar Warehouse, shares his debut memories with David Benedict.
“I grew up in inner-city London, which was very rough... I dropped out of school when I was 14.”
- Play: World Music
- Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
- Recording Date: 26-Jan-2004
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- ON CRITICISM Aged 77 and still reviewing, John Thaxter explains how he combined a high-flying business career with a vocation as a critic. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“It's surprising how many people think they can learn to be a theatre critic by going to journalism school.”
- Recording Date: 30-Jan-2004
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- IN REHEARSAL: CRAVE Nearly five years after her death, Sarah Kane's penultimate play Crave is getting a radical revival. Director Matt Peover talks to David Benedict.
- 1 recommendation
“People are going to have to confront what they think about Sarah Kane when they see this.”
- Play: Crave
- Theatre: Battersea Arts Centre
- Recording Date: 30-Jan-2004
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- INTERVIEW: HAYLEY CARMICHAEL The actress, part of acclaimed theatre company Told by an Idiot talks to David Benedict about shows past, present and future.
“We wanted to make very big stories out of things that are very small... our daily lives.”
- Play: I'm a Fool to Want You
- Theatre: Battersea Arts Centre
- Recording Date: 30-Jan-2004
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- NEW YORK SPECIAL Actress Tovah Feldshuh, starring as Golda Meir in Golda's Balcony, talks to Philip Fisher at the Helen Hayes Theater.
“I try to write my performances in water and not in stone - so each performance is quite different.”
- Recording Date: 31-Jan-2004
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