Review: Blithe Spirit
Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit is an entertaining reminder of why going to the theatre is so much fun. The writer Charles Condomine, seeking inspiration for his next novel in the artificial performance of the occult, invites the medium Madame Arcati to host a very theatrical séance in his living ro
Review: Wishbone
An unfinished Scrabble board, the crumpled duvet of a queen-size bed, a packet of sliced white bread, clusters of spice jars, and a carboard box of kitchen utensils sprawl across the stage of the Burton Taylor Studio, as the curtains rise on Coco Cottam’s new play, Wishbone. So far, not so differe
Review: SKIN
Content warning: chronic illness, grief. ‘How’s your back, by the way?’ The first thirty seconds or so of Peter Todd’s new play Skin, staged last week at Keble’s O’Reilly Theatre, pose as classic student drama fare: it opens with laughter in the dark, sisters spra
Trifling
A village fete. Bunting. The air is sticky like marmalade. The scorched grass as crunchy as a brandy snap. Light up on Winnie, seventy-four, blouse the colour of stained wallpaper, standing behind a cake stall. WINNIE: “I don’t use clotted cream.” I knew I’d have to kill her when she sai
The Isis Podcasts: In conversation with Steven Sater
Join us in conversation with Steven Sater, a Tony, Grammy and Laurence Olivier award winning poet, playwright and lyricist. Steven Sater has dedicated his life to musical theatre, drama and music. In this podcast we discuss Steven’s recent novel Alice by Heart, the historical and linguistic in
Leaf Racing
My sister Lena was a mess when Funtown Playland let her go. Two months of playing Princess Thistle in their daytime production – and nothing. She came home in street clothes with her gaudy yellow dress crumpled to her chest. Back when Lena first moved into my spare room, I hoped Funtown Playland w
Poetry
reading your facial expressions i interpret screenplay, dramatizations of us rendered larger than life in a rousing performance of scientific discovery you softly diagnose anatomical anomalies: brow bone, lumbar vertebrae, clavicle – skin-adhered-eyes in lab-issue goggles, curiosity unchecked,
