Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

Television Plur1bus  - Series 1 has now come to an end and I have found it absolutely gripping.  It takes its time to let things come to light, and I love that the heroes of this piece are not superficially likeable.  Instead they are awkward, and difficult to work with, but that also means they are admirable in understanding and following their own moral compass even if it makes them unpopular.  Carol (Rhea Seehorn) is a divisive figure as she is so difficult, but I love her, and she makes the blandness of the mindvirus folk stand out in sharp relief.   There's plenty of topical stuff being talked about here, a critique on  groupthink, what fascism looks like and in the final episode we get to see with Carol that this is also a abusive relationship with the Others, showing a caring face while doing harm.  In the season finale she finally meets up with Manousos (Carlos Manuel Vesga) who is equally difficult and I think this will be a wonderful par...

As an ex-Essex girl, this was a poignant trip down memory lane for my last trip to the theatre this year, taking me back to my teens and old stomping grounds with DJ Froggy and junior disco nights, and that bit of Essex that continues to sit on the edge of London.   Alfie (Clive Owen) and Julie (Saskia Reeves) have been together for over 30 years, but Alfie has received a terminal diagnosis for his cancer and wants to stop treatment, Julie wants him to ‘fight’. Alfie was a DJ, and the whole play is punctuated with some pounding house and acid disco beats to punctuate their conversations as they both reminisce and look forward, including debating what should be played at his funeral.  There are some lovely intimate and funny moments that are evidence of their long relationship, as they have one long conversation in a single scene for the full 90 minutes of this play; they talk and laugh and argue, sparring and making up, as they talk about what this will mean for them and ...

Bryan Cranston, Paapa Essiedu, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Hayley Squires are the core of the cast assembled for this revival of Arthur Miller's family drama about the sins of the fathers coming back to haunt their children.  It's overlaid with a critique about money grabbing bosses taking opportunities in a time of national crisis to make a quick buck regardless of the harm it may do. So, it may be over 75 years old now, but with so many modern resonances; certainly I was thinking about the Michelle Mone and other Covid scandals.   I liked that this production doesn’t try to force the point though, which is clear enough, without needing to set it in a modern context.   The production really struck gold with this cast.  Essiedu and Cranston are a powerhouse duo, and the whole ensemble are just magnificent.  Bryan Cranston plays Joe Keller, the bluff, jovial, proud master of industry wanting to leave a legacy for his remaining son.  Marianne Jean-Ba...

A play about one woman’s struggle to hold down four jobs is very funny, particularly in dealing with the complications of entitled bosses. She has a home working job as a PA that she does while working her separate job as a concierge for some luxury flats, mixed with a house/dog sitting job, then evenings and weekends doing data entry.   It 's very funny but also it isn't.   All of this working means she doesn’t actually have any life for herself, i solated from her friends and family because she is working so hard, employed by unsympathetic and exploitative monsters.  It  gradually becomes clear how the trap has closed on her through trying to do the right thing for her family after her dad has run up huge debts with payday lenders.   Libby Rodcliffe is excellent and very very funny in playing Bea and her chaotic life, but in this monologue she also plays all of the other characters, moving around the stage to help us to keep track of Bea’s incre...