Fourthwall Magazine & The Drama Student – The magazine for emerging artists in the entertainment industry – actors, drama students, directors, producers, writers, production crew.

Review: Brimstone and Treacle, Arcola Theatre ****

PKM — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:41:21 +0000

First commissioned by the BBC in 1976, but then banned because the content was deemed too shocking, this is the first major revival of Dennis Potter’s Brimstone and Treacle. Set in the heart of middle-England in an apparently well off household, Potter’s play focuses on middle-aged couple Tom and Amy Bates, whose previously peacef Read more ...

Review: Three Kingdoms, Lyric, Hammersmith ****

JBR — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:55:02 +0000

If the word extraordinary was made to be applied to a piece of theatre, Simon Stephens’ latest play is surely it. The process of getting Three Kingdoms to the stage of the Lyric Hammersmith alone is an extraordinary and unlikely achievement, facilitated through a collaboration between the Lyric, the Munich Kammerspiele and Estonian c Read more ...

Review: Step 9 (Of 12), Trafalgar Studios, *****

JBR — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:43:30 +0000

Rob Hayes’ Step 9 (Of 12), directed by Tom Attenborough, is a tremendous play of great importance. It opens with recovering alcoholic Keith, portrayed with strength by Blake Harrison, sitting in a dishevelled armchair in his bedsit with a Virginia Woolf novel in one hand and a pipe in the other. This contrived façade of debonair deca Read more ...

Fourthwall’s Favourites May

PKM — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:29:46 +0000

Preparation for the Olympics are well on their way and word on the street is that theatres, certainly across the Capital, are practically begging producers to fill slots in June and July. Although the Evening Standard newspaper is reporting that tourism for the Olympics and Jubilee celebrations will help put bums on seats, it seems th Read more ...

Review: Fever Pitch, Touring ****

JBR — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:04:37 +0000

Like climbing Everest, undertaking a one-man show is not for the faint-hearted. Just because it is there, does not mean everyone must attempt it. With no-one to play off, distract the audience, or provide respite from the singular personality which dominates proceedings, any weakness in the script, the direction, or the performance seems some Read more ...

Review: His Greatness, Finborough *****

JBR — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:57:52 +0000

His Greatness, written by Daniel MacIvor and directed by Ché Walker, is set in 1980 on the day and the morning after the Canadian premier of a work, undoubtedly Read more ...

Review: South Downs/The Browning Version *****

JBR — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:23:24 +0000

The face of Tom Scutt’s design is a wooden paneled wall, with lists of School Masters’ names, dates and years; the sort you might walk past down the corridors of an old, stern private school. This wall rises to reveal the set of David Hare’s South Downs, which is rather bare and contemporary. It is therefore, easily transformed in Read more ...

Review: Making Noise Quietly, Donmar ****

JBR — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:03:14 +0000

Only with strangers can we truly be ourselves; this is essentially the unifying premise of Robert Holman’s quiet, war-stained trio of short plays, given a fittingly muted production by Peter Gill. Set during and around the Second World War and the later Falklands War, the dark shadow of conflict and destruction extends its reach across each of Read more ...

Review: The Great Gatsby, Wiltons ***

JBR — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:35:16 +0000

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, widely regarded as a contemporary American classic, provides a snapshot of the Prohibition era and critiques the notion of the American Dream. In advance of Baz Luhrman’s much-anticipated film version, Peter Joucla’s production at Wilton’s Music Hall is the first Read more ...

Review: Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Southwark Playhouse *****

JBR — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:05:01 +0000

Frank McGuinness’ Tony award-winning play Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me first premiered in 1992, taking the 10 year hostage crisis in Lebanon, which began in 1982,as its backdrop. The play encapsulates the harrowing ordeal that is experienced by three men who are kidnapped and held hostage for an unspecified but un Read more ...