The Paula Principle

Almeida

This little world – and Brexit

After over 200 posts, this is the first one that is not in the slightest related to the Paula Principle (unless a link occurs to me as I type).  Last night we went to the Almeida Theatre's production of Richard II, with Simon Russell Beale in the title role, and in a t-shirt like the rest of the cast. It's set in a bleak ferrous cube, and there's no escape - no-one leaves the stage and it's 100 minutes with no interval. By the end, buckets of blood have been sloshed around, as well as water to wash the dirt out of Richard's hair as he struggles to come to…
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Portia and Paula

We went last week to the Almeida Theatre's extraordinary production of Merchant of Venice.  It's set in Las Vegas, with gaming machines and glitz everywhere, and intermittent appearances from an Elvis imitator.    Portia is a dizzy blonde on 6-inch heels, and the competition to win her  hand is pitched as a TV reality show.  The accents are full-on American, except for Shylock who speaks with a thick German intonation, initially from behind a broad business desk. For the first three acts I enjoyed the imagination that had gone into it and laughed at the jokes embedded into the glitz, but wondered how they were going to pull it into meaningful…
Read More

This little world – and Brexit

After over 200 posts, this is the first one that is not in the slightest related to the Paula Principle (unless a link occurs to me as I type).  Last night we went to the Almeida Theatre's production of Richard II, with Simon Russell Beale in the title role, and in a t-shirt like the rest of the cast. It's set in a bleak ferrous cube, and there's no escape - no-one leaves the stage and it's 100 minutes with no interval. By the end, buckets of blood have been sloshed around, as well as water to wash the dirt out of Richard's hair as he struggles to come to…
Read More

Portia and Paula

We went last week to the Almeida Theatre's extraordinary production of Merchant of Venice.  It's set in Las Vegas, with gaming machines and glitz everywhere, and intermittent appearances from an Elvis imitator.    Portia is a dizzy blonde on 6-inch heels, and the competition to win her  hand is pitched as a TV reality show.  The accents are full-on American, except for Shylock who speaks with a thick German intonation, initially from behind a broad business desk. For the first three acts I enjoyed the imagination that had gone into it and laughed at the jokes embedded into the glitz, but wondered how they were going to pull it into meaningful…
Read More