Tag Archives: James Cooney

Troilus & Cressida, Theatre Review. R.S.C., Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Gavin Fowler, Amber James, Oliver Ford Davis, Adjoa Andoh, Andy Apollo, James Cooney, Suzanne Bertish, Jim Hooper, Theo Ogundipe, Daniel Burke, Sheila Reid, Andrew Langtree, Amanda Harris, Daniel Hawksford, Geoffrey Lumb, Daisy Badger, Charlotte Arrowsmith, Ewart James Walters, Leigh Quinn, Mikhail Sen, Gabby Wong, Helen Grady, Esther McAuley, Nicole Agada.

Advertised as Shakespeare meets Mad Max, this production of Troilus & Cressida by the Royal Shakespeare Company brings together more traditionally garbed Trojans with motorcycle riding, metallic Greeks, accentuating what is described in the programme notes as a play that embraces contradictions, rather than flattening them.

Troilus & Cressida, Theatre Review. R.S.C., Stratford-Upon-Avon. full post

(382 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Cymbeline, Theatre Review. R.S.C., Stratford Upon Avon.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Gillian Bevan, Bethan Cullinane, Oliver Johnstone, Hiran Abeysekera, James Clyde, James Cooney, Natalie Simpson, Temi Wilkey, Graham Turner, Kelly Williams, Marcus Griffiths, Byron Mondahl, Doreene Blackstock, Eke Chukwu, Romayne Andrews, Marieme Diouf, Jenny Fennessy, Kevin N Goldberg, Theo Ogundipe

During the Royal Shakespeare Company’s quest to perform all 38 of the great Bard’s plays over the coming years, audiences get to glimpse gems of his repertoire that are less often performed. This production of Cymbeline showcases one of Shakespeare’s later plays, and the play shows a maturity and complexity that is a joy to behold.

Cymbeline, Theatre Review. R.S.C., Stratford Upon Avon. full post

(363 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Hamlet, Theatre Review. R.S.C., Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Paapa Essiedu, Clarence Smith, Cyril Nri, Natalie Simpson, Hiran Abeysekera, Doreene Blackstock, Eke Chukwu, James Cooney, Bethan Cullinane, Kevin N. Golding, Marcus Griffiths, Marieme Diouf, Romayne Andrews, Byron Mondahl, Tanya Moodie, Theo Ogundipe, Ewart James Walters, Temi Wilkey.

The king is dead, a usurper and a murderer sits on the throne and the man who would be king sits and procrastinates to the point of lethargy and inaction; hardly the calling card for one of the greatest plays in the English language to be treated, the single red rose that was visible at the local church in front of Shakespeare’s stone perhaps wilting under the pressure of the enormous task undertaken by the R.S.C. as Hamlet once more roared into Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Hamlet, Theatre Review. R.S.C., Stratford-Upon-Avon. full post

(487 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Flare Path, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Leon Ockenden, Olivia Hallinan, Philip Franks, Adam Best, James Cooney, Simon Darwen, Stephanie Jacob, Shvorne Marks, Siobhan O’ Kelly, William Reay, Holly Smith, Alastair Whatley.

The Second World War asked a lot of the men and women of Britain, of Germany and the greater population of the world, it asked of them for sacrifice, of more resilience than at any time and in many ways to be more selfish in the face of adversity; it is a selfishness of spirit, to not give in despite overwhelming odds and face the world with a smile. It is this selfishness, or at least a singular part of it, that sits at the heart of Terrance Rattigan’s World War Two drama The Flare Path.

The Flare Path, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(470 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)