Theatre review: Man and Boy

So far Indhu Rubasingham's approach to classics at the National has involved a quirky sensibility from her directors to keep things feeling fresh, but with a light enough touch not to frighten Aunt Edna. For the era's first Dorfman show we go to the ever-reliable Terence Rattigan, and a production that takes him out of the naturalistic confines that gave him an undeserved stuffy reputation for many years, but doesn't detract from the cleverness of his writing: The lesser-known Man and Boy takes place in 1930s New York, with the country in the throes of the Great Depression but a few wealthy financiers still having held on to their money. One of them is Gregor "GA" Antonescu (Ben Daniels,) a Romanian radio magnate whose luck might be about to run out: Rumour has it that a huge merger has fallen through, and his stock is plummeting.

Theatre review: Alma Mater

Is it something that personally targets just me, or does the Almeida have a particularly unlucky track record of illness among its actors? I worked out that over the last eight years I've had to reschedule three shows there, miss one entirely, and have one performance meant to be a few weeks into the run turn into an early preview after the original star was replaced. The only comparable run of bad luck I can remember is when any RSC actor who went anywhere near a bicycle was guaranteed at least one fracture. Come to think of it that was around the time current Almeida boss Rupert Goold was at the RSC. Has Gooldilocks been a jinx all along? Making that third entry onto the list of rescheduled visits is Kendall Feaver's Alma Mater which had to replace original star Lia Williams with Justine Mitchell at short notice. Additionally, Nathalie Armin was indisposed today, so the supporting role of Leila had to be read in by Assistant Director Connie Trieves tonight.