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Performance Monkey

David Jays on theatre and dance

Everything Pina

April 20, 2020 by David Jays 1 Comment

I was always going to schedule Wim Wenders’ Pina for Lockdown Theatre Club. Pina Bausch’s work has been a delight and compulsion throughout my theatregoing lifetime. I’ve seen every piece I can, several of them more than once. When her Tanztheater Wuppertal brought 10 productions to London during the Olympic year, I saw them all. I’ve snatched at review, interview and programme-note opportunities. … [Read more...]

Pina | Lockdown Theatre Club 6

April 19, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Watch Pina with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 21 April. Pina is available to rent on Amazon Prime. At 8pm everyone presses play and watches together. You can tweet along (#LockdownTheatreClub) or just enjoy the film knowing we're all part of an audience together. What is Pina? A documentary about the choreographer Pina Bausch, one of the most significant 20th-century artists, by Wim Wenders … [Read more...]

Fences | Lockdown Theatre Club 4

April 6, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Watch Fences with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 7 April. Fences is on Amazon Prime. At 8pm UK time, everyone presses play and watches together. You can tweet along (#LockdownTheatreClub) or just enjoy the film knowing we're all part of an audience together. Ashley Zhangazha introduces FencesAshley Zhangazha played Cory in the West End production of Fences in 2013. He starred alongside Lenny … [Read more...]

They don’t trust me with cheese

April 2, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

'The man next to us is honking like a seal,' whispered my friend Mel at the interval of One Man, Two Guvnors. It was the press night of the National Theatre production, back in 2011, and we'd gone along hoping for a bit of a chortle, I guess. We didn't know we'd be part of an audience convulsed with laughter. And the man sitting beside us really was honking like a seal. Tonight the National … [Read more...]

Into the Woods | Lockdown Theatre Club 2

March 31, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Our twitter poll asking for people’s favourite genre saw an overwhelming vote for musicals. Cheer was needed. As it was also Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday, we went for Into the Woods (Sweeney Todd: too cannibalistic. A Little Night Music: too inept). As an added treat, Matthew Xia, who had directed a very different production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, recorded a very tender … [Read more...]

All About Eve | Lockdown Theatre Club 3

March 30, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Lockdown Theatre Club watched All About Eve on 31 March. Here's some thoughts thrown up by our joint watch, some useful links and Veronica Horwell's terrific frockwatch note about Bette Davis' party dress. What is All About Eve?Bette Davis stars as a Broadway diva and Anne Baxter as her apparently demure number one fan. A backstabbing, backstage drama from 1950, it won six Oscars (including … [Read more...]

Lockdown Theatre Club

March 28, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Join a weekly online audience for a stage-adjacent movie. Theatre and its audiences have always been there for me, even in the toughest times, and they’re still here. For you too, if you like. Coming up on Lockdown Theatre Club Tuesday 7 July at 8pmHamiltonA return to the room where it happened: Lin-Manuel Miranda leads the original Broadway cast of his landmark musical. Available on Disney … [Read more...]

Ode to the nose that isn’t there: James McAvoy as Cyrano de Bergerac

December 18, 2019 by David Jays Leave a Comment

It’s the nose I suppose But there’s not one of those To tell us we’re back at Cyrano’s. To the rage Of the stage Afficionados On McAvoy’s face No outsize nose. That blows? Praps it does For a minute But who needs a schnoz? Cos once he begins And does what he does And says what he says With that burr and that croon Then we’re Cyrano’s army We’d die for that loon. That … [Read more...]

Propwatch: the climbing tackle in Touching the Void

November 24, 2019 by David Jays Leave a Comment

How do you capture the scale, the struggle, the elemental extremity of mountain climbing? In the theatre? It’s simpler than you think. After all, they both use the same kit. Touching the Void is based on the true story of two young Brits attempting to scale a never-scaled face of the Siula Grande mountain in the Peruvian Andes. David Greig's adaptation has found its purest home in old … [Read more...]

Propwatch: the jukebox in ‘Master Harold’… and the boys

November 18, 2019 by David Jays Leave a Comment

A jukebox offers choice upon choice. Dozens of records, stacked and ready for selection. Nestling between the palm court quartet and the corporate playlist, jukeboxes soundtracked café culture. Before the walkman, spotify and sodcasting, they let you decide your own mood music. Public yet personal, sweetly selfish – the jukebox flourished in the 1950s, the decade in which ‘Master Harold’… and the … [Read more...]

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David Jays

I am a writer and critic on performance, books and film and currently write for, among others, the Sunday Times and the Guardian. I edit Dance Gazette, the magazine of the Royal Academy of Dance. I’m also a lifelong Londoner: it’s the perfect city for connecting to art forms that both look back and spring forward. [Read More]

Performance Monkey

This is what theatre and dance audiences do: we sit in the dark, watching performances. And then, if it seems worth it, we think about what we've seen, and how it made us feel. The blog should be a conversation, so please comment on the posts and add your thoughts. You know what I've always … [Read More...]

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Recent Comments

  • Veronica Horwell on Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17: “Know what you mean about the underpowered pre-17late90s shoulder: a bottle slope approach to body outline — the Hamilton coats…” Jul 8, 13:41
  • Sarah Lenton on Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17: “Blimey. A tour de force! Hugely enjoyable. Slight demur on whether a period raised fist would have produced a scrunched…” Jul 7, 21:44
  • william osborne on Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17: “An article that analyzes the serious problems with “Hamilton” by Ed Morales, a journalist and lecturer at Columbia University’s Center…” Jul 7, 20:20
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  • Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17
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