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Performance Monkey

David Jays on theatre and dance

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Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17

July 7, 2020 by David Jays 4 Comments

Watch Hamilton with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 30 June. Hamilton is available on Disney+. 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 Hamilton? You’re kidding, aren’t you? It’s Hamilton. Filmed by its stage director, Thomas Kail, and with the OG Broadway … [Read more...]

The Go-Between | Lockdown Theatre Club 14

June 14, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Watch The Go-Between with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 16 June. The Go-Between is available on Amazon Prime, Sky and other services. 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 The Go-Between? The third of the films Harold Pinter wrote for director Joseph Losey, … [Read more...]

Les Enfants du Paradis | Lockdown Theatre Club 11

May 26, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Watch Les Enfants du Paradis with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 26 May. Les Enfants du Paradis is available to rent on 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 Les Enfants du Paradis? Marcel Carné described his film as ‘a tribute to the theatre’. Made in … [Read more...]

Romeo + Juliet | Lockdown Theatre Club 9

May 12, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Watch Romeo + Juliet with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 12 May. Romeo + Juliet is available to rent on 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 Romeo + Juliet? Baz Luhrmann’s audaciously inventive 1996 film reimagines Shakespeare’s tragedy in ‘Verona … [Read more...]

All About My Mother | Lockdown Theatre Club 8

May 4, 2020 by David Jays Leave a Comment

Watch All About My Mother with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 5 May. All About My Mother is available to rent on Prime and the BFI Player. 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 All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)? One of Pedro Almodóvar’s best films, … [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...]

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 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
  • william osborne on Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17: “Indeed, in the late 18th century people learned that properly toned-down attire was important for slave owners proclaiming democracy. And…” Jul 7, 19:28
  • David Jays on Bringing Up Baby | Lockdown Theatre Club 16: “Hello Ana, and thanks so much for this. Joining in is, I hope, easy: we all find the film on…” Jul 3, 16:02
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  • Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17
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