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Sidney and the Old Girl, Park Theatre London
Litany of unremitting hatred between mother and son is a real theatrical downer
In oppositional orbit: Nell (Miriam Margolyes) and Sidney (Mark Hadfield)
[Pete le May]
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
KEVIN DONNELLY outlines how the bourgeois institutions inhibit our ability to to view art in revolutionary ways, and suggests some tactics to overturn it
ANDY HEDGECOCK welcomes an accessible - and optimistic - take on our relationship to new technology
JOHN GREEN suggests that a new, biased, and highly readable re-hash of the story of the Cambridge Five be taken with a large pinch of salt
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a timely reminder of the long history of protests and the outdoor spaces in which they takes place
EUGENE O’HARE’S play, which gets its world premiere at the Park Theatre, has possibly two of the most unsympathetic characters ever presented in contemporary theatre.
It’s a tour de force but only as an example of how to make an audience feel uncomfortable and unsettled. Presumably, this is the artistic intention of the playwright.
Set in present-day east London, it centres on the relationship between Nell Stock (Miriam Margolyes) and her son Sidney (Mark Hadfield). Confined to a wheelchair, she’s dependent on Sidney who, in turn, is reliant on his mother for somewhere to live.
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