Matt Boothman

No excuses: theatre is affordable

14th January 2010 | 3 comments | 2 people like this

Hey, did you see Avatar? Did you see it in 3D? What about IMAX 3D? What did you pay? I paid £12.50, plus online booking fee, to see it in IMAX 3D (at the Odeon in Wimbledon, if anyone's asking), and I was just one of millions: millions of people who have proven themselves willing to spend £12.50 or thereabouts on an evening's entertainment.
If you're one of those millions, you...

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Review: Lady Julia, Hen & Chickens Theatre

14th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Written by James and Ben Kenward after August Strindberg
Directed by Gabriella Santinelli
Starring James Kenward, Amy Rhodes, Annabel Topham
Hen & Chickens Theatre, until Saturday 19th December, £12.00 (book tickets)
In The Lamplight's Lady Julia brings August Strindberg's seminal Miss Julie bang up to date, throwing together high-born Julia (Annabel Topham) and her father's valet John (James Kenward) on New Year's Eve 2008. It's possible the company are hoping to replicate the...

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Review: The Stefan Golaszewski Plays, Bush Theatre

14th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Written and performed by Stefan Golaszewski
Directed by Phillip Breen
Bush Theatre, until Saturday 9th January 2009, £15.00/£13.00 (book tickets)
Two one-act plays back to back don't usually make a successful two-act play. Right? Which suggests it's probably no coincidence that Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved and Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower work so well as a double bill; it seems likely they were always meant to be performed...

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Bush Theatre re-opens to unsolicited script submissions

7th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

The moment the Bush Theatre axed its script reading team, citing a lack of funds, was the moment the recession became real for me. Beforehand I'd been taking my usual naïve/optimistic view of the situation, confident that it couldn't be as bad as the media made it out to be, and that it would soon blow over with no major consequences. The discontinuation of script reading at one of London's...

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Reviewing the upholstery

11th September 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I spent a pleasant hour on Wednesday experiencing Theatretank's ÁTMAN, which involved wandering the residential streets and footpaths of south Wimbledon while listening to an abridged audio version of Peter Handke's Self-Accusation.
Theatretank's mp3 player setup was one of the better ones I've come across when investigating audio-assisted productions. The player was small and simple to use and, even better, came with a lanyard, so I could hang it around my...

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Arts futurism – theatre in the newsfeeds of the future

4th September 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Arts Futurism is an occasional strand in which I discuss, based on current developments, what might be next for the arts.
So let's assume for the moment that print newspapers are, indeed, nearing the end point of a lengthy and unintended suicide at the hands of their own free online content distribution systems. Let's briefly put aside the alternative theories and concentrate on the one where the presses are silenced and...

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Traverse Theatre sweeps first week awards

24th August 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

It's traditional for shows playing at the Traverse Theatre to clean up when the Scotsman and the Bank of Scotland start handing out their Festival awards. It's equally traditional for the rest of the Festival to complain that the Traverse cleans up so regularly and predictably. There hasn't been as much of that flavour of carping as usual this year; perhaps everyone's realised that complaining is less constructive than putting...

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Rap Guide star Baba Brinkman rekindles an old debate

13th August 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

"Congratulations on writing the first four star review in history without a single positive adjective! Utterly unquotable, but I do appreciate the stars : )"
Baba Brinkman, commenting on MattBoothman.com
So Baba Brinkman isn't satisfied with four stars, or with the accompanying review - which was, by the way, 50 per cent longer than my editor at the British Theatre Guide recommends for a Festival Fringe review, because I didn't feel I...

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iTheatre not as “comprehensive” as it claims

30th July 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I can't contest the claim in the press release that iTheatre is "the first iPhone application dedicated to London theatres". I am equally powerless to deny that the app features "reviews, seating plans, ticket availability and even mapping services". But I will dispute to the death the assertion that it can keep users "up to date with all the latest shows" (my italics).
iTheatre was developed by Ubinow Solutions for BestOfTheatre.co.uk,...

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The Ultimate Critics’ Pick of the Fringe – part 3

24th July 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Previously: Part 1 | Part 2
So why do critics bother compiling advance Pick of the Fringe Programme lists at all?
The socially acceptable reason is to provide Fringe patrons with navigation points. The programme's Theatre section contains hundreds of shows, each one summed up in maybe twenty words. That makes it difficult to sift the diamonds from the dross, especially when many of the shows are world premieres and many of...

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