Hampstead 2022

That's a pretty good line-up in my view. I've enjoyed everything I've seen by Zeller and he can do serious (The Father, The Son) and hilarious (The Truth) equally well. I've never seen anything by the other two, but Roy Williams is certainly on my radar.

www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/toby-stephens-gina-mckee-paul-mcgann-the-forest_55550.html


Casting has been unveiled for Florian Zeller's new play The Forest, premiering in February.



Zeller, who received a variety of awards for the film version of his hit play The Father, will return to the London stage with a new tale about the demands of family, career and sexual desire.



Leading the cast are Toby Stephens (Lost in Space), Gina McKee (Bodyguard), Paul McGann (Doctor Who) and Angel Coulby (Merlin).



They are joined in the cast by Millie Brady (Roadkill), Silas Carson (Phantom Thread), Finbar Lynch (Indecent), Sakuntala Ramanee (Romeo and Julietr) and Eddie Toll (Stephen).



Director Jonathan Kent will be joined by designer Anna Fleischle, lighting designer Hugh Vanstone, sound designer Isobel Waller-Bridge, casting director Lotte Hines and associate designer and costume co-designer Jasmine Swan.



Kent said today: "Zeller's mysterious and fascinating new play is unlike anything he's written before and, in fact, unlike anything I've ever directed. It demands all the creative and inventive talents of the remarkable company of actors we've been lucky enough to assemble."

Same here, booked for early Feb, impressive cast.

Thanks for this - booked, lots of seats left

I've booked for Folk and will go see it in a couple of weeks. I look forward to it...more than the Fellowship which has had quite poor reviews, sadly. Real shame as I loved Death of England and had high expectations.

Some interesting new plays added for the winter season www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/main-stage?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AutumnSeasonAnnouncement(GeneralSubscribers)&utm_content=version_A&promo=5912

A play written by Richard Eyre?

Because that's exactly what a New Writing theatre needs...

Bless Roxana Silbert. She couldn't programme her way out of a paper bag. It really feels like Hampstead Main stage are often stuck with the plays no other theatre would take.

Hampstead Downstairs as usual looks better.

I went to see Folk last night - having tried and failed to get tickets for the earlier run (I was haunting the website for returns to no avail). I loved it - so clever in its considerations around patriotism and ideas of Englishness, but wearing its learning very lightly. And Mariam Haque has the most beautiful of voices. I do hope it gets further outings. With the week long extension to its run I see there are some tickets available. To anyone considering seeing this I would say don't hesitate to book.

I agree with everyone in the thread about "Folk," currently playingin Downstairs: it's wonderful!

It's set to run until the 6th August, and it deserves its own thread if it gets another revival.

If you imagine a tender heartfelt version of Pygmalion, with added folk music, you won't go far wrong.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Like Pygmalion, an educated older man educates a smart younger woman, to the point where she outgrows him

Unlike Pygmalion, the younger woman is an absolute wallflower, and for me, this is the key to why this play is so affecting: Mariam Haque's Louie is so introverted, has such low self esteem at the beginning of the play, is so deprived of education, and Haque is so convincingly tentative and withdrawn, that it's an absolute delight to see her come out of her shell, as this sophisticated older man teaches her about how music is written.

She in turn teaches him folk songs, that she learned from her mother, so that he can preserve them. Cecil Sharp's very real record of English folk songs is a treasure trove to this day, inspiring songwriters like PJ Harvey and Laura Marling.

The play is not only moving, it has a rich seam of themes, all of which are interesting and thought-provoking, from the purpose of music, to the importance of memory, who we remember, why we remember, whether gypsy songs are "English," whether folk music can bolster an English nationalism, and on and on.

Simon Robson is excellent as Sharp, kindly and self-serving all at once, but it is Haque's wallflower becoming something more that really stirs the heartstrings.

4 and a half stars from me.

Just chiming in with the positive takes on 'Folk' - really glad to have caught it this afternoon. We were in the front row, so incredibly close to the brilliant acting (spot-on casting.) I didn't know any of the actors before but all were very good with, as Steve suggests, Haque being remarkable in a very demanding role. I don't want to spoil it for anyone yet to see it, but the way some of the actors meet the musical demands of the roles is stunning. For me, the first half was pretty much perfect and there was just a bit of dip in the second half. One of my favourite things I've seen post-pandemic.

Folk is one of the most impressive things I’ve seen in a long time and, like Big Big Sky, more evidence that Hampstead’s best, most engaging productions are Downstairs. The production (simple but so effective) and performances were spot on. The story of ‘simple’ folk gaining wider national exposure for an artistic endeavour reminded me of Pitmen Painters - one of my absolute favourite plays of the last 20 years - and the arc of the play had a similar satisfying and moving effect. Pitmen Painters was a play that started off small but then, quite rightly, grew hugely in its exposure and this deserves a comparable future.

Just got the marketing email about The Snail House by Richard Eyre and came here for a wee grumble!

Sir Neil Marriot had a ‘good pandemic’, becoming familiar to millions from his TV appearances as a government medical advisor, and he is now rewarding himself with a lavish birthday party.

But, amidst the oak panelling, the champagne and the silver service, his family are at one another’s throats again, and he thinks there’s something familiar – and somehow unsettling – about one of the catering staff…

I mean I know it's practically law for writers to do a posh family party with underlying secrets drama (didn't they just have one at the Hampstead with Robert Lindsay?) but this sounds stale. I'd expect something a bit more original from the bloke who once ran the NT