Anthony Walker-Cook
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Writing on LEGO for @Blocksmagazine and occasionally academic quibbles on c18 women’s writing
Articles by Anthony Walker-Cook
Women (Re)Writing Milton
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Interview: Liam Brennan Talks About Returning to the Role of Inspector Goole in AN INSPECTOR CALLS
Liam Brennan has played the role of Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls in the West End and on Broadway - he returns to the role this year as part of the touring 30 year anniversary of the National Theatre's production. He speaks to BroadwayWorld about returning to the role. What's your earliest theatre memory?
BWW Interview: Nancy Carroll Talks MANOR at the National Theatre
Nancy Carroll's credits include seven previous productions at The National Theatre and, recently, The Crown on Netflix. She is currently starring in The National Theatre's production of Manor, a new play by Moira Buffini. Carroll plays Diana, the owner of a country house who finds a group of strangers knocking at her door one stormy night. She spoke about her involvement with this project over the course of two years and its relevance. How have you been over the past few years?
Steve Bowsher, Head of Larchwood Primary School
Steve Bowsher, Head of Larchwood Primary School Written by Anthony Walker-Cook in Interviews👁 41 Wednesday 10 November 2021, 8.37pm Click here to listen to the interview: https://www.phoenixfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-10-22-Mr-Steve-Bowsher-Head-of-Larchwood-Primary-School-Anthony-Walker-Cook.mp3 In the first of a new series of interviews, Anthony Walker-Cook talks to Steve Bowsher, Head of Larchwood Primary School in Pilgrims Hatch.
BWW Review: WHAT A CARVE UP!, Online
At a time when live theatre has again been yanked from our grasp, the joint efforts of The Barn Theatre, The New Wolsey Theatre and The Lawrence Batley Theatre to produce an adaptation of Jonathan Coe's What a Carve Up! is a welcome tonic amidst such ever-darkening days. In January 1991, six members of the infamous Winshaw clan were murdered in their family estate.
BWW Review: TONIGHT AT THE LONDON COLISEUM: SHARON D. CLARKE, London Coliseum
Few performers in the industry are on top of their game like Sharon D Clarke right now. After storming performances in Caroline, or Change and Blues in the Night in London, Clarke was in rehearsals for the former show on Broadway when COVID-19 hit. From the London Coliseum, she now opens a series of online cabarets, Tonight at the London Coliseum, with brio and passion.
Wake Up With BWW 8/24: The Tony Awards Will Air Digitally This Fall, and More!
Plus, learn about James Lapine's new book about creating Sunday in the Park with George, and more! Good morning, BroadwayWorld! The American Theatre Wing's 74th Annual Tony Awards will air digitally this fall. Final eligibility determinations will be made by the Tony Awards Administration Committee in the coming days. Additional information, including a date and platform for the awards ceremony, will be announced soon.
BWW Interview: Anoushka Lucas Talks JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Anoushka Lucas as Mary in Jesus Christ Superstar Anoushka Lucas first played the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 2016. She has now returned to a socially distanced concert production of the show at the same venue, which is directed by Timothy Sheader. This concert production sees the theatre's traditional 1,256 capacity reduced to 390 and the lead roles of Jesus, Judas and Mary all double-cast.
BWW Review: THE DEEP BLUE SEA, National Theatre At Home
The latest NT at Home digital offering is Terence Rattigan's 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea, which was performed at The National Theatre in 2016. Directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring the indomitable Helen McCrory, this post-war microcosm bristles with desperate passion. When Hester Collyer (McCrory) is found unconscious next to an open gas tap and with an empty bottle of aspirin tablets, the worst is assumed.
BWW Review: THE GRINNING MAN, Bristol Old Vic At Home
"And so we find ourselves gathered once again at the altar of sweet distraction," purrs Julian Bleach's Barkilphedro, an ambitious court clown, at the beginning of The Grinning Man - a musical with book and lyrics by Carl Grose and music by Tim Phillips. If only, you might think: being in a theatre would do more than put a smile on my face right now.
BWW Interview: Robert Glenister Talks THE SEAGULL at the Playhouse Theatre
Robert Glenister in rehearsals. Robert Glenister is currently treading the boards at the Playhouse Theatre in Anya Reiss's adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull. Starring alongside Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke and Indira Varma, The Seagull marks Glenister's second production with director Jamie Lloyd. Glenister's recent theatre credits include Alys, Always at the Bridge Theatre and Pinter Four as part of Lloyd's Pinter at the Pinter season.
Sinners, Playground Theatre review - intimacy but also fear
Layla is trapped in a pit of sand up to her shoulders, with a shroud over her head and piles of rocks surrounding her. On steps Nur, who has been tasked with arranging the rocks. The two were engaged in an adulterous affair, and he must begin the public stoning of his lover by casting the first stone. So begins Sinners, which is directed by Brian Cox, the Scottish actor who received a Golden Globe last month for his role in HBO’s Succession.
BWW Review: WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Following the lacklustre reception of The Taming of the Shrew, Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women opens in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as part of the Globe's continuing 'She Wolves and Shrews' season. Where Shakespeare's play showed a woman tamed, however, Middleton explores the unbridled rage and fallout of women scorned.
BWW Review: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, Dominion Theatre
Writer of songs such as "Defying Gravity" and "Popular", Stephen Schwartz is for many the epitome of musical theatre. But cast your mind back to before Wicked and remember The Prince of Egypt, a 1998 DreamWorks animated film for which Schwartz penned "When You Believe". Now at the Dominion Theatre and bolstered with 10 songs penned by Schwartz, a new stage adaptation unfortunately defies little other than the audience's patience.
Michael Billington Talks About His Career at the National Theatre
At a platform at the National Theatre on a blustery February evening, Michael Billington spoke with artistic director Rufus Norris about his career and processes. Billington stepped down from his role as chief theatre critic of the Guardian, a position he held for 48 years, at the end of 2019. Ask any critic, and they'll be able to think of plays or genres that they dislike or have difficulties with.
BWW Review: PASS OVER, Kiln Theatre
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Feb. 20, 2020 After you have seen Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over, you might give a second thought to the next street beggar you see and, probably, ignore. Moses and Kitch are both homeless black men living on a street corner. Daily they hear about the deaths of other struggling souls at the hands of cruel, sadistic police officers. Yet the two men are trapped, held by social rules that prevent them from escaping this painful life.
BWW Interview: Kevin Mathurin Talks THE VISIT at the National Theatre
Tony Turner, Sam Cox and Kevin Mathurin in The Visit Kevin Mathurin is currently appearing in The Visit, Tony Kushner's adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play of the same name at The National Theatre. Mathurin plays Bill, one of the inhabitants of Slurry tempted by Claire Zachanassian's offer of a billion dollars in exchange for the murder of one man... What excites you about working in theatre? Performing live, in front of an audience, is a truly special experience for me.
BWW Review: THE HIGH TABLE, Bush Theatre
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Feb. 15, 2020 Love was in the air at the Bush Theatre this Valentine's Day with the opening of Temi Wilkey's new play The High Table. A heartfelt drama that spans generations of a Nigerian family, this is a confident debut. When Tara announces her engagement to Lisa to her parents, things don't go according to plan and the relationship is called an "abomination".
Long Overdue Recognition of a Vital Role at the Casting Directors' Guild Awards 2020
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Feb. 12, 2020 The winners of the Casting Directors' Guild Awards 2020 have been announced - see the full list here! Casting directors of theatre, film and television gathered at London's Ham Yard Hotel last night to celebrate the significant achievements of the guild's members.
BWW Interview: Debbie Kurup Talks THE PRINCE OF EGYPT in the West End
Debbie Kurup in rehearsal for The Prince of Egypt Debbie Kurup's recent roles include Blues in the Night at the Kiln Theatre), Sweet Charity at Donmar Warehouse), and Girl from the North Country at the Old Vic and in the West End. Kurup is now in Stephen Schwartz's The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre, playing the role of Queen Tuya. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about self-representation, the large scale of the show, and the theatrical magic that awaits audiences.
BWW Review: THE HAYSTACK, Hampstead Theatre
Terrorism. Online security. Passwords. Encryption. Cookies. These are all familiar terms in the modern world. Odds are, as audiences take their seats in the Hampstead Theatre to watch Al Blyth's new play The Haystack, they'll finish a text or quickly dash out an e-mail before turning off their phones. The walls have ears, they used to say - but now, the threat seems much closer, with the objects we rely on daily becoming tools to invade our privacy. But is this a necessary evil?
BWW Review: FAUSTUS: THAT DAMNED WOMAN, Lyric Hammersmith
If like many you find yourself wishing you could change the world right now, you might want to first pop down to the Lyric Hammersmith to see Chris Bush's Faustus: That Damned Woman. Taking Christopher Marlowe's Renaissance play and bringing parts of it into the twenty-first century, Bush's new work reminds audiences that dealings with the devil always ever benefit one person. Hint: it's not you or me. This is an adaptation, of sorts.
BWW Review: THE SUNSET LIMITED, Boulevard Theatre
"What is a true book?" Cormac McCarthy's early attempts to distinguish the nature of fiction in The Sunset Limited are, at the very least, ironic. A programme essay from Joe Penhall suggests the difficulty of the play form is the reason McCarthy has only ever had two performed. To be blunt, it shows. McCarthy is no doubt best known for The Road, a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel that was adapted into a film in 2009. The problem is that The Sunset Limited feels simply like a novel put on the stage.
BWW Review: SCENES WITH GIRLS, Royal Court
"It was human tapioca." An unusual way to describe a party, perhaps, but a stickily accurate one. That's just one of many effective lines in Miriam Battye's Scenes with girls at the Royal Court. Knowing references, squeals of delight and animated gestures confirm the hilarious familiarity shared between Tosh and Lou as the two dissect said party, and from there audiences are quickly drawn into their comfortable space. Tosh (Tanya Reynolds) and Lou (Rebekah Murrell) are flatmates.
BWW Review: FASCINATING AÏDA, Southbank Centre
Fascinating Aïda's new show offers irreverent looks to growing old, politics, the environment, dogging, and everything in between. Having gone "fungal" with "Dogging" and the infamously naughty "Try Not To Be a C**t, It's Christmas", the group are now playing a limited four-week season at the Queen Elizabeth Hall before a spring tour in 2020.
BWW Review: LONDON COMMUNITY GOSPEL CHOIR AT CHRISTMAS, Royal Albert Hall
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Dec. 15, 2019 Two towering Christmas trees dominate the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. Pillars of festive spirit, they were an ample backdrop for the London Community Gospel Choir's (LCGC) Christmas concert, which was a magical evening of love and worship. Host Angie Greaves began the evening with only one rule: the Royal Albert Hall was to be a space where no one talked about politics. Instead, it was to be a chamber of dance, singing, and having fun.
BWW Interview: Anna-Jane Casey Talks GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY at Gielgud Theatre
Anna-Jane Casey in Girl from the North Country Following successful runs at the Old Vic, in the West End and in New York, Conor McPherson's Girl from the North Country returns for a limited run at the Gielgud Theatre. Anna-Jane Casey's past work includes Chicago, Billy Elliot and Calendar Girls, alongside regular appearances in the BBC's Prom series. She talks about her role, Bob Dylan's music and the audience reactions she's experienced so far. Why do you decide to take on this role?
BWW Review: TEENAGE DICK, Donmar Warehouse
It's a case of rather ironic programming that the press night for Mike Lew's Teenage Dick at the Donmar Warehouse was on the 12 December, the day of the General Election in the UK. An adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III, Lew's new play is a meditation on the nature of power transposed to an American high school.
BWW Review: THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, Almeida Theatre
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Dec. 11, 2019 Following the success of Summer and Smoke at both the Almeida and the Duke of York's theatre, director Rebecca Frecknall returns to the former venue with John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. Taking Webster's grotesque tale of betrayal, this production sets the lives of its female characters on brutal display with a relentless atmosphere.
BWW Interview: Amy Morgan Talks A KIND OF PEOPLE at the Royal Court
Amy Morgan in rehearsal for A Kind of People With recent roles in Noises Off and Exit the King, Amy Morgan can now be seen at the Royal Court in Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's A Kind of People. Set during a party on a Friday night, this new play examines seven people and asks wider questions about communities in Britain today. BroadwayWorld spoke with Amy about her character, Victoria, the rehearsal process, and how the play compares to her previous work. What excites you about working in theatre?
BWW Review: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, The Mill At Sonning
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Dec. 6, 2019 If you're in need of a brief sojourn away from London this Christmas period, then I've little hesitation in recommending the Mill at Sonning's Singin' in the Rain. With a fine cast, you'll be hard pressed to find a more impressive show in London than this production. No element of the production betrays the small theatre's out-of-London location - simply put, this is a production of the highest standard.
BWW Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, The Old Vic
Click Here for More Articles on A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2019) by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Dec. 4, 2019 Panto might be the stalwart annual theatre trip at Christmas (yes, I know, "oh no it isn't"...), but The Old Vic's production of A Christmas Carol, now in its third year, is fast catching up as one of the most joyous experiences of the festive season.
BWW Review: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, National Theatre
At the beginning of My Brilliant Friend, all there is on stage is a desk, a chair and a laptop. For the Olivier stage (and the for the National Theatre in general), it's noticeably, almost surprisingly bare, but one thing is clear: a story is about to be told.
BWW Review: THE LION, THE WARDROBE AND THE WARDROBE, Bridge Theatre
Copies of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe have decorated children's bookshelves since its publication in 1950, and the image of a solitary gas lamppost amidst a blanket of white snow has become iconic. Following a successful run at the Leeds Playhouse in 2017, Sally Cookson's adaptation of Lewis's novel is now at the Bridge Theatre, and proves a perfect tonic to the theatrical soul, with impeccable design and innovative scenic effects.
BWW Review: RICHARD III, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
What you might not expect when sitting down in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, a replica Elizabethan indoor theatre, is to see the titular character of Richard III enter on stage wearing football clothes. Granted, it's an unusual twist. Representing a companion to a condensed Henry VI (which squishes three plays into one), what Richard III makes clear from the beginning is that the game to become king is just beginning. It remains one of my own rather unsavoury features that I cannot stand Macbeth.
BWW Interview: Josh Williams Talks TOUCHING THE VOID at Duke Of York's Theatre
Angus Yellowlees and Josh Williams in Touching the Void After a premiere at Bristol Old Vic, and a tour including Inverness and Hong Kong, Touching the Void is now at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End. Writer David Greig and director Morris have managed the astonishing feat of translating to stage the story of Joe Simpson, who was stranded in the Peruvian Andes after his climbing partner Simon Yates had to make the terrible decision to cut the rope connecting them.
BWW Review: I WILL STILL BE WHOLE (WHEN YOU RIP ME IN HALF)/BEFORE I WAS A BEAR, The Bunker
Though the Bunker will be closing early 2020, it has rightly garnered a reputation for providing a platform for new voices. As such, i will still be whole (when you rip me in half) and Before I Was A Bear are the respective debut plays of Ava Wong Davies and Eleanor Tindall, and they proclaim their authors as confident new voices. Ava Wong Davies is already a respected writer and critic.
Engaging A New Generation of Talent at THEATRECRAFT 2019
On a sunny November morning, the Royal Opera House opened its doors for TheatreCraft 2019, the UK's largest free event for those aged 16-30 who want an offstage career in theatre. BroadwayWorld attended the event alongside over 1,300 young people to learn more about the jobs that happen behind the scenes in venues across the country.
BWW Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre" src="/ezoimgfmt/cloudimages.broadwayworld.com/3stars.png?ezimgfmt=rs:171x55/rscb1/ngcb1" style="float:right" />As you enter the Barbican's auditorium to watch the RSC's The Taming of the Shrew, you can't miss the sound of fireworks in the background. It's implied a celebration is coming. As part of this RSC season alongside As You Like It and Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew is directed by Justin Audibert, but is it an explosion of theatrical goodness or a wet fizzle?
Sydney and the Old Girl at the Park Theatre: A Great Cast in a Dark Show
Arts, Theatre · 2 mins ago · Though Sydney might be referring to his mother’s television when he comments “If you don’t treat things right, they get broke,” the comment is as applicable to his own psyche. Following the great success of The Weatherman also at the Park Theatre last year, Eugene O’Hare’s Sydney and the Old Girl marks another strong piece that explores a (troubling) dark corner of modern England.
BWW Review: DEATH OF A SALESMAN, Piccadilly Theatre
Following a sold-out run at the Young Vic, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman has transferred to the West End and, with blistering direction from Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell, it remains one of the standout shows of the year. The Loman family are here cast (by Charlotte Sutton) as an African-American family.
As You Like It (RSC) at the Barbican is a 'true celebration' directed with 'verve and style'
Arts, Theatre · 2 mins ago · Shakespeare’s greenest play As You Like It is a personal favourite. Exploring themes of city versus country, family and renaissance love poetry, it is a play that extolls the virtues of taking a step back and taking the wider view, and God knows we need that now. This RSC production has transferred from Stratford to the Barbican, the company’s London home.
BWW Review: SINATRA: RAW, Wilton's Music Hall
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Oct. 24, 2019 Start spreading the news, Richard Shelton's renowned cabaret Sinatra: Raw is now at Wilton's Music Hall as the culmination of a national tour. Previously receiving an Offie nomination for Best Male Performance, Shelton brings his depiction of one of history's finest singers for a two-week engagement.
BWW Review: BERYL, Arcola Theatre
The winner of over 90 domestic championships and seven national titles alongside setting a slew of records, Beryl Burton was one of England's most successful cyclists. With a career that started in the late 1950s and that continued into the 1980s, the dedication and strength of "the Yorkshire housewife" certainly represented the grit and determination associated with the North. Why, then, do we know so little about Burton today?
'There’s not enough meat on the bones of' Fast at the Park Theatre
Arts, Theatre · 38 mins ago · Emily Bestow’s set for Fast,a new play by Kate Barton, suggests the show is just in time for Halloween. With a woodland setting, there’s a definite sense of a haunted lab that houses a mad scientist around the intimate space of Park90. It’s the early years of the twentieth century, and medical quack ‘Doctor’ Linda Hazzard (Caroline Lawrie) believes in fasting as a cure for disease.
BWW Review: SETTLING THE SCORE, Royal Albert Hall
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Oct. 20, 2019 Pub quiz time, and it's the music round. Question one: who composed the scores of Rogue One, The Incredibles 2 and Doctor Strange? Question two: who composed the scores of Godzilla, Good Omens and Independence Day? The answer to the first question is Michael Giacchino and the second is David Arnold.
BWW Interview: Sharon D Clarke Talks DEATH OF A SALESMAN at Piccadilly Theatre
The Loman family: Sope Dirisu, Wendell Pierce, Sharon D Clarke and Natey Jones It's been a good year for Sharon D Clarke. In April, she finished starring in Caroline, or Change, for which she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Clarke and the show transfer to Broadway next year. In the summer, she was The Lady in Blues in the Night at the Kiln Theatre, and she also starred as Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic.
BWW Review: MEET ME AT DAWN, Arcola Theatre
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Oct. 16, 2019 In a programme note, Meet Me At Dawn's writer Zinnie Harris explains that the work engages with the life-defining moment in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice when the former looks back and seals his lover's fate to remain in the underworld. This look, rightly pointed out as difficult to stage because of its fleetingness, occupies the entirety of Harris' play, allowing the two figures to converse, laugh and, most importantly, say goodbye.
BWW Review: BABY REINDEER, Bush Theatre
by Anthony Walker-Cook BroadwayWorld.com Oct. 11, 2019 It all started with Richard Gadd offering a lonely woman a cup of tea in a bar. Little did Gadd know that in the coming years that same woman would begin to stalk him relentlessly. In this brave monologue, Gadd walks audiences through this autobiographical story step by painful step.
'Master Harold'...and the Boys at the National Theatre: 'Once it takes off, it absolutely soars'
Arts, Theatre · 3 mins ago · A programme note from playwright Athol Fugard reveals that ‘Master Harold’… and the Boys was written as an apology. It is, he writes, ‘probably the most intensely personal thing I have ever written’, and by goodness does it show. The setting is a tearoom in Port Elizabeth in 1950. Sam (Lucian Msamati) and Willie (Hammed Animashaun) are completing the final bits of cleaning before shutting for the night. Willie is also trying to learn a quickstep with Sam’s guidance.
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