Emily Louizou

Lyttelton Theatre @The National Theatre Phaedra 2023-02-23 Simon Stone certainly knows how to direct stunning productions! He also knows how to re-tell old stories in the most accessible ways. His production of “Phaedra” is a new play, inspired by the myth of Phaedra and the three plays by Euripides, Seneca and Racine. Interestingly, in Stone’s play there is no ‘Phaedra’. All characters have been given new names and the myth has been re-introduced via a contemporary prism.

National Theatre Othello 2022-12-12 I still remember going to the National to watch Nicholas Hytner’s production of Othello for the Olivier stage. Almost ten years have passed since that visit, and strangely enough (despite numerous other visits to staging of Shakespeare’s classics) I hadn’t got to watch another revival of Othello. This made me look forward to my visit to the Lyttelton last week and to Clint Dyer’s new production of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

Lyric, Hammersmith Closer 2022-08-06 Closer was first performed 25 years ago – in May 1997. I first saw it in Athens in 2008 and was immediately hooked by the play’s power through simplicity, the beautiful symmetry of its structure, and the raw emotions it explores (the directness of the language too!). I then got to see the 2015 London production and realised that the themes of betrayal and deception had an even bigger impact on me. It was a joy to watch Clare Lizzimore’s production last night.