Tag Archives: Samuel Barnett

I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be

Posted on June 5, 2022 by lesleyjonesberry

I encountered T.S. Eliot when I was about 17;  Shakespeare I’d known a little longer.   Lines like these – allusions which I could actually catch (and Eliot was hugely allusive, especially in his earlier work) – played a part in the thrill of recognition I felt on first reading him.  I still, vividly,  remember starting to read the Four Quartets for the first time – at home, in the ‘front room’ as we called it (a whole socio-economic digression possible in that term.  I will resist). Continue reading →

Posted in Moving on | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Masters, look to see a troublous world

Posted on November 21, 2016 by lesleyjonesberry

As I tried to find some way to comprehend the US Election result, Richard III came to mind.   I do not suggest that Trump is as evil, or as intelligent, as Shakespeare’s Richard; I wondered rather about the circumstances which allow … Continue reading →

Posted in Moving on | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Inspiration

Posted on January 26, 2014 by lesleyjonesberry

Last year, my theatre-going declined, for a number of reasons I won’t go into here. The gap was, to some extent, bridged by the NT Live re-broadcasts and our autumn was spent revisiting the past: A Habit of Art, Frankenstein, … Continue reading →

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pass it on

Posted on April 13, 2013 by lesleyjonesberry

I was trying to write a blog contrasting quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and posed the example question “Why has Nick Hytner been good for the National Theatre?”.  Quantitatively, one would look at revenue and audience numbers, but the post was entirely hijacked by … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

He stars eternally

Posted on March 30, 2013 by lesleyjonesberry

I love The History Boys – although explaining how and why I love it is probably another blog.  This weekend, any thoughts of that wonderful production are dominated by our loss of the colossal, inimitable Richard Griffiths. 

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas..

Posted on January 25, 2013 by lesleyjonesberry

This is merely a postscript to my post “A Foolish Thing”, after which I was so incapacitated by excitement that I was unable to write another word for months. Ok, less excitingly, but more accurately, the demands of work and … Continue reading →

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A foolish thing

Posted on November 17, 2012 by lesleyjonesberry

Christmas is approaching:  every shop, magazine and TV advert tries to persuade us that an illusory Christmas can be ours if we just spend money on a particular gadget, fragrance, food production, type of alcohol or whatever.  Yesterday, I suppose … Continue reading →

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The wheel is come full circle.

Posted on September 26, 2012 by lesleyjonesberry

Back in the late 1970s and early 80s I was incredibly lucky.  My mum loved theatre and we spent our summer holidays in Stratford seeing every play we could in the course of a single week’s stay.  Over the years

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

No enchanted evening, but summer plans

Posted on February 5, 2012 by lesleyjonesberry

Theatre in 2012 started with confirmation of my worst prejudices: an ex-West End South Pacific touring the provinces with a tediously competent production which lacked both energy and imagination. Never mind – compensation in the post

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment