Countess Of Grantham And Jesse Eisenberg Among The Stars In This Week's West End

By Johnny Fox Last edited 94 months ago
Countess Of Grantham And Jesse Eisenberg Among The Stars In This Week's West End
The Spoils

Whether you’re hoping for exciting new drama, or spotting film and telly stars on stage, it’s looking like a good week.

Greek

The recession explored in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s Sunset at the Villa Thalia is set in the house his parents built on Skiathos when he was a kid, and before the island was invaded by easyJet. Over the years the house is visited by an English and an American couple where the wife is ‘her ladyship’ from Downton Abbey, Elizabeth McGovern.

Geek

Double dose, here, for geek fanciers as The Spoils at Trafalgar Studios features both first rate American actor Jesse Eisenberg, who played Mark Zuckerberg in the Facebook movie The Social Network,, and ‘Raj’ from Big Bang Theory, Kunal Nayyar, who really does talk like that in real life. It’s all about revenge and sex.

Bleak

A landscape of Modern Britain satirised by five famous and Corbynistic writers — from Mark Ravenhill’s fabulously expletive opener to David Hare’s cryptic and bizarre fantasy in which George Osborne meets Ayn Rand (look her up), A View from Islington North features Jane Wymark, Mrs Barnaby from Midsomer Murders and the spectacular Ann Mitchell from Widows and EastEnders. Arts Theatre.

Peak

Still pushing the boundaries at a career-topping 74, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em star Michael Crawford, the original Phantom of the Opera, heads the cast of The Go-Between, LP Hartley’s charming book-turned-musical at the Apollo. In flashback, he recalls being a boy carrying messages between illicit lovers in a sentimentally sunlit 1900.

Winning streak

Kenneth Branagh’s season Plays At The Garrick has a cast iron cert with Romeo and Juliet: easier to list who off the telly is NOT in it, but as well as Lily James (Lady Rose from Downton) and Richard Madden from Game of Thrones as the star-crossed lovers, highlights must include Derek Jacobi (Vicious, Last Tango in Halifax) as Mercutio and Meera Syal (Goodness Gracious Me) as Juliet’s nurse.

Last Updated 29 May 2016