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Donmar Warehouse in general
 Donmar Warehouse in general ... a banana warehouse and a film studio - this tiny repertory theatre is one of the great success stories of the 1990s. Created as a studio space for the RSC in 1977, it became a shabby but popular fringe theatre in the 1980s, a testing ground for producers with big ideas but little money. When the Victorian warehouse became chic in the early 1990s, the Donmar was given a designer makeover, to create a spare, comfortable venue, with the audience almost on top of the stage. The re-design was overseen by the Donmar’s new artistic director Sam Mendes, then only 24. Under his lead, there then followed an astonishing run of commercial and critical hits: daring, imaginative works that struck a chord with audiences and placed the Donmar at the cutting edge of British Theatre. After a decade of success, with hardly a duff production, Mendes left for Hollywood, where he won five Academy Awards, including best picture and best director for American Beauty (1999). His theatre has remained the “epicenter of artistic glamour in London” (New York Times).Newest Review: ... and while it lacks some of the classic Pinter ingredients - no cockney wideboys or sinister descriptions of bus routes - it?s still superb. Pinter is certainly one of the greatest British writers of the last half-century, probably only surpassed by Angela Carter. He might have slipped into self-parody slightly in recent years - he wrote a mind-bogglingly awful poem ... more ... about the first Gulf War - but he still has the old intensity, and I?m very glad he?s still around. Old Times is about a married couple, Deeley and Kate, both about 40, living somewhere on the coast. Kate?s old friend, ...more |
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Donmar Warehouse in general: Old Times (1411 words)
by hogsflesh - written on 04.08.04 (Very useful, 354 readings)
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The Donmar is probably the best of the smaller London theatres (only the Almeida comes close). Unlike most West End theatres it stages its own productions rather than housing other people?s, and so is far more like the National Theatre than any of the identikit theatres along Shaftesbury Avenue. It has a pretty formidable reputation, and often attracts big stars (well, big stars in theatre terms, anyway). Everything I?ve ever seen there has been good. It?s currently showing Pinter?s Old Times, which I?ve just seen, and which I?m about to heartily recommend to everyone. The ...
Donmar at it's best :) (248 words)
by Sunflower - written on 28.06.01 (Useful, 69 readings)
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I visited the Donmar Warehouse, to see a production of Dusty Hughes 'Helpless'. I must admit, I do not go to the thetre a great deal. Living quite far off from London, I only really go when there is a particularly well recommended production or if there is a cast member I am fond of. To be honest, in the last couple of years I have only been to Wyndham's theatre and to the Donmar. In my own personal opinion, the Donmar is far better :) The theatre has a very personal atmosphere. It is small and therefore holds fewer people adding to the personal atmosphere. There are a selection of seats on the lower level which are very close to the stage and also an ...
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