The Ocean at the End of the Lane @Liverpool Empire reviewed

 

“There’s things that lurk down there” warns old Mrs Hempstock in this National Theatre touring production has rightly garnered much acclaim for its unusual take on folklore and families based on Neil Gaiman’s 2013 novel. This adaptation is from Joel Harwood and is directed by Katy Rudd. She’s not wrong is old Miss H. Over the course of the play the audience will face some scary creatures and even scarier people in a visually stunning slice of theatre.

 

True Faith

Emperor and Galilean @ Olivier Theatre, London
Reviewed by John Newman

Set between 351 and 363 AD Emperor and Galilean concerns the Roman ruler Julian the Apostate and his attempts to revert the empire to pagan religion. Originally written as a two part ten hour epic by Henrik Ibsen which premiered in 1896 it has rarely been performed since and never staged in the UK. That is until this summer when Ben Power’s lean three hour twenty minute long adaptation was staged at the NT Olivier Theatre. Ibsen subtitled the work “ a World- Historical Play” and it is described by American academic Toril Moi as raising “the question of whether human beings have the power to shape history or whether history has a will of its own” . Ibsen described it as his most important work yet it is probably his least known.