Tuesday 11 September 2012

My Nights Out At London Theatre

Jussi Kangas: Pyynikki Summer Theatre, Tuntematon Sotilas 12.7.1961
(Tampere Museum picture archive)
One of my real passions in life is theatre. Ever since I was a little girl and my mother dragged me and my sister to the summer theatre in Tampere (a revolving stage in Pyynikki which is still going strong and which you absolutely must visit if you're in central Finland during summer), and later to the grand Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, I've loved the stage. As a little girl I wanted to become an actress (who doesn't?) and then a theatre critic, but as often happens life got in the way, we moved to the country, and I became a novelist instead.

Now that I'm finally living in London, the capital of good theatre, I'm taking every opportunity to see as many plays as humanly possible (and my back and wallet allows…) I've seen great performances on all the notable theatres such as The Donmar Warehouse, The National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, The Almeida as well as some famous West End Theatres (too many to mention!) and some small stages such the Arcola and The New Diorama Theatre. There are so many stages, so much on offer here in London that some time ago I decided to set up a designated blog for my reviews.

Me as aspiring actress during my Dr Zhivago phase.
If you like theatre, and want to find out if a play is (in my humble opinion) worth seeing or not, go and visit my theatre site, Strindberg's Daughter. There you'll find stories on all my nights out at the theatre, the good, the bad, and the totally disastrous ones when the only option is to walk out of the theatre…and get a headache.


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