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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Adrian Noble.
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Chris Carmack, Sebastian Abineri, Michael Brown, David Killick, Tom Lawrence, Kate O'Toole, Chris Ravenscroft, Hanne Steen, Hannah Stokely
Description: Gripping drama set in America's Deep South in 1916. A young southern belle, Alma has always adored John, the charismatic son of her neighbour. Her unrequited love soon begins to affect the lives of those around her in an unpredictable way. Written by Tennessee Williams, directed by Adrian Noble.
Trains: Tube: Piccadilly Circus 
Phone: 0870890 1101
Website: www.nimaxtheatres.com
Rosamund Pike and Chris Carmack in Summer And Smoke
A modern American classic is rediscovered. Of all Tennessee Williams's plays none has been more mysteriously neglected here than this beautiful, poetic lament for a sexually desolate preacher's daughter, Alma Winemiller.
Rosamund Pike's Alma is ruined because she shelters too long in the stifling embrace of sexual repression. Summer And Smoke dates from Williams's great period of The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, whose frightened and passionate heroines have striking points of emotional and sexual similarity with Alma.
Yet it has languished in oblivion for 55 years since the London premiere. Adrian Noble's production misses Williams's bleak comedy and becomes too winsomely picturesque, but reveals the play's enduring vitality.
Set in Williams's Mississippi heartland in 1916, Summer And Smoke delivers a metaphysical and romantic message about the uses and abuses of sex that resonates today. That message is transmitted through Alma, a sweet girl in her twenties whom Williams terms "prematurely spinsterish", all a flutter with nerves and laughter, agitations and palpitations.
Since childhood she has nursed an unrequited passion for Chris Carmack's-John Buchanan, the hedonistic boy next door. Yet Rosamund Pike, that cool, pale English rose girl of chocolate box good looks, to whom natural elegance and sophistication insist upon clinging, never betrays the jangles and jitters of the chronically nervous or sexually virginal. Her talents lie elsewhere - at least 20 miles away.
Unable to summon up symptoms of spinsterishness, to suggest what sexual longings pulse beneath Alma's facade or to sob uncontrollably, Miss Pike's Alma wafts serenely through her smalltown life, with literary evenings at home, while trying to care for a doleful preacher father and malicious, mentally impaired mother (Angela Down).
Alma discreetly pursues John Buchanan, a doctor with a ravenous taste for bad-time Mexican girls, alcohol and casinos, as if she did not really mind if she failed to catch him. She scarcely simmers with undercover desire for him or fear of him when he gets out his stethoscope and undoes her blouse.
Carmack's local homme fatal does not simply flaunt his sexy, model-boy good looks. His surprisingly powerful and intense performance reflects John's self-disgust and dismay that for him love is all down to sex - a violent contest that draws blood, scratches and disaster.
Noble's production does not inspire. Peter McKintosh's awkward design, for example, which makes it appear Alma and John live in the same house, is framed by an angel's statue and fountain in a denuded park.
A fountain and a starry, picture-book sky are the only signs of the atmospheric detail Williams required. Perhaps directors have ignored Summer And Smoke because of its lack of exciting plot lines. Yet, with some debts to both Lorca and DH Lawrence, Williams organised a sad, subtle story about the dynamics of sexual love.
Alma seeks a soulful and spiritual bond with the violently sexual John. He reveals himself mildly intrigued by her flaming puritanism, a puritanism she at last rejects - but too late. When John's pursuit of Hanne Steen's sultry Rosa indirectly lead to his father's death he realises there may be more to desire than simple sex.
Both he and Alma have changed their minds about intimacy, but for Alma, obsessed by longings, the door remains closed to happiness. In Summer And Smoke Williams wrestles fascinatingly with sex and love. It makes a fine match
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reading reviews of the play I was led to believe that Chris Carmack was going to appear on stage shirtless, dressed only in his underwear for a particular scene. To my utter dismay, last night, that scene was played by Mr Carmack in his underwear AND a vest. A VEST!
Being quite patient and not wanting to jump to conclusions, instead of rushing out at that point, I stayed and watched the rest of the play, in the hope that the shirtless scene was coming up. I was horrified to realise that the vest fiasco was the only instance that Mr Carmack would come close to baring his flesh.
It is no wonder, following this travesty, that the play is closing 3 months prematurely. If the nudity wasn't consistent, the word must have got out. I wish I had heard about this myself - it would have saved me sitting through this for 2.5 hours. Plus there were delays on the tube home, but I suppose I can't complain to you about that.
- Tom, London
Absolutely wonderful production, subtle, controlledly passionate, moving, poetic, hugely entertaining. Award-worthy performances from both leads, Rosamund Pike almost luminescing off the stage, and excellent production values - I recommend it heartily.
- Nick Black, London, UK
Sets, design and lighting all superb - the stage is always like a painting - who needs theatre-in-the-round? The love scene in the 2nd half between Alma and Dr. John was so powerful it even had me welling up. Magnificent - go see.
- John, Twickenham, UK
Gorgeous production and the most incredible performances from Rosamund Pike and Chris Carmack.
- Mary, Nottingham, UK
