A couple of weeks ago, I
watched an online broadcast of Reasons to be Cheerful, a street-smart musical
based around the songs of the late Ian Dury. I’d been asked to review it for a radio
programme, and is one of the few online theatre streams I’ve watched, preferring
to remain stubbornly puritanical about the sanctity of the live experience over
a diluted onscreen one. I’d seen the original stage production of Paul Sirett’s
play presented by Graeae Theatre Company back in 2012 when it toured to Dundee,
and this revival had been filmed in front of a live audience at the Theatre
Royal, Stratford East.
This was a fitting venue for the show, having been put on the map in the 1950s and 1960s by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop company. The once dilapidated emporium the company called home became a launchpad for working class actors, many of whom becoming household names in popular film and TV.
Probably the best known of TW alumni is former Carry On and EastEnders star, Barbara Wind…
This was a fitting venue for the show, having been put on the map in the 1950s and 1960s by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop company. The once dilapidated emporium the company called home became a launchpad for working class actors, many of whom becoming household names in popular film and TV.
Probably the best known of TW alumni is former Carry On and EastEnders star, Barbara Wind…