Theatre of Blood

Synopsis

Seven self-regarding critics assemble at a disused theatre in response to a mysterious invitation. Too late they discover its gruesome purpose as Edward Lionheart, an actor frenzied by a lifetime of sneering reviews, hacks his revengeful way through the bloody works of Shakespeare, assisted by a gang of murderous tramps. The laws of theatre supersede the laws of physics in this macabre exhibition of putty noses, Kensington gore and some very large acting indeed.

Our Review:

20 May 2005

Emerging from the National after seeing Theatre of Blood - a good old-fashioned bit of entertaining shlock-horror about a bunch of drama critics meeting their end at the hands of a disaffected actor-manager who feels he has been robbed of his due credit (and the 1972 Critics' Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance) by them - I couldn't help but look over my shoulder. Would Kevin Spacey be lurking in The Cut on my way home, ready to slice my throat after my recent run of reviews of his shows at the Old Vic?

Or - given the methods that Edward Lionheart gleefully employs here to dispatch his detractors, re-playing Shakespearean death scenes on the critics he has assembled at a crumbling derelict theatre - would I be slapped in the face by the tassels hanging from Miss Immodesty Blaize's fulsome breasts until I suffocated in her dreadful Burlesque show at the Arts? Or would I simply be bored to death by being made to watch ...