It’s never particularly obvious what she actually wants; but probably she doesn’t know herself, her entire journey a sort of listless poking at her own spiritual void.

Film includes In Our Name (winning Best Newcomer at British Independent Film Awards), Dark Angel, A Crooked Somebody, Mary Shelley, One Last Thing, Starfish (also Executive Producer), A Street Cat Named Bob, Filth and Downton Abbey (to be released). The fact that Frances fabricates Alys’s last words when relaying the death to the Kyte family – a fact unearthed by Teddy – raises interesting questions about truth as a categorical imperative and the usefulness of fictions, but it goes nowhere. Alys, Always is a muted experiment for Hytner, whose more recent productions – Julius Caesar, Allelujah! New Paperbacks NEW PAPERBACKS [jsb_filter_by_tags count="15" show_more="10" sort_by="total_products"/] A selection of recent paperbacks.When Alys’s family makes contact in an attempt to find closure, Frances is given a tantalising glimpse of a very different world: one of privilege and possibility. She is a permanent member of the band for Anna Meredith and toured extensively in 2016, 2017 and 2018 across Europe and the US to promote the album Varmints (Scottish Album of the Year).

Hugely enjoyable debut about 30-something Frances Thorpe, a lowly sub-editor on the books pages of a Sunday paper who suddenly and unexpectedly comes into contact with the family of a Man Booker prize-winning author - and there sees an opportunity. It's a life of privilege and glamour that Frances has only dreamed of, and dreamed of it she certainly has. After witnessing the tragic death of Alys, Frances is quick to recognise an opportunity, pursues it relentlessly and in doing so utilises her the ability to read people and understand what is really behind their weasel words. But Lucinda Coxon's play, based on a novel by Harriet Lane (herself a one-time Observer journalist), doesn't have anything like the layered, bruising psychological insight of All About Eve - and neither does Hytner's show have the directorial flare of Ivo van Hove, either.This book is so subtle and written with such economy that it could deceive you into thinking nothing much is really happening.

Frances seizes on the morbid opportunity seeing it as a chance to improve her life and when she visits the family in their exquisite Highgate home she attempts to ingratiate herself with the family, honing in on the needy, nineteen-year-old Polly Kyte, a drama student who is seeking comfort after her mothers death. Frances visits the Kytes in their beautiful Highgate home and sees a world of art and privilege of which she would love to be a part. Books editor Mary (Sylvestra Le Touzel), the doyenne of the arts desk, is the most fun to watch, but her jocular complaints about hot-desking and social media “traction” feel like calculated crowd-pleasers rather than organic wit. Anyway, Lucinda Coxon's adaptation of journalist Harriet Lane's 2012 bestseller for the Bridge Theatre starts off with Frances ( Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt) coming across a fatal car crash in which Alys, a woman she doesn't know, is killed.

Her routine and colourless existence is disrupted one winter evening when she happens upon the aftermath of a car crash and hears the last words of the driver, Alys Kyte. She's quiet and capable, but nobody takes much notice: her face is pressed to the window, on the outside, looking in. At the National Theatre: Saint George and The Dragon, A Small Family Business, Great Britain (also West End), Timon of Athens, One Man, Two Guvnors (also West End, Broadway and international tour; Tony Award nominee and winner of Drama Desk Award for Best Score), Travelling Light, England People Very Nice, The Man of Mode, The Alchemist and Southwark Fair. at The Bridge; Husbands and Sons, Emil and the Detectives and Hymn / Cocktail Sticks at the National Theatre; A Cream Cracker Under the Settee at Bolton Octagon; The March on Russia at the Orange Tree; Untold Stories at the Old Laundry; Billy Liar, Pygmalion and Everybody Loves a Winner at Royal Exchange Manchester; Hay Fever at Chichester; Enjoy at Watford Palace; The Merry Wives of Windsor (also UK and US tour) at Shakespeare’s Globe; and work at the Crucible Sheffield, Birmingham Rep, Oldham Coliseum, Manchester Library, Leicester Haymarket, Derby Playhouse, New Vic Newcastle-under-Lyme and Mercury Colchester. Teddy (Sam Woolf), Laurence’s son, is the play’s most interesting character, and the one who instinctively resents Frances’s steady encroachment; sadly, save for one emotional moment of pain and a few sulky “Oh, for fuck’s sake”s, he is largely neglected by Coxon’s script.

Harriet Lane's exceptional first novel matches the twisted motivations of Sophie Hannah to the social satire of Amanda Craig's A Vicious Circle. Harriet Lane’s cracking slow-burn of a psychological thriller has, since its publication in 2012, been crying out for stage and screen adaptation. Theatre includes leading roles at numerous regional theatres, including The Innocents, The Heiress and The Deep Blue Sea for the Royal Northampton; The Rivals, Dear Antoine and The Stepmother at Chichester Festival Theatre; and The Family Reunion, The Importance of Being Earnest and Uncle Vanya for Manchester Royal Exchange. Film includes Cotton Mary, The Tulles Hill Suitcase, These Foolish Things, Another Mother’s Son, Kat and the Band and Cleansing Hour.It was as if the author couldn't make up her mind about the character, so she failed to elicit either our sympathy or our revulsion. Nicholas Hytner’s sleekly efficient production glides over a bare stage dominated by a large cuboid structure and some video projections of rather doubtful quality. Remarkables REMARKABLES Intriguing, stunning, or otherwise remarkable books These include fine editions, foreign publications that are exceptional for their interest or production, special editions and some first-rate books from very small publishers.