David Ireland's turbulent, darkly humorous two-hander The Fifth Step sees Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman lock horns in a story centred on the fifth of the 12 steps in the Alcoholics Anonymous programme, which involves confessing your wrongs to another person, such as a sponsor. The production streams on National Theatre at Home from 1 October, with a (sort of) cameo from Willem Dafoe as Jesus.
Musicals and Audio Dramas
13 Going on 30: The Musical arrives as an original cast recording led by Lucie Jones, a year after its Manchester premiere. Based on the movie about a frustrated teen who suddenly becomes “30, flirty and thriving”, the recording includes earworms such as Poise, performed by Jones and Grace Mouat, set in the office of the titular fashion magazine: “Time to sharpen up those claws / Photoshopping out those flaws!”
Winsome Pinnock made history in 1994 when her play Leave Taking became the first drama by a black British female playwright to be produced at the National Theatre. A seven-hour collection, Leave Taking & Other Plays, brings together her lesser known audio dramas with a cast including Adjoa Andoh, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Noma Dumezweni, from Penguin.
More Streaming Highlights
A Small and Quiet Light, a bio-drama by Stephanie Street, stars Priyanga Burford as Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, the British resistance agent who was the first female wireless operator sent into Nazi-occupied France by the UK during the second world war. It is staged at Richmond's Orange Tree and available 27-30 October.
Slant, from Sadler's Wells Digital Stage, features choreographer Jules Cunningham matching composer Nico Muhly's works for strings, played live by the Britten Sinfonia, with a magnetic, superbly measured performance. Muhly's analogy for his Drones project was “not unlike singing along with one's vacuum cleaner”, finding harmony in ambient-style noise.
Classics and Concerts
A Streetcar Named Desire is available on NT at Home, offering a chance to revisit Gillian Anderson's phenomenal performance as Blanche in the explosive American classic. Anderson also stars in the Streetcar prequel The Departure, a short film written by Andrew O'Hagan.
Away, directed by Matthew Lutton for Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre, marks 40 years since the premiere of Michael Gow's enduring drama about three strung-out Australian families on holiday, brought together through a storm. It is available from the Theatre Channel.
Leslie Odom Jr: An Offering is a concert performance by the original Aaron Burr on Broadway, who returned to Hamilton in the West End this summer. The album on YouTube includes a more delicate, introspective version of Wait for It, contrasting with its polished power on the Hamilton album – he makes it all ripple rather than erupt.
