West End Reviews: Talk Round- Up 2014 So far

Mark Kermode: The Role of Critics, ICA

Francessca Martinez

Kate Aidie

As well as brilliant theatre, London offers amazing events and talks. The national, as I have said before, offer brilliant platforms in which different people talk about their work or offer other points of interest. Francesca Martinez being interviewed by Clive Anderson was my first experience of the National's temporary space. It is very similar to the Donmar, one of my favorite places to experience theatre, and provided a very much more intimate space than the interview with Sam Mendes for Lear. Francessca herself is inspirational. That adjective is a word she discourages for herself but it is true. Her comedy has paved the way for equality for disabled people. Of course you get the Tanni Grey- Thompsons who's role in society is to campaign for equality but there are no disabled people in the public eye except for Martinez and those guys off of the Last Leg. There were only two disappointments in this. First the attendance was truly despicable and secondly Mr Anderson. The obnoxious, pompous pig annoys me deeply and only hindered Martinez's amazing story. I haven't got much to say about Kate Aidie's talk other than that she is a woman who has been everywhere and had lots of interesting stories to tell. But perhaps the most interesting talk was held at the ICA with Mark Kermode (Radio 5 Live, The Observer) hosted a panel of critics to talk about their role in their chosen section of culture. The flappy handed, ranty film critic known for his legendary rant on Sex and the City 2 where he sang the internationalle, led perfectly giving each person equal opportunities to talk about their chosen topic. The radio critic had particularly good insights on her profession and the theatre critic discussed assessing theatre from different cultures. However, what impressed me most was the intelligence of the audience. The QandA section of a talk can be excruciatingly painful but here the questions provoked interesting answers and not one was in any way sniffed at. The whole evening was a delight.

However, the end of this year is set to be some of the best events in some time. Here are just a few:

9th September: Creators of Curious Incident in Conversation, Gielgud Theatre