The BSC will have entertained 70,000 people this Christmas at The Old Rep and The Bloomsbury. That seems like an awful lot of people!

Time Out reckoned KENSUKE'S KINGDOM was "a class act" which may have helped sell a few tickets! We were characterised as "the reliable BSC". And that I suppose is the secret of sustained success - that the paying public can rely on you to deliver. Once you've gained their trust, it becomes easier. Although it also goes hand in hand with responsibility - and that's the bit that keeps you sweating!

The press night for PROOF at The Arts Theatre is 19 February at 7pm!

As a blog afficionado, just email me to receive a concession priced ticket of £15.

[email protected]

And see you there!

If you haven't seen this film, I would highly recommend it. I have not laughed in a cinema like this since A Fish Called Wanda! It's a glorious film with an extraordinary performance from a young Abigail Breslin. Quite the best thing I've seen for a long time!

PORGY & BESS was a disappointment. A really excellent cast but it somehow didn't connect and I was actually a little bored. Very hard to work out why it didn't reach me - and it didn't seem to reach the audience either, who were polite but once removed from the experience. How strange theatre can be.

Whatever MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN was like when it opened, it doesn’t feel like it’s worn well. It took a while to work out what might have happened, but the principal relationships seem wrong. There’s an over-riding familiarity between everyone and hence no tension, no mystery, no tentativeness, no fear – there are a group of people who know each other well having a tumultuous chat.

And why Eve Best in a role that seems to cry out for a less attractive actress? So often plays, TV and film cast the beautiful. Here for once is a play which demands an actress who is at least extremely plain, if not "ugly" as she is repeatedly characterised in the play. And they choose Eve Best? What a missed opportunity.

I'd love to see Mr Spacey really deliver.

DADDY COOL on the other hand has worn well! (Yes, I love the comparison too!). It’s still a fun night out with a spectacular West End debut from Yasmin Kadi in the chorus. And apart from Javine (what is she doing??) everyone is playing it with integrity and passion, two qualities which are missing from so many shows these days.

Not from Laura Kersey who is playing the lead in KENSUKE'S KINGDOM while David is off. Heart and soul on display in all its glory!

This year has been fantastic in many ways - and the last ten days have been as good as any.

Three days in New York, then three days with Luke Rhinehart in the gorgeous Hudson countryside of woods and lakes, two days in magnificent Washington, then a final day in New York.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, on the spot where Martin Luther King gave his great speech, was a surreal experience. I have seen that view so many times, all through my life, that it was very hard to accept I was truly there. My brain could barely separate the sensation between the remembered and the real. It was only the following day that I felt I was in Washington and not in some cinematic reality. The weather was extraordinary - and in bright, warm sunshine I spent most of the afternoon wandering between Capital Hill and the Washington Memorial.

In the Arlington Cemetary, there is a large memorial for J.F.Kennedy, but it was the simple white cross standing alone on the grassy bank for his brother Robert that was particularly moving.

KENSUKE has just opened in London, DANNY is doing amazing business in Birmingham, HORRIBLE HISTORIES starts rehearsals on 2 January and in February we open the West End production of PROOF.

Here we go!

I seem to be getting around this year! Now it's New York to see David Auburn (author of PROOF) and then my wonderful friends Luke Rhinehart (author of The Dice Man) and his wife Ann.

I've already seen good theatre and bad theatre. Who would have guessed Julianne Moore could be so awful in David Hare's didactic play THE VERTICAL HOUR. Oy vey! Not one single inhabited sentence came from her lips. If she had been doing it for six months one could have given her the benefit of the doubt - but she opened last Thursday! You have no idea just how bad someone good can be until you see her 'performance'. What is she doing??

The day was saved the following night with NO CHILD off-Broadway - an excellent one woman show with Nilaja Sun - who inhabited not only her own body but that of several other characters with complete sincerity.

As ever, Broadway and Off-Broadway display two distinct theatrical values. Nilaja's show was a lot cheaper and a lot better value!