Raines
I must admit to feeling some how slightly jealous of Nina Raine and Moses Raine. Both have plays on in London at the moment. They are both children of poet Craig Raine – 21-year-old son Moses with Shrieks of Laughter at Soho Theatre and 30-year-old daughter Nina’s Rabbit at the Old Red Lion. Does this happen much? It certainly helps publicity.
Still, I wonder what it really is like to have a brother / sister both writing plays?
According to Mark Shenton the list of thank yous for Rabbit… “stretches from Nicholas Hytner and Tom Stoppard to Michael Frayn, Claire Tomalin, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, David Hare and Parick Marber, and even Gillian Anderson, Kathy Burke and Anne Robinson.” So Nina is certainly well connected and advised.
I haven’t managed to see the plays yet, so I reserve judgment, although the reviews have been generally positive.
Craig, Moses and Nina have also all written for Arete, which Craig edits.
Nina has written some intriguing pieces for Arete. I particularly like the one comparing Stephen Daldry’s version of Caryl Churchill’s A Number to Peter Brook’s version. See here. I only saw Brook’s versions so again can not really comment, but Nina did work quite closely with the Daldry version and this may inform her comparative review – still it is informative about how two unquestionable great living directors take on one of our greatest living playwrights.
It is also fascinating for me because my adaptation for Nakamitsu only runs for about 12 pages and A Number only runs for about 19 pages or so. Thus it is instructive on how to direct short plays….
Her conversations with Peter Gill also worth reading.
comments
One Response to “Raines”
-
About me
I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.
-
Recent Work
Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).
-
Nakamitsu
-
-
Yellow Gentlemen
-
[...] I’ve mentioned this before but Nina Raine (who coincidentally wrote a play called Rabbit see below)has written for Arete, an insightful piece comparing two productions of A Number, by Caryl Churchill. One by Stephen Daldry and one by Peter Brook, in French (which I managed to see in Paris). [...]