Opinion: Is acting now just for the privileged?

OPINION: IS ACTING NOW JUST FOR THE PRIVILEGED? How the dramatic arts are reacting to the Etonian insurgency

How the dramatic arts are reacting to the Etonian insurgency

Knock knock. Who's there? Eamonn. Eamonn who? Eamonn Etonian. There's an Eamonn at No 10, an Eamonn is Mayor of London, an Eamonn is even Archbishop of Canterbury. Oh, and Eamonns are third and - for three more months - fourth in line to the throne. Recently Eton has started to dominate British film, television and theatre. In 2012 one Eamonn won an Emmy, another was given a Bafta and a third played a Shakespearean king on the BBC. 

Tir Sir Gâr, Carmarthenshire County Museum

Admirable attempt to dramatise the anxieties of agriculture marred by artsy intervention

The play is the thing, to quote one famous bereaved theatrical son, and in this new collaboration between Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, artist Marc Rees and playwright Roger Williams, it is most definitely the thing. A Welsh-language multi-media promenade production that takes as its themes the erosion of the traditions of agricultural communities, Tir Sir Gâr is a complex balancing act between fact and fiction, and between emotional, involving drama and cold introspective installation art. The balance is delicate, sometimes successful and sometimes not.

Before the Party, Almeida Theatre

Noisily superficial revival is all gong and no dinner

Faced with an unfamiliar play, it’s usually hard to spot exactly where the writer stopped and the director started. Not here. This is one of those occasions where a director’s voice is considerably and almost constantly louder than the playwright’s. You might think you’re seeing Rodney Ackland’s Before The Party but what you’re getting is Matthew Dunster’s assault upon it.

No Quarter, Royal Court Theatre

NO QUARTER, ROYAL COURT THEATRE Polly Stenham’s new play is written on a high, but its production is a bit of a downer

Polly Stenham’s new play is written on a high, but its production is a bit of a downer

Most of us would love to live in a happy family, but it’s the unhappy ones that make the most compelling drama. And few playwrights do familial tensions as instinctively as Polly Stenham, whose highly successful 2007 debut That Face and 2009 follow-up Tusk Tusk both explored the tensions between parents and children. In her new play, she revisits the mother-son relationship, and adds some thrilling twists to the bubbling brew.

People, National Theatre

PEOPLE, NATIONAL THEATRE Alan Bennett gives the National Trust (and all of us) a bloody nose in his new comedy

Alan Bennett gives the National Trust (and all of us) a bloody nose in his new comedy

The word “people” of the title of Alan Bennett’s new play is to be spat out, like a lemon pip. People, who invade your space, boss your values, make you be what they want. So does the beleaguered Lady Dorothy Stacpoole feel about the stark options facing her as her fantastically grand mansion leaks and crumbles over her smelly, freezing feet, while under it groans ancient mine workings like a whale with toothache.

Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs, BBC Two

SERVANTS: THE TRUE STORY OF LIFE BELOW STAIRS Dr Pamela Cox fronts an illuminating documentary about those who served

Dr Pamela Cox fronts an illuminating documentary about those who served

At boarding school in the mid-1970s Matron – a grey-haired, sharp-beaked stick of a woman who put the fear of God into us – would often remark: “Remember, boys, always be polite to the lower orders.” She was referring to the army of cleaning and kitchen staff who kept the lino lethally polished and our stomachs full of stodge. It was as if the swinging Sixties had never happened. Even when the power was cut off during the winter of discontent there was always plenty of hired help to light the candles.

Room at the Top, BBC Four

ROOM AT THE TOP, BBC FOUR John Braine's 1957 novel about sex and social ambition still rings true

John Braine's 1957 novel about sex and social ambition still rings true

Do we really needed to hear more from Joe Lampton, the anti-hero of John Braine’s Room at the Top? His battle for social advancement and sexual self-expression has long since stopped holding up a mirror to society, you'd think. In fact we nearly didn’t hear more from him in this new BBC adaptation. Anyone turning on BBC Four one night in April last year expecting to watch would have been disappointed. Owing to a late-blooming rights dispute, the BBC decided on the day of broadcast not to go ahead.

Downton Abbey, Series 3, ITV1

DOWNTON ABBEY, SERIES THREE, ITV1 The threat of bankruptcy, Bolshevism and Shirley MacLaine cloud the nuptial horizon

The threat of bankruptcy, Bolshevism and Shirley MacLaine cloud the nuptial horizon

Mid-September: the nights are drawing in and, to quote that well-known costume dramatist John Milton, the period detail is as “thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallombrosa”. Downton – praise be! – is back. However, before the third series even gets into its penguin-suited stride it seems that paradise is about to be lost all over again. Lord Grantham has blown most of his wife’s fortune: the Canadian Trunk Line Company has hit the buffers and gone bust. 

Wonderland: Young, Bright and on the Right, BBC Two

WONDERLAND: YOUNG, BRIGHT AND ON THE RIGHT Documentary traces the political prospects of the Children of Cameron

Documentary traces the political prospects of the Children of Cameron

In the debating chambers and committee rooms of the Conservative Associations of Oxford and Cambridge lurk the Children of Cameron. The current cabinet is to a large extent an Oxbridge Old Boys club and succeeding generations are already being fattened up for the fray. Young, Bright and on the Right - and what an aimless title that was - picked two candidates and sharpened the knives.

Posh, Duke of York's Theatre

POSH: Laura Wade's riotous study of young Cameroons at play doesn't quite deliver a final catharsis

Laura Wade's riotous study of young Cameroons at play doesn't quite deliver a final catharsis

Transferred from the Royal Court to the West End, this is a very tight staging of a very messy evening. Ten members of the Riot Club come together for a celebratory meal after “two terms out in the cold”. In a modest pub on the outskirts of Oxfordshire, they hang a bin bag on each chair, down their wine by the bottle and start on a 10-bird roast. The plan: to get “absolutely chateauxed” and trash the place in the traditional manner of their aristocratic ancestors.