Clare Chandler, Author at North West End UK

19Oct

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

REVIEWS

Bluff Musical – Online

Bluff is a new musical from Matthew Cavendish and Ed Zanders that is designed to be listened to. Written especially for radio, the one act show is perfect to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home. Director Ellie Coote and sound designer Charlie Smith have evidently worked in tandem to create a piece that fizzes through your speakers - evoking elaborate dance routines, epic storms and more. The plot, concerning perpetual underdog Alec Bonum and his nemesis Shirley Judge who – like many of the inhabitants of Paradise – has a flair for embellishment, becomes a tad repetitious and the central characters would benefit from a little development to allow them to elicit more empathy. That said the music is richly orchestrated, with Smith and Zanders working magic to...

5Oct

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

London

Hamlet – Young Vic

Cush Jumbo is the big draw in this production of Shakespeare’s classic play, whipping up a storm as the tempestuous Prince of Elsinore. Cross gender, or gender blind, casting of this legendary protagonist is not a new fad, indeed the first ‘female’ Hamlet graced a London stage in 1796 - when Elizabeth Powell took on the role. There is also a 12th century Danish legend that states that he was in fact a she, and that Hamlet’s gender had been hidden by their mother to protect their claim to the throne. In Greg Hersov’s production Jumbo’s ‘unmanly grief’ is the undoing of Elsinore as Hersov’s edited text (which still runs at over three hours) aims for a mystery thriller flow to bring the piece alive for a contemporary audience. At its most successful the performance is an absolut...

21Sep

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

North West

A Greasy Spoon – Unity Theatre

Part of Unity’s Open Call The joy of a double bill is the opportunity to see two very different works and A Greasy Spoon definitely delivered a change in tone from The Weight of Repopulating a Nation earlier. This rehearsed reading marked the first public outing for Alice Bunker-Whitney’s dark comedy. Given that this is a work in the early stages of its development, and still very much a work-in-progress it would be unfair to give it a star rating. Bunker-Whitney’s show opens with promise; Mandy and Shannon appear covered in blood and Mandy matter-of-factly observes that “this is gonna stain isn’t it?”. The show delivers laughs, but the absurd heightened reality promised by the blurb is never fully achieved, and there is a heavy reliance on dated comic conven...

The Weight of Repopulating a Nation – Unity Theatre

20Sep

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

North West

The Weight of Repopulating a Nation – Unity Theatre

Leianna Boodaghians’ emotionally resonant exploration of her heritage, and the legacy of a forgotten genocide, began this Up Next double bill of new writing from across the city. This autobiographical performance follows Boodaghians’ own journey, as she explores her Armenian identity and uncovers a wealth of atrocities that resulted in Armenians being one of the world’s most dispersed peoples. The subject matter is incredibly hard-hitting, leading Boodaghians to question how you can relate to something so unimaginable as she shares verbatim accounts of the horrors of April 1915, when the Ottoman Empire attempted to eradicate Armenians. Boodaghians covers so much in the show, interweaving stories of her family with historical accounts and interviews. Some of these...