Carole Gordon, Author at North West End UK

12Feb

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

David Copperfield – Riverside Studios

David Copperfield is one of the best-loved of Charles Dickens' novels and is believed to be at least a semi-autobiographical narration of his life. He said that Copperfield was always his "favourite child". Dickens' family were extremely poor; he was forced as a young boy to work in a factory in conditions that informed his later efforts to achieve social reform by highlighting the cruel lives of London's poorest. Dickens ensured that his writings could reach the general public by publishing in magazines, so that the poorer in society could read them when they could not afford books. Simon Reade's innovative adaptation re-imagines the story as a Victorian Music Hall performance, a popular form of theatre in the 19th century, which reflects the period of Dickens' and Copperfield's lif...

<strong>Salt-Water Moon – Finborough Theatre</strong>

6Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Salt-Water Moon – Finborough Theatre

David French's Salt-Water Moon is set in 1926, when Newfoundland was still part of the British Empire, only becoming the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. Having won a slew of awards since its premiere in Toronto in 1984, the play has since become a classic of Canadian theatre. It's a moon-lit night in the isolated Newfoundland community of Coley's Point, and young Mary Snow is gazing at the stars as she awaits the return of her fiancé, the wealthy Jerome McKenzie. Due to marry Jerome the following month, she is startled by the sudden return of her former love, Jacob Mercer, who left suddenly and without even saying goodbye twelve months previously. Mary cannot forgive Jacob for leaving and not writing to her in the intervening months. But, as more is reveale...

<strong>Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – Southbank Centre</strong>

14Dec

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – Southbank Centre

Dickens' tale of poverty, inequality and transformation has been a staple of the holiday season since it was first published in 1843. While Dickens was highlighting the terrible deprivation of the London slums, Dolly Parton's new musical takes the audience to the Appalachian Mountains in 1936, at the height of the Depression. As in the original tale, Ebenezer Scrooge owns everything in the town, having taken over ownership of the mine, shop and bank from his partner, Jacob Marley. The inhabitants of the town work all hours for a pittance for Scrooge, struggling, scrimping and saving, but finding joy in their families, and in their hopes and dreams. There's no such joy in Scrooge's life, and he focuses all his time and energy on making and saving money. He has no-one and regards Christmas a...

<strong>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – New Wimbledon Theatre</strong>

7Dec

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – New Wimbledon Theatre

Few pantos can boast such an illustrious cast as this production of Jonathan Kiley's Snow White. Ruthie Henshall, Lee Mead, Brenda Edwards, Matthew Kelly, Dick and Dom -it's a cavalcade of West End and TV talent. And they deliver a wonderfully traditional panto with contemporary elements and twists. There are all the usual topical references and innuendo for the grown-ups, lots of naughty humour for adults and children alike, groan-worthy jokes to make everyone laugh, booing and hissing the villain, cheering on the heroine. This version of Snow White, while keeping the songs from the classic, updates them with modern pop orchestrations, adding contemporary songs into the mix. The story is the well-known tale of orphan princess Snow White who threatens to outshine her wicked stepmo...

14Oct

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Choir of Man – Arts Theatre

Do you fancy a night down the local? Choir of Man takes the audience to their local pub, not one of those swanky, shiny wine-bars, but the sticky-floored boozer where you meet friends and put the world to rights over a pint. Only, in this pub, The Jungle, the patrons sing, dance, narrate, play music and are not afraid to talk about emotions and community and yes even cry. There's not so much a through-story as a series of snapshots as the different characters from the talented group of nine performers have their moment in the spotlight in between the superb ensemble numbers. Ben Norris acts as MC for the evening with his eloquent poetic monologues, pulling the whole together. There's an eclectic mixture of re-orchestrated songs from artists like Adele, Sia and Avicii. And...

27Sep

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Ghosts on a Wire – Union Theatre

Linda Wilkinson could not have written a more topical play, confronting contemporary issues of inequality, power and class divides, the conflicts that consume society and the current energy problems. It's a story about power in all its forms, a story set in the past, all the while resonating into the future. Mary Shelley, Michael Faraday and William Blake are propelled into the late 1880s as ghosts, witnessing the results of the introduction of electricity to London. Or more specifically, to the wealthy north bank of the Thames, while the south bank coughs and splutters under the smoke, noise and detritus from the new power station. The electric company's owners convince local residents and traders that clearing swathes of workers' homes in Southwark would be progress, that ...

Distinguished Villa – Finborough Theatre

14Sep

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Distinguished Villa – Finborough Theatre

"Refined" is the word around which Kate O'Brien's 1926 play hinges. Mabel Hemworth is unrelenting in her control of her immaculately cleaned suburban home and her downtrodden husband, Natty. A woman claiming permanent illness and anxiety, frigid and childless, she is constantly on edge and desperate not to attract the negative judgement of the neighbours on their quiet avenue in Brixton. Even her husband's singing along to a record she regards as outrageous due to what she considers to be racy lyrics. She has also ruled over the life of her sister, Gwen, a young woman seeking escape from this situation through marriage to the unremarkable John. Mabel represents the tied-down morals of the Victorian era, with even vague references to "issues of the night" causing her to have a fit of the va...

Ride: A New Musical – Charing Cross Theatre

1Sep

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Ride: A New Musical – Charing Cross Theatre

In 1894, Annie Londonderry set off on a solo circumnavigation of the world by bike. That her name and this radical accomplishment is almost entirely unknown is as big a mystery as is the real story of her travels. She was born in Latvia, emigrated to the US as a child and suffered the loss of her parents, leaving her at just 16 to care for her younger siblings. She married in an attempt to achieve financial stability and had three children. But it seems it was the death of her younger brother that was the seminal moment that propelled her towards her pioneering ride around the world. There's talk of a wager, adventures with the myriad people she meets along the way, relationships developed and abandoned. On her triumphant return to the US in 1895, following an initial wave of media a...

25Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Patience – Wilton’s Music Hall

Gilbert and Sullivan's biting mockery of the aesthetic movement, the fickleness of love and infatuation and the worshipping of celebrities has never been better or more wittily presented than in Charles Court Opera's current production. Played gloriously tongue-in-cheek, this show is a joy from start to finish. Patience is an over-the-top satire with contemporary relevance to today's shallow celebrity culture and the ephemeral nature of fleeting trends. Patience, a young barmaid, is unschooled in the ways of love and is confused to see that three women of varying maturity who profess to be in love with the poet, Bunthorne, are desperately unhappy because of it and have taken to drink. They already have three upstanding military men, including one who is a Duke, as suitors but find...

Little Women – Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre

3Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

North West

Little Women – Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre

Cor Blimey, Guv, bit of a turn up for the book – because this is a long way from the beloved quintessential American novel set in the Civil War, and a different time: Chester (OK, appropriately enough) during the Great War. But girls will be girls, and the story of the four sisters is still recognizable, and they certainly are, as portrayed by such brilliant actresses. And apologies, by the way; Londoners barely get a word in; the predominant accent is Liverpudlian. That said, still perplexed as to why John Brooke (Oliver Nazareth Aston, as extraordinary as his name) was a postman rather than Laurie's tutor, except that letters are more important than ever in times of war. And of course, it is extremely sad in parts, but again, not quite sure about all the comic touches; an annoying bee...