Mark Davoren, Author at North West End UK

<strong>Opera North: La Traviata – The Lowry</strong>

17Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: La Traviata – The Lowry

Director Alessandro Talevi’s production is much aided by Madeline Boyd’s sumptuous set and costume design as it relishes its traditional 19th Century roots. At its heart lies a love story which draws upon Alexandre Dumas the Younger’s real-life doomed love affair with well-known courtesan, Marie Duplessis. We open with Violetta (Alison Langer) aided by her friend Flora (Victoria Sharp) hosting a lavish party where she is introduced by Gastone (Gavan King) to his friend, Alfredo Germont (Nico Darmanin), a fervent admirer, who is more concerned for her failing health than her escort, Baron Douphal (James Cleverton). When Alfredo declares his love for her she wonders if he could be the one amidst her desire to be free to live her life. A year on and Alfredo (Oliver Johnston) and Violett...

28Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Friday the 13th – Rainhill Village Hall

Having set up Individuality Youth some eighteen months ago, producer Samantha Moores turns her attention to an older audience with this tragi-comedy from renowned French playwright Jean-Pierre Martinez, translated by Anne-Christine Gasc, and directed by Michèle Martin. John (Phil Halfpenny) and Christine (Moores) have invited two of their friends for dinner in their Liverpool home. Natalie (Lisa Mogan) arrives without her husband, distraught, having just heard that the plane bringing him home crashed at sea. With the potential widow they wait with bated breath for news confirming whether her husband is among the survivors, before discovering that they are the winners of that evening’s super jackpot lottery draw. From then on, the operative words are “controlling emotions”. And that is j...

The Met Live in HD: Medea – The Metropolitan Opera

24Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Met Live in HD: Medea – The Metropolitan Opera

Originally written in French in 1797, The Met premiere the later Italian version of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece, based on Euripides’ and Corneille’s tragedies, to open their new season in a co-production with the Greek National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Spurning antiquity, director David McVicar sets the piece somewhere around the time of its original writing with a distinctly Gallic nod towards the French Revolution that would follow, and the straightforward simplicity of the set, which he also designed, is sympathetic to an audience mostly unfamiliar with the work. The breathless overture recedes to introduce Glauce (Janai Brugger), daughter of Creonte (Michele Pertusi), King of Corinth, and her impending marriage to Giasone (Matthew Po...

Noga Ritter Trio – Manchester Jewish Museum

21Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Noga Ritter Trio – Manchester Jewish Museum

Noga Ritter made her inaugural performance as part of Manchester Jewish Museum’s Synagogue Nights autumn 2022 season, delighting the audience with a fusion of diverse musical influences from around the world, in particular Africa, South America and the Middle East. Joined by Tomer Eldor on Piano and Giuliano Osella on percussion, the trio took us on an eclectic journey informed as much by Ritter’s upbringing in Israel as her experiences of other cultures including taking Hebrew back to its original nomadic context. The opening song, Falling In Love In The Middle Of Lockdown, had an infectious rhythm with poetic lyrics, whilst Horizon that followed drew on Ritter’s time in Haifa near the sea and reflected strong emotions reinforced by a bluesy piano providing a richer, deeper and hope...

The Day They Kidnapped The Pope – Rainhill Village Hall

15Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Day They Kidnapped The Pope – Rainhill Village Hall

Rainhill Garrick Society start their 80th birthday celebrations with a bang with this startling and surreal comedy whose improbable events become all too believable through the magic of the theatre. Written in 1979 by Joao Bethencourt, a celebrated Hungarian actor, playwright and director, it was well received throughout Europe including a rave review when presented in Rome. On a visit to New York, the Pope (Rick Young) mistakenly gets into a taxi and is immediately kidnapped by its driver, Samuel Leibowitz (George Lowe) who takes him to his Brooklyn home much to the surprise of his wife Sara (Tracey Duffy) and daughters Esther (Sophie Brogan) and Miriam (Lucy Whitfield). As events outside unfold through TV media (Angela Vose; Tom Nevitt), the demands of the ransom become clear: a day o...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

28Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies was chosen to formally launch the main theatre at Shakespeare North Playhouse although more tragically it was to crash into more than one self-inflicted iceberg on the night. As we meet the Duke (David Nellist), and his newly conquered betrothed, Hippolyta (Yazmin Kayani), Egeus (Tia-Bella Easton) interrupts proceedings to complain about her daughter, Hermia (Rebecca Hesketh Smith), who loves Lysander (William Grint) despite her father’s preferred match of Demetrius (Tyler Dobbs), who in turn is unwelcomingly pursued by Helena (Kate James). Hermia’s choice is clear: follow your father’s wishes or face either death or life as a nun. She steals away with Lysander in the night through the forest, rapidly pursued by Demetrius and Helena. Also pr...

The Importance of Being Earnest – Cambridge Arts Theatre

26Sep

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South East

The Importance of Being Earnest – Cambridge Arts Theatre

The challenge of Oscar Wilde is not in the words but ensuring the performance does them justice. There were no such fears with director Denzel Westley-Sanderson’s laugh-out loud production which delights from the off. As butler Lane (Valentine Hanson) prepares tea at the London home of dandy Algernon Moncrief (Abiola Owokoniran), the delicately balanced glasses cleverly hint at the challenges to come when his friend John Worthing (Justice Ritchie) arrives, explaining that when he tires of life in the country looking after his teenage ward, he escapes to enjoy the high life of the city under the guise of seeing his wayward brother, ‘Ernest’. Algernon, in turn, regales him with his exploits of escaping the city in reverse fashion. Algernon’s aunt, Lady Bracknell (Daniel Jacob), arrives wi...

The Producers – Theatre Royal, St Helens

23Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Producers – Theatre Royal, St Helens

Mel Brooks’ 2001 musical is everything you could hope for and more with political incorrectness littered throughout – taking it to the stage is another challenge and in spite of a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Pilkington Musical Theatre Company’s production under the direction of James Kirby was a masterclass in song, dance, and comic timing. An out of luck Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Andrew Marsh) and his accountant Leo Bloom (Adam Hurst) stumble upon Franz Leibkind’s (Ben Greenall) ‘Springtime for Hitler’ and realise that producing the worst musical ever will make their fortune, but just to be sure they select the campest directing team possible led by the magnificent Roger Debris (Seb Farrell) and assistant Carmen (Andrew Rauer). Throw in Swedish seductress Ulla (Sarah J...

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Season Opening Concert – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

20Sep

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North West

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Season Opening Concert – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Domingo Hindoyan’s second season as Chief Conductor started in fine style with a programme of Central European masterpieces, with Janáček’s mighty orchestral Sinfonietta paired with Mahler’s heavenly song-symphony to herald – with trumpets and sleighbells respectively – the musical delights to come, including the Liverpool debut of the brilliant Czech soprano, Kateřina Kněžíková. Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) composed his Sinfonietta in 1926 with its first performance on 26th June of that year in Prague. A passionate and deeply patriotic Czech, he was thrilled when his homeland achieved independence at the end of World War I and dedicated the piece to the new Czech Army in celebration of ‘contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage, and determination to fight f...

Truus’ Children – Manchester Jewish Museum

13Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Truus’ Children – Manchester Jewish Museum

Special Eyes Productions documentary tells the extraordinary story of the largely unknown Dutch resistance heroine Truus Wijsmuller (1896-1978), who managed to rescue more than 10.000 people from the hands of the Nazis in the years immediately before and during the Second World War thanks to her unprecedented perseverance, tact, and courage. Most of them were between 2 and 18 years old. This September, as part of European Days of Jewish Culture and Heritage 2022, in cooperation with Margaret and Richard Jacobi, and with the support of the Dutch Embassy in the United Kingdom, the story of a remarkable lady who did what everybody could have done, but nobody did, is being shown. This improbable story, hidden for almost 80 years, comes to life in great detail in ‘Truus’ Children’. When f...