Mark Davoren, Author at North West End UK

14May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Idlib – Storyhouse Chester

Written and directed by Kevin Dyer, and produced by Laura Duncalf, Idlib started as a piece of prose as a prelude for a play that morphed into a short story before becoming the script for a monologue first performed online in 2021. Based on the story of a Syrian baker who wanted to return home, and real interviews with Syrian refugees and escapees across Europe, it tells the story of a woman (Anoush Kendrick) who has hope, but it is both the prelude to this tale and what follows afterwards as well that make this such a special experience, one that is a mix of conversation, an uplifting story of kindness, making bread on stage, drawing, and sharing personal memories of food and family, eating together and socialising. The making of bread itself is an act so simple and pure that it is ...

14May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Krapp’s Last Tape – Unity Theatre

Marking the welcome return of Graeme Phillips to Unity Theatre and the directorial chair, with the support of Assistant Director Izzie Major and Producer Peter Ward, Krapp’s Last Tape, written by Samuel Beckett, holds a firm place in Phillips’ heart. On his sixty-ninth birthday, Krapp (Nick Birkinshaw), as has become his custom, hauls out his old tape recorder to review one of the earlier years, and make a new recording commenting on the events of the previous twelve months. Whilst his younger self speaks to reveal an idealistic fool, will the passage of time reveal the kind of fool he has become? Almost seventy years since it was written, this one-act play remains as relevant – perhaps more so – in 2024, when we all more readily identify with its themes of isolation, reflection, and...

Accidental Death of an Anarchist – Hope Street Theatre

10May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Accidental Death of an Anarchist – Hope Street Theatre

One of Dario Fo’s most loved and renowned works, Accidental Death of an Anarchist is based on the true story of the Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan in 1969 and the subsequent death of Giuseppe Pinelli whilst being held in police custody. Director Dan Meigh’s re-imagination of the play places us in a modern-day police station where a mysterious Maniac (Mat Oliphant) has just climbed through the wrong window to be encountered by Inspector Berlozzo (Phil Rayner) and Constable 1 (Noah Cambridge) who are already in possession of a warrant for his arrest. With a history tied to disruption and disturbance across the ages, the Maniac makes his escape to the fourth floor and an encounter with a Chief Inspector (Eleanor Martin), Inspector Pisoni (Connor Wray), and Constable 2 (Cambridge). With...

Un ballo in maschera – Oper Köln at StaatenHaus

7May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Un ballo in maschera – Oper Köln at StaatenHaus

Director Jan Philipp Gloger presents one of Verdi’s lesser performed works which contains the usual emotional and dramatic power, creating tragic and comic situations in equal measure but often permeated by a cruel irony as characters ae subject to the conflict between the outer façade imposed by society and their inner highly emotional feelings. Count Riccardo (Gaston Rivero) is in love with Amelia (Astrik Khanamiryan), the wife of his secretary and best friend Renato (Simone del Savio). Amelia reciprocates this love but tries with all her might to suppress her feelings and seeks counsel from fortune teller Ulrica (Agostino Smimmero). Riccardo attends in disguise and discovers from her prophecy that Renato of all people will kill him, which the Count himself can only laugh at first. Ho...

God of Carnage – Schauspiel Köln at Depot

7May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

God of Carnage – Schauspiel Köln at Depot

Director Tristan Linder’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s original French play, translated and performed in German with English surtitles, skewers modern bourgeois society which is torn between enlightened goodness and all-too-human egoistic competition. Two eleven-year-old boys have fought on the school playground with one hitting the other with a stick which results in the loss of a couple of teeth. As civilised people, the parents decide to talk things through together. So Véronique (Lola Klamroth) and Michel (Alexander Angeletta), parents of the victim, Bruno, invite Annette (Sabine Waibel) and Alain (Jörg Ratjen), parents of the perpetrator, Ferdinand, to discuss over coffee and biscuits, a more consensual and politically correct way to influence the behaviour of Ferdinand in line wit...

2May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Carmen – Royal Opera House

Director Damiano Michieletto’s desire to get away from 19th-century Seville sadly results in the loss of more than a picturesque background with its relocation to a small town in a remote and rural Spain in the 1970s and I still can’t fathom why he has chosen to introduce the character of Don José’s widowed mother to the stage when she is only ever referred to in the libretto. Thankfully for the audience the performance from the two charismatic leads salvages some of the passion and intrigue mostly lost in this presentation of this dark tale. In an unnamed town, naïve policeman Don José (Piotr Beczała) falls head over heads in love with Carmen (Aigul Akhmetshina), a seductive and free-spirited girl working at the local factory. Infatuated, Don José abandons his childhood sweetheart, Mic...

2May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Lucia di Lammermoor – Royal Opera House

Katie Mitchell’s controversial 2016 gothic dramatisation of Donizetti’s setting of Walter Scott’s novel returns to The Royal Opera for a second revival under Robin Tebbutt, but the real talking point is the exceptional performance of its leads. Fallen on hard times, Enrico (Artur Ruciński) has arranged an advantageous marriage for his sister, Lucia (Nadine Sierra), but Normanno (Michael Gibson) reveals that she is in love with Enrico’s enemy, Edgardo (Ioan Hotea). As Lucia and Alisa (Rachael Lloyd) wait for Edgardo, Lucia reveals a recent dream which Alisa interprets as a portent of doom. When Edgardo arrives, he explains that he has to leave on a mission and he and Lucia exchange vows. Normanno obtains forged evidence to suggest that Edgardo is involved with another woman and when E...

La rondine – The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD

20Apr

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REVIEWS

La rondine – The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD

Initially commissioned to be a Viennese operetta before receiving the full operatic treatment, Puccini’s bittersweet love story is one of his lesser-known works: as a result of Austria and Italy being on opposing sides in World War I, it opened quietly in Monte Carlo in 1917 and never established a permanent place in the repertoire. Too easily dismissed in comparison to other works, when judged on its own merits it is a fascinating work featuring an abundance of exuberant waltzes, an intoxicating lightness of tone, and a romantic vision of Paris and the French Riviera as its three acts take us on a journey of love in Nicolas Joël’s 1920’s Art Deco-themed production. Opening to the backdrop of Ezio Frigerio’s rich and sumptuous set, matched by Franca Squarciapino’s costumes and elegantly...

5Apr

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REVIEWS

La Fanciulla Del West – Opéra de Lyon

Puccini is renowned for serving up negative consequences for his leading female characters, so it was with some relief and pleasant surprise that in what he considered his best opera, this Wild West girl decides who she wants and gets it, gun in hand. Created in 1910 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, this is its first presentation in Lyon with conductor Daniele Rustioni passionately matching the vitality of the music to the violent and elementary feelings unravelling on stage under the direction of Tatjana Gürbaca as we explore questions about justice, forgiveness, and love. During the California Gold Rush in a frontier mining town populated by ruthless bandits and tough-talking but good-hearted miners, remarkable female tavern-keeper Minnie (Chiara Isotton), the miners, and the cynical...

27Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Madama Butterfly – Royal Opera House

Director Daisy Evans’ revival is spirited but like Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s original production, the butterfly never flies as freely as the accompanying music in Puccini’s devastating tragedy about a young geisha who falls in love with an American naval officer. Marriage broker Goro (Ya-Chung Huang) shows US naval lieutenant Pinkerton (Joshua Guerrero) around the home he will share with his bride-to-be in Nagasaki, although American Consul Sharpless (Lauri Vasar) warns him of the tragic consequences that may follow. The Butterfly duly lands in the form of young Japanese girl Cio-Cio-San (Asmik Grigorian) supported by maid Suzuki (Hongni Wu), and they are married by the Commissioner (Romanas Kudriašovas). Her love makes her willing to sacrifice everything which sees her disowne...