Paul Ackroyd, Author at North West End UK

20May

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Bliss – Finborough Theatre

This is a new play by Fraser Grace, based upon a short story written by Andrey Platanov in 1936, and tells the story of Nikita Firsov, a soldier returning from the Russian Civil War in 1921. It is a portrayal of what we would now call the effects of battlefield PTSD, but which at that time was not specifically recognised, and also shows the grim reality of life for the rural peasantry in Russia at this time of famine and political upheaval. The pace of the play mirrors the harshness of the prevailing conditions. It is slow-moving, with many pauses, and everything about the production contributed to depicting the dreariness and struggle of the life of the characters. The acting was universally excellent. Jesse Rutherford as the returning soldier, Nikita, and Bess Roche as the girl to who...

6May

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Uncle Vanya – Old Red Lion

Uncle Vanya is a challenging text for any production company. The audience is thrust immediately into a dysfunctional rural Russian family, whose monotonous and laborious life is disrupted by the arrival of the Professor and his glamorous wife from the city. It is a play which relies on the interaction of complex characters rather than action. Producers Agatha Ezzedine and Clémentine Pinet are therefore to be congratulated for reviving it as a fringe production. Director Kieran Bourne has made a sterling effort to breathe life into the text for a new generation audience. The production was lively and there was an unexpected amount of humour, but the production was marred by some idiosyncratic performances and poor production choices. The characters in this play are worn down with wea...

Much Ado About Nothing – The Globe Theatre

30Apr

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Much Ado About Nothing – The Globe Theatre

Shakespeare's Globe has started their summer 2022 season with a cracking production of the ever popular Much Ado About Nothing. Lucy Bailey's production maintains Shakespeare's traditional Italian villa setting but updates it to 1945. The production is fast moving, very funny and extremely comprehensible while retaining all the essential elements of the original text. Joanna Parker' s design conjures the exterior of an Italian villa with grassy banks and ivy-covered walls. The updating to 1945 provides the opportunity for some gorgeous period costumes supervised by Caroline Hughes and contemporary music played beautifully by an ensemble of five accordion players who moved around the stage accompanying the action. Director Lucy Bailey makes extremely good use of the ...

Sidney Fox’s Crime – Above The Stag Theatre

22Apr

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Sidney Fox’s Crime – Above The Stag Theatre

Sidney Fox led an eventful, unconventional and disreputable life. The illegitimate fourth son of promiscuous Rosaline Fox, he took up pretty crime from an early age. Stealing and forgery were second nature to him, and he spent six spells in prison. His good looks made him attractive to both sexes and he had affairs with many in the highest echelons of 1920's society. In the years before his mother's death, the two of them lived in a succession of hotels, rarely paying the bills before moving on. On 23rd October 1929 in the Metropole hotel in Margate his mother died in mysterious circumstances. Sidney was arrested and tried for her murder. Glenn Chandler has written a fast moving, fascinating account of Fox's life and the events leading up to his mother's death and his ...

8Apr

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Lava – Soho Theatre

A small asteroid hitting London is the context for James Fritz new play now showing at the Soho Theatre. Rather than causing global annihilation, it is a relatively local event although causing significant death and the large-scale displacement of populations. It throws together 4 characters whose relationships are the substance of the play. The central character is Vin played by Don Parr who appears to have been struck dumb by the grief caused by the event. His mother Vicky (Kasey Ainsworth) and friend and workmate Rach (Bethany Antonia) struggle to understand and maintain their relationships with him, especially when the more charismatic and certainly more voluble Jamie (Oli Higginson) arrives. The setting was simple on a bare stage with a large circular well in the middle...

17Mar

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Tempest – Pleasance Theatre

The production of the Tempest by Wildcard Theatre, currently running at the Pleasance Theatre is rather like the two-headed beast that Caliban and Trinculo create in act 2 scene 2 of Shakespeare's play, having two heads. One head is a serious attempt to present Shakespeare's famous play, the other the desire for a light-hearted music inspired evening. Instead of working together towards a common purpose the tension between them detracted from what could have been an extremely fine and inventive production. Pleasance Theatre’s main auditorium was a set out with tables rather than banks of auditorium seats, and the production took place on revolving stage, bare except for a metal construction of steps and stairs which was used inventively by the director, James Meteyard, for t...

13Mar

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Ghosts of the Titanic – Park Theatre

The play is set in New York six months or so after the Titanic sank, and interest in the tragedy is waning. A young lady, who describes herself as the fiancé of one of the musicians, arrives trying to resolve some of the unexplained questions about the sinking. Why was there confusion about which tunes the band were playing as the ship went down? Why were the lookout's binoculars locked away? Why were the original distress calls ignored? Why did the ship set sail with a fire on board? Her questioning leads to issues surrounding the construction of the vessel, and even more sinister motivations for wanting the ship never to complete her maiden voyage. Playwright Ron Hutchinson has inventively used this most enduring of disaster stories to raise questions about conspiracy theories. These ...

10Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

ENG-ER-LAND – Dulwich College

Given its centrality to the cultural life of this country, it is surprising that there are not more plays about football. ENG-ER-LAND, written and performed by Hannah Kumari, which has just started a 15 venue UK tour in the Edward Allen theatre at Dulwich College in South London, goes some way to remedying that deficiency. The tour is supported by the Football Supporters Association in order to promote inclusivity and combat racism and sexism in the game. It is very much a personal take on football based upon Kumari’s experience of growing up as a female, mixed race, football fan. Many of its themes will undoubtedly resonate with a wider audience since the play is more about the difficulty of forming an identity for those of mixed race then it is specifically about football...

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

8Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

North West

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

When Ken Kesey’s debut novel was published in 1962 it was an instant hit and spawned a lauded theatrical production, one of the greatest movies of all time and countless other adaptations. It’s a brave choice then for the Garrick Ensemble to take on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for only their second production. A company of 18-to-30-year-old up-and-coming actors from the local area, the ensemble aims to produce a play a year on the main stage at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse. It’s a chance to see local talent in innovative work before they proceed in their careers. This show certainly has talent in abundance but the ambition to create something fresh may have been lost in the scale and baggage of the story they’ve taken on. Photo: Martin Ogden Randle Patrick McMurphy (Joseph...

4Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Hamlet – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

The first production of Hamlet in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in the Shakespeare's Globe was an event to look forward to. The intimate candle lit wooden interior of the playhouse provided the opportunity for a very different feel to what is probably the best play the Bard ever wrote. What a disappointment it turned out to be. It started well enough, the initial scene on the battlements with the ghost was in complete darkness and when the candles were lit for the subsequent scene the characters were dressed in more or less traditional Elizabethan costumes; the stage was bare apart from one or two chairs and a large circular well in the middle. There were a few inconsistencies: Horatio, sported a modern university type scarf and a single musician sat on stage...