London

Describing what has happened to the performing arts as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic is difficult and upsetting. In a time when the arts were needed more than ever, stages were emptied and orchestras were silenced for the sake of safety. Royal Opera Houses’ ‘Royal Ballet: Back on Stage’, is more than just a selection of ballet excerpts, but a battle cry on behalf of artists up and down the nation who work on and off stage. It urges us to dream of a future when the arts will be safe and possible again. As the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House begins the Overture from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake under the baton of Jonathan Lo, one could be forgiven for thinking the mess was all over-that we were once again back to normal.  At this moment, the orchestra, the dancers, and the theatre ...

As most theatre lovers will know, Take Two Theatricals in conjunction with Carter Dixon Productions and stream.theatre began streaming a series of one-off concerts on 18th September, and this week was the turn of Kerry Ellis. Best known in theatreland from her time as Elphaba in Wicked and Meat in We Will Rock You, Ellis is also an extremely successful recording artist, and she finished recording her sixth album, Feels Like Home, just before lockdown. Produced by Nikki & Joe Davison at Auburn Jam Music, Ellis had intended to sell the album as exclusive merchandise at her 2020 live gigs, but when the coronavirus pandemic put an end to her touring plans, she decided to sell the album online. Tonight, with a backdrop of the empty Coliseum as a haunting reminder of the current challenge...

Jan Philipp Gloger’s production from 2019 starts not at the beginning of the show but rather at the end with a curtain call for a traditional period-piece – perhaps Così – being played out during the overture, after which the four young lovers emerge from the audience into a world of theatrical fantasy orchestrated by Don Alfonso (Johannes Martin Kränzle), who proceeds to put the two young couples – Ferrando (Daniel Behle) and Dorabella (Angela Brower), and Guglielmo (Alessio Arduini) and Fiordiligi (Corinne Winters) – through their respective paces with the assistance of an oft-disguised Despina (Sabina Puértolas). With an emphasis on the artificiality of the plot and the need for strong theatrics to pull it off, we are taken on a time-travelling whistle-stop tour of sets that include ...