REVIEWS Archives - Page 108 of 549

One Day When We Were Young – Park Theatre

4Mar

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

One Day When We Were Young – Park Theatre

Opening with a bang (both literally and lasciviously) but ending with a whimper, One Day When We Were Young illustrates a little too effectively that for war’s hollow men, life is very long. The framework of the script is slightly too frail to support both its underwritten characters. Like the Titanic’s infamously splintered door, this play can only hold up one of its young lovers’ character development. Resultantly male lead Barney White gets to cut his teeth on a sturdily written World War II conscript while Cassie Bradley exhausts her jaw attempting to chew through all the scenery provided to the young lover turned middle aged mother turned elderly author who plays second fiddle to him throughout. Designer Pollyanna Elston’s set is surprisingly rich but unfortunately clashes in palet...

Spring Serenade Concert with students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – Carlops Village Hall

3Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Spring Serenade Concert with students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – Carlops Village Hall

Oodles of talent poured forth at a humble village hall in the Scottish Borders on Sunday afternoon. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s young talent got themselves organised and created a programme of music which was a delight. Eighteen-year-olds, Maria McMaster (voice) and Lena Błotnicka (Cello) and nineteen-year-olds, Michael Gemmell on piano and Kristie MacKenzie on flute are all first-year students at the Conservatoire. Today’s performances showcased just how they earned their places at this prestigious establishment. They filled the packed hall with beautiful, touching and amusing pieces and they received well-deserved, rapturous applause and many shouts of delight at the end. Gemmell organised this event with his former teacher, accomplished pianist and examiner, Lauren G...

3Mar

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Birdsong – Alexandra Palace

The novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks was a popular GCSE text back when I was taking those exams but wasn’t part of the Jane Austen-heavy syllabus followed by my school. Friends at a neighbouring school had studied it though (it was my at-the-time boyfriend’s favourite book) so I went into Rachel Wagstaff’s stage version on Friday night with a vague expectation of a sad World War I love story. The reality is obviously far richer and more complex than that, and I’m still unsure whether having a fuller understanding of what to expect would have made my experience better or worse. At three hours long the production covers a lot of ground, and the three acts divide the action neatly, but for me the first act was quite slow moving and a lot of subtlety was lost in the enormous auditorium. N...

2Mar

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Son of a Bitch – Southwark Playhouse

Ten seconds, seven words. That’s all it takes for Marnie (Anna Morris) to become a viral sensation… for all the wrong reasons. After a stressful long-haul flight in which her husband has ditched her and their son in Economy while he sips champagne in Business, Marnie’s rising frustrations have an almighty climax as she loudly calls her four-year-old a c*nt in front of all the other passengers — including one opportunist filming it on their phone. Soon, Marnie is public enemy number one as she becomes the global poster girl for ‘bad’ motherhood. Some suggest child services need to get involved, some believe she should be sterilised, and #SaveTheSon is the latest trending topic. But in reality, as we discover in time-jumping scenes throughout Son of a Bitch’s 60-minute runtime, Mar...

2Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Dead Mom Play – Unity Theatre

The funny thing about grief is that it’s no laughing matter, yet conversely laughter is generally considered the best medicine. That’s the conundrum for this semi-autobiographical production from writer, director, and producer Ben Blais which it doesn’t entirely overcome. A young man, Charlie (Griffyn Bellah) faces his critically ill mother (Hannah Harquart) and Death (Joe Bellis), a scythe-wielding Scouser in a hood, as he struggles to accept the harsh reality of the grieving process whilst stuck in a play of his own creation. This is the second play I have seen on grief in as many weeks and whilst I wasn’t reviewing the first, both pieces suffer from the need for some independent creative check which is absent because, in this instance, the writer has opted to direct and produc...

2Mar

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

Where We Meet – The Cockpit

Where We Meet at the Cockpit, produced and presented by Unwired Dance Theatre, is an ambitious interactive and immersive dance theatre performance exploring the nuances of human connexion. Warmly welcomed into a minimalist, darkened space by co-director and Creative Technology Lead Clemence Debaig, participants gather in the center while observers settle along the sides. With an unsettling air of modern anticipation reminiscent of Squid Game and Black Mirror, everyone is equipped with mysterious headsets and pouches. Shortly thereafter, clear instructions are given: these devices will react to the dancers’ proximity, granting telepathic insights into their inner monologues. The dancers—Sara Auguieras, Ryan Naiken, and Livia Massarelli, choreographer and co-director—soon take the ...

The Makropulos Affair – Festival Theatre

2Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Makropulos Affair – Festival Theatre

As ever, Scottish Opera delivers sumptuous sets, great lighting, singers who can act, and a wonderful orchestra that never disappoints, but this English rendition of The Makropulos Affair, by Leoš Janàček jarred my senses with its modern-day, casual lexicon. Words, such as F*ck somehow don’t marry comfortably with the impassioned, heightened music and traditional, elegant, and beautiful costumes. It was, no doubt, a deliberate choice. Creating a grating cacophonous lexicon - the use of brutal Viking words rather than those of Latin derivatives gives the opera an earthy groundedness - and caused me a headache. I wanted to lose my sense of reality for an hour or two. I was denied the option. Single syllables and short sentences (translation by David Pountney) reflect the sheer en...

2Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The House Party – Leeds Playhouse

Miss Julie is one of the great totems of naturalistic writing and that gives Laura Lomas full licence to update August Stringberg’s text from a Swedish mansion to an upscale London apartment as a raucous house party goes off the rails Lomas also makes the main protagonists mismatched eighteen-year-olds as hidden passions and enmities between the trio are slowly exposed over an intense 90 minutes told straight through. Despite the update Lomas does keep to the key principles of naturalism by making the whole scenarios realistic, the characters are most definitely flesh and blood with all the flaws that brings, and they are informed by their heredity and environment. Our Julie is an entitled, but damaged, posh kid who is throwing a boozy eighteen birthday party to spite her absent rich...

Handbagged – Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

28Feb

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Handbagged – Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

I overhear the couple behind me, probably in their twenties. One says, “Did you get the references?” the other replies, “I’ve seen ‘The Crown’ so I get the gist…” I suddenly feel very old and the details of Moira Buffini’s play, which were once at the political forefront for all of us over fifty, seem strangely distant and tepid. The Miner’s Strike and Section 28, once viscerally crucial, are thrown into quaint relief by the Trumpian carnival currently erupting across the water. What was once breaking news is now the fading past. Those of us who got the references - and the play is stuffed with them; Heseltine’s hair, Howe’s dullness - are happily served but what of the pair behind me? “Handbagged” appeared in its full form in 2014 within living memory of the events portrayed and only j...

28Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Score – Theatre Royal Haymarket

Oliver Cotton's new play, The Score, is based on the visit of Johann Sebastian Bach to Frederick the Great at his palace in Potsdam in 1747. During that visit Frederick challenged Bach to improvise a fugue based upon a tune he had written. That led to the creation of Bach’s famous anthology 'The Musical Offering'. Cotton has used his script to explore religious and philosophical themes based upon the supposed conflict between the devout peace-loving musician and the militaristic atheistic political leader. The play is both engaging and humorous and raises important issues. Brian Cox as Bach is the dominant character throughout the play. Cox's gravitas and underlying sympathy make him a great choice to play this role, which he does superbly. He is also supported by an excellent cast. Jam...