REVIEWS Archives - Page 16 of 545

Top Hat the Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

15Oct

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Top Hat the Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

Top Hat, a musical genre from bygone days comes to the New Wimbledon Theatre with style and grace. What is striking from the outset is Peter Mckintosh set designs which spin round and glide on and off stage to create the perfect scenic backdrop for this timeless performance. Together with Yvonne Milnes their costume design was exquisite and transports you right back into the grandeur of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, this did not disappoint. This 1935 crazy comedy with quirky storylines and ‘goofy’ mishaps is reflected very well in this version of Top Hat. A catalogue of mistaken identity, love and romance sees Jerry Travers played by Phillip Attmore shine with his toe tapping dance moves, sublime and joyous to watch. Complimented by Lindsay Atherton as Dale Tremont. In this perf...

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Sheffield Lyceum

15Oct

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Sheffield Lyceum

Triumphant and sublime masterclass of theatrical storytelling – Enchanting! Selectively based on C.S Lewis’ novel of the same name and the first and best known of seven in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Direct from the West End, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe takes its audience on a magical and majestic journey through the wardrobe into Narnia. Written in 1950, the story tells of four siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy who are evacuated in wartime to the home of an eccentric Professor, they discover an old wardrobe in a spare room and upon entering it are transported to the mystical land of Narnia. Can the two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve aid both the animals and the returning saviour Aslan, the Lion, to rid Narnia of the White Witch and restore Narnia to its seaso...

15Oct

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Seagull – Royal Lyceum

The Seagull is the complete package thanks to James Brining's direction. The casting is perfect; the set sumptuous; the costumes tip-top and the adapted script a true delight. Mike Poulton, the witty script adaptor, praises The Lyceum as “a theatre and a company Chekhov would have loved.” The cast of eleven certainly warm your heart, being consistently strong across the board. There is humour, tenderness, spite and selfishness aplenty. The Seagull offers a study in human folly, with each of us striving for originality and acknowledgement in a world where our relationships and the perspective of “the other” tarnishes and corrupts our pure intentions. The human experience is presented with simplicity. The tragedy of despised love and our willingness to accept crumbs, or nothing at a...

Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic – Aviva Studios

15Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic – Aviva Studios

Artist and director Marina Abramović presents her most ambitious work yet with this stunning four-hour immersive experience that draws upon her Slavic roots and culture to explore the eroticism, spirituality and traditions of her homeland. A brass band leads us up into the hall where we witness a funeral lament for Josip Broz Tito, former Communist leader of Yugoslavia, before a further twelve visceral scenes are revealed around us, with audiences free to choose their own path. Photo: Marco Anell Magic Potions questions what is myth and what is history whilst Fucking the Ground/Fertility Rites and Scaring the Gods to Stop the Rain both explore ancient ritual performances designed to pre-empt crop failure. Ancestor’s Dance presents a typical winter scene where performers in trad...

14Oct

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Lifers – Southwark Playhouse Borough

As part of my drama degree in late ‘90s Liverpool, we were required to complete a Theatre In Education project (TIE). The aim was to bring live performance to a civic space where such larks are rare or unlikely. Stage a grime-infused Macbeth at an inner-city school. Perform avant garde ballet in a local authority funded care home. That type of thing. Together with my crew of fellow misfits on my course, we opted to bring our theatrical talents to the most captive of audiences, prison inmates. The concept shattered when faced with the complex, frustrating and brutal reality of staging anything in a prison. Simply visiting an inmate at a UK correctional facility is never less than a bureaucratic, dystopian terror trip. Do-gooding, weed-fuelled drama students are likely fall hard at the fi...

Sibelius Symphony No. 5 – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

13Oct

By Johanna RobertsNo Comments

North West

Sibelius Symphony No. 5 – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

This evening’s concert at the Philharmonic, with the orchestra ably led by conductor Geoffrey Paterson, was a clear demonstration of the importance of and the Philharmonic’s commitment to offering new or lesser-known pieces alongside those more familiar to or popular with audiences. The performance opened with a short piece –Boccherino’s Ritirata notturna de Madrid, composed in 1780 to evoke the sounds of the band passing as the City Watch retired from the streets. Nearly two centuries later, Luciano Berios superimposed Boccherino’s different arrangements of his original piece to create a new work that retains the essential elements of Boccherino’s music but with a modern twist. The audience heard the sound develop from the quiet roll of the drum with the gradual introduction of the dif...

13Oct

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Snake in the Grass – Octagon Theatre

Would Snake in the Grass go with a bump, a bang, or a flop? Definitely not the latter. The Octagon Theatre Bolton’s gripping production of Alan Ayckbourn’s darkly comic thriller delivers a night of theatre that is equal parts chilling, suspenseful, and wickedly funny. Performed in the Octagon’s intimate space, the audience is drawn straight into the heart of a decaying family garden where secrets fester and ghosts real or imagined seem to lurk in every shadow. The story centres on Annabel Chester (Sue Cleaver), who returns home after her abusive father’s death. She’s physically and emotionally fragile, her father’s cruelty still haunting her. But her uneasy homecoming takes a sinister turn when her father’s former nurse, Alice (Lisa Zahra), arrives with a blackmail scheme, claiming ...

Radio Live: Next Generation – Battersea Arts Centre

13Oct

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Radio Live: Next Generation – Battersea Arts Centre

Radio Live: Next Generation is not really a play, nor does it claim to be. It is something else altogether. Over two hours, Aurélie Charon speaks to two interviewees: Oksana Leuta, from Ukraine, and Amir Hassan, from Gaza. They recount stories of their childhood, their families and their communities. Then they tell us about the wars that have disrupted all of these things. It is an even-paced few hours in the theatre, never really seeking to grab you, but never lagging either. Whether the memory being discussed is extreme or more every day, it is approached in a similar fashion, with Charon asking her questions simply. Crucially, the focus of the interview is entirely on the experiences of Hassan and Leuta. The politics of the play are thus firmly grounded in the personal. This is th...

13Oct

By Holly SewellNo Comments

London

Da Vinci’s Laundry – Riverside Studios

What gives a piece of art its value? Is it purely aesthetic? Is it arbitrary, decided in reverse once a piece’s price is set? Why did Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog sell for nearly $60 million? These are the questions grappled with by auctioneers Christopher and Milly in Da Vinci’s Laundry when they are forced to go through with a $450 million sale of a recently uncovered Da Vinci that they know is a fake. Keelan Kember's’ choice of high-end art as a subject is full of potential. He paints a picture of a world run by the dirty rich, where art experts’ opinions are reduced to box-ticking exercises that can in any case be overruled by those with enough power. Christopher, the timid auction house representative, is threatened with a 100-foot plummet from a gangster's balcony if he refuses to sell...

Arcade at Darkfield – Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

13Oct

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Arcade at Darkfield – Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Stepping into ‘Arcade’ at Darkfield’s shipping container village feels like entering another realm entirely. You are walked into a brightly lit container, handed a headset, plugged into an arcade style game unit and then plunged into complete darkness. Suddenly you are surrounded by the hum of machines, the click of coins, and a disembodied voice that seems to know way too much about you. It is immersive theatre stripped to its essence, with no visuals and no visible actors, yet it feels completely cinematic and totally immersive. The sound design is remarkable, creating a 360-degree world of nostalgia, menace, fear and intrigue that makes your pulse quicken even though nothing traditional is taking place. ‘Arcade’ plays with ideas of memory and control, turning a simple arcade game...