REVIEWS Archives - Page 189 of 545

The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women – Brixton House Theatre

18Jun

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women – Brixton House Theatre

Throughout mythology and history, women who go against societal norms face the judgement of others and come up against a justice system that appears to be designed against them. Theatre makers Janaina Leite and Lara Duarte here produce a journey exploring the nature of judgement - by others, by the legal system, by other women and too often by themselves. The show presents a gamut of historical figures such as Jean d'Arc and Mary Queen of Scots, alongside mythological goddesses, plus the contemporary, personal stories of women who are seen as transgressive. Told in three parts, the first, in promenade form, focuses on the goddesses, forthright and full of passions, and chastised and pilloried as a result. Act 2 moves to the courts in what is part drama, part TED-talk on the evolution of...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Hull New Theatre

18Jun

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Hull New Theatre

This week Hull New Theatre plays host to the hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, a production inspired by the 2011 TV documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 which features County Durham lad, Jamie Campbell, who, from a young age, liked to dress in girls’ clothes. The theatre was packed on Monday evening; would everybody be talking about Jamie at the show’s end? Sixteen-year-old Jamie New (the super talented Ivano Turco) lives on a Sheffield council estate with his mum Margaret (a passionate performance from Rebecca McKinnis). Single mum Margaret’s best friend is bargain-loving Ray (the amusing, sassy and protective Sejal Keshwala). The opening scene shows Jamie and his classmates with patient teacher, Miss Hedge (the irrepressible Sam Bailey), discussing their career aspe...

Merrily We Roll Along – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

18Jun

By NewsdeskNo Comments

North West

Merrily We Roll Along – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

With an uncanny sense of timing, Director Joseph Meighan and the creative team at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse open their production of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ on the same day it was announced that the current Broadway production won 4 Tony awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. So, if a trip to New York is beyond the budget of south Manchester residents, this week they get the opportunity to see a superb rendition of this poignant commentary on the nature of friendship at their local theatre instead. On its initial run in 1981, ‘Merrily’ closed after just two weeks and was a commercial disaster for Sondheim and co-writer George Furth, critics at the time found the storyline confusing and the characters unsympathetic and audiences agreed. But, as with many Sondh...

Three Men in a Boat – The Mill at Sonning

17Jun

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Three Men in a Boat – The Mill at Sonning

Three Men in a Boat was performed in a delightfully charming theatre nestled by the waters of the Thames, just outside London in Sonning. The theatre itself featured a beautiful mill inside the building, adding to the unique and picturesque atmosphere of the venue. Each theatre ticket included an exemplary two-course meal, with attentive staff who ensured everyone was well looked after. The meal for me was the highlight, offering delicious options that catered to various tastes. The dining experience set a warm and inviting tone for the afternoon, making the audience feel well cared for even before the performance began. The production was set just before the First World War, highlighted by a poignant final image. It followed a trio of friends: Jerome, played by George Watkins; his b...

17Jun

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Longitude – Upstairs at the Gatehouse

There seems to be no story which cannot be made into a musical nowadays. The fascinating history of the struggle to devise a marine navigational aid to accurately measure longitude is the latest, in a new musical written and produced by Kaz Maloney. The story focuses on John Harrison, the northern carpenter and clockmaker, who responded to the Board of Longitude's appeal in the early 1700s for solutions to this navigational dilemma, which was causing the loss of thousands of lives at sea. For the most part, the narrative of the story accurately follows John Harrison's story and his interactions with the Board, who were made up of well renowned establishment figures of the day. The style of the production was an interesting contrast between the more or less realistic ...

15Jun

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Julie: The Musical – The Other Palace

A French-Opera-singing, sword-fighting, bisexual convent arsonist sounds like a character you’d meet in an especially bizarre dream after one too many espresso martinis. But life is often stranger than fiction, and this multi-hyphenate wonder was a very real person: Julie d'Aubigny, to be precise. Born in 1673, Julie had a particularly storied existence, and while some of her tales have been lost to history, many of her adventures are well-recorded, from romantic trysts with nuns to illegal duels (often with multiple men at once), to a prestigious career as an opera singer. So it’s no surprise that this legendary figure is the inspiration for a suitably quirky show: Abey Bradbury’s Julie: The Musical, playing at The Other Palace after a successful UK tour and sell-out run at the Edin...

Shirley Valentine – Royal Lyceum Theatre

15Jun

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Shirley Valentine – Royal Lyceum Theatre

It’s easy to get stuck in life's daily routine, to lose all excitement in life due to duty and obligation. Shirley is a mother whose kids have grown up and left home, a wife to a man who still requires babying and all in all a shell of her former lively self. For Shirely life's about making her husband’s dinner and talking to the kitchen wall, a life unsatisfied and without risk or excitement, that is until her friend hands her a ticket to Greece. 2 Weeks abroad without the husband or kids… or at least that was the plan, now she’s met a man and discovered the true Shirley Valentine once more. Shirley Valentine is a brilliantly written one woman play that really makes you think about life and how it shapes us. It makes you think about who you are, how you got to where you are and reminds...

The Marriage of Figaro – Waterside Arts, Sale

15Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Marriage of Figaro – Waterside Arts, Sale

Mozart’s satirical and deeply human four-act comic opera, an adaptation with Da Ponte of Beaumarchais’ banned 1778 play about warring masters and servants, is delightfully brought to life with Chris Gill’s English libretto translation entertainingly directed by Sarah Helsby-Hughes. As the day of Figaro (David Cane) and Susanna’s (Heather Buckmaster) wedding arrives, it becomes clear that the Count (Mike Dewis), is keen to exercise his ‘droit du seigneur’ – his right to bed a servant girl on her wedding night – and they conspire with the forsaken Countess (Helsby-Hughes), to outwit her husband and teach him a lesson in fidelity. Plans however are thrown awry when Bartolo (Matthew Baldwin), seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his own earlier plans to marry the Countess, tries to ...

Tell Me How It Ends – Liverpool Everyman

14Jun

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

Tell Me How It Ends – Liverpool Everyman

Set in Liverpool in the late 80s, Tell Me How It Ends follows the lives of two Queer people who are polar opposites, brought together during the AIDS epidemic, when they realise the community have no one else to turn to but themselves. Luke Sookdeo as Marc and Emmy Stonelake as Aster take us on a journey of love, truth, and heartbreak. As Marc lies in his hospital bed, trialling numerous concoctions of drugs to try and combat HIV, Aster is a volunteer who gives up their time visiting the men in hospital who are going through the same thing. Offering an ear, a laugh and joke or just some silent company and a book, Aster and Marc become the closest of friends. Written by award winning Tasha Dowd, the story is told with care and love, injected with humour throughout to give the piece a ...

14Jun

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Andréa Chenier – Royal Opera House

David McVicar’s spectacular staging of Umberto Giordano’s epic verismo opera of revolution and forbidden love from 2015 is brought back to life by Revival Director Thomas Guthrie with the orchestra under the baton of Antonio Pappano in his last production as Music Director of The Royal Opera. At a glittering party in 18th-century Paris there are distinctly two tiers of society on display from the lowly footman Gérard (Amartuvshin Enkhbat) who follows in the footsteps of his father who has been in service for sixty years, to the sumptuous host, Contessa di Coigny (Rosalind Plowright), whose daughter Maddalena (Sondra Radvanovsky) straddles both as she eschews the fancy dress and faux manners in favour of intellectual discussion, so when the poet Andréa Chenier (Jonas Kaufmann) delivers a...