REVIEWS Archives - Page 241 of 549

12Jan

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Swan Lake – Richmond Theatre

The brand new (2023 founded) Mergaliev Classical Ballet brings to Richmond’s now 125-year-old theatre a tame and traditional rendition of the tragic classic best suited for young audiences. Swan Lake is one of the dance world’s most famous ballets and for good reason. Tchaikovsky’s score is compelling and engaging and the story is simple and accessible. It follows Prince Siegfried (Azamat Askarov), a young man upon whom tragedy suddenly strikes. Urged to choose a bride he spurns the seductive court and ambles into the woods alone. Followed into the woods by the ominous and treacherous sorcerer Rothbart (Jackson Stewart), whose menacing musical motif is no less satisfying for its ubiquity, Siegfried is shocked to discover that the swans he hoped to spear are in fact beautiful maidens tem...

12Jan

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Aladdin – Floral Pavilion

January is the wrong time to be watching panto. 'Oh no it's not!' exclaim the wonderfully wild cast that make up the NODA award-winning Chrysanths pantomime Aladdin. Peppered with puns, side-splitting slapstick and calamitous chaos, join the impoverished ne'er-do-well as he falls in love, finds fortune and ends up on Mars. Wait, Mars? This interpretation of one of the best-known tales associated with The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights) is truly unique. It features local law enforcers Hilo (Jed Flowerday) and Lilo (Graham Leigh), an evil empress (Leanne Burgess) and a very helpful Spirit of the Ring (Maria Larkin) whose place in the panto is akin to a fairy god mother. As the curtains close, there's also more than one happy ending. But that's not all you ne...

Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood – Normanton Junior Academy

12Jan

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood – Normanton Junior Academy

A warm welcome greeted me as I went to see the opening night of Encore Theatre Company’s (ETC) 2024 pantomime Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood and this warm welcome was not just aimed at me – if only all front of house staff were as attentive and jolly as Encore’s lot all pantomimes would have a head start with the audience participation! What a warming feeling on a cold January night! Established in 1944, Encore is a well-known company in the local area and boasts The Lord St Oswald (6th Baron St Oswald) of Nostell Priory as its Honorary Patron. What made this production special to me was the inclusivity on the stage as well as off. It really was a diverse community performance and just how panto should be – a collective experience for the cast and the audience – as one doesn’t exi...

The Enfield Haunting – Ambassadors Theatre

11Jan

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

The Enfield Haunting – Ambassadors Theatre

Based on a true story in 1978, Catherine Tate stars alongside David Threlfall as Peggy Hodgson, a single mother who is desperate to protect her three children from an unknown source that is incomprehensible and deeply disturbing. Written by Paul Unwin, this new, supernatural and paranormal play is based on the first-hand accounts of one of the ghost hunters from the true story in 1978. The Hodgsons, once a normal family from North London, were subject to the movements of a terrifying poltergeist in the summer of 1977. When furniture and toys began mysteriously moving on their own accord, and the family’s behaviour started changing, the Hodgsons found themselves the subject of supernatural torture for eighteen months, becoming one of the most famous poltergeist events worldwide. One o...

11Jan

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Life of Pi – Leeds Grand Theatre

Life of Pi is one of those blockbuster books that seemed impossible to make work on stage, but Lolita Chakrabarti’s pacey adaptation keeps in Jann Martel’s mediation on the power of faith along with all the dramatic set pieces that make it such a good yarn. It opens in a Mexican hospital room as an Indian teenager Pi recounts his 200 plus day battle for survival after the ship transporting his father’s zoo animals to a new home in Canada goes down in the Pacific. According to Pi he shared his life raft and battle to live with a 200 pound Bengal Tiger called Richard Parker…or did he? Chakrabarti doesn’t flinch from the spiritual nature of Mantel’s text that namechecks most of the major religions, but cleverly weaves in the darker side of our psyche in a fable that is much about ...

11Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

La Traviata – Manchester Opera House

Ellen Kent’s production of this much-loved opera is aided by its sumptuous set and costume design as it relishes its traditional 19th Century roots and delivers a truly musical feast to dine upon. At its heart lies a love story which draws upon Alexandre Dumas the Younger’s real-life doomed love affair with well-known courtesan, Marie Duplessis. We open with Violetta (Alyona Kistenyova), aided by her friend Flora (Natalia Matveeva) hosting a lavish party where she is introduced by Gastone (Nicolae Cebanu) to his friend, Alfredo Germont (Giorgio Meladze), a fervent admirer, who is more concerned for her failing health than her escort, Barone Douphal (Eugeniu Ganea). When Alfredo declares his love for her, she wonders if he could be the one amidst her desire to be free to live her life. ...

10Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Unfriend – Wyndham’s Theatre

We've all done it - you're on holiday, you're relaxed, you meet a fellow tourist and strike up a vacation-friendship. You say, "We must keep in touch", even exchange contact details without ever really meaning anything other than "Goodbye" and never really wanting to see that person again. Maybe you exchange Christmas cards but nothing more. It's part of the British psyche to avoid appearing even a little impolite, so you will do everything to escape a hint of awkwardness or embarrassment. Thus, when Peter and Debbie meet ebullient far-right-wing American, the Trump-supporting Elsa Jean Krakowski, on a cruise and she invites them to visit her in Denver, they reluctantly give her their email address. A few weeks later she's manipulated them into letting her stay for a few days and she turns...

9Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Nabucco – Met Opera Live in HD

Verdi’s biblical story is brought to life in biblical proportions with this fifth revival from director J. Knighten Smit’s of the late Elijah Moshinsky’s original production complete with John Napier’s impressive set design taking full advantage of the stage’s turntable. In Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, the terrified Hebrews await the arrival of the conquering Babylonian king, Nabucco (George Gagnidze), who is renowned for his cruelty. The Hebrew high priest Zaccaria (Dmitry Belosselskiy) has kidnapped Nabucco’s daughter, Fenena (Maria Barakova) entrusting her safe keeping to Ismaele (SeokJong Baek), and their love for each other is soon revealed. Nabucco’s elder daughter, Abigaille (Liudmyla Monastyrska), is also in love with Ismaele and offers to save the Jewish people if he will giv...

The Wind in the Willows – Shakespeare North Playhouse

7Jan

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Wind in the Willows – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Kenneth Grahame’s whimsical book of the friendship and adventures of a group of woodland animals has been adapted many, many times for stage and screen, but this latest take, adapted by Toby Hulse and directed by Julia Samuels, with musical direction from Sarah Llewellyn, still manages to breath fresh life into the classic tale. The meaning of the title has been long open to interpretation; tonight it is a sign of impending danger. Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Cockpit Theatre has been transformed into the round. Atop of a tree stump stage, we meet the chipper Ratty (Keziah Joseph having returned to the role following a rehearsal mishap), Mole (Katie Erich), Badger (Jenny Murphy) and Toad (Dean Boodaghians-Nolan) who take us on a wonderful, vivid tour of life on the riverbank. Boxes ...

Elliot Bibby – The Best of Bibby – Scottish Storytelling Centre

2Jan

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Elliot Bibby – The Best of Bibby – Scottish Storytelling Centre

Perhaps more than any other performer at Edinburgh’s Magicfest 2023, Elliot Bibby is unashamedly a comedian and entertainer first and a magician second. There is certainly no shortage of laugh-out-loud moments from this cheeky and charming magic man which make it quite different to all the others I’ve reviewed so far on the programme. Of course, comedy within magic is nothing new. Add a funny hat to the tall, dark Bibby and the Cooperesque comparison would be inescapable. No more so than when Bibby carries out the hilarious Bottle Glass, Glass bottle routine, which was one of Tommy’s absolute highlights. A lady behind me was in total hysterics during this sketch as bottle after bottle appeared on the ever diminishing table! Whilst comedy, can, of course, be a strength when combined ...