REVIEWS Archives - Page 319 of 548

Present Laughter – Reformed Allerton Dramatic Society

27May

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Present Laughter – Reformed Allerton Dramatic Society

Written in 1939 Noel Coward’s blisteringly witty comedy of manners centres around Garry Essendine a completely self-absorbed and egotistical light comedy actor as he juggles the affections and attentions of almost everyone that he encounters. Coward jokingly acknowledged that in part Essendine mirrored his own “experiences” in the world of theatre and indeed his wider relationships. It’s clear that Essendine has never really grown up and feels entitled when it comes to matters of the heart. It’s a jolly and harmless romp, not one of Coward’s best – that accolade must go jointly to Private Lives and Blithe Spirit, but Cowards playful script does have its moments and the RADS rise to the occasion with a fairly solid rendition of the text. Director Bethany Cragg get...

26May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

A Passionate Woman – Leeds Playhouse

Your child’s wedding day is one of most stressful events for any parent, but in Betty Derbyshire’s case it has brought all her regrets into sharp focus as she totally melts down barricading herself in the loft while her son frantically tries to save his big day. Middle aged Leeds housewife Betty is battling with empty nest syndrome as her only son starts a new life, living a lie in a loveless marriage, hiding some age old secrets, and being joined in the loft by the ghost of her long dead lover, who may or may not be in her head. It’s thirty years since Leeds writing legend Kay Mellor’s debut play was performed in this theatre, and her sharp ear for how working class people speak and think means it very much stands the test of time. One woman in the audience reflecting on this bitter...

26May

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Aspects of Love – Lyric Theatre

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love originally came to stage in 1989, this beautifully written adaptation with Lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart revisits the emotional tumultuous and ethically challenged love triangle set in post war France and Venice. Michael Ball returns to the stage as the accomplished George Dillingham. Actress Rose, fickle and in need of male affection is performed with palpable emotion and grit by Laura Pitt-Pulford. Giulietta, the Italian sculptor played by Danielle de Niese wows the theatre audience with her performance as George’s mistress. Their relationships become entwined within a web of egotistical jealousy, passion and complexity when Alex, Jamie Bogyo a soldier whose infatuation of love for Rose shifts awkwardly to Jenny his young cousin in an ...

The Stamping Ground – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

24May

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

The Stamping Ground – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

The Stamping Ground is a musical featuring the songs of Scottish Celtic rock band, Runrig. Although little known outside Scotland, Runrig were a hugely popular group with a passionate and loyal fan base from 1973 to 2018. Although the line-up changed a little over the years, Calum and Rory Macdonald remained the constants, having written all the songs featured in this musical, some of which are sung in Gaelic, the native language of their birthplace, The Isle of Skye. Written by Morna Young and directed by Luke Kernaghan, The Stamping Ground tells the story of Euan (Ali Watt) and Annie (Jenny Hulse) who make a decision to return to their highland home when life in London turns sour, and to give their teenage daughter Fiona (Caitlin Forbes) a safer and healthier life. &...

24May

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Come Laugh With Us – 53two

The audience tonight were treated to six eclectic short plays as part of an evening advertised as “a brand-new comedy night, written by women, for women” but ultimately all the plays touched on universal themes that transcend gender. All the plays were entertaining, some were educational, and introduced female issues that some, including me, were shamefully unaware. It was Päi Productions, a female-led Northern production company, first theatre production and it was a triumph. Comedian Soph Galustian got the audience warmed up with some good jokes and as a fellow Stopfordian (i.e. someone from Stockport) I definitely recognised her comments about the town. The first play Oh God by Chloe Mclaughlin, was a monologue told with entertaining verve by Kelsea Knox. There was a touch of F...

24May

By Aditi DalalNo Comments

London

Absent Friends – OSO Arts Centre

When you think of an Alan Ayckbourn play, a tragi-comedy set at a tea party, at a fringe venue overlooking a pond, you set yourself up for a lovely evening of theatre. And the theatre was indeed lovely, a beautiful exterior with an intimate performance space, but the venue is about the only thing that the show got right. Diana (Polly Smith) invites friends over for a tea party, after their long-lost friend, Colin Thomas Willshire), is supposedly grieving the death of his fiance. Tension is evident between and within the couples; Evelyn (Liv Koplick) has been sleeping with Diana’s husband, Paul (Eoin Lynch). Evelyn’s husband, John (Kieran Seabrook-France) is aware of this but doesn’t say anything; he is in business with Paul. Marge (Bridget Lambert) unsuccessfully attempts to maintain th...

24May

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Private Lives – Cheadle Players

Amanda and Elyot have been divorced for five years. Now recently remarried… to other people… the play opens on the first night of their honeymoons as they discover that they have by chance booked adjacent rooms at the same hotel in the north of France. What follows is an excellent study into human nature, love and relationships, with a healthy dose of gender politics that still resonates now, despite having been written in 1930. It is very funny, which you would expect from writer Noel Coward. However, director David Burns has also managed to tease out moments of introspection, and almost vulnerability, which gave the exuberant characters a much greater depth of personality than I expected. The action was beautifully framed by the simple but elegant set, also designed by Burns, which...

24May

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Wish You Were Dead – The Lowry

The line between amateur and professional theatre is a lot finer than many people realise. Sometimes it is the best am dram performances that remind one of this fact. Other times it is pro productions that feel second best. Wish You Were Dead is, sadly, an example of the latter. This isn't the first of Peter James' bestselling Roy Grace stories to be adapted for the stage but, if the formula has worked well previously, it doesn't quite deliver here. The show is very heavy on exposition, very light on character development. There are a fair few plot points and devices which would have probably been given ample time to develop in a novel but which feel thrown away, redundant or downright confusing in a two hour stage production. These problems are then compounded by some lower grade...

The Ocean at the End of the Lane – The Alexandra, Birmingham

24May

By Annette NuttallNo Comments

West Midlands

The Ocean at the End of the Lane – The Alexandra, Birmingham

Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, this stunning National Theatre production of The Ocean at the End of the Lane arrives in Birmingham this week. Returning to visit a place from his childhood, the unnamed man finds a familiar face. As he talks to Old Mrs Hempstock, he starts to remember long forgotten and buried memories. Along with him, you are transported into his world as a 12-year-old, a world that is as familiar as it is fantastical. There are strong performances throughout from the main characters and the ensemble. The ensemble is a large part of this production, they take the incidental roles, bring creatures to life, create the atmosphere with their movement and interaction with the lead characters and even move the pieces of set. Keith Ogikvy portrayed the confusion and d...

24May

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Peaky Blinders – Birmingham Hippodrome

Ballet Rambert play a Peaky Blinder Full Disclosure: I’ve never seen the TV show “Peaky Blinders” Fuller Disclosure: After this stunning, definitive version I don’t want to. With all the visceral violence of its leading characters, this ballet stomps into town, kicks open the door and makes itself at home before you can even say, “Come in.” It throws us against the wall, blows smoke in our face and threatens to rob us blind - and we love. As any Brummie worth their pork scratchings will tell you, Stephen Knight’s TV show was wrought in the Midlands and forged in the land which once produced half the world’s consumption of iron products. The ballet starts with anvils and chains and literal sparks flying as our anti-heroes emerge battered, bruised and bewildered from the fetid tr...