Friday, November 15

REVIEWS

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse
8Feb By Paul AckroydNo Comments
North West

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

When Ken Kesey’s debut novel was published in 1962 it was an instant hit and spawned a lauded theatrical production, one of the greatest movies of all time and countless other adaptations. It’s a brave choice then for the Garrick Ensemble to take on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for only their second production. A company of 18-to-30-year-old up-and-coming actors from the local area, the ensemble aims to produce a play a year on the main stage at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse. It’s a chance to see local talent in innovative work before they proceed in their careers. This show certainly has talent in abundance but the ambition to create something fresh may have been lost in the scale and baggage of the story they’ve taken on. Photo: Martin Ogden Randle Patrick McMurphy (Joseph...
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Ellen Kent: Carmen – Floral Pavilion
8Feb By Mark DavorenNo Comments
North West

Ellen Kent: Carmen – Floral Pavilion

Carmen is a four-act opera by French composer Georges Bizet, first performed in Paris on 3rd March 1875 with audiences initially objecting to the wild and immoral behaviour on view. Sadly, Bizet's sudden death in June meant he did not get to see its resounding success in Vienna later that year and its subsequent international acclaim. It is now one of the most popular and frequently performed operas. Set in Seville, Spain around 1820, Carmen tells the story of the downfall of Don José (Sorin Lupu) a naïve corporal who falls head over heels in love with Carmen (Katerina Timbaliuk), a seductive, free-spirited gypsy girl. The infatuated Don José abandons his childhood sweetheart, Micaela (Alyona Kistenyova), and neglects his military duties much to the annoyance of his senior officer Zunig...
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8 Hours There and Back – Unity Theatre
8Feb By Clare ChandlerNo Comments
North West

8 Hours There and Back – Unity Theatre

The latest production from All Things Considered is a collaborative verbatim piece exploring the stories of children affected by parental imprisonment in the UK.  The show (co-created by Time Matters UK and the Unity Theatre) has the usual warmth, humour and pathos of All Things Considered as Michael Irvine-Hall, Alivia Yemm and Adebola Olayinka creatively and energetically share testimonies from children who have had a parent sent to prison.  Indeed, at one point Yemm was so enthusiastic in her performance that she added a dramatic fall to the proceedings – a moment that she quickly incorporated into the show for comedic effect as she informed Olayinka “no you go, I’m injured!” (Thankfully she appeared to make a quick recovery).   8 Hours There and Back is intended for social workers,...
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Faulty Towers Dining Experience – President Hotel, London
8Feb By Samantha CollettNo Comments
London

Faulty Towers Dining Experience – President Hotel, London

It may surprise you to learn that Fawlty Towers, ranked first on a list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, had just two series of six episodes in 1975 and 1979. The power of the show, written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, was in its character creation. From the pomposity of Basil Fawlty to his bossy wife Sybil, to the hapless, linguistically challenged Spanish waiter Manuel, the trio cast a spell in their unforgettable ways. Which is why, decades later, I found myself sat in The President Hotel, Bloomsbury about to enjoy the Faulty Towers Dining Experience. The plot of the original TV series was the Fawlty’s attempts to run a hotel amidst farcical situations – and so the dining experience is much the same. This is a two-hour interactive production set in a restaurant wher...
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Disenchanted –The Living Record Festival
4Feb By Zoё MeeresNo Comments
REVIEWS

Disenchanted –The Living Record Festival

Disenchanted bills itself as ‘a cabaret of twisted fairy tales’ which sounded right up my street. I find the history of fairy tales fascinating; there’s the darkness that lies at the heart of the original tales, which were sanitised to appeal to younger audiences and delivery that Hollywood happy ending. Tales which have been popular in their current incarnations for decades but are now beginning to lose their relevance in modern society where not every little girl is encouraged to wait around for a handsome prince to come and save her. I’m also a fan of work that approaches a well-known narrative from a fresh point of view – the brilliant children’s book There’s a Wolf in My Pudding does this excellently. So, I couldn’t help but be a little bit disappointed by Disenchanted. We’re g...
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Purple Snowflakes and Tittywanks – Royal Court
4Feb By Alice RoseNo Comments
London

Purple Snowflakes and Tittywanks – Royal Court

This a revolutionary piece that follows a young woman from Ireland to London with the suffocating pressures of a nation devout to their beliefs and their religion. How this manifests is in the bodies of young people who cover their sexual frustrations, eating disorders, depression and anxieties. This slightly nonsensical piece is high energy, a thought a minute as she revisits her later years in school with the complication of discovery and in how unlocking knowledge can be just as limiting as you may have felt before. Photo: Luca Truffarelli Written and performed by Sarah Hanly, awarded with the 2019 Pinter Commission and one of Royal Court’s Long Form Writer’s Group- she has written a piece that speaks to a nation in recovery. It is powerful, funny and dark as we uncover the truth ...
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Hamlet – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
4Feb By Paul AckroydNo Comments
London

Hamlet – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

The first production of Hamlet in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in the Shakespeare's Globe was an event to look forward to.  The intimate candle lit wooden interior of the playhouse provided the opportunity for a very different feel to what is probably the best play the Bard ever wrote.  What a disappointment it turned out to be. It started well enough, the initial scene on the battlements with the ghost was in complete darkness and when the candles were lit for the subsequent scene the characters were dressed in more or less traditional Elizabethan costumes; the stage was bare apart from one or two chairs and a large circular well in the middle.  There were a few inconsistencies:   Horatio, sported a modern university type scarf and a single musician sat on stage...
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Flashdance – Grange Theatre
4Feb By Damian RiverolNo Comments
North West

Flashdance – Grange Theatre

After months of hard work and a 3 month delay due to Covid restrictions, Zodiac Musical Theatre have managed to bring the North-West premier of Flashdance the Musical to sold out audiences at the Grange Theatre in Hartford. Flashdance the Musical is adapted from the 1983 Paramount Pictures musical film which follows the story of Alex, an 18-year-old welder by day and ‘flashdancer’ by night, and her dreams of attending a prestigious Dance Academy. Director and Choreographer, Jessica Martin, had her work cut out to bring together this marathon of a show and she did it so well with a sharp vision and brilliant choreography, very fitting with the era, magnificent work. Craig Price as Musical Director has once again worked his magic to assist the cast in delivering killer vocals and tight...
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Constellations – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse
2Feb Avatar photoBy Paul WilcoxNo Comments
North West

Constellations – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

The idea of a multiverse of alternate realities, each offering slightly different versions of our existence has become a very familiar trope in film and theatre. The Marvel Studios blockbuster superhero capers are the most successful recent iteration of this oeuvre, but classic movies (It's a Wonderful Life, A Matter of Life and Death), comedies (Back to the Future, Groundhog Day) and less auspicious examples (I'm looking at you 'Sliding Doors'), all play with the idea of how small decisions in life can change outcomes in a big way. In 2012, writer Nick Payne took the premise of a chance meeting of a Beekeeper and a String Theory scientist at a barbecue and created 'Constellations' for the Royal Court Theatre. Weaving a fantastical tale of 'if', 'but' and 'maybe' which is both hilarious...
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April in Paris – Birkenhead Little Theatre
2Feb By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments
North West

April in Paris – Birkenhead Little Theatre

Imagine winning a prize that whisks you away from the humdrum of life and the everyday. The kind of prize that offers excitement, opportunity and escapism with a bit of romance thrown in. That’s exactly what happens to lead characters Bet and Al in April in Paris. Entrenched in the monotony of existence, we join them as they inadvertently expand their horizons thanks to Bet winning in a ‘Romantics Breaks’ competition. Bet enters them for ‘a new life’. Al was sure she wouldn’t win. John Godber’s short observational play is layered with juxtapositions the audience can identify with - humour and depression, love and loathing, hope and pessimism – making the show a thought-provoking watch. With bags packed and contrasting enthusiasm, Bet and Al head to Paris for their first experience ab...
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