REVIEWS Archives - Page 334 of 548

Beauty and the Beast – St Helens Theatre Royal

8Apr

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Beauty and the Beast – St Helens Theatre Royal

It’s time for a seasonal pantomime in St Helens and this spring offering is a Regal Entertainment’s version of Beauty and the Beast written by Liam Mellor and directed by Chantelle Nolan. As with all pantomimes here at Theatre Royal and I’ve reviewed many here it was full of audience interactions, audience participation and the odd on the fence joke with an audience member or two getting involved on stage. So, to the story, Fairy Rose (Maria Lovelady) came on to the stage to tell us all about the little town of petit pois. Gaston (Auguste Voulton) with his big muscles and charisma wanted to take Belle (Lauren McCrory) as his bride but she wasn’t interested and definitely didn’t want to marry him, so Gaston and his mother Madame Botox (Abigail Middleton) hatched a plan by slipping a poti...

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Hull New Theatre

8Apr

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Hull New Theatre

Hull New Theatre was far from full on Friday evening, when the UK premiere of Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice took to its stage. The fact it was Good Friday and potential theatregoers might have had other plans may have accounted for the empty seats. But the lengthy applause from an appreciative audience for all on stage, at the show’s end, showed that those who did take up the seats were heartily glad they made the effort. First to appear on the stage - whose backdrop of bare tree branches hardly changed throughout - were three very talented musicians playing keyboards, violin and a most unusual array of instruments that made sounds I simply cannot describe. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. Award-winning choreographer, Masilo, hails from South Africa, so she is more than q...

8Apr

By Andrew LeeNo Comments

North West

Barely Visible – Unity Theatre

Unity theatre continues to offer a space for important and thought-provoking theatre to the city of Liverpool, and Barely Visible is no different. The venue is unique because whenever you attend the theatre, you feel that the audience invariably are on the side of the performers, they are there to learn as much as to be entertained, and performer Rowena Gander certainly achieved this. Barely Visible is a piece of physical theatre, including movement and dance around primarily pole work. It highlights social attitudes towards the lesbian community and tackles the lasting effects of some of the key difficulties lesbian women face. Quite often the phrase thought-provoking is banded around, but it is safe to say that many members of the audience left Unity this evening having learned som...

8Apr

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

The Dry House – Marylebone Theatre

Chrissy (Mairead McKinley) is passed out on the couch. Her house around her is dishevelled, empty beer cans and wine bottles litter the floor. The walls are showing damp and mould, and everything looks to be in need of a good clean. Her sister, Claire (Kathy Kiera Clarke) arrives having agreed to bring four final drinks before Chrissy has agreed to go to an alcohol treatment facility. The Dry House is staged in a small letter box, the surround of the stage blacked out, leaving us focused on the unkempt home and the women before us. The relationship between the two sisters feels very real, we see and feel the long history between them, picking up on snippets of family background and times shared together. Chrissy always liked a drink but after the death of her daughter Heather (Carla Lan...

Bach St Matthew’s Passion – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

8Apr

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Bach St Matthew’s Passion – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Revered as one of the greatest choral works ever composed, Bach's St Matthew's Passion is a timeless classic. This performance is to Mendelssohn's arrangement and is sung in German. An emotional, complex and challenging work - a challenge which the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir rise to. The stage is packed and the anticipation is palpable. With a quick nod to the audience, conductor Andrew Manze is keen to get going and promptly launches the room into the evening. Dark, throbbing chords echo like a pulse as the opening chorus of The Passion begins. As well as the full Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, the Youth Choir are present for the opening chorus with chorale. The sound is alarmingly mournful. Carrying an edge of dystopia with it, the layers of the choir ring a...

The Woman Who Turned into A Tree – The Omnibus Theatre

7Apr

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

The Woman Who Turned into A Tree – The Omnibus Theatre

Presented by Omnibus Theatre and Collide Theatre, The Woman Who Turned into a Tree is an examination into external validation and the pressures placed on a young woman in today’s age. As a woman rhythmically sways in a dark, grungy club, an identically dressed woman enters the stage and the two watch each other intently. Daphne, as she introduces herself, is an ambitious event organiser fuelled by a need to fulfil this fantastical self-idealisation she constructed. Gradually, a force takes over and guides her towards freedom and finding peace in herself, as she metaphorically transforms into a tree. Her battle between different self-concepts is visually represented through the two versions of Daphne. Bathsheba Piepe conveys Daphne’s wide-eyed furious desperation, sinuously moving betwee...

Around the World in 80 Days – Theatre by the Lake

7Apr

By Karen Morley-ChesworthNo Comments

North West

Around the World in 80 Days – Theatre by the Lake

The new season at Theatre by the Lake has kicked off with a classic production of Around the World in 80 Days which surprises, delights and has audiences in hysterics. Like the ticking clock timing Phileas Fogg’s journey to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days or less, the timing of the action is precise. From the opening scenes, depicting Fogg’s meticulous daily routine, the choreography of this piece of theatre is set high and is delivered with style and humour. This hilarious production is nothing like the recent TV adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic book. This is the story of a man’s wager that he could travel around the world in 80 days - and failure would mean a loss of his colossal personal wealth. Stefan Adegbola is so perfectly cast as Fogg, combining the high-handed, aloofn...

7Apr

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Family Tree – Traverse Theatre

This production, by Actors Touring Company and Belgrade Theatre Coventry, in association with Brixton House, is about Henrietta Lacks (played here by Aminita Francis) the African-American woman who was the unwitting source of the cancer cells now known as the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one which continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day, from helping fight cancer, to HIV, to COVID. However, her cells were taken without her or her family’s knowledge or permission (they only found out decades after her death, and by accident) and continue to be exploited financially. Henrietta was not the only black woman whose body has been exploited. In some cases, such as this, it was by the medical establishment with some kind of medical bas...

JV2 Program Premiere – Lilian Bayliss Studio

7Apr

By Marita MatarNo Comments

London

JV2 Program Premiere – Lilian Bayliss Studio

Dancers from the JV2 Professional Development Diploma program presented a dance ensemble of choreographies led and devised by Vinicius Salles for the piece ‘It’s Not Unusual’ and André Rebelo for the piece ‘Mystique’, two associates of the Jasmin Vardiman Company, together with the dancer’s creative input throughout the processes. For several years, the JV2 Professional Development Program led young artists to develop multi-disciplinary skills alongside a rigorous training in technique to train artists and go forward with their careers. ‘It’s Not Unusual’ commences with the dancers entering the space, occupying it one by one with an interesting exposition of masculinity performed by a cast predominantly assigned females. One could easily pinpoint the masculinity investigated; the to...

7Apr

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

H.M.S. Pinafore – The Bedlam Theatre

H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass That Loved A Sailor tells the story of a timeless trope - despite societal differences, love really does level all ranks. But because this is Gilbert and Sullivan’s take on the matter, there’s a lot of wry satire, some song and dance and a bit of farce before we reach that delightful conclusion. The story is simple, Josephine Corcoran (Helen Brown) daughter of Captain Corcoran (Harry Lempriere-Johnston) of the H.M.S Pinafore, is in love with Ralph Rackstraw (Owen Hatch) a lowly seaman. As her betrothed Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Admiralty (Charles Barber), steps on board the ship, Josephine must make some important life changing decisions about which man she should marry. Upon arrival the Bedlam Theatre does not look like it can stomach a Gilbert...