REVIEWS Archives - Page 344 of 549

Gianni Schicchi – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

13Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Gianni Schicchi – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Gianni Schicchi is one part of Il trittico, a collection of three one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini, with the link in the final work illustrating that each opera deals with the concealment of a death. Whilst originally intended to be played as a set, it has been more usual to play individually or pair with another one-act opera by another composer. Here, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dominic Hindoyan, serve up a further variation with excerpts from different composers providing the warm-up in the first half before the comic deception of Gianni Schicchi, performed in Italian with English surtitles, is unleashed. Commencing proceedings were a couple of Puccini pairings with La Tregenda (Le Villi, Act II) making for an energetic and frenetic start before slipping ...

Nothing Happens (Twice) – Jacksons Lane Theatre

12Mar

By Gonzalo SentanaNo Comments

London

Nothing Happens (Twice) – Jacksons Lane Theatre

Two Flamingos dance and invite you to visit Andalusia, and then they do it again, and then again. And their suffering and their meaninglessness becomes apparent as they try to find reasons to keep doing what they are doing. In this piece, that one could argue is a study on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the actors Mercè Ribot and Patricia Rodríguez take us in an irreverent trip through stages in the present and towards the present. Playfully delving into the process of trying to act and survive as performing artists in a foreign land, their personal lives become a moving and intense experience amid laughter and music. The audience will see the appearance of several pairs of characters through the play, and the actors will impersonate themselves, and break the fourth wall more th...

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Festival Theatre

11Mar

By Louise BalaguerNo Comments

Scotland

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Festival Theatre

Award-winning South African choreographer Dada Masilo has embarked on a UK tour of The Sacrifice, and it is not one that you want to miss – with its last date in Newcastle on 12th April 2023, it will fly by as quickly as this performance did. Revisiting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and inspired by Pina Bausch’s performance of the same name, the amount of influences that Dada draws upon make for a deeply compelling piece of storytelling: with a mixture of classical and contemporary dance forms, and drawing on her own cultural heritage, incorporating ‘Tswana’, the traditional dance of Botswana, into the movement, The Sacrifice is a beautiful piece about ritual, sacrifice, and healing. Featuring its own original score, performed live on stage (with the spellbinding voice of Ann ...

11Mar

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

After The Act – New Diorama Theatre

On the 18th November 2003, Section 28 Local Government Act 1988 was finally wiped from the statute books. This Act was established to silence teachers and other educators from discussing same-sex relationships in any form. A whole generation of children who were lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or trans were ostracised, taunted by their classmates for being ‘different,’ ‘not normal’. In the anniversary year of its repeal, Breach Theatre are dancing on the grave of this act, which acted like a festering wound, its bacteria growing and infecting society, and in a way, we are still feeling it today. From the beginning, Breach hit the ground running with their passionate musical delivery of this extremely well-written piece of theatre. Taking their storyline from original dialo...

That’s Not My Name – Hen and Chickens Theatre

11Mar

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

That’s Not My Name – Hen and Chickens Theatre

That's not my name Is a powerful solo performance by Sammy Trotman as she is delving through the maze of living with a diagnosis. She is funny, sharp and thought-provoking. Sammy centres her personal experience and uses her keen observation to her advantage. She can create memorable characters like the nurse who hates their work at a psychiatric hospital to a child expressing intense emotions. The collection of stand-alone pieces leaves you on the edge of your seat, as one is not sure if one is empathetically laughing at a private mental breakdown, sniggering at another's misery or resonating at a behaviour we observe in oneself. Sammy's observations span intergenerational trauma, reactions of loved ones to mental illnesses and co-dependent relationships. Her observations are astute, mi...

Bouncers and Shakers – The Forum Theatre

11Mar

By David S ClarkeNo Comments

North West

Bouncers and Shakers – The Forum Theatre

Written by John Godber. Directed by Jennie Davies and Pete Curran. The first version of “Bouncers” was written in 1977 by John Godber and premiered at the Edinburgh Festival that same year. Originally a two-hander, this play was expanded into its current version by Godber and Jane Thornton in 1980, when it became the piece which we now know and love. The pair of what I would describe as “mini playlets” were well performed by all the cast. Act 2 saw the male bouncers take to the stage whilst the first half was devoted to the cocktail waitresses, the “Shakers” who spend their time on stage observing and commenting on the people who patronise the bar in which they work and share insights into their own lives as they express their personal thoughts and feelings delivered by monologues from ...

Opera North: Ariadne auf Nexus – The Lowry

11Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Ariadne auf Nexus – The Lowry

Strauss collides with Fellini in Opera North’s co-production with Gothenberg Opera, as director Rodula Gaitanou relocates the action from 18th Century Vienna to a 1950’s Italian film studio, where another collision takes place as an opera company’s heart-breaking tragedy meets the light musical comedy of a commedia dell’arte troupe, and as the two become merged into one, the result is an absolute delight in both sound and vision. Whilst the film shoot of Ariadne auf Naxos is performed in the original German, the Prologue has been translated from Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s original libretto by Christopher Cowell into a multilingual version that sees the opera Composer (Hanna Hipp) deal with the ensuing mayhem in English although reverting to German for personal reflection, whilst Prima Donn...

11Mar

By Andrew LeeNo Comments

North West

Drowning – Royal Court Studio

Oldham Coliseum Theatre Associate Artists Dare to Know Theatre revive their sell out debut play, Drowning. The play centres around Josh, a teenager as British as they come, who starts the play by telling us how selfish suicide is and giving the audience a description of his teenage life. Sex, alcohol, bullies and multiple girlfriends are all par for the course in Josh’s life, but this starts to unravel for Josh, whose world views are challenged rather quickly. Jake Talbot writes and stars, and the key concepts and moments of the story are poignant, clear and relatable. The teenager on the stage this evening was one that we all recognise. The story was gritty, real world and told with clarity - the audience were hooked into it from lights up. Talbot delivered high energy, clari...

10Mar

By Jennifer LaishleyNo Comments

London

Kites – Vault Festival

Kites is a coming of age play about two girls growing up in the post-war era in Cork. The girls use their vivid imaginations to escape their childhood trauma! The play teases the idea that the girls are in love but does not directly address their sexuality directly. Tzarini Meylers’ script captures the magic of childhood. The play has a good pace, with narration that helps to give a sense of time and place and creates suspense for the audience. Tzarini uses the powerful imagery of kites to represent how the girls are tied down but desperate to fly away. The story does a good job of establishing the characters and friendship between the girls, ahead of diving into the deeper issues. By introducing the issues gradually, the play allows each story of the girl's trauma to resonate powerfull...

Death Drop: Back in the Habit – Opera House

10Mar

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Death Drop: Back in the Habit – Opera House

Are they really going to make a habit of this? Get on your knees and say your prayers: another killer comedy in the Death Drop series has descended upon Manchester. Long-serving man of the cloth, Father Alfie Romeo (LoUis CYfer) has been told about strange goings-ons at the St Babs convent. He goes to meet the flock of eccentric nuns, but his holy presence doesn’t necessarily guarantee their safety from ungodly fates. There is a Holly Stars-shaped hole in this sequel, both on-stage and in the script; she established the original Death Drop as an uproarious, Northern powerhouse of a play. With frequent references to ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, it seems that Rob Evans’ writing is instead intended to appeal to a much more mainstream audience. That being sai...