REVIEWS Archives - Page 371 of 402

28Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Testament – Via Brooklyn Theatre Co

It is doubtful that the words “thank the Lord for COVID” have been uttered many times across the last year, but without the pandemic it is unlikely that UK audiences would have been lucky enough to witness this current New York production of British Writer Tristen Bernays’ breathtaking play, TESTAMENT. The piece was originally written in 2017, but has been adapted for film by Lucy Jane Atkinson, and is presented online by US theatre company Via Brooklyn. TESTAMENT is a powerhouse production of biblical proportions and truly testament to how the world may have adapted to life living in a lockdown, but how humanity has remained unchanged for thousands of years. It shows us just 4 individuals and a therapist on a stage. Simple enough as a concept, but it examines deeply the basic human nee...

28Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Scaramouche Jones – Ginger Quiff Media

Tell me, what will you recount in the last hour of your life? What will be the events, the people, the things that spring to mind while you while away the time? And this is the start and end point of Scaramouche Jones. Powerful. Persuasive. Passionate. This one-man show starring Shane Richie is absorbing and thought-provoking. Playing the role of a tragic clown in a digital revival of Justin’s Butcher’s award-winning play, Richie takes us through his unfortunate life with such intimacy and honesty, the screen bleeds. From the time of his bastard birth to a brothel whore, to a slave ship, to a snake-charmer’s side-kick, to being the plaything of Italian Royalty to being a grave digger in a concentration camp, Scaramouche Jones has bitterly lived through some of the most pivotal mom...

Angela – Royal Lyceum Theatre/Pitlochry Festival Theatre online

28Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Scotland

Angela – Royal Lyceum Theatre/Pitlochry Festival Theatre online

Mark Ravenhill has taken us to some dark places over the years but none more so than with this unflinching account of his beloved mother Angela’s final dementia journey. But this debut audio collaboration between the Royal Lyceum Theatre and Pitlochry Festival Theatre is as much about class, thwarted ambition and shared memories as it is about a condition that affects nearly a million people across the UK. From the moment the young Angela – subtly played by Matti Houghton – changes her name from the too ‘common’ Rita to Angela you sense this is an intelligent working class woman with artistic ambitions. Her short am dram career is cut short by marriage to engineer Ted, and any ambition to take it further disappears. A pertinent point when the acting profession is increasingly posh an...

27Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Remembering the Oscars – Online Stream

“Remembering the Oscars” is the follow up show to “Remembering the Movies” starring Aljaz Skorjanec and Janette Manrara (of Strictly Come Dancing fame). “Remembering the Oscars” is due to tour in 2022 in theatres with live audiences. Adapted for the Covid climate, this hour long version has been specially produced to stream online to ensure that even during the current restrictions, audiences can have a dose of Hollywood sparkle and magic from the comfort of their own living room. It is also a clever appetiser for the full show next year. The show is an hour long and is packed from start to finish with Aljaz and Janette’s interpretations and reimaginings of Oscar winning film classic dance sequences, with quite a broad spectrum ranging from golden classics such as ‘Singing In The Rai...

26Mar

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REVIEWS

Eggstraction – Presented by Morpheus

In a world where ‘zoom fatigue’ is a real thing, Morpheus have pulled off the impossible: You Want More. Eggstraction is unlike any other immersive show, for it invites you to see the invisible, and with your team, make your thoughts a reality. If that all sounds a bit weird, remember the power of imagination. With Morpheus as your creative guide, you too will see and act in ways you’d never imagine sat behind a computer. So, what is it you’re doing? With a small group of other participants (all of whom you briefly see and speak to in the beginning before donning a blindfold), you are testing the security at the billionaire, Frederick Hampton’s, museum. The quest is to use whatever means possible to break into the building and steal his new treasure, one of the fabulou...

26Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Manor of Lies – Presented by Morpheus

You sit in a room in front of your computer and put a blindfold on. A mysterious voice greets you and tells you about the rules for the night. Two hours later you emerge, exhilarated in equal measure by the magical world crafted by Morpheus and the power of your own aural imagination that makes it come alive. Manor of Lies is a new online interactive audio play by the theatre company Morpheus that invites you to solve a Regency-era murder mystery using only your intuition and some help from your fellow audience members. What separates it from other digital theatre shows is that the experience is audio-only – you join the show on Zoom and put on a blindfold that stays on throughout the night whilst a skilled group of performers lead you by the ear (literally) inside the world of the expe...

The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space

24Mar

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REVIEWS

The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space

Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre short story written in 1843 is one of the finest examples of gothic horror ever written. The story explores the psychology of guilt and the consequences of a grim and unspeakable crime. It is also a story about revenge and retribution but to go any further in its description would spoil all the fun. Suffice to say, after The Tell Tale Heart this is probably one of Poe’s most accessible and memorable stories and Threedumb Theatre using their now familiar live-stream one take promenade approach gives us a richly dark and quite chilling rendition of this strange story. Stephen Smith (who also directs this piece) plays the haunted yet totally unsympathetic narrator whist Michaela Bennison plays the narrators wife. Both actors exude great energy throughout but it...

BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre

24Mar

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REVIEWS

BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre

Towards the end of Schoenfeld and McPherson’s sidewalk fairytale a character warns that sometimes memories are better than reality. Throughout lockdown the option to stream shows has provided a theatrical lifeline, entertaining audiences whilst providing the theatres and production companies some much needed money. However, sometimes these productions felt like pale imitations of the live versions we crave. BKLYN takes a cinematic swipe at the streamed musical, some of the theatrical trappings are visible (Leo Munby’s tight trio of a band, chunky stage lights at the edge of the action) but the show is carried by Dean Johnson’s attempts to create something more innovative than a love song to an empty theatre. The dilapidated warehouse setting works well with An...

West End Musical Drive-In – Halloween Special

22Mar

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REVIEWS

West End Musical Drive-In – Halloween Special

Last year, the West End parked up and staged a series of live outdoor concerts to musical theatre lovers from the comfort of their own vehicles. They are now being streamed, allowing everyone the chance to pull in for some socially distanced showtunes. Donning a pointy hat and black cape, Shanay Holmes introduces the Halloween edition with a bewitching performance of ‘I Put a Spell on You’ from Hocus Pocus. She hosts the evening with infectious flair, firing the audience up by encouraging them to sashay in their bay and welcoming her revered fellow performers to the stage. Though Jon Robyns’ rendition of Les Misérables hit ‘Bring Him Home’ is nothing short of sensational, receiving a well-deserved standing ovation in the form of car horns and flashing lights, his supposed Dracula out...

Giles Terera in Black Matter – Fane Online

19Mar

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REVIEWS

Giles Terera in Black Matter – Fane Online

Black Matter is a new song cycle written and performed by Giles Terera, the Olivier award-winning star of Hamilton. It is centred on the streets of Soho, where Terera saw “people hurting each other, people helping each other” leading him to create “songs of protest, joy, anger and love”. This song cycle is both deeply personal and fiercely political, touching on friends, colleagues, the Black Lives Matter movement, growing up Black in London, the Grenfell scandal, the private and the public. These are songs which respond to the immediacy of a moment, and a summer like no other when the rush of central London is forced to stop. A gifted singer-songwriter, Terera has crafted this project for solo performance, and in the main, this is exactly that, a concert recorded at Crazy Coqs with ...