REVIEWS Archives - Page 375 of 402

18Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

East Midlands

The Color Purple – Curve@Home

Based on the seminal prize winning novel by Alice Walker and later filmed by Steven Spielberg, Curve@Home in association with Birmingham Hippodrome presents this theatre in the round version of the award winning production. The Color Purple is a sprawling story about friendship and personal triumph through adversity as the main character Celie (played by the amazing T’Shan Williams) makes the journey from the dark heart of abuse and misery to the glories of personal fulfilment, kindness and love. In short, the story is about change and the power that it gives to the individual. It’s also a story about connection and the importance of community and family. This musical version (book by Marsha Norman with music by the fabulous Brenda Russell, Allee Willis & Stephen Bray) cleverly m...

17Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Jane Eyre – Hull Truck Theatre

Written by Charlotte Brontë, the classic that is Jane Eyre never fails to impress audiences - whether on film, TV or in the theatre. I viewed this particular performance (a world premiere) online - a necessity in these Covid lockdown times - and it wasn’t until the final words were uttered in the final scene, and I lifted my head from my computer, that I realised I had become totally and utterly engrossed in what I had witnessed on my 13ins screen. Filmed in Bracknell last November, it was originally scheduled to grace Hull Truck Theatre’s stage in March 2020, but the coronavirus put paid to that. So, settling down on my sofa at home, coffee and snacks at the ready and my husband promising not to utter a sound, I entered the fascinating world of the well-known orphan, Jane Eyre. ...

all on her own – MZG Theatre Productions

16Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

all on her own – MZG Theatre Productions

Rosemary (Janie Dee) comes home from a London party near midnight. Alone in the living room where her husband died, she begins talking to him, breaking the silence on her emotions and guilt at his passing and, possibly, communicating with him one last time. This short play was written by Terence Rattigan, a great and undeservedly neglected British playwright who once wrote for Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe and is still the only playwright to have notched more than 1000 performances for two separate plays, namely, French Without Tears and While the Sun Shines. In these Covid-times many plays are being performed for the (laptop) screen, ostensibly still as a play. In the case of All On Her Own, this is in many ways a return home as the play, performed on stage at the Overgrou...

Deborah by Maud Dromgoole – The Living Record Festival

16Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Deborah by Maud Dromgoole – The Living Record Festival

Deborah is an immersive audio play that brings you face to face with the anxieties and demons of a lonely, aging mind. Written by Maud Dromgoole and directed by Bethany Pitts, this 30-minute piece takes you through an extraordinary day in the ordinary life of its titular character who finds herself isolated, confused and disoriented after an unexplainable, almost supernatural transformation. This is the story of Deborah, an elderly woman living alone in a house with limited human contact. She spends her days watching old videos of Art Attack, an arts and craft TV program suited more for kids than seniors, and tries to keep herself busy with some self-care rituals. She has a grandson whose selfies on her smartphone serve as a welcome distraction from the daily humdrum and is in touch wit...

Bleak House: A Radio Play – The Pantaloons Go Online

14Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Bleak House: A Radio Play – The Pantaloons Go Online

Charles Dickens first penned the satirical Bleak House as a 20-episode serial following which it was published as a novel in 1853. With its array of characters connected through the tale of a family waiting in vain to inherit money from a disputed fortune in the settlement of a lawsuit that has gone on for so long that no one knows what it’s about anymore, and despite criticism from the legal profession, it was eventually to influence judicial review and reform in the 1870s. Considered by many to be Dickens greatest work and the forerunner of the detective novel, given the abuse of power evident in recent times – PPE anyone? – who better than the critically acclaimed The Pantaloons to resurrect this indictment of the self-serving public life enshrined in Parliament, provincial aristocra...

Hansel and Gretel – Scottish Opera on Screen

14Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Scotland

Hansel and Gretel – Scottish Opera on Screen

Take your favourite childhood story but turn it into an opera. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Well, I believe that the ‘Scottish opera’ took these two worlds and fused them together perfectly for any age to enjoy. Indulge in the breathtaking vocals and you might just find some darkness hidden behind the innocent sugar-coated façade. A mother tired of her son and her daughter misbehaving sends them off into the forest to pick berries, not knowing the dangers lurking within. Hansel and Gretel were taught to never speak to strangers. Although who could blame them for giving into the temptation of endless marshmallows, lollipops and pies galore! If only that wasn’t followed by getting kidnapped by a witch... The cast is made up of nine actors, four of them making up the ‘ensemble’ of the pe...

Suitcase Under The Stairs – Greenwich Theatre

12Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Suitcase Under The Stairs – Greenwich Theatre

In my time, I’ve seen more drag queens than I care to remember. From Danny La Rue at the Palladium to Naughty Nikki down the local pub. There is usually something to entertain, even if it’s the way home. However absorbed we are with the performance I would bet we never give a second thought to the artist under the slap, we just want to be entertained. In their play “Suitcase under the stairs” Lewis Pickles and Lauren Tranter take us quite literally behind the scenes and shows us the performer inside. Like drag queens, ventriloquists also create a second persona for themselves and put it in a suitcase after the performance. Sometimes though, the alter ego dominates Anthony Hopkins covered similar ground in the movie “Magic”. Here, the drag queen takes over the performer. In this pe...

12Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Romeo & Juliet Online

With the national lockdown still upon us and theatres remaining closed, Metcalfe Gordon Productions has found a way around the restrictions with their virtual adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet. Directed by Nick Evans, the show is set in the aftermath of the pandemic, in a world where the population has taken refuge in empty theatres. With current restrictions, CGI was used to create the virtual theatre setting, with the scenes taking place in all aspects of the venue, from the stalls to backstage, it certainly took some getting used to. After being away from a theatre for so long, I enjoyed being reacquainted with the place I’ve missed. The clever CGI set by Jamie Osbourne effectively gave the illusion of the characters interacting with each other whi...

Good Grief – Platform Presents and Finite Films

12Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Good Grief – Platform Presents and Finite Films

Written by Lorien Haynes and Directed by Natalie Abrahami, Good Grief is a romantic comedy which takes us on a journey of loss, hurt, love and memories. Filmed on location at Coptic Street Studios, London, the one act piece follows Adam (Nikesh Patel) and Cat (Sian Clifford) after the loss of someone close to them over a 10-month period, taking us through different scenarios and many different emotions. The piece takes place in one room which is dressed between ‘scenes’ to create different places, from a living room to a car park and even a hotel room. The set is extremely basic, using chairs and cardboard boxes to build different looks and situations. At first this comes across as quite bland and uninspiring but as I went with the piece, I started to feel the lack of scenery reflect...

9Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Take Care – The Living Record Festival

Take Care is an online adaptation of a stage play by the verbatim theatre company Ecoute Theatre based in Bristol and London. Crafted from interviews with carers over six years, the show first premiered in 2014 with a sold out run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This filmed version, produced for the Living Record Festival, has four actors of the company take you into the real lives, homes and stories of 20 such carers and the people they care for. Full of heart-wrenching, messy, hilarious and poignant moments captured through the actual words of carers without any ‘edits’, this show makes you introspect deeply about the formal (and informal) care industry in the UK. The show is directed by Zoë Templeman-Young who also doubles up on the screenplay with Sam McLaughlin, accompanied by Matt K...