REVIEWS Archives - Page 397 of 427

26Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

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

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

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

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

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

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

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 ...

Romeo and Juliet – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

18Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Romeo and Juliet – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

"We are two worlds apart." Joseph Meighan's melding of 1990s pop culture with the 16th century tale of two tragic young lovers is a bold and innovative take on what is probably Shakespeare's best-known play. As with much of Shakespeare's work, the story of Romeo and Juliet is timelessly malleable and has been retold in countless formats, including as musicals, opera and on film, since it was written in around 1595. It has been set in any number of time periods and situations with the deep-seated hatred between the Montague and Capulet families reflecting every conflict throughout history, as the cast movingly reference at the end of the play. Everyone knows the plot: Romeo, a Montague, sneaks into a Capulet masked ball and it's love at first sight when he sees the young and bea...

17Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Dream – Royal Shakespeare Company

What do you do if you're rehearsing a live performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream when suddenly a deadly global pandemic derails your plans? This is the highly unusual and unwelcome scenario that the Royal Shakespeare Company was faced with last year, as well as the wider question of what a virus that thrives on human interaction means for the future of live performance. It's this consideration that led to last night's production, which was unique, engaging and really rather beautiful. Dream is inspired by, rather than an adaptation of, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and is an immersive online experience that uses the technology we see in online gaming to create a virtual world that can be inhabited by both actors and audience. After waiting in the interactive lobby which acts as a kind o...

The Picture of Dorian Gray – The Barn Theatre

16Mar

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REVIEWS

The Picture of Dorian Gray – The Barn Theatre

Oscar Wilde’s intoxicating Faustian tale of beauty, love and mortality is given a fresh and modern day treatment in Henry Filloux-Bennett’s adroit script. There have been many versions of Wilde’s dark morality tale and this particular digital adaptation using both video and film techniques alongside conventional theatre firmly places it in the world of social media and the power of the influencer where self- image and self- promotion rule the day. Wilde’s basic question is how far would a person go to achieve success and maintain personal youth, beauty and fame? As Wilde quoted “behind every exquisite thing that existed there was something tragic” and in every sense of the word the play mirrors his exact assumption. We are in dark unforgiving territory and Bennett’s clever script ...

16Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Band Plays On – Sheffield Theatres

Theatre may have been forced into an identity crisis with the core of its function being ripped away, but Chris Bush’s gig theatre homage to the city she heralds from is extraordinarily certain of itself in a way that’s neither brash nor obtuse, but fiercely considered in the best way – a way that makes its self-awareness invisible. Yes, the pandemic is touched upon, but it’s just that – a faint brush across a canvas we are all painstakingly navigating to this day, a reality we are so keen to escape. There are no broad strokes incessantly reminding here, and it allows for a sensitive, intuitive, ferocious piece of theatre that is both pertinent and liberating. The format, whilst perhaps drawn out in its committed structure, is solid. Often the simplest ideas prove the best and most e...