REVIEWS Archives - Page 422 of 427

12Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Romeo and Juliet – The Royal Ballet

I have a confession to make. Before today I had never watched a ballet in full. Sure, I had seen clips, and as a dancer myself (although clearly not a classical one) I’ve seen many contemporary productions, but never a ballet. Such is the benefit of companies such as The Royal Opera House streaming past productions online – you can give yourself new experiences from the comfort of your own home. Despite me knowing nothing about ballet, I am however much more experienced in the works of the Bard and have played Juliet myself on several occasions. For this reason, I found the story very easy to follow, and could clearly identify who each of the characters were. As in many of Shakespeare’s plays, the female characters are few and far between, but in this production the women were given mor...

The Lady Killers – Double Trouble Theatre Co.

11Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Lady Killers – Double Trouble Theatre Co.

A trio of short monologues written by Matt Fox and featuring three young women who share a common bond – they have all killed for one reason or another. There is some good storytelling going on here and the actors (Zoe Wells, Rosie Dunjay and Daniella Piper) perform each piece really well. Produced over Zoom and soundly directed by Mack Newton & Emily Collier this short piece of isolation theatre excels in creating an almost claustrophobic atmosphere to each of the stories that the women have to tell. Fox’s monologues are direct and to the point. The standout monologue for me was 150 which featured Daniella Piper and a story of revenge in the USA (no spoilers!!), the other two monologues were reasonably interesting but 150 really did stick in the memory. Produced by Adam Bayli...

11Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Stay Holmes – The Pantaloons Go Online

When an outdoor theatre company celebrated for helping themselves to their audience’s picnics are forced to go online to perform it’s natural to worry about them, and not just that they may be going hungry. But never fear, when The Pantaloons are here then, as with this show, it is simply elementary: you are in for a great night. Following a brief stay in the Zoom waiting room to the lovely accompaniment of solo violin from Fiona McGarvey, we were launched in true Pantaloons fashion into seventy-five minutes of high jinks and madcap entertainment that was kindly followed by a Q&A with writer and chief Pantaloon Mark Heyward and tonight’s outstanding cast of Edward Ferrow, Kelly Griffiths, Alex Rivers, and Christopher Smart. Dynamic duo Holmes and Watson are well and truly put thr...

10Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

The Deep Blue Sea – National Theatre

Terence Rattigan was one of the finest playwrights of his generation and over the course of many years he wrote some outstanding pieces of work for the theatre. The Deep Blue Sea is probably the best play from his repertoire, an absolute masterpiece set in post-war Britain and centred around a woman caught between worlds and realising that passion can sometimes suffocate and harm. Rattigan’s beautifully constructed play explores many issues including those of mental health, self-worth and self-esteem. The play is set over one day in a flat in West London, it’s 1952 where we first meet Hester Collyer (Helen McCrory) trying to “end it all” but through the intervention of other people who also live in the building, she thankfully fails. Hester just needs to be heard, to be loved and ...

Joseph and the Amazing All Star Concert – Online

8Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Joseph and the Amazing All Star Concert – Online

When we are all deep in the doldrums as our theatres stay dark, here comes a much needed breath of fresh air, bursting onto our screens, in full kaleidoscopic glory and musical majesty - Joseph and the Amazing All Star Concert – Highlights from the Technicolor Musical. With a foreword from the original touring Joseph, Jess Conrad OBE who played the role of Joseph in the 1970/80’s. This concert is true to the original artistic intent, a pure celebration and after so long without live performances, this brought more than one tear of joy to my eye! Based on the Bible story in Genesis with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Joseph was originally written whilst the pair where at Magdalen College, Oxford. However, the original idea for this concert was spotted on the Joseph ...

8Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Rush – BBC iPlayer

Writer, Willi Richards’s first play, Rush was to have opened in June at Trafalgar Studios 2 following a successful two week run in 2018 at London’s King’s Head Theatre. Although COVID-19 has, for the moment, denied Rush its West End run it is now streaming on BBC iPlayer as part of their Culture In Quarantine series in the form of an online script reading. The play explores the dynamics of a gay love triangle involving Man (Rupert Everett), Lad (Daniel Boyd) and Boy (Omari Douglas). Lad is in a relationship with Boy but at the same time engaged in an affair with the older Man who is himself one half of a civil partnership. Lad, as the link between the two other men, brings them together. It ends with Lad revealing to camera the reasoning behind the decision as to which of them he decide...

Doing The Pub Quiz – Northern Comedy Theatre Zoom Live

7Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Doing The Pub Quiz – Northern Comedy Theatre Zoom Live

Following on from their live Zoom show ‘Doing Shakespeare’, the new addition to the Northern Comedy Theatre’s repertoire is ‘Doing the Pub Quiz’. Once again, The Felching Players are together, but this time they are using their free time to enter a pub quiz. Teaming up with writer David Spicer who wrote their previous Zoom Live ‘Doing Shakespeare’, The Felching Players are taking on other pub teams in a bid to be victorious. Tom (Robert Stuart-Hudson) set up the team (apparently to get off the booze after his wife left him) and likes to be in the driving seat, organising everyone. The imaginatively named ‘We are Smarticus’ pub team have got through the qualifying round and are now battling against 31 teams to be top dog of the pub quiz league; they just need to g...

Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads: The Outside Dog – BBC iPlayer

7Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads: The Outside Dog – BBC iPlayer

One of the strong suites Alan Bennett has always had is his ability to write convincingly for women. The sort of women a boy from a respectable middle-class Leeds family would have known growing up. When he put these women into his writing they attracted the great and good of acting to portray them. Dames Julie, Thora and Patricia are the ones which spring immediately to mind. They are synonymous with the piece. It is therefore interesting to revisit the work with new faces in the frame. I have seen some of his “Talking Heads” presented with new faces on stage, but we are currently being treated with television presentations, so comparisons are inevitable. It is a testament to the skill of Rochenda Sandall that thoughts of Julie Walters (the original Marjory) are thrown out of the windo...

No Milk for the Foxes – Beats & Elements

6Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

No Milk for the Foxes – Beats & Elements

Working class culture rarely gets a look in anywhere in theatreland and when it does it's all too often patronising twaddle with some pathetic redemptive narrative thrown in to salve middle class guilt. Thankfully this funny and often bleak 2015 work from Beats & Elements avoids that as co-founders Conrad Murray and Paul Cree based this tale of two security guards surviving on the margins of society on their own experiences, and that of their mates Murray’s Spaxx is a half Indian geezer from Mitcham who is whiling away the hours with Cree’s more considered white, working class Marx on a zero-hour contract night shift in the office of a rundown factory. Between chats about life living from one crap payday to the next, their dreams and. insecurities they throw in some top-cla...

Stiles & Drewe: Best New Song Prize 2020

6Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Stiles & Drewe: Best New Song Prize 2020

In a week when the British theatre industry was despairing at the lack of support for its workers and venues, and when sectors of the country were reopening for business and the performing arts still had no light at the end of the tunnel, George Stiles and Anthony Drewe shone the spotlight on the future of musical theatre, showcasing 15 songs from new works. Stiles & Drewe, themselves known for writing Mary Poppins, Honk! and Soho Cinders among many other hits, have been hosting this competition since 2008; a competition that seeks to promote new musical theatre writing, and perhaps more importantly, encourage new writers in a landscape that must usually seem challenging, and at the moment must be pretty terrifying. Supported by five guest judges: Dan Gilespie Sells (writer of Ev...