REVIEWS Archives - Page 538 of 545

The Showstoppers (Socially Distanced) Improvised Musical

25Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Showstoppers (Socially Distanced) Improvised Musical

In this bizarre new world that we find ourselves in artists are being creative in finding a new way to perform to give the gift of entertainment to their audience. The Showstoppers have been busy trying to keep going with such great shows as the ‘Alternative Eurovision Song Contest’ which saw The Showstoppers and guests represent a country, in a battle to win the Eurovision crown. In a bid to move their show from online into more of a studio environment where they could all at least be in the same room albeit socially distanced and shielded behind plastic screens; The Showstoppers got together to do what they do best – improvise a musical. Tonight, the Showstopper team were Ruth Bratt, Adam Meggido, Justin Brett and Ali James, with Andrew Pugsley introducing and acting as...

The Weir – Irish Repertory Theatre Online Series

24Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Weir – Irish Repertory Theatre Online Series

The Irish Rep was founded by Ciaran O’Reilly and Charlotte Moore and opened in 1988 with its first play Sean O’Casey’s ‘The Plough and the Stars’. Thirty-one years later, it is still the only theatre in North America to bring Irish plays to New York. ‘The Weir’ was written by Conor McPherson and after seeing his adaptation of ‘Uncle Vanya’ in London, I was interested to see if he would lend his keen wit to this production. Originally staged in 2013 and then re-staged in 2015, the play won an Olivier Award for Best Play and three of the original cast members (John Keating, Sean Gormley and Dan Butler) have returned for this digital version of the production. Set in 1997 in a country pub in Ireland, Brendan (Tim Ruddy) owns the local pub whilst also running his farm. ...

20Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Carousel – Lincoln Centre

One of the joys of lockdown has been the opportunity to see shows that were missed due to timing or location. The enjoyment of these productions has been slightly bittersweet as theatres have remained dark and the industry has faced incredible hardship. However, the latest government announcement provides some hope for the future as audiences accustom themselves to social distancing, and producers figure out how to make it financially viable. The Lincoln Centre’s 2013 production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Carousel seems appropriate in tone for the new normal with its hopeful rather than happy ending. The show is not without its issues for a contemporary audience, particularly in its handling of domestic violence, but the Lincoln Centre production cele...

20Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Faust – Royal Opera House

Everybody knows the tale of Faust although Gounod’s popular five-act, Parisian grand opera from 1859 is in fact adapted from Michel Carré’s play ‘Faust et Marguerite’ which was itself based on Part I of Goethe’s epic poem Faust. Very much reflective of the nature of Second-Empire Paris at that time, the obvious question is whether its themes remain relevant and recognisable to a 21st C audience. Director David McVicar wisely recognised that human nature doesn’t really change and the issues of sensuality and hedonism, religion and morality, bourgeois consumption versus socialist redistribution, to name but a few at the heart of this opera, continue to go hand in hand, and his richly layered 2004 production for Royal Opera House brilliantly captured these through the artificial edifices o...

Goodbye The (After) Life of Cook and Moore – Museum of Comedy, London

20Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Goodbye The (After) Life of Cook and Moore – Museum of Comedy, London

This reviewer will start this review by admitting that she is old enough to remember Pete and Dud in later episodes of Not Only But Also so it was with both trepidation and anticipation that this production was watched. Produced at London's Museum of Comedy in February 2015 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Peter Cook's death, the play takes an irreverent and rather surreal look at what might have happened to Pete and Dud in the afterlife. Peter Cook died aged 57, on the 9th January 1995 from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage, most likely due to his years of excessive drinking. Some seven years later on the 27th March 2002, Dudley Moore followed his one time comedy partner to the afterlife after spending fourteen years battling the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy. He was 6...

18Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Newsies: The Broadway Musical – Disney+

It was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch Newsies, from the comfort of my own couch. I wasn’t sure this was going to be for me. Surely a show that belongs on the stage should only be seen from a seat in the theatre, right? Wrong. This film of the 2017 Broadway production now on Disney+ shows just how easily you can watch a stage show without even leaving the house. Perfect in the current circumstances. The first thing that struck me was the enormity of the scaffolding set. This provided many interesting visual aspects throughout and was a fantastic way to represent the environment of the ‘Newsies’. At the end of the first number we see pairs of ‘Newsies’ in different sections of the set, all standing as one and the impact of that image was a clever inkling to the rest of the...

Double Bill: The Masks of Aphra Behn and Oranges and Ink

18Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Double Bill: The Masks of Aphra Behn and Oranges and Ink

Claire Louise Amias’s pair of plays resurrect Aphra Behn from a place of relative obscurity into sharp relief as a chatty, warm, and witty raconteur. Directed by Pradeep Jey and Alex Pearson, they were originally presented at the Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Women and War Festival and were streamed together as part of the Online Fringe Festival this spring. Behn is a complex and fascinating character from the Stuart era. Born in Kent, she worked as a spy in Antwerp, had a brief marriage to a Dutch merchant, and was the first female playwright to make a living from her work. Played by Amias, she is presented as a historical gossip, a pragmatic conversationalist, and a feminist ground-breaker. In The Masks of Aphra Behn, we hear a fraction of her life story, yet I wanted to get...

17Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Amadeus – National Theatre

Director Michael Longhurst’s 2016 production of Peter Shaffer’s iconic play is a stunning piece of theatre starring Lucian Msamati as Salieri alongside Adam Gillen as Mozart with the musicians of Southbank Sinfonia cleverly weaved into the action providing live accompaniment to the story. We begin at Salieri’s end as he recalls the almost Faustian bargain he made with God at the age of sixteen: to become a fêted and famous composer in exchange for living a virtuous life and honouring God at every turn. Fast forward to 1881 Vienna and all Salieri’s dreams have come true in the court of Emperor Joseph II (Tom Edden). But nobody expected Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A rowdy young prodigy who arrives with his wife to be, Constanze (Karla Crome), determined to leave his mark Whi...

Robin of Sherwood: Fitzwarren’s Well – Spiteful Puppet

17Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Robin of Sherwood: Fitzwarren’s Well – Spiteful Puppet

Fully capturing the atmosphere of a story can be very difficult to do in audio dramas, especially when that story is set in the great outdoors, but in this new audio adventure from Spiteful Puppet, Robin Hood is given a new lease of life. Based on the world created in the 1980’s TV show from Richard Carpenter’s, this is a brand new adventure written by Jennifer Ash and directed by Barnaby Eaton-Jones, and features original and new cast members. From the opening of the piece the forest atmosphere is beautifully created with excellent sound effects. However, we’re not actually with the Merry Men in the depths of Sherwood, who have all been cursed with a deadly and serious illness, but with Marion (Judi Trott) as she asks the mysterious shaman Herne The Hunter (Daniel Abineri) for help. ...

16Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Tempest – Shakespeare’s Globe

Often played as tragedy with revenge at its heart, it is refreshing to see director Jeremy Herrin bring a fresh perspective embracing the spirit of the supernatural in this tale of forgiveness, generosity, and enlightenment set on a remote and mysterious desert island with this production from 2013. Twelve years earlier, Prospero (Roger Allam), formerly Duke of Milan, was usurped by Alonso, King of Naples (Peter Hamilton Dyer), Alonso’s brother, Sebastian (Will Mannering), and his own brother Antonio (Jason Baughan), and cast adrift with his three-year old daughter, Miranda (Jessie Buckley). Before they were put to sea Gonzalo (Pip Donaghy), his loyal counsellor, ensured he took his magic books, and now living on an island, he has used his magic art to reign over the native Caliban (Jam...