Saturday, June 14

Tag: Erica Whyman

Ben and Imo – Orange Tree Theatre
London

Ben and Imo – Orange Tree Theatre

This is a superb production in all respects.  It tells the story of the collaboration between two dominant characters in the world of music in the early 1950s.  Benjamin Britten (Ben) at that time the foremost living British composer and Imogen Holst (Imo), the daughter of the renowned composer Gustav Holst.  The play started life as a radio play in 2013 and then was adapted by Mark Ravenhill for the RSC premiering at the Swan Theatre in March 2024. It has now transferred to the small, intimate theatre in the round at the Orange Tree in Richmond. Britten has been given the task of composing, in only 9 months, a new opera to be performed at the Coronation Gala of Queen Elizabeth the Second in 1952.   He has chosen for his subject the rather unpromising tale of th...
The Winter’s Tale – RSC Online
REVIEWS

The Winter’s Tale – RSC Online

According to the Washington Post President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his four years in office. At the time of writing this review the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of acting dishonestly in a number of different scandals. Shakespeare knew that those in charge are not always honest and truthful. In this play he examines the consequences when an all-powerful man fails to act with honour. The shadow of Henry VIII and his treatment of Elizabeth I’s mother Anne Boleyn hangs over the drama. The play is all about honesty, integrity, honour and trust.  It is at base a moral fable where purity is rewarded and sin is punished. King Leontes, a jealous tyrant believes his pregnant wife Hermione is having an affair with his boyhood friend, the king...