Thursday, December 26

Tag: Giles Thomas

The Boy at the Back of the Class – Sheffield Lyceum
Yorkshire & Humber

The Boy at the Back of the Class – Sheffield Lyceum

Sheffield Lyceum opened its doors and its generational spanning heart to the adaptation of Onjali Q. Rauf’s well known and much loved book A Boy at the Back of the Class. Adapter Nick Ahad’s does not disappoint in his stage version, retaining all the wit, the power of a collective sense of humanity and the eternal hope we all deserve to experience. Monique Touko as Director strives to paint a desired world stating, ‘May this play push for further actions of kindness, promote equality and depict a world where people are seen as people’. Aimed at children, teachers and parents alike this production is a full, dynamic and impactful theatrical experience bringing the characters and their story to life. The set and costume design by Lily Arnold creates the backdrop of a school setting with P...
Romeo & Juliet – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
London

Romeo & Juliet – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

On a wonderfully sunny evening, the weather gods behaved themselves, and we were treated to one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays.  Postponed from last year’s season, director Kimberley Sykes’ version has been eagerly anticipated, with its new viewpoint on this popular play, we ask – did this re-assessment pay off? The set designed by Naomi Dawson, with its backdrop of trees, helps to soften the harsh set of scaffolding, rocks, and earth.  Earth is one of Sykes’ themes and can be seen as a symbol of nurturing growth, but earth also throws its arms around death which is a major part of the plotline.  When Sykes re-read the play, she was struck by a reference to an earthquake that had happened in Verona eleven years earlier.  At the time of the earthquake, the Nurse (E...