Natalie Abrahami Archives - North West End UK

10Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Abigail’s Party – Royal Exchange

Most of the packed press night audience will have arrived in the Victorian splendour of the Royal Exchange thinking they had a firm idea of what to expect from their evening’s entertainment. This suburban satire is firmly fixed in the collective theatrical imagination, chiefly thanks to the 1977 televised ‘Play For Today’, which confirmed Mike Leigh as a theatrical auteur and launched the stellar acting career of (his then wife) Alison Steadman. However, with this new production, the Royal Exchange has succeeded in demonstrating the bitter and caustic underbelly of this ‘puckish satire on contemporary mores’ without losing the humour at its heart. Director Natalie Abrahami decides to transpose the action in place but not in time, so we are presented with our Richmond Road setting in sub...

Rusalka – Royal Opera House

Created and directed by Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee, who is also the choreographer, the contemporary whilst still traditional new staging of this lyrical fairy tale captures nature’s impassioned plea to humanity whilst musically only Dvořák can break your heart so beautifully. From an exquisite aerial ballet reflecting the delicate balance between nature and humanity at the start, three wood spirits (Vuvu Mpofu, Gabriele Kupšyte and Anne Marie Stanley) playfully tease Vodník (Alexei Isaev), an immortal water spirit. All seems to be perfect but his daughter, Rusalka (Asmik Grigorian) longs to be united with the Prince (David Butt Philip) with whom she fell in love when he swam in the lake. Despite being warned about the seductive dangers of humanity that promises much whilst deliveri...

Good Grief – Platform Presents and Finite Films

Written by Lorien Haynes and Directed by Natalie Abrahami, Good Grief is a romantic comedy which takes us on a journey of loss, hurt, love and memories. Filmed on location at Coptic Street Studios, London, the one act piece follows Adam (Nikesh Patel) and Cat (Sian Clifford) after the loss of someone close to them over a 10-month period, taking us through different scenarios and many different emotions. The piece takes place in one room which is dressed between ‘scenes’ to create different places, from a living room to a car park and even a hotel room. The set is extremely basic, using chairs and cardboard boxes to build different looks and situations. At first this comes across as quite bland and uninspiring but as I went with the piece, I started to feel the lack of scenery reflect...