‘Tis the time of Christmas Carols—I mean Dickens’s—but here’s one with a difference, a lyrical American opera with musical theatre vibes, “commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera”—where it premièred in 2016—“with Co-Commissioners San Francisco Opera and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.” “Based on the 1946 Frank Capra movie of the same name… Continue reading It’s a Wonderful Life
Month: November 2022
Othello
Clint Dyer’s production of Othello begins the moment you enter the auditorium, when Chloe Lamford’s setting of a stepped arena is covered by projected rows of posters of previous productions and a rapid succession of dates as a timeline since it was written, reminding us of the play’s history and, to prepare for a fresh… Continue reading Othello
Goldilocks and the Three Bears—The Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto
The New Wolsey panto is back with a bang! The last three years have been very difficult for the theatre industry, but this year’s offering is back to its rollicking, rock ‘n’ rolling best with a full cast, no cutaways to filmed scenes to break up the action and enough energy on stage to power… Continue reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears—The Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto
The Wind in the Willows
Starting as a series of bedtime stories for Kenneth Grahame’s young son, The Wind in the Willows became a publishing phenomenon. It is hardly surprising that it has been adapted numerous times for stage, screen and television; its popularity has hardly waned since the novel’s publication more than 100 years ago. Several notable playwrights have… Continue reading The Wind in the Willows
The Snow Queen
Christopher Hampson’s The Snow Queen first swept through the winter season in 2019 as part of Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary year. That wintery precipice just before the world was plunged into strange and different uncertainty feels like a time removed, and because of this, the choice to revisit The Snow Queen is both comforting and… Continue reading The Snow Queen
False Note
Trauma… A contemporary French play, False Note, about trauma, retribution, and resolution in Ukrainian with English surtitles comes to London from war-ravaged Ukraine for one night only. Remarkable. It is difficult to review the play in the context of the present pointless war raged by a demented egomaniac with a deranged narrative. We have seen… Continue reading False Note
The Mousetrap—70th Anniversary Tour
For years, the only opportunity for theatregoers to see The Mousetrap was during a visit to London. As such it has the status of a tourist attraction like Madame Tussauds as much as a play: something to be visited during a holiday or a seasonal treat. This places limitations upon directors who, aware that audiences expect to… Continue reading The Mousetrap—70th Anniversary Tour
Hey Diddle Diddle
Who doesn’t love a Christmas show, especially one performed by two of our favourite nursery rhyme characters, Nero the cat, who plays the fiddle, and Lazzo, a little dog who loves to laugh? The show takes the form of a cabaret, set in a nightclub with a piano, which serves many different charming purposes and… Continue reading Hey Diddle Diddle
Henry V
Headlong’s disturbing take on Henry V, directed by Holly Race-Roughan, shines a light on the way weakness and insecurity in a dictator, a King, can generate bullying, murder and sexual abuse. The end section of this production is a real kicker that I would like anyone who is even thinking about Henry V to see.… Continue reading Henry V
Baghdaddy
Baghdaddy opens with flashes of light and loud explosions, the sound of war, before revealing a dad and his loved daughter Darlee celebrating her 8th birthday in McDonald’s. He is telling her about his boyhood in Iraq: picking dates on the street as he went to school, the sun always shining though it didn’t burn… Continue reading Baghdaddy