Golden Oldens
The Last Laugh
by Paul Hendy
Jamie Wilson Productions at Richmond Theatre until 21stJune, then on tour until 31stAugust
Review by John Davies
A play about three comedy greats – Morecambe, Cooper and Monkhouse. As a fan, this presents a double-edged sword: on the one hand, how could this fail to be a brilliant evening; on the other, if it doesn’t do justice to such luminaries, I could be disappointed and possibly aggrieved. Fortunately, this production absolutely lived-up to my expectations.
Written by Paul Hendy (a children’s TV presenter in a former life), the play imagines a meeting in a dressing-room between Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse. What results is a mixture of well-known and well-loved comedy material, reflections on their lives and some discussion on the nature of comedy — what makes someone or something funny. The play was adapted from Paul’s own short 2016 film and premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 to great acclaim. It is easy to see why it received such plaudits!
Read more…Passion Fruit
La Traviata
by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
The Grange Festival at The Grange Northington, Alresford until 6th July
Review by Mark Aspen
It is quite some while since opera lovers have had the treat of a new production of La Traviata, and the Grange Festival offers a new look at Verdi’s best known work, and it is a gem that probes the psyches of the opera’s main protagonists with intriguing insight and intuition.
Director Maxine Braham has set out to explore the louche world of mid nineteenth century French high society, wisely keeping it in the period and place where it inextricably lives, whilst putting the psychological and emotional impetus of each character under the microscope.
The production introduces, even during the overture, a visual leitmotiv of a small child, clearly Violetta’s younger self, who becomes a recurring presence. The opening scene, in her grand Parisian salon, has fashionable portraits of Violetta as classical or Biblical figures. Here are windows into Violetta’s soul, a secret longing for her lost innocence and a desire for virtuous affirmation. Or is it guilt at that very loss of innocence and virtue?
Read more…Dark Longings
Under Milk Wood
by Dylan Thomas
Questors Productions at the Questors Studio, Ealing, until 14thJune
Review by Eleanor Lewis
In these times of limitless internet shopping opportunities, locating a draper is still surprisingly difficult, but locating a “draper mad with love” would probably be off the agenda completely had you not happened upon the latest production of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood at the Questors Studio.
Fortunate it is then that this play, written in 1953 for radio, is available to experience this week. It’s a work to be experienced, rather than watched, as it was originally written for the radio and director Simon Roberts has cleverly decided to stage the whole thing in the dark with nine actors clad in black, seated in two rows silhouetted against a gently lit back wall. The players sit, stand, make small gestures and movements but overall the focus is on the voices as Dylan intended.
Read more…Well Drawn and Quartered
Joseph K and the Cost of Living
by Emily White after Franz Kafka
Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham until 7th June
Review by Steve Mackrell
Taking a modern but relatively unknown stage adaptation of Kafka’s famous novel, The Trial, represents a brave programming choice by the Richmond Shakespeare Society for its latest production at the Mary Wallace Theatre. Welsh writer Emily White’s adaptation of The Trial, curiously retitled Joseph K and the Cost of Living, was recently commissioned by the National Theatre Wales and premiered in Swansea in 2023.
The journey from novel to stage can be fraught with difficulty, including such problems as compressing complex narratives into a shorter storyline, conveying different characters in both motive and depth, and turning book text into speech to create a visual two-hour theatrical experience. These hurdles were not entirely cleared by Emily White’s script, although in mitigation, the play is referenced as “after” Franz Kafka, suggesting the writing was inspired by the novel, rather than providing a faithful representation.
Read more…Four-Sight
Mrs T Foresees
CoPilot Productions at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, Kentish Town until 7th June
Review by Heather Moulson
A lone figure sits there as we file into a neat and precise auditorium for Mrs T Foresees. Haunting and intriguing, Molly Tolpuddle comes to life as the house lights darken.
Around her, Lewis, Franny and Pinky could have easily been mistaken for ghosts or undead figures, but they are inmates at the Yarra Bend Home for the Lunatic and Insane, an asylum in Victoria, Australia. Chilling at first, they become the effective chorus for recounting the fractured past of MollyTolpuddle, Mrs T as she is otherwise known. Dark humour and pathos are heavily involved and seep out to spread around generously.
Read more…Mutual Secrets
In Praise of Love
by Terence Rattigan
OT Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond until 5th July
Review by Harry Zimmerman
Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre has demonstrated an enthusiasm for Terence Rattigan revivals over recent seasons. Previous productions have included While the Sun Shines and French Without Tears. Their latest offering, In Praise of Love, a less frequently performed work , is directed by Amelia Sears, and represents a different challenge, one to which the team rises with aplomb, brio and attack.
In Praise of Love is a late play in Rattigan’s canon and is ostensibly inspired by his friend Rex Harrison’s decision in the late 1950s to not inform his wife Kay Kendall of her own terminal cancer diagnosis. Rattigan himself had already been diagnosed with leukaemia when he wrote the play, and the spectre of death is an ever-present leitmotiv, haunting the script and underpinning the actions and reactions of the characters.
Read more…Big Hearted
Little Women
by Anne Marie Casey, adapted from the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Belgrade Theatre Productions at Richmond Theatre until 7th June, then on tour until 1st November
Review by Viola Selby
Growing up, I absolutely loved reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. I could never quite work out which sister I wanted to be or was most like. All I knew was that I wanted to be part of the March family, sitting by the Christmas tree and acting in Jo’s stories, and nothing has made me feel more part of this fantasy than Anne Marey Casey’s amazing adaptation, directed by Loveday Ingram.
This must be one of the few versions of this tale that doesn’t merely focus fully on Jo, but allows each sister to have a strong part and their own life filled with their own wants, desires and obstacles. This is greatly helped by the brilliant casting, by Ginny Schiller, as Grace Molony (Jo), Jade Kennedy (Meg), Catherine Chalk (Beth) and Imogen Elliott (Amy) naturally bounce off one another creating a real sense of sisterhood, complete with jealousy, petty arguments, laughter and love.
Read more…Dead Funny
Grave Mistake
by Matthew Ballantyne and Toby Hampton
Ru Lawrence and Hope Theatre Productions at The Hope Theatre, Islington until 7th June
Review by Heather Moulson
Despite the engaging title, here is also one that could tempt fate. Would it become a grave mistake? Two and a quarter hours would be a bit daunting if this were the case. However, our fears were unfounded as this clever comedy-farce enticed the audience right from the first line.
Despite robbing her younger sister of her inheritance, and dragging the family funeral business to ruin, the lead, Regina is a surprisingly likeable character. In this role Gabrielle Nellis-Pain is, one might say, monumental. She creates a poignant figure and carries the witty lines and drink-fuelled antics all the way through this clever production.
Read more…Carraway Cedes
The Great Gatsby
by Ben Clare based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Teddington Theatre Club at the Hampton Hill Theatre until 24th May
Review by Ralph Stanhope
We not only roar into the Roaring Twenties, but tear into the Roaring Twenties in a most unusual adaptation of Fitzgerald’s acclaimed, and much adapted, novel. Ben Clare’s new and innovative take tears up the plot of the novel and reassembles it as a fictional dramatic documentary involving its eponymous Jay Gatsby and a large cast. One of the protagonists
Nick Carraway becomes a narrator. As such, there is no actual plot, but a series of individual scenes which together constitute The American Dream.
Read more…Hot off the Press?
Laburnum Grove
byJ B Priestley
Q2 at The National Archives, Kew until 17thMay
Review by Gill Martin
You could argue that the star of Q2’s production of J.B. Priestley’s Laburnum Grove is the venue. But that would be unfair to the Players. If your haven’t been to the National Archives at Kew before, you’ve missed a treat. Few theatres can match its approach past playing fountains and tranquil waters on which a pair of swans glided, with four cygnets snuggling between the pen’s folded wings.
The play takes us from these delightful surroundings in south west London to equally leafy Laburnum Grove, Shooters Green. This address epitomises smug, middle-class suburbia in north London where ‘nothing ever happens’.
Until now.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 