Many a Slip
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
by Dario Fo and Franca Ramé, adapted by Tom Basden
Putney Theatre Company at the Putney Arts Theatre until 29th March
Review by Polly Davies
Dario Fo’s multi-layered play makes a bold swansong. But for an astute director like Barney Hart Dyke Accidental Death of an Anarchist presented the ideal culmination of his much-acclaimed tenure as Artistic Co-Director of Putney Theatre Company, a post he has held with his wife Cait, together a driving force for the company’s recent diverse and successful seasons. However, it also was an opportunity to nurture the growing talent of Owen Thomas-James, as his assistant director, who is making his directorial company debut taking up the tough choice of a farce. However, Barney Hart Dyke has a wealth of experience in directing farce, a genre where slick movement and laughter must be finely balanced.
In the event, there is a lot of laughter, and plenty of slick moves, for Tom Everatt’s energetic central character is clearly inspired by Dario Fo’s own oeuvre. The Nobel prize-winning author was known as both a successful satirist and as a comic. As an early adopter of the agit-prop style theatre, in his own performances he successfully combined political satire, physical comedy and mime. And this play offers a full hand of all these skills alongside some swiftly executed role changes.
Read more…Passionate Provocation
La Traviata
by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Sembla and Ellen Kent Productions with the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv at Richmond Theatre until 24th March, then on tour until 12th May
Review by Mark Aspen
Of all his tragic heroines, Verdi seems to have really cared the most for the courtesan Violetta Valéry, the subject of La Traviata, and it shows in the heartfelt nature of his music. Could there be something a bit autobiographical here? The Italian verb traviare means to go astray. His second wife Giuseppina Strepponi had become famous and well-connected as an operatic diva, including performing in Verdi’s early operas, but had become somewhat notorious as the companion to a number of wealthy patrons before she married Verdi.
La Traviata is based on La Dame aux Camélias , the play by Alexandre Dumas fils, which Verdi and Strepponi had been together to see performed in Paris. The inspiration for Dumas’ play, and the book which preceded it, was the enigmatic Marie Duplessis, the real-life courtesan, with whom Dumas had had a passionate affair.
Read more…Door Closes. Window Opens?
Take the Last Bow with Me
by Jackie Howting
Edmundian Players at Nelson Hall, Whitton, 22nd March
Review and retrospective by Josh Dalton
It was a rather cold and dark Saturday night in Whitton, where a number of confused audience members arrived at Cheray Hall the home of the Edmundians for the last sixty years, having not taken note of the different location across the road. It was a mystery to some as to why the latest production was taking place somewhere new, and why there had been no Christmas panto, but all was soon to be revealed.
Read more…Troy Story
Trojan Barbie
by Christine Evans
Questors Productions at the Questors Studio, Ealing, until 29th March
Review by Andrew Lawston
The women of Troy lament their fallen city and slaughtered families, while a doll-mender prepares to embark on a cultural tour for singles, reasoning that “people are nicer on holiday”.
Past and present collide in Trojan Barbie by Christine Evans. Cassandra tells us this is nothing unusual, in typically colourful language, but as usual no one listens to her. Against the black walls of the Questors Studio, history repeats itself, sometimes as tragedy, sometimes as farce, and often both together as Emily Hawley’s thoroughly modern Polly X is dragged away to be sacrificed by two predatory occupying soldiers Jorge (Jacob Dalton) and Max (Herman Svartling Stolpe), but ends up drinking beer with them in an abandoned zoo.
Read more…Tarnished Stardust
Playhouse Creatures
by April De Angelis
OT Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond until 12thApril and then on tour until 3rd May
Review by Patrick Shorrock
Plays and musicals about life in the theatre – from Trelawny of the Wells to Follies – often end up as celebrations in spite of themselves
Even if they feature the hardship, exploitation, and insecurity that loom so large in an actor’s life, we are usually given a feel-good ending that suggests that the required sacrifice is somehow worth it: the intensity of live performance in front of an audience is presented as giving meaning to even the most painful life. Even when dramatists take a few well aimed shots at the delusion and pretention that thrive in a theatrical environment, they generally succumb by the end to the lure of sentimentality and stardust.
Read more…Marriage à la Mode?
The Dance of Death
by Connor McPherson adapted from the play by August Strindberg
Rhinoceros Theatre Company at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 22nd March
Review by Heather Moulson
Being a big admirer of playwright Connor McPherson, I was impressed with his adaption of Strindberg’s The Dance of Death.
An apt dark setting with troubled-looking antique furniture and a piano that creates the right atmosphere; it sets the tone of resentment to come, and gives an aura of genteel poverty. There is also a nice claustrophobic touch, which is not unattractive. The atmospheric set was designed by the talented Junis Olmscheid, who also designed the costumes. This play was written by Strindberg in 1900 and this production has a mixed sense of period. Alice’s dress looks ‘forties and Kurt has near-Nazi attire.
Read more…Masterfleece
Picture You Dead
by Peter James
Josh Andrews Productions at the Richmond Theatre until 22nd March, then on tour until 26th July
Review by Gill Martin
White knuckles, gripping edge of your seats, gun shots and shocks, torture and murders most grisly: if this is your recipe for a great night out at the theatre look no further than Picture You Dead, now playing at Richmond Theatre as part of its UK tour, directed By Jonathan O’Boyle
For those less addicted to the crime thriller genre of Peter James’ police hero Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, this production still offers an entertaining evening of drama with a mix of humour and clever convoluted plot and characterisation.
Read more…Home Front
While the Sun Shines
byTerence Rattigan
Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham until 22nd March
Review by Gill Martin
London is in the teeth of the Blitz. But love is the air despite the deprivations of World War Two.
The scene is set beautifully even before the curtain rises at Twickenham’s riverside theatre, the Mary Wallace. Elizabeth Valentine as Rosie Dupree, the Soho Songbird, was in full melodic voice with A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, as the opening night audience took their seats. An evening of gentle humour in this giddy farce where political correctness leaps out the window awaited them in three acts with musical intervals.
Read more…Formerly Known
X
by Alistair McDowall
Teddington Theatre Club at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 15th March
Review by Heather Moulson
The open space station immediately puts the picture of X into the world of sci-fi. Fiona Auty’s aptly designed set has a claustrophobic element but a big screen is its focal point, showing a large digital clock, a similar distinction to the TV hit 24.
It doesn’t take us long to discover that these astronauts are on the allegedly barren and hostile planet Pluto. The digits on the screen show British time from a post-apocalyptic Earth. This is a lifeline to the fragile crew. Clad in their simple yet strikingly conceived uniforms (Mags Wrightson’s clever costume design) we watch them fall apart, aware of the horror to come.
Read more…Pure Imagination
The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, adapted by Chris Mouron
Broadway Entertainment Group at the London Coliseum until 16th March
Review by Thea Diamond
Frank Matcham’s grand foyer and auditorium at the London Coliseum were abuzz with excitement for the start of the UK leg of Broadway Entertainment Group’s international tour of The Little Prince. Based on the 1945 children’s book, written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, an aircraft pilot (Aurelien Bednarek) whose plane has crashed in the Sahara, tells the story of the Little Prince (Dylan Barone), through the sole voice of the narrator (Chris Mouron). We, the audience, hear the story of how the Prince ended up in this place through Mouron’s lyrical and emotive French narration, mostly spoken but at times sung. The words are translated from French to English through surtitles above the stage.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 