Scots on the Rocks
Mary, Queen of Scots
by Thea Musgrave, libretto by the composer after Amalia Elguera
English National Opera, in co-production with the San Francisco Opera, at the London Coliseum until 18th February
Review by Mark Aspen
The political elite of Scotland are in hostile conflict with each other and with cousins south of the border; there is infighting within the various factions; the people are restless and volatile; and bubbling away in the background religious enmities find violent expression.
This may all sound very contemporary, but here Scotland is not ruled (tenuously) by the SNP, but (tenuously) by the royal dynasty of the House of Stuart. It is not today, but the mid sixteenth Century, although the setting is distinctly modern.
Read more…Shakespearian Chocolate Box
What Dreams May Come
by various composers, words by William Shakespeare
English Touring Opera at the New Diorama Theatre, 15th February and on tour until 25th April
Review by Patrick Shorrock
Valerina Ceschi’s collection of Shakespeare’s song settings provides lots of food for thought and an opportunity to showcase some impressive talents. It displays broad musical range. Just to mention the most famous names, we have songs by Henry Purcell, Thomas Arne, Gerald Finzi, Amy Beach, Joseph Haydn, Benjamin Britten, and Franz Schubert. It was probably a forlorn hope that these fragments, wrenched from their original context, could all be reassembled into a jigsaw that was musically and dramatically coherent. But what fun to try and break out from the obvious concert format.
Read more…Around The World in Ninety Minutes
A Real Race Around the World
by David Hovatter and The Company
The Questors at the Questors Studio, Ealing until 22nd February
Review by Andrew Lawston
Puck could put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes, Phileas Fogg took eighty days, while Lavarède managed the trip with just five sous in his pocket, in Paul d’Ivoi’s novel Les Cinq Sous de Lavarède. Ever since the first Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation of 1519-1521, fictional characters and real people have been trying to get around the world ever faster.
This penchant for speedy travel reached its zenith in 1889, when the New York World’’sinvestigative journalist Nellie Bly set off on a transatlantic crossing to beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional eighty day record. Meanwhile, a fledgling magazine called Cosmopolitan sent writer Elizabeth Bisland west, in an attempt to make the trip even faster.
Read more…With All the Trappings
Deathtrap
by Ira Levin
Teddington Theatre Club at the Hampton Hill Theatre until 15th February
Review by Louis Mazzini
Presented by Teddington Theatre Club at Hampton Hill Theatre, Steve Taylor’s production of Ira Levin’s Deathtrap delivers on all fronts.
Daniel Wain plays Sidney Bruhl, a once celebrated playwright who hasn’t had a hit in eighteen years. In the opening scene, Sidney has just finished looking over his post. It includes a playscript sent to him by Clifford Anderson, “one of the twerps” who had attended one of Sidney’s seminars the previous summer. Clifford is played by Jacob Taylor (the director’s son) and, dishearteningly for Sidney, Clifford’s script – ‘Deathtrap’ – is surprisingly good.
Read more…A Blinder
The Marriage of Figaro
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 22nd February
Review by Mark Aspen
If you were hoping to see a traditional Mozart offering, or indeed the spectacle of the opera, you might feel short-changed by director Joe Hill-Gibbins’ “Figaro for today”. But if you are looking for a less superficial Mozart, then in the simplicity and analytical approach of his stripped-back Marriage of Figaro,it will be enriching.
The London opening of Hill-Gibbins’ The Marriage of Figaro was suddenly truncated after one day in March 2020 by the sudden severity of the Covid lock-downs. It had had a brief pre-run at the Oper Wuppertal the previous year, but now returns to the Coliseum with some of the original cast.
Read more…Phantom of the Movie
Ghost, the Musical
by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, book by Bruce Joel Rubin
Bill Kenwright Limited at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 8th February, then on tour until 5th April
Review by Thea Diamond
Premiering in 2011 in Manchester before transferring in the same year to The West End and in 2012 to Broadway and having a number of UK tours over the intervening years, Ghost The Musical delivers a mixed bag of an evening’s entertainment.
Read more…Role Play
The Maids
by Jean Genet, translation by Martin Crimp
Reading Rep and Jermyn Street Theatre Productions at the Reading Rep Theatre
Review by Sam Martin
Annie Kershaw’s direction of The Maids at Reading Rep, in co-production with Jermyn Street Theatre, brings Jean Genet’s classic 1947 play into stark focus with remarkable intensity. Translated by Martin Crimp, the play dives deep into the complexities of identity, power, and social oppression, capturing a raw and sometimes uncomfortable examination of servitude, resentment, and the destructive power of role-playing. The intimate space of the Reading Rep alongside the narrow and sometimes claustrophobic set makes for an unflinching view into the psychological games played by the characters, leaving the audience to grapple with their conflicting feelings of pity, discomfort, and fascination.
Read more…Oh Play !
Creating Carmen
by Clare Norburn
The Telling at The OSO Arts Centre, Barnes until 2nd February, then on tour until 7th March
Review by Brent Muirhouse
Creating Carmen begins with the strum of Spanish guitar, setting the platform for an exploration of the interplay between creation and creator. In this latest innovative production by The Telling at the OSO Arts Centre these take the form of Prosper Mérimée, the author and originator of Carmen, the untameable protagonist, who here exists beyond her pages to take control of her own narrative. It’s meta and it’s musical, and it’s more than just a declaration of Mérimée, as Carmen is real and no figment of the imagination, and becomes a tormenting muse and the driving force behind his novella, made most famous by Georges Bizet’s opera.
Read more…Crystal Blear
Weird Women
by Genni Trickett
Teddington Theatre Club, at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 1st February
Review by Gill Martin
When Cat Lamin went down to Exeter to see the premiere of Weird Women, she expected to see a simple family drama. But she came back sobbing … and knowing that she must direct its London première.
The setting couldn’t be more reassuringly normal, cosy sitting room full of comfy cushions and crochet, a scene of domestic calm, with net curtains and a Welsh dresser crammed with family photographs. Wellington boots line up by a coat stand festooned with sensible tweed, a cloth cap and plastic rain hat favoured by older ladies protecting their perms.
Read more…Tabled Manners
Summer 1954
by Terrance Rattigan
Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Living Theatre at Richmond Theatre until 1st February, then on tour until 15th February
Review by Eugene Broad
A flawless double-bill of twee slices of life from days gone past, and nearing the end of its tour, Summer 1954 is a masterfully cooked bittersweet slice of life in all aspects, which shouldn’t be missed.
Terence Rattigan (1911-1977) was the master of the well-constructed play, a skill he used to create meticulous masterpieces depicting characters whose controlled emotions are used to imbue the work with arching poignancy. But time marches on and, with the rise of Osborne and Wesker, the “angry young men” at the end of the fifties, his work began to be seen as of another era, the emotions repressed, the characters steadfast, the stiffness of their upper-lips challenged only by the stiffness of a well-starched white collar.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 