Touching Tribute
Flare Path
by Terence Rattigan
Putney Theatre Company at The Putney Arts Theatre until 28th September
Review by Heather Moulson
Despite being an admirer of Rattigan’s work, Flare Path was for me an undiscovered gem. Based on the playwright’s own experience in World War Two as a tail gunner in RAF Coastal Command, it was a story recounted in clear detail.
Set in a Lincolnshire hotel foyer in 1941, there are authentic radio broadcasts and sounds of low flying planes, as we encounter Doris, Countess Skriczevinsky leafing through a magazine and smoking a cigarette. (Incidentally, we were told before the play that these were tobacco-free cigarettes which would probably explain why no-one inhaled.)
Read more…Ghost of a Chance
Blithe Spirit
by Noël Coward
The Questors at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing until 5th October
Review by Polly Davies
A nicely polished performance of Noël Coward’s ethereal comedy made for an enjoyable evening in the Judi Dench Playhouse. Under Frances McInally’s direction the wit was sparkling, the ghosts were ghostly, the speech was suitably clipped, the set and costumes were perfectly in period and the special effects were marvellous. And being greeted with the news that special cocktails were being served that night added to the 30’s feel of the play. Such a shame I was driving.
Although it is not mentioned in the notes I really believe that Noël Coward must have attended such an evening as he depicts in Blithe Spirit, and been supremely unimpressed by the very idea of psychic happenings.
Read more…Judge Not
Suor Angelica
by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 27th September
Review by Susan Furnell
Puccini wrote Suor Angelica in 1918, eight years before his death, and around twenty years after his famous lyrical verismo operas like La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madam Butterfly (1904). This late work is an ocean apart in subject matter, structure, harmony, tonality, and style. Puccini was responding to the musical changes of the early 20th Century, where Debussy and Stravinsky were challenging harmonic structures, Schoenberg and Berg were eliminating them, and Wagner was developing the leitmotiv into a complex psychological tool.
The subject matter is not a love story, but one woman’s psychological torment. Angelica, sent to a stark convent to atone for having a child out of wedlock, holds on to the thought of her son, taken from her at birth, as her sole reason for living. When, after seven years, her aunt arrives, demanding she give up her inheritance and coldly tells her that her son has died, Angelica’s purpose is extinguished. In despair, she takes poison but, realizing she will be eternally damned, is granted a vision of her son and the Virgin Mary, which brings her peace.
Read more…Bohemian Blues
La Bohème
by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on a novel by Henri Murger
English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 19th October
Review by Susan Furnell
La Bohème has always been close to the heart. From my first experience of shedding tears at an opera at a Chicago Lyric Opera production in the 1980s, to being swept away by the grandeur of Zeffirelli’s sets at The Met, Puccini always creates magic and emotional intensity for me. So when I finally decided to see the Jonathan Miller production, noted for its modern setting, I was intrigued to find out how the production would work for this timeless love story.
My expectations have always been high for a Jonathan Miller production of any opera. However, I initially had some reservations about going to the first run of his La Bohème in 2009 and its subsequent revivals after reading reviews describing its “modernity” and “hyper-realism,” and some mentions of “clumsy” translation which I assumed to mean “harsh” and “jarring”. However, curiosity finally won me over as it is now on its fifth run and must have something special to be brought back again and again. What would I find?
Read more…Faith, Hope, Love
Never Let Me Go
by Suzanne Heathcote, after the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Rose Original Production with Bristol Old Vic, Malvern Theatres and Royal & Derngate at the Rose Theatre, Kingston until 12th October, then on tour until 30th November
Review by Mark Aspen
Faith, hope and love, St Paul’s hierarchy of the strength and longevity of emotions, is subtly and beautifully illustrated in Suzanne Heathcote’s adaptation of Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s all-absorbing story of a society that teeters on a line between morality and expediency, between humanity and pragmatism.
The finely chiselled world premiere production of Never Let Me Go is a totally engaging memory story, a future history of what could be. It is that could-be that makes it so thought-provoking, compelling and chilling. Yet it is more chilling in the vehicle of director Christopher Haydon’s clean simplicity of story-telling.
Read more…Raise Your Glasses
La Traviata
by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Barefoot Opera, Grimeborn Festival at Arcola Theatre, Dalston until 28th September
Review by Heather Moulson
In revisiting Verdi’s evocation of decadent splendour, it is impressive how the Barefoot Opera company’s directorial team, led by artistic director Jenny Miller, successfully uses a small cast in the Arcola’s limited space to recreate the lavishness of La Traviata.
Read more…Knotty Questions
Hangmen
by Martin McDonagh
Teddington Theatre Club at the Hampton Hill Theatre until 28th September
Review by Brent Muirhouse
From the moment the lights dimmed in Hampton Hill Theatre, the black comedic tone of Martin McDonagh’s work immediately entered and held the space, not letting up until the final words were uttered by the titular hangman. A deliberately dreary stage, defined only by a dated pub set in Oldham in Lancashire, was somewhat perpendicular to the quick-witted and sharply comic narrative it held within. McDonagh’s penmanship – crisp, biting, and wickedly funny as anyone who has seen Three Billboards, Seven Psychopaths, or In Bruges will attest to – shines in Teddington Theatre Company’s revival of his story of executioners, (presumed) murderers, and (presumed) bystanders.
Read more…Nickel Steal
American Buffalo
by David Mamet
Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham until 21st September
Review by Salieri
This intriguing, but not wholly satisfactory play, receives an interesting production by RSS, but there are hurdles to overcome, which do not completely satisfy the listener. Even the second half, which is much more animated than the over-long first half, does not provide a definite conclusion.
The play is set in a junk shop, and the staging here is excellent with a large number of items spread around the set: bit tidy perhaps. It does limit much movement of the actors, but I think it adds to the play, giving it a claustrophobic atmosphere. As the play proceeds, we realise that their surroundings weigh heavily upon the three characters, affecting their thoughts and their actions, which never really happen as they try to make plans.
Read more…Everything in its Right Place
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
by Fin Kennedy
The Questors at the Questors Studio, Ealing until 21st September
Review by Andrew Lawston
Opening with a series of vignettes about people who suddenly walked away from their lives, never to be seen again, How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found deals with a sensitive and under-reported topic, the 100,000-250,000 people reported missing in the UK each year.
The sparse staging of the play’s opening moments is deceptive – Juliette Demoulin’s set quickly becomes a character in its own right as flats are wheeled on and off stage by the cast at speed, spinning to reveal wardrobes, offices, and a towering toilet! The set is completed by photo and video projections against one of the flats. With a props list that must also have comprised several pages, the whole production is deftly handled by the cast and stage manager Evan Rule.
Read more…Powerful Portrayal of Resistance and Humanity
The Last Word
concept by Maxim Didenko
Wild Yak Productions at the Marylebone Theatre until 21st September
Review by Susan Furnell
As The Last Word opens on a dark set at the Marylebone Theatre, it immerses the audience in a haunting portrayal of the cost of resisting oppression.
Directed by the acclaimed Maxim Didenko, this UK premiere (following its earlier release in Berlin), tells the stories of twelve women persecuted for their non-violent political activism in modern day Russia.
With each story, filled with heartache, resilience and profound humanity, we see the chilling reality behind Russia’s oppressive regime – a world in which the “final statement” (from the witness in a bullet proof glass cage) in the courtroom that is to sentence them has become one of the last places where the free speech is still possible. Their final statement is “the last word”.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 