Action Replay
Prince/David
by Yasir Senna
Razor Sharp Productions at the Golden Goose Theatre, Camberwell until 6th July
Review by Heather Moulson
A lurid blood-red poster draws the audience into this great little theatre space on New Camberwell Road for the première of Prince/David.
The initial action is set in 1999, at a long-gone pub restaurant in Ealing, where ‘Robert’, posing as a hot-shot modelling scout, online endorsements not being so visible then, offers a lifeline to Amber Da Costa, a hopeful young model. We know this will turn sinister very quickly.
Then, another drama starts with an old-school detective, DC Harewood being dismissive of the young PC Lisa Stecklen and her leads. While an authentic newsreel plays behind them, he orders the new recruit to make the tea.
Read more…Sharp Shards
One Million Tiny Plays about Britain (A Selection)
by Craig Taylor
Richmond Shakespeare Society, Junior Actors Company at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham until 23rd June
Review by Quentin Weiver
The task of reviewing one million plays in one evening is a daunting prospect for even the most experienced drama critic. Hence it was quite a relief to find that 999,972 of them had been cut for this production, leaving a hand-picked selection for RSS’s cast of young teenagers to get their thespian teeth into.
One Million Tiny Plays about Britain aren’t quite plays, or playlets, or even sketches, but are epigrammatic snippets, the sort of thing you overhear on the top of the Clapham omnibus, that make your ears prick up. They are tiny twists in the tail, but without the tail. These may be fragments but they are sharp fragments, with the cutting edge of everyday wit.
Read more…Essex Spells
The Magic Flute
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Wild Arts, the Essex Summer Opera Festival, at Layer Marney Tower, Essex until 23rd June, then on tour until 22nd September
Review by Mark Aspen
Mozart was of course a bit of a rebel. Die Zauberflöte was more or less the last opera he wrote before his untimely death in 1791 and this, his The Magic Flute, could be seen as a final act of rebellion. It was a fairy tale with a lot of spoken dialogue, rather than grand opera. It was written in German, not the courtly Italian, the language in which almost all his previous operas (apart from those he composed as an adolescent) were written. It moved away from the grandeur of Emperor Joseph II’s court, towards the showman Emanuel Schikaneder. It was not premièred in the imperial heart of society Vienna, but in the Freihaus Theater, in the definitely down-market Wieden district of Vienna, near the Wurstelprater, a public amusement park, still there today as the Prater.
It seems fitting then that Wild Arts is presenting its production of The Magic Flute in English, away from the grand opera houses in London, in the far-flung ends of Essex where the landscape dissolves in a web of rivers and estuaries. Not that Layer Marney Tower is down-market; far from it. It is a handsome grand Tudor manor house. This is country house opera in a charming location and at its most delightful. On what seems to be belated opening days of summer, the ambience of white lawn tablecloths and green lawn swards leading the eye across the wide visas of the Blackwater estuary and going on for ever, is enchanting.
Read more…Ass You Liked It
Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening!
by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin
Hat Trick and Simon Friend Entertainment at Richmond Theatre until 22nd June
Review by Heather Moulson
Despite this clever and controversial comedy being off our screens since 1998, the original cast energetically bounce back onstage. What time lapse?! Yes, the actors show their age but they still retain their vibrant wittiness, with all their characteristics firmly in place as if they had never left us. Drop the Dead Donkey, directed with intricacy by Derek Bond, has returned in its Reawakening!
A well-written script unravels each much-loved character to welcoming applause. Starting with Jeff Rawle as the gentle George grappling with a sophisticated coffee machine. Then the laddish Neil Pearson as Dave, a reformed former gambler, who has more to reveal in the gender neutral toilets! They both admit to being headhunted. The odious Gus, played by the wonderful Robert Duncan comes on and gleefully takes all the credit.
Read more…Operatic Artistry
National Opera Studio with English National Opera
National Opera Studio at Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, 11th June
Review by Susan Furnell
In captivating evening of rising stars, the National Opera Studio presented a spellbinding showcase featuring gifted young vocalists performing alongside the Orchestra of the English National Opera (ENO).
The National Opera Studio (NOS) trains young musicians over a nine month period to become the leading artists of their generation. NOS works closely with six of the leading opera companies in the UK. In addition to a bespoke coaching programme, the young artists work closely with leading directors, conductors and six leading UK opera orchestras to prepare opera scenes for public performance.
Read more…Blue Chip
Bluets
by Margaret Perry, adapted from the book by Maggie Nelson
Deutsches Schauspielhaus at the Jerwood Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre until 29th June
Review by Harry Zimmerman
Bluets is a story about depression and desire, pleasure and pain, and an individual possessed by a lifelong obsession with the colour blue. Communing with artists like Joni Mitchell, Derek Jarman, Andy Warhol and Billie Holiday, blue is their constant companion as they navigate the devastating pain of a romantic heartbreak, cope with a serious injury to a close friend, and, overwhelmed by loss and despair, contemplate suicide.
Yet these bald facts do not even start to tell the story of an experience that defies convention and weaves a melange of theatricality and cinematic sharpness that is simultaneously immersive and gripping.
Read more…Stress Ball
No Love Songs
by Kyle Falconer, book by Laura Wilde and Johnny McKnight
Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre at the Southwark Playhouse, Elephant and Castle, until 15th June
Review by Heather Moulson
After a successful run at The Traverse Theatre at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe, No Love Songs arrives in London, fresh from its home in Dundee Rep.
On this my first visit to this second venue at Elephant of the Southwark Playhouse, I encounter an open and simple stage. It is impressive how the cast of two walk in naturally like normal punters. But this a gig theatre show. The musical director, Gavin Whitworth fits in sympathetically at his keyboard between the two performers. Directed with sensitivity by Dundee Rep’s Artistic Director, Andrew Panton, and Tashi Gore, No Love Songs is the creation of Kyle Falconer, the lead singer-songwriter of the Scottish indie band, The View and his partner Laura Wilde.
Read more…Swan Song
Suite in Three Keys
by Noël Coward
OT Productions, at The Orange Tree in Richmond until 6th July
Review by Harry Zimmerman
Marking the fiftieth anniversary of Noël Coward’s death, and the 125th of his birth in nearby Teddington, The Orange Tree in Richmond offers a rare opportunity to see a trio of Noël Coward plays, Suite in Three Keys, his last completed writing for the theatre. This production represents the first complete revival of this work for a generation.
Directed by Tom Littler, and featuring Stephen Boxer, Emma Fielding, Tara Fitzgerald and Steffan Rizzi, the plays are conceived as a loose trilogy, with all three of the stories set in the same Swiss hotel suite. They are subdivided into the standalone A Song at Twilight and the double bill of the romantic Shadows of the Evening and comedy Come into the Garden, Maud.
Read more…Heaven on Their Minds
Jesus Christ, Superstar
music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice
Regent’s Park Theatre Company at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking until 8th June and then on tour until 17th August
Review by Heather Moulson
Although I saw this great rock opera many moons ago, I was prepared to watch this vibrant piece with fresh eyes. The curtain rose on a simple set that housed musicians and a cross catwalk centrepiece. Boldly lit and led beautifully with passionate movement by Jasmine Jules Andrews, and Judas’ haunting Heaven on Their Minds, the ensemble’s What’s the Buzz created a tight tension, as it introduced Jesus and the devoted Mary Magdalene. Judas naturally had a lot to carry with his conflicting views and frustration, and Shem Omari James carried this reverently with a high pitch of energy and vocal skills … And anger.
Read more…Follow the Light
Viola’s Room
by Daisy Johnson, conceived by Felix Barrett, based on The Moon Slave by Barry Pain
Punchdrunk at One Cartridge Place, Woolwich until 15th September
Review by Patrick Shorrock
Punchdrunk break all the rules of conventional theatre, not simply removing the fourth wall but nuking the entire auditorium. The audience wanders through a vast elaborately decorated maze in the hope of locating some dramatic action. On a bad day it can be a bit like popping into Ikea for some tea lights and then not being able to find the exit. It’s a combination of the mesmerising, worrying, and frustrating, as those who came to the Burnt City, Punchdrunk’s last installation, based on the Trojan War, will know.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 