Castle of Despair
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
by Béla Bartók, libretto by Béla Balázs
English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 23rd March
Review by Patrick Shorrock
ENO’s current season comes to a brilliant and triumphant end, despite its lack of support from the mean-minded Arts Council. How a company, that so thoroughly meets the Council’s own criteria of excellence, inclusion and diversity, fail to be properly supported by it remains a mystery. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that it hates opera for being expensive.
Bartók’s bleak one act masterpiece is well performed by ENO, without a follow up piece to lighten the mood and prevent the audience from slitting its wrists. Its sheer intensity means that we don’t end up feeling that we have only had half an opera, any more than we do after Salome or Elektra, but you do end up leaving the Coliseum feeling rather depressed.
Read more…Masked Ball Bounce-Back
Scandaltown
by Mike Bartlett
Putney Theatre Company, at the Putney Arts Theatre until 23rd March
Review by Heather Moulson
What can be said about a restoration comedy that sits comfortably with reality shows, iPads and make or break social media?! Simply that it is an irresistible piece of writing, and that the cast of twelve are bold, colourful and outrageous. The farcical humour and rhyme is wickedly funny.
Read more…Clove Hitch and Two Hand Knots
Double Feature
by John Logan
Hampstead Theatre Original at Hampstead Theatre, until 16th March
Review by Heather Moulson
A quaint country cottage is the quirky backdrop for two very significant moments in film history, focussing on four iconic players in the industry. Two stories are seen as two separate encounters in one rustic living and kitchen area, bringing to mind Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves.
The concept is a very ambitious step, but is pulled off beautifully. We are flies on the wall as Tippi Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock, and Vincent Price and Michael Reeve confront demons and other misdemeanours in the same limited space, during filming of two historic productions. These icons share more than just the physical set, itself an intricate installation designed by Anthony Ward and with atmospheric lighting by Hugh Vanstone.
Read more…Ironing Out Problems
A Most Pressing Issue
by Tim Harris
Harris-Williams Partnership at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 16th March
Review by Denis Valentine
For anyone looking for a show that bounces along as more of a British sitcom-esque piece with high slapstick and clowning, then A Most Pressing Issue has those elements in abundance, but for anyone expecting a more classical dramatic play then this is not quite it.
The essential premise of the show is that Prison Warden Penton played by Tim Harris (also the show’s writer) is in his office on a particularly trying day, with his assistant Orly (Matt Williams). Harris and Williams have a great comedic air about them and really inject a familiar Blackadder-ish style into their performances (Harris being the famous titular character with Williams as a Baldric/Percy type). They both play off each other well and each make the most out of their set pieces, whether it be high clowning moments or the use of song and a guitar.
Read more…Uplifting Storytelling
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini, adapted by Matthew Spangler
Nottingham Playhouse, and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, at Richmond Theatre until 27th March, then on tour until 6th July
Review by Viola Selby
Khaled Husseini’s bestselling debut The Kite Runner is a book filled with guilt, remorse, unspeakable cruelty, friendship and loyalty all interwoven in the history of the upheavals Afghanistan has gone through for over half a century. It is poignant and personable in so many ways and Matthew Spangler’s thorough adaptation masterfully manages to truly encompass this, staying as true to the novel as a theatre drama possibly can.
Read more…Pop with Snapple and Crack
Pop Music
by Anna Jordan
Teddington Theatre Club at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 16th March
Review by Steve Mackrell
It’s only rock ‘n roll, but it provides a rich soundtrack to the story of our lives. Pop Music, staged by the Teddington Theatre Club in the Coward Studio, has served up a stimulating evening of toe-tapping music and emotionally charged entertainment with intelligence, wit and poignant dramatic content. In essence, the play is a dialogue between two guests at a wedding reception, held in a local disco, and their subsequent recollections of their experiences, from early school life to middle-age, against a background of contemporary pop music.
Read more…Here’s Gold
The Lady or the Tiger
by Jeremy Paul, Michael Richmond and Nola York
Take Note Theatre at the Theatre at the Tabard, Chiswick until 23rd March
Review by Andrew Lawston
Based on an 1882 short story by Frank R. Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger seems an unlikely basis for a musical, at first glance. In a semi-barbaric kingdom, a hero must choose between two doors. Behind one is a lady he must marry, behind the other is a ferocious tiger.
Read more…Art, Tinted or Tainted?
Nachtland
by Marius von Mayenburg, translated by Maja Zade
Delman, Friedman at the Young Vic, Waterloo until 20th April
Review by Heather Moulson
Despite a striking set comprising sad paraphernalia from a deceased one’s home, an intricate design by Anna Fleischle, Nachtland is a play that initially seems deceptively simple. A sparring sister and brother, and his wife clear out their late father’s possessions with an air that gives the impression of a gentle comedy … until the speedy bleak turning point, the discovery of a painting with a signature allegedly of Adolph Hitler.
Read more…Outpourings on Tap
Stepping Out
by Richard Harris
Teddington Theatre Club, at Hampton Hill Theatre until 9th March
Review by Heather Moulson
Opening in the setting of an appropriately authentically atmosphere of a grim scout hall, the tap dance class in Stepping Out is rife with potential for tapping their souls as they tap their soles. Since its original production in 1984, the show has been updated with the use of smartphones, card machines and the shadow of COVID, but none of these hold anything back from the original text.
Read more…Arty Party
Art
by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton
OHADS at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre, until 2nd March
Review by Polly Davies
On a cold and wet night, the Studio at Hampton Hill Theatre was packed for the ever-popular Art by Yasmina Reza. First shown in translation from the French in London in 1996, the play has aged well, and this production, directed by Harry Medawar, is as sharp and witty as ever. A simple plot, three middle-aged men talking about their friendship in a series of conversations, comes alive as the convincingly played characters explore their shaky relationship with understanding and with some beautifully timed touches of comedy.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 