Go with the Flo
The Swell
by Isley Lynn
OT and Damsel Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond until 29th July
Review by Eleanor Lewis
A swell is what surfers recognise as the point at which energy from the wind transfers to the sea, causing ripples which become waves, sometimes huge waves. Such are the waves created by the reappearance of traveller and surfer Flo into the life of her old friend Annie at the point at which Annie is preparing to marry Bel. So far so possibly predictable but assumptions about love triangles and lots of shouting should here be abandoned because what follows is a gripping, sophisticated, thriller-ish tale about betrayal, self-sacrifice, the pros and cons of the tangled webs we weave and, perhaps arguably, the ultimate triumph of love. Not your average girl meets, loses and regains girl tale by any stretch.
Read more…Left Far Left Behind?
Chopped Liver and Unions
by J.J. Lepink
Out of the Fire for Blue Fire Theatre Company at the Exchange Theatre, Twickenham then on tour until 26th August
Review by David Stephens
An evening of thought provoking historical story-telling was enjoyed by all at The Exchange Theatre on Thursday evening, as the Blue Fire Theatre Company returned to impress their Twickenham audience with the latest addition to their growing repertoire of historical plays. Blue Fire have found great success in recent years with producing a number of original pieces, penned by the hugely talented J.J. Leppink, which focus on little known historical figures, and whose impact on British society have either been completely forgotten or, in some cases, erased by those who used their success as a springboard for their own and, in doing so, condemned them to history’s shadows.
Read more…Abridged Too Far
The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)
by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
Teddington Theatre Club at the Hampton Hill Theatre until 1st July
Review by Heather Moulson
What can one say about a play that promises to deliver The Complete Works of Shakespeare in 97 minutes – and does? Well kind of does, but it wasn’t really the texts that mattered but how this talented cast got round it.
Three vibrant actors work at a wracking pace to the point of the evangelical, adding witty Star Wars references and American football commentary; not to mention a glossy cooking show. Working on the theory that the Bard’s comedies are of more or less the same plot, they were cleverly combined in minutes.
Read more…Tristan Goes Nineteenth Century
Tristan und Isolde
by Richard Wagner
Grange Park Opera at the Theatre in the Woods, West Horsley until 9th July
Review by Patrick Shorrock
Wagner wrote Tristan und Isolde as a break from writing the Ring Cycle. It was originally intended to be a small scale chamber opera. This feels a bit of a bad joke when the finished result is, ahem, Wagnerian in length, contains two of the most physically demanding roles in all opera, and shattered tonality as the 19th Century knew it for ever, by means of the infamous Tristan chord that takes the whole opera to be resolved.
Read more…Vicious but Delicious
Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera
music and lyrics by Steve Brown, book by Harry Hill
Nicholson Green Productions at Richmond Theatre until 24th June, then on tour until 14th October
Review by Mark Aspen
We seem to hear quite a lot recently from Tony Blair, an ex-Prime Minister who can’t seem to stay ex-. For such a contentious figure, who held sway during one of the (many) highly controversial of times in modern British politics, perhaps blowing one’s own trumpet, “blairing” out, as one might say, is not a good move. Don’t put you head above the parapet, Sir Tony, for there are satirists about.
Enter Harry Hill …
Hill’s well-sharpened pen has busily been at work, in spite of there being a number of more recent ex-PM’s who might attract a satirist’s vitriolic ink. But how do you satirise a man who presided over the disintegration of British society, who capitulated to the terrorists in Northern Ireland, and who notoriously triggered the explosion in the Middle East that has horrifically destabilised the region for nearly a quarter of a century? The answer, you make the satire into a comedy musical!
Read more…Focus and Humour in Perspective
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen, adapted by Jessica Swale
Putney Theatre Company at the Putney Arts Theatre until 24th June
Review by Vince Francis
I haven’t visited Putney Arts Theatre for a while now, and thus welcomed the opportunity to have a look at Putney Theatre Company’s production of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.
Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen’s first novel, originally published anonymously in three volumes in 1811, which offers a commentary on middle-class society and, particularly, the position of women in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, such a dry summary does a disservice to the intricacies of the plot and the detailed observation of characters, hierarchies, and social mores, not to mention the wit, which became Austen’s particular trademarks.
Read more…West End-side Story
West End Showcase
Dramacube Productions, at the Wonderville Theatre, Haymarket until 18th June
Review by Sadie Williams
I’ve regularly enjoyed Dramacube shows at the Cecil Hepworth Playhouse in Walton and at Hampton Hill Theatre but there was a little extra prestige about the latest production which was being staged at London’s Wonderville Theatre.
The Wonderville Theatre is just a stone’s throw from His Majesty’s Theatre, currently home of Phantom of the Opera, and opposite The Theatre Royal Haymarket. Competition for a full-house was always going to be tough but this was no problem for the Dramacube cast with every seat taken.
Read more…Mid-Strife Crisis
Veiled
by Annabel Miller
Blend Productions at the Studio, New Wimbledon Theatre, 14th June
Review by Brent Muirhouse
Regardless of the fact it was one of the warmest days of the year so far, entering a sold-out performance amidst packed seating at the New Wimbledon Theatre for a new play unequivocally indicated that Veiled was certainly a hot ticket. What it didn’t necessarily indicate was that writer-performer Annabel Miller’s solo performance would also light up the stage; but within a few clever, incisive, and keenly relatable lines of dialogue, the rapturous audience attested immediately to its true quality.
Read more…No Time to Choose
On the Beach
(Part One of The Contingency Plan)
by Steve Waters
The Questors at the Studio, Questors Theatre, Ealing until 17th June
Review by Polly Davies
On the Beach is part of a double bill under the collective title of The Contingency Plan playing in the Studio at Questors until June 17th. Originally performed in 2009 it has been tweaked a little to make the references to current events topical. Set over the same time-period, with an overlap of characters, the two plays show very different perspectives on the same events. Under David Emmet’s direction what they share is the ability to shock. Steve Water’s plays are not a simple polemic about climate change, but the relentless progression of its effects is the theme than unites them. Whilst Resilience is as much about political inertia as about an impending disaster, On the Beach uses that inevitability as a family drama, the explanation of a lifetime of disengagement.
Read more…No Small Change
Resilience
(Part Two of The Contingency Plan)
by Steve Waters
The Questors at the Studio, Questors Theatre, Ealing until 17th June
Review by Polly Davies
A bright sunny Sunday afternoon is not the best preparation for a matinee performance of a play about climate change, but David Emmet’s direction and the excellent characterisation of the ensemble cast meant that I was engrossed in the story within minutes of the start. The crisis at the heart of this play is real, and the play gives a credible foretaste of what climate change could mean in practice here in the UK.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 