An Nile Ation
Murder on the Nile
by Agatha Christie
The Questors at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing until 25th March
Review by Brent Muirhouse
Despite Murder on the Nile being a timeless Agatha Christie‘s whodunit, I learned that it is the first time in 90 years of The Questors Theatre, that any Christie had been on the bill to thrill audiences. The play is brought to life on stage in a singular room: the observation deck of the paddle steamer Lotus as it cruises down the Nile between Shellal and Wadi Halfa in Egypt. The set design was impeccable, with sandy and beige tones that reflected the sweeping vistas of Egypt and the riverside (although it was presumably the Grand Union Canal transformed for the occasion) and the mainly cream and bleached linen costumes were perfectly tailored to both theses surroundings and to the era.
Read more…The Sensation of Water
Swim
by Liz Richardson
TBTL and Liz Richardson Productions, in Association with imPOSSIBLE Producing at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, until 18th March, then on tour until 24th June
Review by Raymond Wheatan
Swim was written by the actor and theatre-maker Liz Richardson during lockdown, and premiered in 2022 at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake in the Lake District where Richardson was raised and swam as a child.
After working in Manchester and London Liz Richardson relocated to the Peak District, a move that, together with certain real events, inspired her to write Swim, first for a cast of three and now revised and re-written as a one woman show, under the direction of Andy Routledge.
Read more…The Past Comes Seeping
Unexpected Twist
by Roy Williams, adapted from story by Michael Rosen
The Children’s Theatre Partnership and Royal & Derngate at The Rose Theatre, Kingston until 19th March, then on tour until 10th June
Review by Eleanor Lewis
Roy Williams’ adaptation of Michael Rosen’s Unexpected Twist is not so much a modern revamp of Dickens’ 1838 novel, as a fusion of 19th and early 21st century characters in a story spanning generations and in which, aside from a few social mores, not a great deal has actually changed. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, in fact.
Shona and her widowed father are struggling to survive, mainly on chips, in 21st century London without attracting too much attention from Social Services. At school, Shona is reading Oliver Twist and noticing unnerving parallels with her own life. Help arrives out of the blue in the form of a Smartphone, given to her by a boy in school but for which, it turns out, there is quite a price to pay. Gang culture beckons. A violent and controlling young man, Pops, runs a collection of children, using them to deal drugs and steal money (including picking pockets). Shona’s world-weary Nan launders the cash through her market stall.
Read more…Bullfighting
Bull
by Mike Bartlett
Teddington Theatre Club at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 18th March
Review by Brent Muirhouse
The Teddington Theatre Club’s production of Bull, by Mike Bartlett, was described in the programme notes as ‘a razor-sharp play about the fine line between office politics and playground bullying’. In reality, the hellish situation in the play is an extreme stylisation of the most exceedingly profit-driven and cut-throat workplace imaginable, and the nature of the darkest form of capitalism.
This adaptation takes place entirely in a single room, where three colleagues, Tony, Isobel, and Thomas are waiting for a meeting with their boss, Carter. The stage is designed to resemble a corporate boardroom, with the audience given visitor badges and seated on three sides of the stage, giving the impression of being part of the meeting. It was an unexpected set-up to bring most of the audience’s own visible nervousness from sitting so close to the stage – and almost within the play – to create an appropriate energy for Bull to unfold.
Read more…Swinging Sixties-Something
The Last of the Haussmans
by Stephen Beresford
Putney Theatre Company at Putney Arts Theatre until 18th March
Review by Steve Mackrell
The Last of the Haussmans was first performed at the National Theatre’s Lyttleton, in the summer of 2012, when it opened to rather mixed reviews. At the time, it was probably overshadowed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was playing simultaneously in the NT’s Cottesloe and which seemed to be grabbing most of the critical attention.
The Last of the Haussmans is written by Stephen Beresford, who originally trained as an actor but subsequently turned to writing. This is his first play, and the National’s original version was directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a cast including Helen McCrory, Julie Walters and Rory Kinnear. Since then, the play seems to have largely disappeared from view, and it seems a brave programming decision by the Putney Theatre Company, ten years later, to resurrect the play and give audiences another chance to catch it. Indeed, a welcome decision, as the play provided a great evening’s entertainment in SW15.
Read more…A Royal Delight
The Madness of King George III
by Alan Bennett
Teddington Theatre Club at the Hampton Hill Theatre until 11th March
Review by Viola Selby
Opulence abounds as we enter the magnificent court of King George III.
Stepping into the theatre, the audience is instantly transported back in time to the Eighteenth Century with a stunning set design, including a royal balcony and marble staircase showing off the reality and splendour of the period. This is then exemplified by the wonderful wigs, marvellous makeup and absolutely stunning over-the-top costumes, greatly highlighting the importance of appearance, all of this thanks to the creative genius of set designer Junis Olmscheid and her team and the wardrobe lead Lesley Alexander and the wardrobe team. The use of fanfare and of Handel’s music by Jacob Taylor, adds even more, creating a royal delight for the senses.
Read more…King Charles’ Coronation, The Opera
Il Viaggio a Reims
by Gioachino Rossini, libretto by Luigi Balocchi
English Touring Opera at the Hackney Empire until 4th March, then on tour until 29th May
Review by Mark Aspen
With the anticipation building towards this spring’s coronation of King Charles, it is quite a coup to put on an opera about (and commissioned for) the coronation of King Charles. English Touring Opera’s perambulations around the country take it to Cheltenham on 6th May, Coronation Day. And what a glorious and exuberant way for the fortunate townspeople of this genteel spa to celebrate such an historic occasion.
However, the opera in question, Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims is not about May 2023 and the coronation of our own King Charles III, but about the coronation of the restored French monarch, King Charles X in May 1825. But let’s not allow a mere 198 years spoil a good opening to a review.
Read more…Financial Affairs
Someone of Significance
by Amalia Kontesi
Network Theatre Company at Network Theatre, Waterloo until 5th March
Review by Denis Valentine
Someone of Significance is based around two characters Rosie (Funlola Olufunwa) and Brad (Simon Bass), investment bankers who tread and cross the line between work colleagues and illicit lovers. The play looks to cover much more than just an affair between two people as their dynamic ideas on class, gender and how a person’s life, career and identity can be guided by outside elements and responsibilities is explored.
From the first scene the play attempts to show concepts on relationships, both in the personal and occupational spheres, plus surrounding issues such as class and gender, all intersperse into the proceedings. The play is written in a way that explores these aspects in each and every scene with varying degrees of success.
Read more…Travelling Hopefully
The Journey to Venice
by Bjørg Vik, translated by Janet Garton
Anarchy Division at the Finborough Theatre, Earl’s Court until 25th March
Review by Patrick Shorrock
How to negotiate the challenges of living longer – failing health and memory, financial pressures, loneliness and isolation – has very much become a theme du jour, most prominently in Florian Zeller’s play The Father, which was filmed in 2020 with Anthony Hopkins. Bjørg Vik’s play – fluently translated by Janet Garton – may be rather earlier (it received its premiere in 1992) but still feels very up to date.
Rollicking in the Rowlocks
Fisherman’s Friends – The Musical
by Amanda Whittington, music arranged by Fisherman’s Friends
Royo at Richmond Theatre, then on tour until 20th May
Review by Mark Aspen
If your lunchtime stroll took you along the chilly riverside at Richmond at the very end of February you may have had the heart-warming experience of chancing across a lively crew of Cornish fishermen vigorously singing sea shanties. You can’t keep an old salt away from water and boats (and seagulls) it seems.
True Cornish types have a love of home, but also a love of the wild outdoors, on a moor or out at sea. It is a strange soulful mix of agoraphobia and claustrophobia, perhaps exemplified by tin mines and fishing ports, both now alas in decline.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 