Trial and Errant
This Is Your Trial
by David Allison
BCP at the OSO Arts Centre until 5th November
Review by Denis Valentine
The classic Monty Python phrase of ‘and now for something completely different’ definitely applies to David Allison’s idea and show here. Upon entering the ‘courtroom’ audience members are given sheets to fill in to accuse each other of ‘crimes’ whilst also giving details and evidence on the case.
Once these sheets are handed in to the ushers, they are quickly vetted in the back before the night’s players enter and proceedings get underway.
As with a lot of Improv shows, what then unfolds is reliant on a game audience that it is willing to immersive themselves (but not to the point of drawing too much away, as to overawe and be prohibit) in what the actors have in store.
As the show relies on the cases that its audience members have chosen to submit, each performance will be very different and requires not only good performers but also a good crowd. The loose and fun tone of the night is set well by the ‘Prosecutor’ Steve Bannell who enters with a bottle of beer in hand, to remind everyone that they are all there for a bit of enjoyment and that things are designed to be fun.
Read more…1501-1911-2021 By Any Other Name
& Juliet
by Max Martin, book by David West Read
Shaftesbury Theatre, West End until 24th March
Review by Claire Alexander
Claire Alexander visits The 1911 and takes a peek backstage at the new-look Shaftesbury Theatre before seeing a multi-award-winning musical
The Shaftesbury Theatre, on Princes Circus in London’s West End has transformed itself into a venue fit for 21st Century theatre and beyond, whilst faithfully maintaining its heritage and its listed status. Within stepping distance of Tottenham Court Road station and the finally streamlined Elizabeth Line, I could get there in just over half an hour from my West Ealing home. It is worth a visit.
The theatre’s owners were not idle while theatres were dark during Covid. As the only surviving independent theatre in London’s West End, the owners and the CEO, James Williams have had the freedom and the foresight, together of course with the imagination, to reimagine their theatre as much as an events space as well as a state of the art 21st C theatre that can stage the world’s biggest and most ambitious musicals.
Read more…Jibe and Joke
The Yeoman of the Guard
by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W.S. Gilbert
English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 2nd December
Review by Lottie Walker
The Yeomen of the Guard is arguably Gilbert and Sullivan’s most dramatic work and almost certainly their most moving. The plot is a little less convoluted than much of their canon and the tale of impending execution, mistaken identity and strolling players (including a motley fool), all set within the walls of the Tower of London is reminiscent of Shakespeare. All of which places it firmly in the 17th century. It is difficult to imagine it staged in any other era. So the ENO’s curtain raising BBC newsreel was greeted with no little excitement and a great deal of hopeful anticipation. However, that excitement was short lived. Director Jo Davies has placed this period piece somewhere in the middle of the 20th century and it does not sit well there.
Read more…Camping Sights
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
Rose Original, English Touring Theatre and Leeds Playhouse at The Rose, Kingston until 12th November
Review by Gill Martin
Over the decades some of the greatest of theatrical greats have played the formidable Lady Bracknell in Oscar’s Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, his most popular satire: Edith Evans, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Penelope Keith and David Suchet.
They have all delivered that memorable line ‘A handbag?’ with degrees of dismay, disbelief, outrage and horror when discovering the birth history of their daughter’s suitor. This production though is probably the first for a drag queen. Now Daniel Jacob takes on the role with the panache gained from international recognition as his drag queen alter ego Vinegar Strokes and appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and Drag Karaoke Club.
Read more…Mistaken Identity
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
ETT, Leeds Playhouse and Rose Original at The Rose Theatre, Kingston until 12th November
Review by David Stephens
Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce, still a favourite of theatre-goers more than a century after its initial staging in 1895, can sometimes fall foul of appearing a little dated. However English Touring Theatre’s latest incarnation, currently at Kingston as it concludes its tour, breathes new life into this classic comedy. Before the play starts, one wonders where the ensuing action is about to take place: the set resembling a modern art gallery, complete with carefully placed pieces of African artwork. Indeed, it is soon revealed that this is the Mayfair home of Algernon Moncrieff, a black Victorian gentleman. Important to note at this stage that this is not colour-blind casting, but a window into the world of black people in Victorian society.
Does this interpretation jar with the Victorian themes of high society? Not in the slightest! But why? Because, as we learn from director Denzel Westley-Sanderson in his programme notes, successful people of colour often thrived in Victorian society. Flicking through the programme, we are shown a number of images of non-white people, wearing fine Victorian clothing procured from their personal wealth. As Westley-Sanderson explains, traditional black-history, so long neglected by the education system, often fails to tell the many success stories of the black community; many believing that, prior to the Windrush generation, black people simply didn’t exist in Great Britain other than in roles of domestic subservience. Through this production, played entirely by a non-White cast, we are shown that, not only did black people commonly exist in mainstream society but many thrived, becoming important employers and contributing greatly to society in return. It is this reclamation of the truth that has inspired Westley-Sanderson’s interpretation and his insight deserves great commendation.
Essentially a story of mistaken identity, the play revolves around the exploits of two friends, Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing, who both assume the false identity of ‘Ernest’ in their bids to temporarily escape the demands of Victorian society and the accompanying monotony. Under their assumed identities, both find love. However, when all four find themselves at a country home at the same time, their cover stories begin to unravel with hilarious consequences and ensuing pandemonium.
This staging, complete with fly-in sets and revealing gauze-walls, was brilliantly executed by the English Touring Theatre and it would be no surprise to see this, their latest offering, adding to their many awards won in recent years. From the moment the play began, with all characters appearing on stage in a cleverly choreographed intro sequence, to the moment the proverbial curtain fell, displaying a life-sized group photograph, the performance was flawless and fast-paced and the cast’s energy and focus was a delight to behold.
Standing ovations are common in today’s theatres. Often cynically referred to as ‘obligatory’, audiences have become so used to giving them that they can sometimes lose both worth and impact. However, as the curtain fell on Tuesday evening, the resulting ovation was not only richly deserved but, fuelled by the energy that the hugely talented cast had so effectively transmitted to the appreciative audience throughout this exceptional performance, was highly instinctive and anything but obligatory. A cursory glance around the auditorium revealed every single person on their feet, many cheering with delight, all smiling from ear to ear and applauding enthusiastically. Applause that would certainly had continued for longer had the cast taken the extra curtain call that the audience were so eagerly encouraging. If you see nothing else this year, go and see this…. I’m seriously considering a second visit.
David Stephens, November 2022
Photography by Mark Senior
Sppooked
The Addams Family Musical
by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
BROS Theatre Company at Richmond Theatre until 29th October
Review by Heather Moulson
It was nearly Halloween, but I didn’t know what to expect from this musical based on the sixties TV show. Could they really recreate that iconic and so morbidly enticing Addams family?! However, after a delightful glimpse of Thing, barehanded obviously, through the thick tabs, we opened up to a stunning beginning, with a fabulous tableau of the family behind a mesh curtain. The glamorous and kitsch macabre family were surrounded by gothic splendour, the focal point being a sweeping candlelit staircase. Starting with the showstopper When You’re an Addams we were introduced to the whole undead cast, clad head-to-toe in atmospheric detail and intricate make-up. The rule that one should never begin with a showstopper was disproved and showed us that you can do exactly that.
Read more…Abrasive, Acrobatic, Absorbing
Glass Human
by Samantha Fernando, libretto by Melanie Wilson
Glyndebourne Productions at the Jerwood Studio, Glyndebourne until 29th October, then on tour until 5th December
Review by Mark Aspen
Opera in the popular mind tends to be associated with “grand”, everything large scale: sets, orchestra, chorus, five hours of strong plot and heightened emotions. “Wagnerian” becomes an adjective in general use. You can go really big and have more than one orchestra or chorus; think something like Berlioz’s Les Troyens. Opera is seen as extrovert!
Glyndebourne’s new chamber opera Glass Human, in contrast, in a minimalistic piece, simple set, five musicians, three singers. Heightened emotions are there, but it is a mood piece. This is opera as introvert! … Its introversion, though, is its strength. It looks at one human emotion, loneliness, and surgically dissects it.
Read more…Control, Alt, Delete
A Dead Body in Taos
By David Farr
Fuel at Wilton’s Musical Hall, Whitechapel until 12th November, then on tour until 19th November
Review by Eleanor Marsh
A Matter of Life and Death, Ghost, The Sixth Sense and countless other movies, TV series and books deal with the endlessly fascinating subject matter of what happens when we die and how those we leave behind cope. What happens when technology steps in and it appears that dying isn’t quite what it seems?
David Farr brings his wealth of screenwriting and theatrical experience to this difficult subject in a treat of a play that is not always comfortable to watch, but is in turn equally moving, funny and disturbing.
Read more…Other Foot
Reboot Festival 2022
Week Two
Kibo Productions at the Barons Court Theatre until 29th October
Review by Heather Moulson
Barons Court Theatre is bijou indeed, tucked below stairs at the Curtain’s Up pub in W14. The lit square stage and the darkness of the auditorium brought back many memories of disco days. However, thankfully the audience declined to dance and instead we were brought some new talented writers and performances. The Reboot Festival was into week two of emerging writers and I looked forward to the six short plays.
Read more…Bedpan Humour
The Hypochondriac
by Molière adapted by Richard Bean
Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Mary Wallace Theatre until 29th October
Review by Gill Martin
Put on your scrubs and surgical mask to enter this household of illness, imagined by Molière in The Hypochondriac.
Set in the era of Louis XIV’s of France this classic farce pokes fun at a man obsessed by his own imaginary illnesses. And at pompous doctors who take advantage of gullible patients as they practice their art. It’s a clever scathing satire brim-full of trickery, greed and strong characters. It’s no place for the squeamish as there’s a bottomless joke pit of anal examinations, enemas, stool examination and urine drinking in director Maxina Cornwell’s production for the Richmond Shakespeare Society.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 