Nuns, Buns, Puns, and Guns
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Glyn Maxwell
Putney Theatre Company at Putney Arts Theatre until 25th June
Review by Andrew Lawston
It’s always with something of a jolt that we are reminded that Cyrano de Bergerac is only a little more than a century old. Edmond Rostand’s classic play premiered in 1897, but its combination of historical setting, verse form, and its huge popularity and the impression it’s made on popular culture all give it a timeless feel.
This new production of Glyn Maxwell’s adaptation of the play is performed using traverse staging between two wooden arches. A gaggle of excited nuns set the scene on the way to vespers, wondering where their daily storyteller has got to. Within minutes, the holy sisters are engaging in enthusiastic but decidedly secular swordplay with wooden canes, and selling oranges to each other as they evoke the Parisian theatre where the story begins.
Read more…Lost Days of Wine and Roses
Private Peaceful
by Michael Morpurgo
Nottingham Playhouse and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions at Richmond Theatre until 25th June, then on tour until 9th July
Review by Eleanor Lewis
“They are not long, the days of wine and roses” warned Ernest Dowson in his 1896 poem Vitae Summa Brevis, and for Charlie and Thomas Peaceful and the rest of their generation approaching adulthood in 1914, that line was particularly pertinent.
Michael Murpurgo’s Private Peaceful tells the story of the two Peaceful brothers and their inescapable fate. Younger brother Thomas, ‘Tommo’, tells the story as he keeps watch through the night before a significant event in his older brother’s life. The action moves backwards and forwards with the narrative. There is perhaps an assumption that Tommo is the main character but the story is that of both brothers.
Read more…Will It ‘Bee’ Alright On The Night?
Beemaster
by Chris Harris and Chris Denys
Blue Fire Theatre Company at the Exchange Theatre, Twickenham then on tour until 31st August
Review by David Stephens
A comedic tale focusing on the plight of the humble bee, Blue Fire Theatre Company’s piece provides audiences with an entertaining and, at times, educational glimpse at the life of our winged friends, exploring the symbiotic relationship between keeper and bee and, in doing so, posing some thought provoking questions regarding our own existence and the meaning of life.
This monologue, written by Chris Harris and Chris Denys, is delivered by Brother Barnabus (Steve Taylor), the appointed Bee Master for an otherwise silent order of monks living in the idyllic surroundings of Clumpton Abbey. This setting, represented by two stage-flats, designed and painted beautifully by Junis Olmscheid, is simple yet highly effective. Its simplicity is necessitated by the fact that this play will soon go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then on to various venues around the country.
Read more…Money Can’t Buy
The False Servant
by Pierre Marivaux, translation by Martin Crimp
Orange Tree Theatre Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre Richmond until 23rd July
Review by Gill Martin
A tale of duplicity, avarice, sexual tension and generally bad behaviour is played out at a dizzyingly fast pace at the Orange Tree’s production of The False Servant.
The dialogue is delivered at machine-gun speed and is as devastatingly cutting in its outcome.
The intricately involved plot focuses on a personable young noblewoman known as The Chevalier (Lizzy Watts) who disguises herself a sharp-suited chap to expose the despicable motives of Lelio (Julian Moore-Cook).
Read more…Opera on the Cutting Edge
Macbeth
by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after William Shakespeare
The Grange Festival, The Grange, Northington until 5th July
Review by Mark Aspen
The Grange is a dramatic location, with its air of distressed grandeur yet majestic pride. It is hard to think of a better venue to stage the most dramatic of Verdi’s operas. Macbeth is a melodrama, but a melodrama with shocking power and crucially with great psychological depth. As The Grange Festival’s first back-to-normal production, freed of the strictures of the pandemic regulations, it certainly packs some punch.
Verdi was a rising star, 34 years old, when he penned Macbeth. It would be another forty years before he was to write another opera based on a work of William Shakespeare. Maybe this is surprising, since Shakespeare was always a literary hero of Verdi’s. It is said that Verdi kept a copy of Carlo Rusconi’s Italian translation of Shakespeare’s works constantly at his bedside. However the then quite youthful Verdi wanted to make an impression with Macbeth with inventive approaches to the music and the drama, in fact to the whole feel of the work. He wrote to Francesco Piave, his librettist, “If we can’t do something great, let us at least try to do something out of the ordinary”. Verdi did create something both great and extraordinary, and The Grange Festival’s production undoubtedly fulfils Verdi’s wishes.
Read more…Pull a Pint and Tighten the Noose
Hangmen
by Martin McDonagh
The Questors Theatre at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing until 11th June
Review by Poppy Rose Jervis
Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh’s play Hangmen, his first for more than ten years, is dark, dangerous and deep, and The Questors Theatre has not shied from going for the jugular with this intense, hard-hitting production.
‘There is a bit more life in the air at the local Hangman’s family pub – and it’s not down to the quirky cronies at the bar. Today, hanging has been abolished. For good.
With Harry’s face plastered across the front pages, his status as second-best hangman and local celebrity continues to thrive. But when a menacing young Londoner strolls up to the bar, something says he’s after more than a pint and a bag of peanuts…
Read more…Back Story
Merrily We Roll Along
by Stephen Sondheim, book by George Furth, based on a play by George Kaufman and Moss Hart
BROS Theatre Company at the Hampton Hill Theatre until 11th June
Review by Mark Aspen
“How did you get to be here?” We could all probably ask ourselves that, as we look back on our lives. Maybe we are not where we thought we could be.
This is exactly the presupposition of Sondheim’s 1981 musical, Merrily We Roll Along, which looks back on the lives of three friends over two decades, from the mid-seventies back to the mid-fifties, and examines what went wrong over that time. The reverse chronology emphases the poignancy of how ambition spoilt the life of one of their number, Franklin Shepard, a successful composer song-writer who is seduced away from his true talent, and along the way from his true friends, to become a Hollywood film producer. “How did you get to be here?” asks the opening chorus number, and hints at the answer, by “practising dreams”.
Read more…Toadonomics
Money-Go-Round
by Roger McGough, after Kenneth Grahame, music by Steve Halliwell
OSO at the OSO Arts Centre, Barnes until 5th June
Review by Heather Moulson
I was curious about this Children’s piece, a new musical written by Roger McGough, based on The Wind in the Willows. I really liked the warm greeting of a bold and colourful set and that the plot was exactly what the title said, concerning a gold piece coin that was handed around a wealth of characters, a morality tale of economics with the mischievous Toad being the catalyst of this full circle plot.
If the story doesn’t appeal, then the simple yet vibrant set design will. Designer Emma Turner brings the rustic charm of her native Cumbria to create incredible bold sets and props, crafted solely from recycled materials. Scene changing was geared to, and efficiently handled by, the cast. Simplicity was the key, with actors only having small indications of their animal traits; and that was more than enough. Their strong performances conveyed clearly which iconic animal they were.
Read more…‘Ealth and Safety
Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em
by Guy Unsworth, based on the TV series by Raymond Allen
Limelight Productions at Richmond Theatre until 4th June, then tour continues until 13th August
Review by Gill Martin
It could have been called Some Grannies Do ‘Ave ‘Em !
This revival of the hugely successful TV show Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em mines ancient comedy history. It was all of forty years ago that audiences peaked at 25 million who tuned in to the misfortunes of Frank Spencer, played by Michael Crawford.
Now it is the turn of Joe Pasquale to introduce the hapless Frank to a new theatre audience – the grandchildren and children of the original fans. And make them laugh with rather than at dear Frank, he of the distinctive black beret, Fairisle sweater and beige raincoat
It’s perfect casting for a role that demands a physical comedy actor who can deliver rapid fire monologues, fall down stairs, command empathy and unashamedly take centre stage as the rest of the cast gift him most of the limelight.
Read more…Slain by Daring Passion
Carmen
by Didy Veldman, music by Dave Price after Georges Bizet
Bird and Carrot Productions at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Southbank Centre until 29th May
Review by Suzanne Frost
Fearless. Passionate. Dramatic. Daring. All the characteristics that are traditionally attributed to Carmen could just as well be true about Natalia Osipova, who has reached a point in her career where she seems to be much more than simply one of the legendary ballerinas of our time. Her personality and star power is so large these days, it transcends any role she might interpret on stage. So it feels almost inevitable that when looking for a new full length dance piece to create, her eyes lit up, according to the programme notes, at the thought of playing Carmen, and thanks to her celebrity and standing within the dance world, she was not only able to fill the Southbank Centre but also pull together an impressive collective of artistic collaborators, first and foremost the beautiful Dutch contemporary choreographer Didy Veldman.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 