Warped Magnificence
The Handmaid’s Tale
by Poul Ruders, libretto by Paul Bentley from the novel by Margaret Attwood
English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 14th April
Review by Mark Aspen
What a remarkably prescient author Canadian novelist Margaret Attwood is! When she published her work of satirical speculative fiction in 1985, neither the Taliban nor ISIS existed. Yet The Handmaid’s Tale gives an uncannily accurate picture of these brutally repressive regimes and how they have developed during the 21st Century, with the warped sense of religious interpretation they represent. The “shalt nots” particularly repress women and extend to denying women and girls an education; they are not allowed to learn to read and write. They are denied the right to work or possess property. The position of women is one of total subservience.
Veni, Vidi, Vici
Bourgeois & Maurice: Pleasure Seekers
by Liv Morris and George Heyworth
Soho Theatre and Tim Whitehead, at the Soho Theatre, until 30th April
Review by Gill Martin
If you can raise a raucous laugh over impending nuclear war and the pandemic while simultaneously insulting your audience you are on a winner.
The cult cabaret self-styled super stars Bourgeois (George Heyworth) and Maurice (Liv Morris) are true champions. In a sea of spangly sequins they launch Pleasure Seekers, putting the fun back into what we now realise is our fundamentally pointless existence.
Read more…Penguin with Icing
Alby the Penguin Saves the World
by Helen Eastman
Reading Rep at Reading Rep Theatre until 18th April
Review by Nick Swyft
Alby finds that his Antarctic home is melting and is almost drowned when he gets entangled in a plastic bag. Since this is all to do with the humans making the planet hotter, he makes a decision. He is going to talk to the humans and tell them to stop. Ingeniously, he collects more plastic bags from Una the Upcycler to make a hot air balloon to fly to the human seat of power, Reading. How does he know that Reading is where the humans live? Because amongst Una’s collection of things to upcycle is a Huntley and Palmer biscuit tin, and Alby’s grandfather told him that Huntley and Palmer were based there.
Read more…Yours Truly Madly
Our House! The Madness Musical
by Tim Firth, music and lyrics by Madness
HEOS Musical Theatre at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing until 9th April
Review by Vince Francis
We’re an intrepid bunch, we reviewers. Take Wednesday. Opening night for the HEOS Musical Theatre production of Our House. The rain fell in what my old mate Terry would describe as horizontal stair-rods, greying out the surroundings and driven by a squally wind that devoured umbrellas with contempt. We watched all this through the window of the restaurant where we were enjoying a pre-show risotto artesanale and a glass of decent d’Avolo Nero, tutted quietly and agreed to give it five minutes before we sallied forth.
However, to business. HEOS Musical Theatre is a well-established company in the area, having been around since 1911. Originally called ‘Hanwell and Ealing Operatic Society’, it has, like other similar societies, retained the initials but dropped the overt reference to opera since it tends toward producing stage musicals rather than the more traditional opera or operetta. HEOS MT has earned a number of NODA awards over the years, which gives an indication of its production values.
Our House is a musical featuring the music of the iconic North London band Madness, who were around in the late Seventies through to the Eighties and who also covered a 1971 Labbi Siffre song, It Must Be Love, which is included in the show and should therefore be credited. The book is by Tim Firth, whose catalogue includes Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots, both of which related true stories and captured the essence of the people involved, their relationships and dialogue with absolute authenticity.
Read more…Kids in Bohemian Detail
Poetry Club
by Hannah Lowe
TS Eliot Foundation at the Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill until 5th April
Review by Heather Moulson
As I arrived in Notting Hill, I have to confess that apart from seeing this wonderful poet, I had an ulterior motive to exorcise memories of that former flea pit, The Coronet, a cinema I frequented in the late seventies, a grim setting with unforgettable films like Jubilee. Despite The Coronet now a theatre and beautifully cleaned up, the winding corridor still gave out that claustrophobic aura that a small cinema exuded. It was oddly appealing and something one once took for granted.
In the Coronet bar, where the reading was to take place, there was such gothic splendour and bohemian detail that complimented the fitting intimacy for this occasion. The bar itself operated over a grand piano, which made it worth buying a gin and tonic. A dimly lit ambience embraced the audience who, like me, were eager to see Hannah Lowe, the 2021 Costa Book Award for Poetry winner. Having seen her read previously in 2019 at the Slip Off festival in South London, I looked forward to revisiting her work.
Read more…Anniversary Array of Energy And Colour
Aladdin Jr.
by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin
Dramacube, Hampton Hill Red Cast at Hampton Hill Theatre until 2nd April
Review by Heather Moulson
What a way for Dramacube to celebrate its tenth anniversary! The company’s third show in ten months, Aladdin Jr. is its first production of 2022. Exploring a range of theatres and many talented young performers, aged from seven to fifteen years old, since 2012, the current performers had good cause to celebrate.
Aladdin Jr. is based on Disney’s 1992 Academy-Award-winning film, and the 2014 Broadway and West End hit show.
Read more…Talented Magic
Aladdin Jr.
by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin
Dramacube, Twickenham Blue Cast at Hampton Hill Theatre until 2nd April
Review by Charlotte Taylor
Charlotte Taylor is one of our younger reviewers. She has trained with Dramacube and is now fifteen years old.
When I walked into Hampton Hill Theatre I wasn’t expecting the amount of talent and enthusiasm that was about to hit me. Dramacube’s young Twickenham Blue cast completely blew me away and every single one of them had amazing confidence and energy in their acting that filled the theatre.
As the performance of Aladdin Jr. began, I noticed the beautiful Arabian night backdrop, which fitted in cleverly with the opening song Arabian Nights, and as soon as the cast started singing the magic began.
Read more…Keep the Magic Carpet Flying
Aladdin Jr.
by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin
Dramacube Productions, Twickenham Purple Cast at Hampton Hill Theatre until 1st April
Review by Gill Martin
It only takes a rub of the magic lantern to summon the genie. And what an obliging genie she was.
This stand-out star of a lively young cast of Aladdin Jr., playing at Hampton Hill Theatre before the Easter break, cast enough magic to keep the carpet flying, the audience transfixed and the Arabian nights tale alive and vivid as ever.
School children from Twickenham and Hampton Hill rehearsed in five different casts throughout the academic term to each give two public performances, the aspiring actors’ age ranging from seven to fifteen. I lucked out with the April Fools’ night show by Twickenham Purple Cast, an accomplished group of teenagers who transported us between an Arab market place, a Sultan’s Palace, a spooky cave of wonders and an enchanting magic carpet ride of romance through shooting stars as (Plot Spoiler Alert) Aladdin, played by Chester Barnes, wins the heart of Princess Jasmine (Abigail Eggleton) of Agrabah.
Every nightwear drawer in the neighbourhood was rifled by a cast seeking silky pyjamas to morph into harem pants and fancy tunics. Their wardrobe was topped with tassels and sashes, exotic headwear, feathers and fez.
The Genie (Charlotte Taylor) out-sparkled them all in sequins and shimmering turquoise silk waist coat as she weaved her cosmic power. She was confident and accomplished, with a strong singing voice and verve to match.
All the actors of Dramacube Youth Theatre grew in confidence as the fifty-minute action revved up, with lively music, energetic dancing and cutlass-wielding guards fighting street beggars. Oscar winning Will Smith could take a lesson from their stunt fights.
The heart of the story is how a rich and privileged princess, forced to marry a suitable man of her father’s choice, determines to escape. Art imitates life in this nod to Princess Latifa, daughter of Dubai’s dictatorial ruler, who kidnapped her from the high seas and walled her up in his kingdom.
Jasmine, like real life Latifa, feels trapped in her gilded cage. ‘There’s more to life than princes and palaces,’ she declared.
‘Riches don’t mean happiness.
‘I won’t be auctioned off to some self-centred show off.’
Too late, it seems for Aladdin, who had just used up one of three wishes granted by the Genie by asking to become a prince. A very handsome prince, it turned out, with model looks and fashionably floppy hair.
Feisty Jasmine is all for equal rights rather than royal perks. If only …
Full marks to Hannah Calarco for production and colourful costume design, and Gary Stevenson for impressive lighting (he was aided by the Genie at an earlier performance when Covid struck a colleague). Choreography and musical direction were by James Markham and Heather Stockwell. Sound was by David Gates, who played a clever trick with the spooky voice of Sejal Khadakkar, who kept jolly busy as Iris, a shop owner and attendant. Now that’s multi-tasking.
Mini critic Dexter, who described himself as ‘still ten,’ rated the show as: ‘great, really great … and the best was the Genie.’ Smart lad.
The cast was directed by Matthew Bunn. Producer Steve Leslie had been busy rubbing his magic lamp and wishing all ten shows to run despite the odd Covid no-show. At the final curtain of the last show on Saturday night (2nd April) he could breathe a sigh of relief.
Leslie, who founded Dramacube a decade ago and has sixteen major productions to his credit, is now gearing up for the anniversary. He said: ‘During the past decade over 1500 young performers have breathed life into a vast array of characters from Matilda to the Mad Hatter. We’ve taken on Trunchbull, Hannigan and Hook, overcome Wicked Witches and travelled from New York to Neverland. ‘Aladdin Jr. is our first production of 2022…a very special show as it kicks off celebrations for our 10th birthday.’ ‘The big celebration will take place in May and we’d love all our current cast to be part of our Decade of Dramacube show which will be part of a big event at the Exchange Theatre, Twickenham.’
Dramacube is also planning an environmental legacy, with a tree donated to Bushy Park this autumn, the first of an annual tree planting for a theatrical woodland.
Gill Martin, April 2022
Photography by Bomi Cooper
Companies Act
Utopia, Limited
by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W. S. Gilbert
Scottish Opera at the Hackney Empire, 1st April
Review by Eleanor Lewis
Gilbert and Sullivan’s Utopia, Limited is their penultimate work together. It’s a work not often performed, and it wasn’t as enthusiastically received by contemporary audiences as the other Savoy operas. Nonetheless, Utopia has a lot to recommend it and Scottish Opera’s current touring production is well worth a visit.
Utopia, Limited revisits themes satirised in the more complex plots of Iolanthe and The Mikado (politics, the judiciary, commerce etc) but does so in a simpler way with a pared down plot and the added feature of Utopia having made itself a limited company (hence the title) on the wishes of its king, Paramount, who is obsessed with all things British.
Read more…Fast, Flippant and Frolicsome
The Gondoliers
by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W. S. Gilbert
Scottish Opera at the Hackney Empire until 2nd April
Review by Mark Aspen
Let’s go to Venice, it may be flooded under Climate Change, but what the hell, it still holds its romance and not a little bit of mystery. Or perhaps cross the Adriatic to Barataria. In 2022 it is probably unwise to go too far in that direction, but you probably won’t find Barataria on a map. Let’s put the terrible tribulations of the present time aside for two and a half hours of Gilbert and Sullivan froth and froufrou, with outrageous plots that make even Shakespeare’s look plausible. Fast, flippant and frolicsome, Scottish Opera’s Gondoliers captures all that is best in the Savoy opera style, that strange mix of memorable music, subtle satire and hearty humour.
We open to a view of Venice that would make Canaletto proud, filled with a chocolate-box tableau of wonderful pastel crinolines. The superb setting by Designer Dick Bird is outstanding, and atmospherically lit by Paul Keogan. It has plenty of other painterly pastiches: we see Ingres’ portrait of Napoleon purloined as a fairground double cut-out for the presentation of the two gondoliers Marco and Giuseppe, each now potentially but ambiguously King of Barataria. Gillray makes his mark in the design of the outrageously OTT panniers in the gown of The Duchess of Plaza-Toro, who has come from Spain to re-claim the King for her daughter, who has just become Queen of Barataria. Casilda, the daughter, arrayed in black and silver, is pure Velázquez. She also sports an eye-patch like Princess of Éboli, referencing Verdi’s Don Carlos. Or could it be that she cannot compete with Marco’s formula for his sweetheart when he sings, “Take a pair of sparkling eyes”?
Read more…
Mark Aspen 