Stories Are Wild Creatures
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness, adapted by Sally Cookson and Adam Peck
The Old Vic and Bristol Old Vic at the Rose Theatre, Kingston until 9th April, then on tour until 12th June.
Review by Heather Moulson
(Before this production even started, I was initiated into the wonders of a digital programme. Whatever next?! Thank you Front of House Staff, for introducing and helping me with this innovation. Although I yearned for the comfort of page-turning, I saw that simply using an app was really the way to go.)
A Monster Calls, adapted from the novel by Patrick Ness by Sally Cookson and Adam Peck, brought this story to life on stage. With a very simple set of ten interactive actors seated either side, thirteen year old Connor, played impressively by Anthony Aje, prepares for school. He has slept badly, because a Monster wakes him at his window, telling parables with unpredictable endings, until eventually Connor tells his own, which is the most significant of all.
The story was effectively and simply told using a sequence of hanging ropes forming the thickset sinister roots of a tree, an inspired concept by set designer Michael Vale.
Read more…A Whiff of Spring
Scents and Sensibility
by Joseph Bazalgette
Olf Actors at the Mogden Open Air Theatre, Isleworth until 1st April
Review by Avril Sunisa
Spring puts a certain freshness in the air, so I was happy to accept another invitation to review a traditionally clandestine thespian exposition at the earliest opportunity in April. The exclusive press performance was a matinee, indeed in its original meaning, for there were no performances in the afternoon.
Directions to the open-air theatre were a little vague, just to go past Twickenham stadium and follow our noses. In fact the MOAT, as the theatre is affectionately known, was a lakeside open-air setting, set in parkland amongst countless circular water features, some constantly aerated. A fellow critic, who has been suffering from Long Covid, found it absolutely delightful.
Read more…Whisked Away to an Amazing Experience
Aladdin Jr.
by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin
Dramacube Productions, Twickenham Green Cast at Hampton Hill Theatre until 2nd April
Review by Evie Schaapveld
Evie Schaapveld is one of our younger reviewers. Twelve years old, she acts with a number of local stage companies.
From the cold, dark streets of Hampton Hill, I was magically whisked away into the warmth of the dusty, magnificent land of Agrabah where the wishes of a young boy would soon come to fruition, but not without a few bumps in the road.
As the curtain opened, there was an ominous message from Jafar, the evil Royal Vizier to turn off your mobile phone, which was scripted and delivered in an amusingly original way, and then we were whisked away into the blissful starry night in Agrabah, and an opening number as cheerful as the Genie himself (played with incredible enthusiasm by Megan Went). The opening was a very good introduction to all the characters, and one of things that I noticed straight away were the colourful and believable costumes, along with the choreography of the whole company.
Read more…Assembly of Young Writing
The Young Writers Festival 2022
Arts Richmond, the Exchange Theatre, Twickenham, 27th March
Review by Heather Moulson
I was eager to be present at this celebration of young writer’s poetry and prose, having witnessed outstanding talent in previous years. Reading through the full content of work listed, I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed.
The set consisted of a row of colour coordinated chairs on which eight actors came and sat. The atmosphere became ripe with anticipation. With great gusto against a backdrop of visual titles, the first piece How to Send a Hug by Joshua Stewart was an excellent start to the afternoon’s session of young people’s writings. From Key Stage 1 upwards, these talented pieces got the merit they deserved.
In past productions, the youthful actors had been more physical in their presentation of the selected pieces, and although some poems were accompanied by mime, the formal seating and oppressive lighting gave it the air of a school assembly. I must admit to hankering for more vibrancy. However, the high standard of writing compensated for this.
Read more…Come Again
Loveplay
by Moira Buffini
Questors Theatre at The Studio, Ealing until 2nd April
Review by Daniel Wain
Love, as the old song says, is a many-splendoured thing. Moira Buffini explores this multi-faceted subject in her 2001 piece Loveplay. Originally written to complement the RSS’s tumultuous Shakespeare history cycle, it formed part of a short season of new plays generically entitled This Other Eden. Unlike Buffini’s best work, such as Dinner (her breakout hit two years later) and Handbagged, this piece has a distinctly commissioned feel. Given the passionate subject matter, it too often feels a little formulaic, written to order, and by the head and not the heart.
Read more…Слава Україні
Opera in a War-Riven World
Reflection by Thomas Forsythe
New words, sung with passion, are ringing out in Britain’s opera houses, but they are not from any opera. At first spontaneously, then as a moving force, and moving in both senses of the word. We have heard, Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля, the Ukrainian national anthem.
Music is a unifying force, maybe because it stands outside of any spoken language. Opera, that concatenation of all the arts, does include language, but at all levels of its expression is very much international and brings artists together in a way in which cultures are respected. An opera is most often performed in its original language, and opera singers are, or become, proficient linguists. Opera naturally forms an international brotherhood of artists.
Read more…Dangerous Games
Fatal Attraction
by James Dearden
Smith and Brant Theatricals and ATG at Richmond Theatre until 26th March, then tour continues until 7th May
Review by Eleanor Lewis
Anyone not familiar with Paramount Pictures’ 1987 film Fatal Attraction would nonetheless probably be familiar with the term ‘bunny boiler’ (a term born in that film) to describe a violently unstable (female) ex-lover. The film, in which a married man spectacularly fails to put his one night stand behind him, is now a stage play written by James Dearden who also wrote the screenplay, which is probably why it’s such a strong theatrical adaptation.
Amongst the many elements of Fatal Attraction the story – it’s a cautionary tale, a fable for our time and a great thriller – there is also the reflection it presents of the changing sexual mores of our western world. In the late ‘80s the film had a different ending to the one it has now, on stage. In 1987 focus rested on the rage of the rejected lover Alex, any moral condemnation of married Dan was almost perfunctory and tempered with a large dollop of sympathy. In 2022, after 35 years progressing towards equality for women, the MeToo era, and greater awareness of mental health issues, the lines are still blurred but the focus has significantly shifted.
Read more…Pop Art Popped
The Collaboration
by Anthony McCarten
YV Company at the Young Vic, London until 2nd April
Review by Heather Moulson
Entering through graffiti-lined walls, we, as an audience, walk into a Studio 54, a setting which is very New York and atmospheric. We appreciate the culture of disco hits and slide shows of that era, even if it’s a little deafening!
The “greatest exhibition in the history of modern art”, that was the expectation in 1984 when Andy Warhol the established (maybe too established) doyen of American pop art, and wild kid on the art block, Jean-Michel Basquiat agreed to work together on a joint collaborative project, culminating in an exhibition in the autumn of 1985.
Read more…Couldn’t Possibly Say
Yes, Prime Minister
by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
Barnes Community Players at the OSO Arts Centre, Barnes until 20th March
Review by Gill Martin
What a time to stage Yes, Prime Minister.
The world facing a third world war. A maddened Russian despot invading and shelling its neighbour.
Crippling fuel bills as UK sanctions supplies from the former Soviet Union.
The PM cosying up to Saudi Arabia for its oil, despite its shady human rights record and a mass execution.
The homecoming of an innocent mother held hostage for six years in Iran — her ordeal, shall we say, not helped by the PM when he was a bungling Foreign Secretary.
Russian oligarchs worth billions finding their assets — including a rather famous London footie club — frozen as a sanction for their links with Putin.
And, oh yes, the small matter of a PM facing prosecution in the Pandemic Party-gate Scandal.
You couldn’t make it up.
Barnes Community Players didn’t have to.
Read more…Reality Is Filthy
Tom Fool
by Franz Xaver Kroetz
Orange Tree Theatre Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre Richmond until 16th April
Review by Mark Aspen
Freedom is a much vaunted word, but perhaps one of the most precious freedoms is having the will to determine the course of one’s own life. Otto Meier, the father of the failing family in Franz Kroetz’s controversial play Tom Fool (originally Mensch Meier), feels trapped in “the system”, but it is arguably a system of his own making. Kroetz, one of German’s most prolific modern playwrights, maintains that “a dramatist must be tough on his characters”, but in this dissection of the tedium of their working (or not working) lives, it is the characters who are tough on themselves.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 