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…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…
Mark Aspen 