Baton of Violence
Killology
by Gary Owen
Putney Theatre Company at the Putney Arts Studio until 19th February
Review by Denis Valentine
Killology is an award winning play written by Gary Owen and now on stage for a run at the Putney Arts Theatre. Although the brief tagline may seem as if it’s going to concern the effects of playing violent video games, it quickly becomes apparent that the play is far more interested in exploring the consequences of personal actions and how they are influenced by human relationships, especially on a paternal level.
The players on stage, Jerome Joseph Kennedy, Morgan Beale, and Theo Leonard each relish their roles and attack the parts with gusto. Excuse the metaphor, but as the play is formed almost like a relay, with the spotlight constantly moving back and forth on stage, not at one point is the baton dropped when it’s anyone turn to run with it.
Read more…Bantz and boisterousness
La bohème
by Giacomo Puccini, libretto translated by Amanda Holden
ENO with the Cincinnati Opera, at the Coliseum, until 27th February
Review by Matthew Grierson
There’s no doubt that ENO’s revival of La bohème, directed by Crispin Lord, is a joy. It’s easy to share the boisterous bonhomie of Rodolfo (David Junghoon Kim) and his roustabout chums as they lark through interwar Paris, the setting having been transplanted a generation or two by Dr Miller. Whether conniving against their landlord, avoiding a ruinous bill or dancing in their garret, they display a recognisably fun and engaging laddishness.
But it’s then harder to join them in the despair of their affairs. So much of their humour is already a put-on that one can’t ever be sure that they are not knowingly acting in the way lovers are supposed to.
Read more…Going Dutch
La Bohème
by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Instant Opera at Normansfield Theatre, Teddington until 30th January
Review by Mark Aspen
By the time Puccini penned the score to La bohème in 1896, impressionism was well established in salon art, and there is something of the impressionist in the opera. Its impact comes from its atmosphere, a series of mood scenes. In fact Murger’s novel, on which the opera is based, started life as in a magazine as a series of word-sketches on Bohemian life in Paris, quite literally Scènes de la vie de Bohème.
If it is a mood piece, then clearly it does not need to be set in Paris in 1830. So I should not have been surprised to discover that Instant Opera’s revival of La bohème is set in Amsterdam in 1973-74. Nevertheless, not having seen its original 2019 production, I wondered how it would translate to the free-thinking, free-wheeling, free-love world of Amsterdam nearly a century and a half later.
Read more…Over the Moon
The Red Lion
by Patrick Marber
Teddington Theatre Club at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre, until 5th February
Review by Heather Moulson
Taking us through scenes of Noon, Dusk and Night, we encounter three angry men and a vicious battle of wills, destroying each other and themselves in the Red Lion FC’s team changing room. Although an intense play, this studio production of The Red Lion evokes these clashing rivalries with hard-edged humour.
Read more…Rich by Accident
Peggy for You
by Alan Plater
Hampstead Theatre Original at Hampstead Theatre, until 29th January
Review by Heather Moulson
Well, whose head wouldn’t spin from an insight into the iconic Peggy Ramsey’s office?
Not to mention the point of view of an overworked secretary, an aspiring playwright and two weathered writers, whose heads must have been spinning like a top. With this on board, we were already exhausted, but in an invigorating way. Tamsin Greig, a very natural actor, took on this forceful and complex figure who was one of the leading literary agents of the twentieth century.
Read more…Blockbuster Busted
Ben Hur
by Patrick Barlow
Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham until 29th January
Review by Vince Francis
We were invited to the lovely Mary Wallace Theatre on Friday evening to have a look at the Richmond Shakespeare Society production of Ben Hur, which was presented under the guise of the David Veil Theatre Collective as the producers. Intriguing, given that Ben Hur, in my memory, was an epic 1950s movie which held records for budget and cast, while the Mary Wallace is a somewhat more modest venue, “hosting” this company of four. The film itself was based on the 1880 novel by Lewis Wallace, an American Army General.
This is a production in the tradition of chaos comedy, which draws on influences of farce, slapstick, and commedia dell arte, whilst never becoming entrenched in any one of them. Think The 39 Steps, Dick Barton and elements of the Go Wrong series as comparators. Everything about it is presented with comedy in mind and the cast are comfortable and adept at handling the occasional ‘blip’ or slip that goes with such fast-paced, gag-laden material. As with all such scripts, not all the gags and references hit home with all the audience, although the older members with more history to draw, on fare rather better in this respect, but the sheer volume and variety ensures that no-one feels left out.
Read more…Integrity of Emotions
House of Bernarda
by Margaret Lawless after Federico Garcia Lorca
Putney Theatre Company at the Putney Arts Theatre until 29th January
Review by Claire Alexander
I had a personal interest in going to see this production. Several years ago, I was in a production of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba – as the eldest daughter, Angustias (but more of that later), and I know the play well. I must confess I have always found it a somewhat difficult play to follow, with five daughters vying for the same man’s attention (Johnny) under the jealous and distrustful eye of their mother Bernarda. There always seems to be a tension between making the story really clear and listening to Lorca’s evocative and beautiful writing.
But this version entitled House of Bernarda and adapted by Margaret Lawless for Putney Arts Theatre was inspired and fell into none of those traps. Margaret has chosen to set her play in the American South Midwest as hot, remote, and socially divisive as is the original set in rural Spain. She has kept faith and true to the original text, such that there were many lines and references I recognised, and the same arc of storyline. But she has also found a careful balance between this and adapting to the southern American drawl and American cultural references. Thus the text never jarred and always felt grounded in this setting.
Read more…Smashing It
Teechers
by John Godber
Teddington Theatre Club, Hampton Hill Theatre, until 29th January
Review by Gill Martin
Three young actors. Countless characters. One stage. A theatre in the round.
Teddington Theatre Company smashes it!
Teechers, a comic play by John Godber, could have been the inspiration for Derry Girls and The Inbetweeners. It was first performed in 1987 but scores top marks for resonating with current issues. It seems particularly relevant post-Covid when so many children have had their education severely disrupted, and when the gap between privileged and struggling schools has widened.
This frantic play within a play depicts three pupils, Gail, Hobby and Salty, along with their newly qualified drama teacher Mr Nixon, attempting to navigate a tortured journey through school life, social policy, bureaucracy, teenage crushes and thuggish bullies.
The trio dominate the stage to address the audience directly: ‘All we want you to do is use your imagination, because there’s only three of us and we all have to play different characters … and narrators, so you’ll have to concentrate!’
Read more…Worth All the Tea in China
Aladdin
by Jackie Howting
Edmundians at Cheray Hall, Whitton until 29th January
Review by Celia Bard
So good to see a full auditorium and it is good to see the Edmundians back in action after a two year break due to Covid. Mind you this production was still not free from the viciousness of this nasty little virus, leading to last minute replacements because of forced isolation. However, true to the spirit of panto and the enthusiasm and talent of this drama society, press night performance of Aladdin proceeded smoothly. The audience consisted of people of all ages and did not need much encouragement to participate: “Oh Yes, they were!”
The panto was performed in traditional mode with a much appreciated topical twist. Atypical was the opening scene that opened on a mountain ski resort, a nod, no doubt, to the Beijing Winter Olympics, although I was later informed that the writer had also recently spent some time in Austria, and was able to bring her experience into this production.
Read more…Classy Openings
Red Door Poets II
Red Door Poets, Chelsea, On-Line, 23rd January
Review by Heather Moulson
Knocking and waiting outside that rather smart front door in Chelsea is rather unenviable in January when the temperature is knocking on zero. How much more comfortable to do so from home, where we can wait in spirit, or rather in screen images and voices.
With sixty plus attendees, we were all looked forward to knocking on the Red Door for another hour of poetry with the first presentation of 2022 from this accomplished group of strong prolific poets.
Red Door Poets II opened with musician Chris Hardy from Little Machine (who supports the wonderful Roger McGough) making a slick introduction before the door quite literally opened. And what did we see? We saw a sea of talent.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 