The thrust stage of small but perfectly formed Hope Theatre in Islington contains a park bench and a large handbag in middle of the floor - about as minimal a set as you can get. The lights dim and two women enter - Moira-Bridget Byrne (played by Meghan Tyler) and Ma Byrne (Lynsey-Anne Moffat). … [Read more...]
Churchill Theatre Bromley Autumn Season Launch
It must be really difficult if you run a provincial theatre and have to put bums on seats seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year in order to remain profitable. And it must be even more difficult if you’re a 785-seater theatre like the Churchill in Bromley and you’re only a twenty-minute train … [Read more...]
Toscatastrophe! – Tête à Tête The Opera Festival | Review
Some of the criticisms of opera are that it’s too serious, a bit po-faced and not for the ordinary man in the street and those doing the criticising could have a point. However, that couldn’t be said for Tête à Tête’s Toscatastrophe! (try saying that after a glass of wine or two) which was performed … [Read more...]
Review of BISHI: The Good Immigrant – King’s Cross London
Sitting in Lewis Cubitt Square on one of the hottest nights of the year (the hottest?) listening to Bishi playing her sitar it was more like being in Mumbai than King’s Cross! Bishi Bhattacharya to give her full name was kicking off Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, an event playing over three … [Read more...]
Exit The King by Eugène Ionesco at the National Theatre
The country is divided down the middle, ministers are leaving in droves and the leader of the country refuses to leave his post – sound familiar? The leader of the country has strange hair and an oddly coloured face. He has two wives and the country is divided with the working class supporting … [Read more...]
Review of Evita at Churchill Theatre Bromley
Although I first heard Evita back in 1976 when someone gave me the original concept album, I had never seen the musical itself so Bill Kenwright’s new production of this Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical gave me the chance to put that right when it came to Bromley this week as part of a tour … [Read more...]
Fireraisers presents Femme Fatale at Wilton’s Music Hall
It’s 1968 and we’re in a room at the infamous Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan where Nico, who’s a singer with Velvet Underground is asleep atop three giant Brillo pad boxes when her reverie is disturbed by the entrance of Valerie Solanas a radical, feminist activist who wakes Nico up and Femme Fatale is … [Read more...]