Harold Thropp (Dereck Walker) is not a happy man. Railing against practically everybody else involved in the panto production he is in, including the stage doorkeeper, company manager and fellow performers, one wonders why he hasn’t just flounced off and told the producers they can find someone else to do ten shows a week (or however many shows a week it is in panto) with - if I may paraphrase Thropp’s thoughts, some of the actual ones being a little too impertinent to regurgitate here - a bunch … [Read more...]
Lazarus Theatre Company presents Hamlet
This take on Hamlet occasionally has the feel of a production still in development. It starts with something which reminded me of ‘circle time’, facilitated by The Voice (Micha Colombo), an unseen character. A microphone is effectively the ‘talking object’ that facilitates discussion, with only the person holding it permitted to speak at any given time, such that it’s passed around the circle. For a while, the company all wear the same thing. Would this suggest the audience is supposed to see … [Read more...]
George Takei’s Allegiance at Charing Cross Theatre
When I think of people being evacuated by train in the Second World War - not, admittedly, that this crosses my mind very often - the Kindertransport rescue effort comes to mind, or Operation Pied Piper, the evacuation of children from areas in Britain thought to be more at risk from aerial bombing to more rural areas. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about the experiences of Japanese Americans in the United States, forced into internment camps by an executive order from the White House, even if … [Read more...]
The Loaf by Alan Booty at Jack Studio Theatre
If someone discovers their spouse or partner has been lying about something, however trivial, it is, I suppose, quite natural to wonder what else they’ve been lying about. Such is the issue faced by Martha (Joanna Karlsson) who pops downstairs to the kitchen in the middle of the night to find out what, if anything, is going on. Hermann (Alan Booty) is up to something- he says he suspects a burglar. But of all the objects in the kitchen, and indeed elsewhere in the house, to whack an intruder … [Read more...]
A Child In Striped Pyjamas at the Cockpit Theatre
Like many people of my generation, I was on the receiving end as a schoolboy of visits to the classroom by survivors of the Holocaust. The purpose behind such visits, if I recall correctly, was to help pupils understand better what went on in a way that a textbook simply couldn’t. One of the many memorable points I took away from these eyewitness testimonies was the accepted fact that there were some other survivors who wouldn’t set foot in a classroom: rather like certain war veterans who would … [Read more...]
SIX the Musical at the Vaudeville Theatre, London
I am sometimes asked if I’ve seen something at the Edinburgh Fringe that went on to become a success elsewhere, and the default answer is Six. It was the talk of the Fringe in 2018, and having taken one of the largest Fringe venues, such was its success there that, if I recall correctly, they had sold out by the time I filed my review. They added extra matinees, and they sold out too. It is, truth be told, a lot of fun, and with the rising cost of living at the time of writing as well as … [Read more...]
The Revenger’s Tragedy by Thomas Middleton at Tower Theatre
Given The Revenger’s Tragedy is an early seventeenth-century play I had neither read nor seen before, I found this production to be surprisingly easy to follow. Modern infusions were few and far between, and only really consisted of set pieces of music, which suited the narrative whilst providing a twenty-first century audience with something to connect the storyline to, without being overtly signposted. Overall, the cast embrace the strong emotions of their characters, thankfully without a … [Read more...]