Dostoevsky’s allegorical short story The Crocodile may be obscure and confusing, but that is nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the opera. It is a theatrical assault on the senses of strobe lighting, silly string, political diatribe and musical dissonance, and to try to make sense of it only makes the head ache more. Essentially the story is as follows: It is the approaching the end of the 19thcentury and Philip, a mad professor type at the University of St Petersburg, is preparing the … [Read more...]
RENT Pindar Theatre Productions Tabard Theatre
Until yesterday, if I were to have made a list of all the shows I thought could conceivably be a success when performed in the confines of a pub theatre, RENT would certainly not have been on it. The sheer physicality of the performance, the energy and buzz needed to see you through the long first half, the large cast, the technical constraints regarding the music; how could any of these possibly work? How wrong I was. The Tabard Theatre in Chiswick is small, certainly, but as it turned … [Read more...]
In Real Life at Rosemary Branch Theatre before heading to Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The idea behind this short play is intriguing – what would it take for a completely normal person, just like you or me, to become a stalker? You can shake your head, convinced it could never happen to you, however as In Real Life conclusively shows, the mind-boggling range of online communication facilities now available to us means that it is only too easy to become obsessed with someone whilst remaining faceless and anonymous. Most unsettlingly, what it shows us is that privacy is very much a … [Read more...]
Review of The Four Farces at Wilton’s Music Hall
Wilton’s Music Hall has the distinction of being the only surviving original music hall in London. Tucked away down an unassuming pedestrian side street near St Katharine’s Dock, it has been quietly mouldering away for years; its once glorious covings and cornices crumbling away, its vivid paintwork fading to grey. However, it was not forgotten; a mighty repair project was launched last year to get Wilton’s back on its cultural feet and the great hall, with its air of dilapidated, nostalgic … [Read more...]
Socrates And His Clouds Jermyn Street Theatre
Socrates And His Clouds by The Meddlers Theatre Company, Jermyn Street Theatre The playwright and philosophy teacher William Lyons has loosely based his new play upon Aristophanes’s Clouds. Inspired also by Plato’s Dialogues, he has given a new twist to the great man himself which alters both the interaction between the protagonists and the overall ambiance of the play. Rest assured, an in-depth knowledge of philosophy is not a pre-requisite to enjoy this performance; the writing is … [Read more...]
Phantom All Star Productions Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre
There is something breath-taking about being confronted by musical theatre at such close range, especially if the music is of the power and quality to be found in the All Star Productions performance of Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit’s Phantom. The show was originally designed for Broadway with a £12 million budget in mind, and although it never actually made it there and is currently being performed in a small pub theatre in Walthamstow it still retains the glamour and slick professionalism of a … [Read more...]