Florian Zeller’s The Son is a beautifully written, totally involving play, at times riveting to watch, with not a word or action wasted. Thanks in part to Christopher Hampton’s superb translation from the French as well as Michael Longhurst’s imaginative direction, it is a gripping 110-minute tragedy. The play is a poignant and searching exploration of adolescent depression, in this case the ‘son’, Nicolas, trying to cope with the break up of his parents’ marriage. We learn very quickly that … [Read more...]
Opera della Luna: HMS Pinafore at Wilton’s Music Hall
This year, Opera Della Luna is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary of staging and touring small scale productions of musicals, operetta and light opera, all under the energetic directorship of Jeff Clarke. Luckily his 20-year-old production of Pinafore was designed for touring to all types of venues and looked well on the stage of Wilton’s Music Hall, making full use of the two levels. It starts as it continues, exhibiting great pace and energy as the entire cast (of eight!) erects the … [Read more...]
Vivaldi meets Werther: Four Seasons at the Bridewell Theatre
Vivaldi’s four violin concerti depicting Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, which we know collectively as ‘The Four Seasons’ are probably some of the most well-known music composed in the early eighteenth century. Pamela Schermann, the director, had the idea of performing them using five-string players and what sounded like an electric piano, breaking up the sequence of twelve descriptive movements with excerpts from Goethe’s novel ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ recited by an actor, and showing … [Read more...]
Towards Zero at The Mill at Sonning | Review
The Mill at Sonning is a restaurant and 215 seat theatre situated on the outskirts of Reading (20 minutes by train from London) on the banks of the Thames. It was converted from a vast watermill and has been a performance venue since 1984. For about £50 one can enjoy a superb two-course meal as well as seeing a play or concert. Visiting The Mill is deservedly a much-anticipated and highly enjoyable experience. The buffet-style restaurant is in the very capable hands of executive chef Kieron … [Read more...]
Review of Queen of the Mist at Charing Cross Theatre
Queen of the Mist is a new musical by the five-time Tony Award nominee Michael John La Chiusa, currently receiving its London premiere at Charing Cross Theatre. The true story of the first person to negotiate Niagara Falls in a barrel may not seem the most obvious for musical treatment, but, as the copious programme notes say, La Chiusa ‘isn’t a dramatist who shies away from forgotten, abstract or difficult stories’. His angular, often Sondheim-like music ‘blends turn-of-the-century … [Read more...]