Comedy, especially British comedy, often creates a surreal world which vaguely resembles reality but distorts it for comic effect. Radio comedy is particularly good at this because we form a picture in our minds-eye based only on what we hear - in the post-war years the BBC created radio comedy and as a child of those times I still have those self-created pictures in my memory. From “ITMA” through “Hancock’s Half Hour”, “The Goon Show”, “The Navy Lark” to “I’m Sorry I’ll Read that Again” … [Read more...]
Sublime performance by Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl – Review
In his seminal and comprehensive book on the Musical Theatre “Broadway Babies Say Goodnight” Mark Steyn makes only a couple of references to Funny Girl. By comparison one of Jule Styne’s other great works, Gypsy, gets over twenty mentions and a full analysis. And whereas Gypsy has been revived countless times since 1959, Funny Girl has received no major revivals at all since its West End run in 1966. The success of the production at the Menier Chocolate Factory (sold out) … [Read more...]
I Believe in Unicorns at The Orange Tree Theatre – Review
Storytelling is arguably the oldest of the creative Arts. Before man had the proficiency to write or make music he had the ability to tell a story to a group of fellow humans gathered around a fire and gnawing on a dinosaur burger. And the verbal tradition has survived to the present day and, with Danyah Miller’s wonderful telling of Michael Morpurgo’s I believe in Unicorns it has prospered. The occasion is the reopening of the Village Library - closed, as we will discover, by its … [Read more...]
Harlequinade and All On Her Own at the Garrick Theatre – Review
Terence Rattigan’s two plays Harlequinade and All On Her Own are separated by a twenty year gap, by the medium for which they were written - and by rather more. The former, first produced in 1948, is as The Times critic put it at the time “… a laughing tribute to the theatre which is due from a young man upon whom it has smiled so consistently…” The latter was a commission for television and produced in 1968 at a time when Rattigan’s star was recovering from a fall. That … [Read more...]
Crunch Productions’ Broke Britannia! The Musical – Review
Writer David Shirreff was a distinguished journalist on financial matters for The Economist for many years including during the banking meltdown which began in 2007. He has responded to what he saw during those years by creating a satirical one act musical Broke Britannia! which behind its lampooning front rather subtly makes some hard-hitting points about our dysfunctional financial systems. And doesn’t fail to name the guilty parties! The excellent music is by Russell … [Read more...]
Review of Future Conditional at The Old Vic Theatre
The author Tamsin Oglesby wrote “Future Conditional” because she felt, from her own experience, that the “…hypocrisies, deceptions and compromises [in the British Education system] teach our children a terrible almost anti-education lesson”. So this is a campaigning play which looks at the problem and fairly directly proposes one change which Ms Oglesby thinks could help. In his speech when receiving the Nobel Prize Harold Pinter said: "Political theatre presents an entirely different set of … [Read more...]
Flare Path at Richmond Theatre London – Review
“Flare Path” opened in London in August 1942; it had a successful run but until Trevor Nunn’s revival in 2011 as part of the Terence Rattigan centenary celebrations it has rarely been seen since in professional theatre. A new production by The Original Theatre Company and Birdsong Productions is now on tour - this week at Richmond Theatre. “Flare Path” has to be seen in the context of the times in which it was written and first staged. Just a month earlier Winston … [Read more...]