There’s tea; and there’s high tea. Similarly, I would suggest, there’s pantomime; and there’s high pantomime. Wise Children would seem to fall into the latter category as it differentiates from ordinary common or garden pantomime by certain distinguishing features: it’s not performed exclusively at … [Read more...]
Company ‘is an absolute delight’ at the Gielgud Theatre | Review
The clamour, over recent years, for more roles, substantial roles, for women in plays and musicals has led to the current trend of re-writing/re-modelling established shows for female leads rather than males. In the vanguard of this movement, last year at the National, we saw Simon Godwin’s … [Read more...]
Night of Stuff Proudly Present… The Lost Disc | Review
Don’t read this. Seriously, don’t read this. And definitely, don’t go and see this show. If you do then don’t come crying to me about how you’ve been transported into a diabolical maelstrom of musical mayhem because that’s where this crowd of padded-cell head-bangers is going to take you. Mad...? … [Read more...]
I’m Not Running by David Hare | Lyttelton Theatre | National Theatre
“Labour doesn’t want votes” is the critical sit-up-and-take-notice line from I’m Not Running, the latest play from the pen of David Hare, the unchallenged Time Lord of political drama in the UK (with all due respect to Johnny-come-lately James Graham, of course). It tells us that in Hare’s intensive … [Read more...]
Well-Strung at Crazy Coqs Live At Zedel, London
Boy Band with a difference: four New York Millennials scrape, thwack, bang and pluck their stringed instruments employing classical highlights intertwined with pop standards to create musical mash-ups - or musical mishmashes, depending on your perspective. Two violins, a viola, a cello and an … [Read more...]
Review: Pinter at the Pinter – The Lover/The Collection
Welcome to pink 'n chintzy Pinter. Dark, morbid, foreboding, and threatening…? Not so much, in Jamie Lloyd’s production of The Lover, the first of a two-part Pinter show, paired with The Collection. No, the decor in The Lover ranges from a blush tint through shimmering roseate to various shades of … [Read more...]
Review: Antony and Cleopatra at The Olivier Theatre | National Theatre
“Epic” is a much overused, and mis-used, word (as in “It was epic!”). So if you want to hold up a good example of an epic play, Antony and Cleopatra fits the bill nicely - heroic deeds, legendary figures, grand scale, exotic locations. It therefore needs an epic treatment, an understanding of … [Read more...]