AS OPPOSED to other city centre theatres, the REP is not only a producing house but also one, which produces new work at the cutting edge of performing arts. I was therefore expecting a very different Peter Pan from the one so closely guarded by the JM Barrie trust until it ran out of copyright…
THIS Theatre Royal Bath Production of Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘My Cousin Rachel’ adapted splendidly for the stage by Joseph O’Connor, is quite a theatrical shot in the arm. Set in a sinister ancient house on a desolate tidal island off the Cornish Coast, this is gorgeous Gothic splendor from the get-go. Here lays a house…
THE MUCH-loved legend of American children’s literature, Theodore ‘Dr’ Seuss, wrote ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’ over six decades ago back in 1957. He penned it in rhymed verse and also illustrated it himself. In 1966, it was adapted as an animation featuring the voice of Boris Karloff and then 34 years later at the…
THE MUSICAL version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale had passed me by prior to this BMOS production and thus I approached the evening with a mixture of excitement and apprehension – excitement as I know that BMOS are first off the mark when new shows are released for performance to the musical theatre community –…
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL thriller ‘One Under’ thriller from Winsome Pinnock and performed by Graeae Theatre Company is one of the best dramas I have seen this year. It’s not really a ‘whodunit’ but a ‘why-did-he-do-it’ in this story about people trying to make sense of why a young man jumps in front of a train. Picture…
IN MY role as a theatrical reviewer I am lucky to attend productions several times a week in some of the Midlands finest theatres. ‘The Attic’ in Stratford-upon-Avon is the probably the smallest venue I cover – it is also the one that offers some of the finest and most unique theatre you’ll get to…
WHEN a young Carlos Acosta began his dance training in Cuba back in the 1970s, he could not have imagined the stellar career that would follow. The struggles he overcame to fulfil his dream are well-documented and he has become an inspiration to dancers across the globe. On retiring as principal dancer with The Royal…
‘A STREETCAR Named Desire’ was first produced in 1947 and so physically and literally intense is this Tennessee Williams classic that it should still pack a powerful punch today. Blanche Dubois (Annie Swift) a schoolteacher from small town Laurel, Mississippi, arrives via the said streetcar to the sparse New Orleans home of her sister, Stella Kowalski (Beth Gilbert)…
CURTAINS has the legend ‘A Musical Whodunnit’ underscored on its title, which is an intriguing concept. Although new to the UK, and touring now prior to a West End opening, it has been around in the USA since 2006 and has even won a treasured Tony on Broadway. It is a musical in the old…
FOR anyone new to Opera this WNO Carmen is the perfect introduction. Bizet wrote a masterpiece in ‘Carmen’ and this Welsh National Opera version is a master class in accessibility. The music is, of course, more recognisable than most other operas and with the staging updated to some undefined Latin American country where bandits mingle…