REVIEW: A Tale of Two Cities at the Corn Exchange Newbury

Lost Dog is an extraordinarily creative Company, and it was a stunning experience to see their latest work at Corn Exchange Newbury before it goes on to Norwich and Nottingham in May. In many ways it has to be experienced to fully appreciate the work and neither the handbill of an actress covering herself in clay nor the Brochure descriptor of Dance do it justice. It is a slickly choreographed multimedia performance with a brilliant soundtrack and an unusual presentation style that tells in a fresh and innovative way the core story of Charles Dickens’s Tale of two cities. Its ninety-minute running time passes very quickly as we become fully absorbed in the performance. 

 

The story explores the life of Charles Darnay and his wife, Lucie, their daughter also called Lucie and their son Sydney and Darnay’s escape from the guillotine after being found guilty of treason. A critical figure in Darnay’s life is Sydney Carton, who looks like him and gets him acquitted from an earlier trial before declaring his love for Lucie, Darnay’s wife. Interweaved in their plight is the story of the Marquis St Evremonde, Madame Teresa Defarge and Dr Manette (Lucie’s father). It is an epic tale set against the background of the gruesome French Revolution from 1775 to 1793. 

REVIEW: Some Mothers do ‘ave ‘em at The Gordon Craig Theatre

When the original scriptwriter of the seventies hit sitcom, Some Mothers do ‘ave ‘em, Raymond Allen, was approached by Guy Unsworth and Joe Pasquale about a stage revival of the characters, he gave them the complete scripts and they developed this new play based on one particular episode. But they could not have envisaged that the UK tour would be cut short in March 2020 by the pandemic. After a two-year hiatus it is back on tour opening at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage before travelling around the country until August, and if you are looking for a silly farcical night out it is well worth booking for one of its venues. 

Don’t go expecting to see an impression of Michael Crawford’s iconic creation of Frank Spencer, the hapless accident-prone but loveable character at the heart of the story. Instead, Joe Pasquale brings his own unique physical presence and comedy to the part. He is a comic with a love of silly gags delivered with his distinctive squeaky voice and his comic timing lends itself to the situation and gets ever more manic as the farce develops. We do get the iconic beret and white trench coat from the original, but the adaption avoids the “Oh Betty” catchphrase and Crawford’s mannerisms. For those who remember the twenty-three episodes of the Sitcom(1973-1978) it takes a moment to adjust to Pasquale’s version but after a short while you just sit back and enjoy the madness of the rising chaotic business.

REVIEW: Lorna Dallas’ Glamorous Nights and Rainy Days at the Crazy Coqs

Lorna Dallas returns to the intimate cabaret room Crazy Coq, just off Piccadilly Circus for two nights as part of their American in London series this month. She calls this set Glamorous Nights and Rainy Days and it is a collection of songs from her past prompted by a lockdown cataloguing of memorabilia from her career. When I previously saw her at the same venue in March 2019 in her set called Stages, I was blown away by her charm, delightful reminiscences, and beautiful voice. Judging by the crowd for her first night back she has a loyal and appreciative fan base of knowledgeable aficionados including the pianist Bobby Crush. 

She still delivers each song with precision, perfect diction and a soaring voice with a wide range that is extraordinary to hear. Her short links slickly explain the reason the song is included and occasionally set the scene but there is a pervading melancholy air to the selection perhaps reflecting the past few years and I missed the more upbeat songs of my first visit which had included "There's no business-like show business”, “Stranger in Paradise", "Hello, young lovers" and "If all the world's a stage". 

REVIEW: Dracula at the Richmond Theatre

James Gaddas appears to have spent the pandemic lockdown writing and planning a tour based on one of those famous books that we have never read and about one of those characters that has become so stereotypical that we feel we know all about him. Yet Dracula’s image is perhaps more defined by the film treatments starring Bela Lugosi in 1931 and Christopher Lee from 1958 and a host of other adaptations than by a study of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. 

Gaddas’s adaption combines three interlinked stories around the character. First, he borrows heavily from the original novel. Secondly, he imagines that Bram Stoker’ himself stole the story from a real-life tale and changed the names and that this “real” story is recorded in various journals, letters and even a phonogram recording that he has acquired. Then thirdly he imagines he has been hired to voice a documentary for television that explores the background to the stories with “Ron”, the female producer, “Silence” the sound man and “Two meters” the Lighting man who travel together to the Bran castle in Romania. He weaves these stories together into a lecture come dramatisation of the search for Dracula and voices all the characters in the story.

REVIEW: Singin' in the Rain at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

It is a real pleasure to go to the theatre when you can hum the tunes on the way in as well as on the way home, although it does set the expectations levels higher as you hope for a highly entertaining and amusing night. For once this regional tour of Singin' in the Rain delivers and exceeded those expectations to the delight of the full house at Woking’s New Victoria Theatre.

It helps that it is a remounting of the 2011/12 Chichester Production that had a spell at the Palace Theatre in the West End and returned to the Sadlers Wells Theatre in 2021 and for once those billboard promotions of direct from the West End ring true. This is a show that brings the production values of the West End to an extensive 20 venue regional tour until August this year. Brilliantly staged with a large rain trough by Water Sculptures for the iconic Singing in the Rain routine, beautifully lit for the ballets, stunning choreography throughout and all performed with great chemistry and comedic delivery by the principals. It fully deserves that standing ovation it gets on its press night in Woking.

REVIEW: Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre

The combination of a new play by David Hare, under the direction of Nicholas Hytner with Ralph Fiennes in the lead promises an evening of theatrical magic. Those of us old enough to have seen Sir Anthony Hopkins triumphant return to the West End stage in David Hare’s Pravda in 1985 at the National Theatre have seen it work before. Hytner seems to have transferred that magic that the National Theatre used to create to his new home at the Bridge Theatre, so picturesquely set in the sight of Tower Bridge and David Hare has again created another monstrous dominant central character that demands loyalty to his single-minded vision at a cost of everything else that matters in life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the man who shaped the Expressway network and parks that give modern New York its distinctive look and feel while exposing his dated misogynistic views and the modern debate about mass transit, cycle lanes and walking versus the private cars we have all come to depend on. At its heart is another extraordinary portrayal by Ralph Fiennes as Bob Moses.

Hare uses two pivotal moments in Moses’s career to explore the character and the response of the public and the ruling classes to his vision. In the first Act, he is forcing through his opening up of Long Island to the middle classes with the support of Governor Al Smith by building two expressways down either side and a beach resort at Long Island Beach. Here the opposition is the gentrified landowners of the upper classes who regard it as their personal playground. In the Second Act, we jump forward thirty years to the mid-fifties and a plan to build an Expressway through the Washington Square Park on the pretence that it removes a bottleneck which has the effect of unifying a coalition of opposing forces from those who have had their communities destroyed by the Expressways to those who believe that cars need to be discouraged in favour of more efficient green transport. This gives the piece a strong modern resonance as so many Cities introduce cycle lanes and congestion zones to discourage travel by car. If the Mayor of London was still in his old office in City Hall next to the Bridge Theatre, he would be whooping with delight at the defeat of the private car supporters in this play!

REVIEW: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

One of the great pleasures of going to see live theatre is to witness the alchemy of the production process in bringing a story to the stage. The blending together of the essential elements of a strong story, magic and illusion, music and dance and the creation of believable characters when it works creates emotional engagement and assists in the suspension of disbelief to transport the audience into a different world. The pedigree of the creative team behind this touring version of the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe promises a great deal so it was with great anticipation that we caught up with its UK tour in Woking.

Director Michael Fentiman was the man behind the extraordinary Watermill production of Amelie and recruits a handful of that cast to this show. Chris Fisher supervises the illusions in the wonderful Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and in the latest West End hit Back to the Future astonishing audiences with the magical effects. Toby Olie is the puppetry director on the current amazing tour of Animal Farm and on the Watermill’s latest incredible production of The Wicker Husband. The creative talents of these three are evident in this show but whether because of budget limitations or the challenges of weekly touring, the production falls short of their earlier successes. It is still an enjoyable and entertaining show, very suitable for young audiences and GCSE students but I hoped for more.

REVIEW: The Wicker Husband at the Watermill Theatre

The Watermill Theatre continues to set extraordinary standards in creativity and innovation in the small intimate venue while being one of the most pleasant places to go to in its perfect setting by the mill stream and willow trees. When the Government closed Theatres on 16th March 2020 it was the opening night of The Wicker Husband and we have had to wait two years for it to be remounted. The Producers & creators must have despaired that their musical, which has had a long and challenging development phase, might never blossom into the show they dreamed of. That wait is finally over and this beautifully conceived & elegantly staged production with its delightful musicality and the joyous cast is set to take the UK by storm. It is one of the best new productions I have ever seen at The Watermill (or anywhere) and deserves to be seen in the West End like The Watermill’s previous hit musical Amelie.

It is a folk opera and a morality tale with hints of Pinocchio and the Wizard of Oz. It weaves together so many wonderful production elements to create an almost perfect show. The puppetry of the Wicker Husband & Basket the dog is magical, as good as you will have seen in War Horse and Animal Farm. You connect emotionally with these wicker creatures and the scene with the Husband lying on an “operating table” is so powerful you completely forget it is a puppet. The rural setting is brilliantly created with the large Willow tree set against the bullrushes and each interior location is ingeniously set with a simply decorated chair setting the Inn, the Cobblers shop and the Tailors and a ladder, the Ugly Girl’s cottage. The lighting is exquisite creating the rural atmosphere and perfectly picking out characters' moments of isolation. The Watermill’s obsession with Actor musicians works a treat this time integrating them into action appropriately but keeping them most actively in vision in the forestage wings under the quiet leadership of Musical Director Pat Moran.

REVIEW: Animal Farm at the Theatre Royal Bath

Robert Icke’s bold reimagining of George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm could not be more timely or relevant as the famous allegory for the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the corruption of ideals by power feels all too real with the brutal events in Ukraine and the irrational statements of the Russian President. The steady horrific fall from Major’s strong idealistic vision embodied in eight commandments including “all animals are equal” and “Four legs good, 2 legs bad” (excepting all birds of course) to Napoleon’s rewriting of history and just one commandment, “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” is stunningly and clearly portrayed by the cast of fourteen with thirty puppets.

The animals’ characters and physical presence are brilliantly captured by Toby Olie’s extraordinary designs and Daisy Beattie’s supervision of their creation (she gets a stage embodiment as the young calf at the end). The relative scale of each creature and the way they move and react is carefully recreated on stage so that you focus on them and not the puppeteers dressed mainly in black alongside them. The pre-recorded voices of each animal including such famous names as Juliet Stevenson and Robert Glenister are cleverly played in as part of Tom Gibbon’s complex sound design which uses speakers along the forestage to give direction to the voices. They are supplemented by the animal sounds created live by the puppeteers. The combination of the physical presence, strong voice characterisations, and animal sounds gives each creature a distinctive voice that we can emotionally engage with. Indeed, the young people in the row behind me audibly gasped as one after another was lost in battle or executed as the story progressed. 

REVIEW: The Osmonds at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

There is a continually growing trend bringing Jukebox musicals to the stage in Regional Theatres and the West End with the fabulous Jersey Boys still leading the way at the Trafalgar Theatre in London alongside the Drifters Girl, Get up Stand up, and Tina. Out on the regional road are Thriller, Beautiful, We Will Rock You and very soon, The Cher Show, together with a host of tribute band acts. They work because the Artists featured have a catalogue of hits and a loyal following of fans with memories of their music interweaved with the nostalgia of their youth. Occasionally we get insight into the artist's back story but mainly it’s a celebration of their musical legacy.

The Osmonds is riding this wave of recognition and nostalgia and is presented as a new musical with a story by Jay Osmond (the drummer in the group who he says was always stuck in the middle). For a short period from 1972 to 1974 members of the Osmond family had UK number 1 hits and Osmondmania hit the streets and concert halls of the country although the family members had been performing in the US from 1963 and would continue to perform together until the Eighties. The story is told through two simple overused devices of Jay Osmond (Alex Lodge) narrating the back story of the family relationships and development as artists and their “Number 1” UK fan, Wendy, (Katy Hands) reading her letters to him giving the fans perspective. While it fills in the gaps it lacks drama even as it describes the draconian relationship the boys had with their father (Charlie Allen).

REVIEW: Cluedo at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

Cluedo is a perfect play to get an audience of a certain age, who grew up playing Waddington board games, to return to live theatre for an entertaining fun evening with plenty of laughs. It does not require them to exercise their “little grey cells” to solve the murder mystery as in an Agatha Christie play but simply sit back and let the farcical mayhem wash over them. 

The origins of the play are visible throughout. It is a British play based on a US film based on a British Board game and writer Sandy Rustin and Director Mark Bell remind us constantly of this route to the stage. The six characters and six murder weapons from the Board Game are at the centre of the story and are led on a merry dance around the various nine rooms of the Boddy Mansion including the secret passage. The Butler, Waddington and maid Yvette are retained from the film and Jean-Luke Worrell brings the energy and exaggerated style of Tim Curry to the stage as the Butler and is matched by Laura Kirman’s maid pretending to be French. They generate plenty of laughs as they lead the ensemble cast around the Mansion. Worrell takes his time in his delivery, savouring the silliness and knowingly engaging the audience with side glances and milking each pause. They have together created a highly stylised dramatic language to stage the play with freeze frames, actors moving furniture and Keystone cop movement and chases which provide the physical comedy.

REVIEW: Dead Good at the Theatre Royal Winchester

Vamos Theatre and modern mask theatre was new to me. I had seen the Greek classic, The Oresteia at the National Theatre in 1981 with a large chorus of masked actors so I knew it has a long deep heritage. I was therefore intrigued to catch this latest production, Dead Good on a regional tour of small venues and the promotional video of the four performers in their slightly oversized masks certainly creates a sense of the lively amusing cartoonish show. However, the topics they currently choose to explore using the technique are far from this image. Their previous show, A Brave Face dealt with Post Traumatic Stress after the Afghanistan war and this latest show is about learning to enjoy your “end of life” experience after a terminal diagnosis from medical consultants. If it was a TV show it would come with a pre-show warning and post-show reference to a helpline for anyone affected by the issues it raises.

It is clear that the development of these shows is based on some strong research and this programme is dedicated to Dave, Pete and Nick, palliative care patients who helped in the research but have now all sadly passed on. That research shows in the various internal scenes set in the Hospice and Medical rooms; for example, when one character has a catheter fitted or in the general care given by staff in Hospices. For anyone who has experienced a loved one or close friend in these emotional and challenging circumstances the story will resonate powerfully and bring back strong memories. The central message of the show about friendship in these circumstances and living the remaining life to the full are powerful messages to share as we all face these challenges in our lives. 

REVIEW: The House at Cold Hill at the Mill at Sonning

This is the fortieth anniversary of the Mill at Sonning and Sally Hughes’s programme for the year reflects past successes in programming the unique dinner theatre venue. Recent successes of the musical Top Hat and the delightful immersive show Still Life return later in the year, and Ray Cooney’s Funny Money is staged this autumn, the thirty-third Cooney comedy season at the venue alongside Hughes herself directing after a five-year gap Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park in the summer. Brian Blessed another regular at the venue directs Busman’s Holiday in April. In 2017 they staged Peter James’s Dead Simple horror thriller and so in 2022 another of his books has been adapted for their stage by Shaun McKenna, The House at Cold Hill. It is clear that she knows her audience and the mix of shows they expect to see each year that will keep them coming back to this delightful venue.

The House at Cold Hill is however a fresh challenge as the horror genre requires some special stage effects to create a shocking thriller that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. The masterful Woman in Black has set a high standard with genuine jump shocks that keep thrilling the audience and the technology in illusions on such shows as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Back to the Future and Ghost at the Piccadilly in 2011 show what can be achieved on bigger budgets. The challenge, therefore, is how to create the sense of a haunted house in a smaller venue where the audience is so close. The Mill’s solution is to rely on the sound and special effects designer Graham Weymouth and some projected images and light effects. If you can’t create spine chilling effects with this genre the temptation must be to go for a comic send-up along the lines of Noel Coward’s Blythe Spirit with Madam Arcati, the clairvoyant. This production falls between the two ends of the spectrum being neither played fully for the horror nor for laughs although there are occasions where the audience reaction was to giggle rather than gasp.

REVIEW: Two Billion Beats at the Orange Tree Theatre

This was my first visit to the intimate Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond for a production in the round of the world premiere of Two Billion Beats by Sonali Bhattacharyya, an ambitious short play that attempts to reflect on female emancipation, racial and social discrimination, bullying and ambition at school, conflict with parents and sisterly tensions. The burden for explaining these ideas and the way they interlink falls on Safiyya Ingar as the older sister Asha. Though it is her sister Bettina, played by Anoushka Chadha, that gives us the title meaning when she explains that each being’s heartbeats two billion beats in a lifetime and so if it beats quicker, the shorter the life.  

Ingar rises to the challenge magnificently holding court with long monologues and engaging the audience constantly as she prowls around the space gazing out at the audience. Simple light changes take us from her reality at school and at the bus stop to her inner thoughts and her phone is cleverly used to provide the voices of historical and other characters. She tells us of the alternative views of Gandhi, the civil rights campaigner, and B R Ambedkar, a significant figure in the establishment of India’s Independence through an imagined boxing match that becomes the subject of her school essay.

REVIEW: Into the Night by Original Theatre

How do you tell the story of a tragic Cornish maritime disaster to a new audience which honours the lives lost, is sensitive to the feelings of those left behind, captures the bravery of those who follow those lost at sea and creates a drama that is engaging for the viewer who already know the outcome of the disaster? If you also plan to stage this on the 40th anniversary of the disaster in the middle of a global pandemic when plan B lockdown has been implemented, it creates an extraordinary challenge to everyone involved.  

Original Theatre seem to have grasped the creative nettle and over the last few years produced some fascinating hybrid works part live theatre, part cinema, part streamed story telling. With each production you can see how they have learned from their experimentation and innovation. This latest piece is an eighty-minute docudrama, Into the Night, captured for streaming on a first run through technical rehearsal on 17th December 2021 and is well worth watching before it stops on 20th February.

REVIEW: SPIKE at the Watermill Theatre

Spike Milligan was a comic genius who inspired a generation of new innovative comedy sketch shows with his manic zany brand of comedy. He found fame in the writing and starring in over 250 episodes of the Goon Show on BBC Radio between 1951 and 1960. I first encountered his style of humour when I read his hilarious 1971 autobiographical publication of Adolf Hitler: my part on his downfall and later in his unique series of TV sketches shows Q5 to Q9 between 1975 and 1980 but my lasting memory will be seeing him on stage in 1982 at the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. 

This new affectionate play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman seeks to explore what made Spike the man he was through his war time experiences, his relationship with his co-stars and his first wife June and the constant battle with the BBC Hierarchy at a loss to understand the appeal his writing had with the listeners. Those who remember him and his humour will enjoy this fast-paced exploration of the period when he was writing the first 150 episodes of the Goon show which tries to capture the essence of all three of the main stars without it seems attempting full impressions of them. It is produced in the style of his shows, full of energy, amusing sound effects and sudden changes of location. 

REVIEW: Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Birmingham Hippodrome

As the end of January approached the 2021/22 Pantomime season draws to a close and Producers across the UK reflect on the extraordinary challenges, they have faced in making sure the “show must go on”. Changing Government regulations, audiences’ reluctance to go to theatre with a mask on and some worried about going if others don’t wear them, and of course Covid hitting cast and crew requiring understudies to step up to fill the gaps or rapid reblocking or rehearsing replacements. It will be a season that they don’t forget, and we hope the financial implications of cancelled shows will not hit regional theatre in a terminal way.

Birmingham Hippodrome’s Goldilocks and the Three bears did not escape these challenges. Traditionally one of the last to open on 18th December and one of last to close, in its final week to its last performances on 30th January it looked like a full cast and ensemble. Jonny Mac had been brought in from Scotland to cover for Matt Slack early in the run and at times many of the Ensemble were off, so we were lucky to see the show as intended on free Newspaper promotional tickets. Indeed, it was unusual to see so many seats in this wonderful venue empty suggesting it too has seen tickets sales hit, with the Programme cost cut from £5 to £2 to clear stocks another sign of lower sales than usual.

REVIEW: Still Life at the Mill at Sonning

In late 2021 the Mill at Sonning in Berkshire staged a wonderful production of Top Hat and the Watermill in Newbury staged Brief Encounter with the music of Noel Coward to delight audiences returning to these welcoming and exciting venues after lockdown. While many venues seem to be struggling to put on shows these two venues start their 2022 seasons with an immersive experience at The Mill of Still Life, the original Coward play on which Brief Encounter was based and the Watermill opens a brand-new play of Spike, about Spike Milligan, at the end of the month. Berkshire audiences are very well served by these wonderful venues and their interesting programmes.

Still Life was written by Coward in 1936 as one of nine one act plays which were presented under the banner Tonight at 8.30. He scripted and produced the classic black and white film, Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean in 1945. Artistic Director Sally Hughes made the bold decision to stage the original play in her downstairs bar rather than her theatre and to create a unique immersive experience. Director Tam Williams delivers on the concept using the intimate space cleverly to place the audience on tables in the railway cafe of Milford Station so that we feel we are eavesdropping on the conversations of the staff and visitors waiting for their trains to depart. 

REVIEW: Cinderella at the Theatre Royal Bath

While many Pantomimes close around New Year’s Day each year, the Theatre Royal Bath’s production usually runs until the following weekend and this year it’s Cinderella closes on the 9th of January. It’s a great time to visit Bath as the streets are quieter and you can appreciate the wonderful architecture of this lovely Georgian City and there can’t be a more wonderful setting for a traditional family pantomime than this beautiful venue. Jon Monie must love this place too as this is his 19th season in Pantomime here and with over 1000 performances behind him, he has the experience and knowledge on how to write and deliver a very well-judged and balanced show. It clearly was enjoyed by the schools’ parties at the matinee I attended but had plenty of cheeky innuendo for the adults to enjoy (with only a joke about Strange-ways Prison overstepping the mark).

His script, in the hands of Director Hannah Sharkey with a very good ensemble cast, is an excellent combination of traditional storytelling, a fresh injection of ideas into some of the standard pantomime business and music choices with new lyrics that flow from the story. The whole production is well-staged in another UK Production set design by Charlie Camm, Jon Harris and Jason Bishop with an attractive practical village scene, a very successful transformation scene from Kitchen to Coach and a clever touch when Cinders is hidden from Charming by the Ugly Sisters. This all adds up into an excellent showcase of the skills of the cast to entertain young and old. 

REVIEW: Pantoland at the London Palladium

The London Palladium has always been the West End home of variety and for a while as the posters on the proscenium arch remind us for a while was the leading venue for Panto too. This year they celebrate both British entertainment genres in a tailor-made show Pantoland at the Palladium. In recent years Michael Harrison has produced some spectacular pantomimes excelling in staging, special effects, costumes and choreography and versions of these productions now spend Christmas at the largest regional venues.

This show was designed as a one-off in 2020 but when it was cut short early by covid restrictions it became inevitable that it would return this year with some cast availability modifications. Indeed, those upgrade the show into a joyous uplifting celebration of the venue with Donny Osmond headlining and reminiscing about a royal variety show there some fifty years ago and the gorgeous high kicking Tiller Girls being reformed to grace the stage again. It is NOT a Pantomime but a celebration of some of the elements that are included in Pantomime and is billed as a “Feel-good spectacular”.