Funny, reassuring and irrepressibly warm, the West End version of Only Fools and Horses is proving to be the right musical at the right time.
theatre
by Barbara Lewis • music, opera, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, opera, theatre •
In his final decade, the Czech nationalist Janacek, found a new love interest and produced five major operas. The most accessible and refreshing is The Cunning Little Vixen (premiered in 1924), with its comic acceptance – like late Shakespeare – of the redemptive power of love and renewal, and its tragic awareness of the forces of raw nature and of life’s disappointments.
by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, comedy, poetry reviews • Tags: books, poetry, Wendy Klein • 0 Comments
Wendy Klein enjoys Keith Hutson’s artful recapturing of the atmosphere of Music Hall
by Julia Pascal • music, performance, year 2019 • Tags: Julia Pascal, music, performance •
One of the main reasons to stay in London in the summer is the Proms. I admit that I am in love with the Royal Albert Hall. There is something about sitting in this circular, wedding cake structure that has an effect on the psyche.
by Barbara Lewis • plays, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre •
Marcus Brigstocke makes his play-writing and directorial debut as actors Bruce and Sam Alexander, father and son in real life, give drama and poignancy to a story that begins with the funeral of the father.
by Barbara Lewis • music, performance, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, performance, theatre •
Opera and cabaret singer Melinda Hughes lost her mother in June. Two months on, she has immortalised her in a song and is finding catharsis in a satirical take on the world.
by Barbara Lewis • music, opera, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, opera, theatre •
Don Carlo – or Don Carlos – in history was the mentally unstable son of Philip II of Spain whose brief betrothal to the woman his father later married and contacts with Protestant rebels in the Low Countries provided ammunition for the “black legend” propaganda whipped up by the opponents of his father’s rule.
by Barbara Lewis • music, plays, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, plays, theatre •
Chilean singer-songwriter, poet, cult figure Violeta Parra’s most famous work “Gracias a la vida” can be viewed as an outpouring of gratitude – or as a suicide note.
by Jane McChrystal • plays, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Jane McChrystal, plays, theatre •
Joy Wilkinson’s latest play tells the story of a troupe of fictional women fighters scrabbling to earn a living in the real-life world of lady’s boxing in Victorian London and become world champion.
by Julia Pascal • plays, playwrights, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Julia Pascal, plays, playwrights, theatre •
The idea of this drama came from an interview with a Kurdish soldier who had fled to England seeking asylum.
by Barbara Lewis • plays, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre •
Almost exactly 100 years ago on April 13, in Amritsar, the British Indian Army fired into a crowd of unarmed Punjabis, killing and harming hundreds. Director Phil Wilmott marks this appalling example of man’s inhumanity to man by transporting Othello from Venice and Cyprus to the India of the British Raj.
by Julia Pascal • plays, playwrights, theatre, year 2019 • Tags: Julia Pascal, plays, theatre •
I go to Russian theatre for the performances of actors whose skills are extraordinary. Theatre of Nations’ double bill did not disappoint.