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West End / Majors
Deliriously good, silly, scary fun
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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Reviewed by malkinbisterSeptember 03, 2010
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Let's just say it out loud shall we? Ghost Stories wasn't frightening. Deathtrap on the other hand, scared the living crap out of me on at least three occasions. Ira Levin, the macabre brain behind Rosemary's Baby, has written a diamond of a play here. By turns excruciatingly funny, chilling and very, very silly, it's easily the most fun night out you'll have in the West End right now. It's been too long since a play, not a musical, has provided as much fun as Deathtrap does here. Cast are brilliant, clearly overjoyed at having such a lovely script to fool around with - needless to say I've recommended it to everyone who's wondered what to fork their cash out for. Deathtrap, starry, witty Deathtrap, delivers in spades, more convincingly than other West End Traps I could mention. |
West End / Majors
Another juicy hit for the Open Air
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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Reviewed by malkinbisterAugust 15, 2010
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I don't know Sondheim from Adam, but from the basis of Into The Woods, I want to stalk his house, become his best friend and marry him. This is just such a witty, funny, beautifully-written show done full justice once again by the Open Air Theatre. I'd hear the original Broadway cast recording a few times and really enjoyed it, but a) that awful Bernadette Peters witch rap has been mercifully de-rhythmed and b) the live show is ridiculously funny, which the recording is not. Soutra Gilmour's set is wonderful, a huge foresty playground - the Wolf and Granny story is particularly nicely done - and puppet designer Rachael Canning brings a cow, hen and enormous giant ingeniously to life. The cast, a panoply of the West End's biggest names (seriously, it's like thespian Hello magazine here) are just brilliant with Beverley Rudd's Little Red Riding Hood and Michael Xavier and Simon Thomas's Princes - played and dressed like Russell Brand in stereo - getting the biggest laughs. Particularly gorgeous singing from Alice Fearn's Rapunzel and Jenna Russell's Baker's Wife, but Hannah Waddingham's gloriously awful Witch swept all before her in an evocative "Last Midnight". But this is all nitpicking - Into The Woods is textbook theatrical brilliance, innovative, witty and wonderful. It's also on the rude side, as the exodus of pensioners at the beginning showed. Suck it up, dears. |
West End / Majors
Think this one is going to die.
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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The gentleman sitting next to me fell asleep. Despite various actors shouting loudly on stage (shouting, not always acting), he was quietly snoring away. Don't worry, you genuinely didn't miss anything. Given that we KNOW all along how this play is going to end, and given that it is quite wordey, you really need to do something interesting with it in the meantime. This production does not do that. There is some questionable casting, with a couple of actors really out of their depths. On the whole, I just didn't believe the actors in the roles they were playing. The actors didn't seem to believe them either. At times, they might as well have had the script in front of them and be reading from it at a rehearsal. Toby Stephens is disappointingly inconsistant. And yet there were some moments where it looked like this thing might just recover and take off, only to crash moments later. The staging is good (the guillotine is very clever), the costumes are a bit too pretty though, and remain strangely immacualte, even with the dialogue says that they are living in filth in a prison. The end was met with half-hearted audience applause. I saw a preview, so it might rally a bit by opening night, so I'm being a bit generous, and giving it a 2. |
West End / Majors
Aspects of The Beast
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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Reviewed by samlondonJuly 16, 2010
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| Review | Went to see La Bete the night after this and probably enjoyed it even more as a reuslt -- a show about how mediocrity and crassness can take over theatre and masquerade as offering profound insight. Only impressive thing was realising Andrew Lloyd Webber had bankrolled the original (and failed) Broadway run of La Bete all those years ago. Was it to apologise for AOL? In which case why did anyone thing Aspects was worth reviving? Two stars - only for a talented set of musicians and cast with more Isabella Rossellini lookalikes than I've ever seen in 1 chorus. And 1 question.. what was that uniform Alex turns up in after 12 years? The Malayan branch of the Salvation Army? |
Fringe
Brilliant
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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Reviewed by Helen SmithJuly 05, 2010
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I ought to say at the outset that I know the director, Michael Strassen - he is the friend of a friend. But then I know a lot of people in the theatre and I go to see a lot of shows by friends or with friends in them and usually find it wiser to say nothing than to post a review. I wouldn't give this five stars unless I thought it deserved it. I thought this was extraordinary. I loved the cast - Nick Holder was mesmerising, Leigh McDonald a brilliant comedienne, Nolan Frederick tuneful and charming, and John Barr very funny. But all the cast were excellent, including the ensemble. It was a treat to see a live band on stage. There were a lot of very funny lines in it and I laughed aloud several times. I loved the lighting and I thought that the staging was wonderful - bursting balloons for gun shots was a clever touch. The electrocution scene was very cleverly done. The show itself is an odd one - the scenes are quite episodic but I liked the surreal way the characters from history threaded through it. It's certainly interesting. Taking the assassins and would-be assassins together and treating them as if they were linked in some way - almost like a terrorist cell - was clever. As it's a fringe show, it's incredibly good value. I thoroughly recommend it. |
West End / Majors
Let go of the reigns (and you're fear of Farce)
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | I'm not usually a huge fan of Farce, especially when it involves that old chestnut of mistaken identity, but it's so hard to resist a play with charachters called Lady Gay Spanker, Dolly Spanker, and a lawyer called 'Meddle' ;) Boasting strong, delightfully over the top, perfomance from Simon Russell Beale (unrecognisable as an ageing London Dandy, who finds himself completley lost in that strange place that is 'the Countryside'), Fiona Shaw (horsier than Camiilla Parker-Bowles could ever hope to be, she's almost neighing), and Richard Briers (yes, he is still treading the boards!), it whips along faster than Lady Gay can ride a stallion. And it's impressively staged, with a rotating set, ye olde country minstrels, and costumes you'll just want to streal. |
Fringe
Charming
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Reviewed by Helen SmithJune 25, 2010
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| Review | Three charming plays give an insight into the women's suffrage movement. The cast is excellent and the plays are sweet, funny and thought-provoking. I loved the set and costumes, too. If your only encounter with a suffragette on stage or screen has been Glynis Johns in Mary Poppins, go and see Knickerbocker Glories. |
Fringe
Simple Receipts that Add Up to Something Brilliant
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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The basic premise of this show is very simple: a single actor plays a character who talks about his life, and particularly the preceding year, while going through receipts handed to him by audience members, in random order. Because the order of the receipts changes, so does the sequence of the narrative. This has the potential to be a lot of fun - as it often was - but what makes the show so great is how richly drawn and compelling the bigger story was. Brilliantly acted by Samuel Barnett (who was playing the part on the night when I went), the simply-staged show was full of emotion and depth. It is well worth a visit (or two or three). |
Off West End
Lovely Lyric
| Overall rating: | 4.2 | |
| Overall rating: | 4.0 | |
| Ease of booking: | 4.0 | |
| Ticket fees & charges: | 5.0 | |
| FOH value for money (bar, progs etc): | 4.0 | |
| Toilet facilities: | 4.0 | |
| Location / transport: | 4.0 | |
| Seating comfort: | 4.0 | |
| Sound & sightlines: | 4.0 | |
| Friendliness / conviviality: | 4.0 | |
| "Hang Out" factor: | 5.0 |
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Reviewed by Helen SmithJune 03, 2010
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Venue Review
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A lovely old-fashioned theatre with a wonderful programme of productions in the main house and the studio, and a lively bar. I have seen some of my favourite shows here, as well as a few I didn't like - that mix means they're doing something right, trying to appeal to different audiences. They've got fantastically cheap seats available for previews so it's worth booking early if a show looks interesting. |
West End / Majors
A few more performances
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Reviewed by Helen SmithJune 03, 2010
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I think this show is still on until 5th June? A play co-written by three of our best-loved, most talented British playwrights, with a strong cast including Ann Mitchell. It's fun to stop themes that occur in their other plays and try to attribute scenes, lines and ideas to a particular author - Exeter, Quakers, etc. But in interviews, the three assure everyone that any such guesses are likely to be wrong. If it's still on, go and see it. |
West End / Majors
An acting masterclass
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 30, 2010
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Sitting in the lofty height of the back of the Olivier Circle for London Assurance a Sondheim song kept running though my head. ‘A weekend in the country’ could have easily been written about this period romp. In its first major revival for many a year, Nick Hytner has called on some of the National Theatre acting royalty to ham it up gloriously in Dion Boucicault's 1841 comedy. The money has obviously been well spent here with sumptuous staging - a Regency London street façade giving way to a magnificent detailed replica of a Gloucestershire country mansion that revolves to display an equally detailed interior. The script is a humorous tale of mistaken identities, cads, unrequited love and the differences between city and country life. In many respects however the script is a mere backdrop for an acting masterclass from some of our finest stage actors. Leading the company as flamboyant Sir Harcourt Courtly, Simon Russell Beale preens around the stage in a glorious over the top performance. As his counterpoint the feisty and domineering Lady Gay Spanker (surely winning any award for the best named character in a play) is brought to bugle-blowing, whip-cracking life by an on form Fiona Shaw. Although dominated by these two titans of the stage, Richard Briers, Mark Addy, Matt Cross and Michelle Terry all give strong performances in support. Some of the jokes may be corny and some of the script creaky but this is more than made up for by the performances. Perhaps not as hysterical as I’d been lead to believe but an evening to leave the cares behind. |
West End / Majors
Southern Stunner
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 29, 2010
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If you think you’ve seen all of Tennessee Williams’ work think again. 27 years after the author’s death the National Theatre stages the London transfer of Northampton Royal & Derngate’s European Premiere of Spring Storm. The play, written in 1937 lay forgotten in papers until its rediscovery in the 1990s but this is the first opportunity to see a UK staging of this early work. And what an accomplished work it is. Despite being rejected at the time, Spring Storm clearly demonstrates a writer who had already found his voice and we see trends and characters that would shape his later, more familiar works. The familiar themes of unrequited love, betrayal, exclusion and sense of not belonging all evident in this and later plays. The ghost of Blanche from Streetcar in particular seems to haunt this production. Laurie Sansom directs a top-notch cast who mange to combine both the pathos and the humour that has become Williams’ trademark style. Some of the Southern accents do occasionally wander (apart from a spot on Liz White as Heavenly Critchfield) but it’s only a minor criticism. Designers Sarah Perks (set), Chris Davey (lighting) and Christopher Shutt (sound) create a total immersive atmosphere that moves effortlessly from locale to locale, without resorting to the staple ceiling fan. Tennessee Williams’ is not always easy viewing and the emotions are typically fraught in this production, however the show is still as relevant and fresh today as it was when written over 70 years ago. Currently a sell out, if you can obtain a ticket do for one of the theatrical events of the year. |
West End / Majors
Nice but can you now tell me what it was about?
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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It was the second night in a row for Jacobean plays and not a situation that was approached with whole hearted joy. When the news that it was a complex story spread over 3 hours the heart sank even further. Thomas Middleton’s work is perhaps less well known than the work of his contemporaries but is beginning to receive renewed attention. In director Marianne Elliott’s lavish production of Women Beware Women on the Olivier stage his work takes on an epic quality. Set against Lez Brotherston’s gothic columned revolving set, this is a lavish and visual appealing production. Performances from the entire cast are impressive with Harriet Walter, Samuel Barnett and Vanessa Kirby particularly noteworthy. The difficult verse is handled with aplomb and cast seem to revel in the dark horror of the piece. All good so far then but the problem here for anyone coming to the piece new is that is it just so complex as to render it virtually impenetrable. Revenge, mistaken identities, rape, seduction, incest, two overlapping stories... all conspire to make for a brain aching evening. Yes theatre should be challenging and perhaps Shakespeare would be equally as baffling if we were not so aware of the plots, but this production makes little attempt to make the complex assessable. Just when you think you have grasped the plot the surreal, drug induced, danced, final blood-bath scene adds on more confusion. Bits of the plot are picked up and you can appreciated the craft of it but overheard conversations at the end of the show suggest many where left with a ‘what was that about’ feeling. Women Beware Women is worth catching for a lesson into how to stage and act a piece from this era but do familiarise yourself with the text before you attend or risk suffering a severe brain ache as you try to follow this complex production. |
West End / Majors
Enjoy the picture
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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A new Alan Bennett play for the National Theatre is always guaranteed to get bums on seats and The Habit of Art is no exception - all performances sold out shortly after going on sale. So is this likely to be another History Boys? Unlikely but that doesnt mean its bad, Bennet has to have a real off day to be bad, but perhaps the subject matter will prevent the stellar success of History Boys. If you've ever been backstage at the National, walking into the Lyttleton will be a little of a shock for the senses - where you expect a set is a detailed replica of one of the Nationals rehearsal rooms. History of Art is therefore a play within a play - we are witnessing rehearsals for a play examining a meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten. Neither are likable characters and nor are the 'actors' playing them in the rehearsal room and that’s part of the problem - you don’t really warm to them and therefore don’t care. Yes the clever writing is here and yes the plot is well conceived and delivered and its nothing short of entertaining but at the end of the day you just dislike both Auden and Britten. |
West End / Majors
A sweet offering
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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An oversight I know but lets start with a confession - I have never seen Sweet Charity on stage or on film. I blame having to light a rendition of Rhythm Of Life at college that left me in a cold sweat. So it was into the dark at the Chocolate Factory for their latest sell out hit. Yes some of the songs would be familiar and Tamsin Outhwaite will always be my Nancy but the rest would be a whole new ballgame. As is always the way it never ceases to amaze they manage to squeeze shows of this size into the shoebox that is the Menier - the band alone seems to take up most of the space - but as ever the intimacy does wonders with the staging - not only can you see the cast sweat, you are likely to get covered in it! This 60's musical is in many ways an American version of Cabaret - a dance hall hostess tries to make good. But while Sally Bowles may have had a darker side, Charity Hope Valentine is as the title suggests sweet. Wronged in love she sets out to meet Mr Right but how will he cope with her profession. Tamsin Outhwaite shows her theatrical pedigree, with a note and foot perfect performance that milks both the sympathy but also knows when to hit the comic edge - her performance in If My Friends Could See Me Now is spot on and timed to precision. It is perhaps in the big show stopper numbers that Sweet Charity works best and Big Spender turns into the demon love child of the aforementioned Cabaret and La Cage Aux Folles while Rhythm is a glorious Hair parody full of wide eyed madness. This is once again a spot on production but one that I fear will get lost on the forthcoming transfer to the larger Haymarket - It may be controversial but I would suggest that Sweet Charity is not the 'classic' show it's long history has lead us to believe and perhaps is best suited to this small scale production. |
West End / Majors
A full measure
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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There are not many Shakespeare plays I haven’t seen over the years but for some reason Measure for Measure has escaped me - until now that is. In his first Shakespearian production as Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, Michael Attenborough tackles what is seen as one of The Bard's 'problem plays'. It may be his first stab at Shakespeare at the Almeida but he sets the standard high in a near faultless production. Vienna has become overrun by the sex trade, heralding a brief appearance from the pole dancers, the first of many indications that this modern dress production may not follow the usual conventions of Shakespeare. While it could be seen as a gimmick it works and gives the piece a modern relevance. In an attempt to restore order the Duke appoints Angelo to restore order. Unfortunately his best intentions don’t go exactly to plan when Angelo turns out to be as corrupt as the city he's supposed to be cleaning up. As the Duke and Angelo Ben Miles and Rory Kinnear excel, Kinnear in particular giving a gripping performance that commands attention. Equally impressive is Anna Maxwell Martin as novice nun Isobella who bargains with Angelo for her brothers’ life. A performance even more impressive when you note this is her Shakespearian debut. A performance filled with emotion, ever gesture and inflection spot on. Les Brotherton's visually stunning set of twin revolving walls is lit perfectly by the Lord of Lighting Designers David Hersey, framing this chamber piece with a variety of locales while focussing on the central performances. Fine supporting performances from the company and a fluid direction make this an instant classic - not so much a problem play anymore but a timely, relevant and powerful exploration of morals and the abuse of power. |
West End / Majors
A turkey arrives before thanksgiving
| Rating: | 1.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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It’s one of the most hotly anticipated shows in years, has received just as much coverage for the negative reviews online as for the show itself and has split critics down the middle. Andrew Lloyd Webber himself has gone on record to say that people should wait a month before seeing a new musical so one day short of a month after opening night I find myself at the Adelphi to see what all the furore is over Love Never Dies, otherwise known as Phantom Of The Opera 2. So will I be on the side of the likes of the Independent (5 stars) or the New York Times (who hated it)? So let’s see what we get for our money? Plot – in serious need of some oil, it takes two hours to get going and that just leaves 25 mins to excite. Music, yes the score is lush but that is mainly down to David Cullen’s expansive orchestrations. Spectacle – some horses in waves pinched from a Guinness advert, some art deco flats and a few pieces of furniture. Direction – static to say the least. Not going favourably so far then. The problem is that it’s all just so slow and dull. There is no chemistry or tension and you just don’t care about the characters. A character dies at the end but it gets to the point when if they didn’t hurry up you’d go and finish the job off for them. The main Phantom Ramin Karimloo was off sick for this performance, as was Liz Robertson (Madame Giry). Tam Mutu gave a credible performance as The Phantom with the limited material he is given and Janet Mooney was vocally impressive as Giry. Much has been made of Sierra Boggess as Christine and it is perhaps her rendition of the title number that is the only redeeming feature of the evening. We don’t ever see however any spark of chemistry between Christine and The Phantom to explain their love. It is a ‘green’ show though – much has already been said about Lloyd Webber’s recycling of the title song from his earlier Beautiful Game but perhaps the show could be re-billed as ‘Magic of The Musicals’ – we get flavours of Salad Days, Sunset Boulevard, Kiss Me Kate, The Boyfriend and even in the otherwise vocally impressive rendition of the title song, an impression of arm-waving Evita. There is potential here but it needs a serious amount of work. We need to believe the love and the drama and some tension, any dramatic tension needs to be introduced to spark this dead in the water show into life. WestEnd Whingers blog coined the phrase Paint Never Dries – I’d find paint infinitely more exciting than this dreary show. The show is due to transfer to Broadway in November but I suggest that an entirely new version will be needed by then to save this turkey lasting past Thanksgiving. |
West End / Majors
Total immersive theatre
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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In 2000, the normally secretive world of the Russian Submarine fleet found itself the centre of the world’s media attention. Following an explosion in one of its torpedoes, the Russian Submarine Kursk sunk to the bottom of the Barents Sea with the loss of all 118 crew. The chilling fact that many survived the initial explosion and went to their deaths slowly as the air ran out on the sea bed adds to the poignancy of the disaster. So not exactly an obvious choice for a play but in Sound & Fury’s Kursk, revived at the Young Vic following a sell out run last year (a feat achieved again this year), we get one of the most moving plays of the year. Writer Bryony Lavery has ingeniously set the piece on a British submarine patrolling in the Barents Sea. That way we get to see the tensions in the cramped confines of a submarine. By the time the British encounter the doomed Kursk the horror facing their Russian counterparts is compounded by the tragedy we know is unfolding on the British Sub. The other stroke of genius of this production is to turn the Maria studio into an authentic replica of the submarine. The audience is then placed in the heart of the action, with actors literally centimetres away. Within this totally immersive atmosphere sounds and lighting create the cramped confines of a submarine with every rumble and sound adding to the tension – the only thing missing is the smell of a submarine. The day-to-day routine and the separation from loved ones adds to the stresses of a submariners world and by focussing on one individual tragedy on the British sub reinforces the horror facing his Russian counterparts without having to turn to voyeuristic rubber necking. Perhaps one of the most chilling scenes sees the audience plunged into total darkness as the fading sound of Russian voices gives way to the sound of water lapping, a truly spine chilling experience. Kursk is touring to venues across the country following their London sell out and this is one show worth travelling miles for. You will be hard pressed to find a more original or immersive piece of theatre this year. |
West End / Majors
Lets the sunshine partly in
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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There is a lot of history associated with Hair, back in 1968 it was the first West End production to feature full frontal nudity, the first mixed race musical and certainly the first to include a song entitled Sodomy. Now revived at the Gielgud, the show is once again making history, importing the entire Broadway Company to the West End. The show has had several revival attempts over the years, including a major production at the Old Vic in 1993 that (undeservedly) flopped. So will this new import fair better? If there is a new category in the Oliviers next year for sheer exuberance and energy Hair will win hands down. From the opening bars, to the final dancing ovation, the cast throw themselves into the production with unstoppable fervour. The ‘93 production had audience seated on the Old Vic stage, but in a reversal here the cast use the auditorium as their playground; clambering over and using many in the stalls as an impromptu performance space. It can be quite unnerving to find a cast member suddenly slumped across the seat next to you, or getting up to things in the aisles that cant be repeated in a family blog. Unfortunately some of the exuberance does mean that some lyrics where lost in the opening numbers but this was a temporary hick up and by the time the placards are being waved for I Believe in Love the show is back on track. It’s the only minor gripe of the evening however. Leading the tribe are strong performances from Will Swenson, Sasha Allen, Caissie Levy and Gavin Creel. Swenson in particular clearly relishes the audience interaction. This is however a true ensemble performance and quirky characteristics. Yes the plot is thin in places but the score remain infectious and the performances win over even the most hardened cynic. By the time Let the Sun Shine in draws to its haunting end there was a tear in the eye and a lump in the throat. The US cast are confirmed for the initial months of the run and are well worth catching and whatever you do make sure you take your chance to let your hair down at the end and boogie onstage with the cast. So 1993 revival or 2010 – both have their plus points. 93 had a stronger focus on plot but 2010 wins hands down for sheer fun. |
West End / Majors
Finance has never been so interesting
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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Reviewed by pearceglenMay 27, 2010
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Before Northern Rock, RBS and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the financial markets were shocked by the 2001 collapse of Enron, the golden boy of the USA Energy Market. The rise and the spectacular fall of Enron has now been turned into one of the hottest tickets in town in a new play by Lucy Prebble. First staged at the Chichester Festival in 2009, then a sell out run at The Royal Court, Enron is now firmly embedded into the Noel Coward Theatre where it has just announced a three month extension to its run. And it’s easy to see why audiences continue to be drawn to this dazzling play. Other plays have tried to capture the financial crisis but most ultimately fail, due in part to the complex and, perhaps, staid subject matter. The genius of Rupert Goold’s exquisite staging however, is that, while never shying away of exposing the greed and corruption, these are supplemented by humour to underline the sheer lunacy of a company that managed to go $30billion into debt and try and keep trading. Stock trading is a fast paced environment and this production matches that hectic pace in a multimedia onslaught. The Enron stock price is a constant ticker tape at the back of the stage and lighting, video, song, dance and inventive staging keeps the action flowing. Any show that manages to combine line dancing, dinosaurs and light sabres into a financial drama deserves ever plaudit it has achieved. Despite the visually stunning staging the performances more than manage to hold their own. Prebble’s script gives ample opportunity to delve under the skin of the flawed minds behind the scandal and Samuel West, Tim Pigott-Smith and Tom Goodman-Hill as the driving forces of Enron all excel. West in particular is a man tormented by his ambition and ultimate downfall. There is not one week element in this production; the show is about to open on Broadway and unlike the company it’s named after shows now sign of collapse yet. A must see for anyone with an interest in theatre. |
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