FOR all those people who think live theatre is only for pensioners and luvvies, Bristol Old Vic’s family shows at Christmas and in the summer must be an unwelcome sight. Once again the street outside the theatre has been closed off, a makeshift auditorium erected and a show created to delight people of all ages,…
ANYONE who has been to a television recording session will know that the slick and seamless stuff we watch on the box in the sitting room represents only a tiny fraction of the time spent filming (unless it was Mrs Brown’s Boys, that is!) That is the main problem for drama companies embarking on performances…
BOURNEMOUTH Shakespeare Players celebrates its 35th anniversary this year with a production of one of the Bard’s most difficult plays, Measure for Measure, in the grounds of Christchurch Priory House. After the downpours of 2012, this balmy summer is a welcome gift from the weather gods, and Tuesday’s opening night was a perfect a setting…
ALAN Bennett’s partially autobiographical play The Lady in the Van follows a strand of his life over 20 years – that part that was involved with a strange woman who moved her yellow van into his garden in Islington, and stayed. The writing emphasises a criticism he levels at himself, that he is always “in…
WHAT a difference a year makes, as regular Covent Garden Dance Company audiences at Hatch House discovered with a vengeance on Friday. The 2012 event was notable not only for spectacular dancing but for torrential rains that cascaded off the stretch marquees and flooded the parking areas. This year’s performances co-incided with some of the…
Floods in the Tithe Barn THE beautiful Wiltshire town of Bradford on Avon knows all about floods – most recently last year. The river has been at the heart of the town’s long history, made it an important centre of agriculture, wool and transport, powered its mills and provided the water for its industrial canals….
KNEEHIGH, the Cornish-based theatre company, has experienced mixed fortunes in recent years, but the revival of its 2003 production of Tristan and Yseult again confirms its status as one of the country’s most inventive. One of the world’s greatest love stories has been reimagined by Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy and is told by…
THE theatrical highlight of this year’s Frome Festival was played in the breath-defying heat of the upstairs room of the Cornerhouse last week, as Ben Tinniswood gave his hour long solo show about a misfit and a loner who police presumed was the most likely perpetrator of a murder. When they could find no evidence…
La Vie Parisienne Iford Festival CUTTING edge or what? Jeff Clarke opens his exuberant new production of La Vie Parisienne with a triumphantly steam punk parade, as a four-person train with REAL steam puffs into the cloister station to disgorge the characters for the evening’s entertainment. Wow! And the fun doesn’t let up until the…
Hors Piste Poole Lighthouse SAY “circus” to most people these days and they are more likely to picture Cirque du Soleil than the conventional big top, with top hatted ringmaster, performing animals and tattooed trapeze artists. The Canadian company has revolutionised the way we view circus – but there is a new generation of circus-influenced…