THE history of Afghanistan is a microcosm of the Middle East – religious and tribal factionalism, uprisings, insurgencies, revolutions, invasions … and it’s all there in The Kite Runner, Matthew Spangler’s brilliant adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s epic first novel, on stage at Bath Theatre Royal until Saturday 11th November. It’s a story that spans half the…
CHRISTOPHER Bruce’s enduringly powerful and magical Ghost Dances, the most popular work ever performed by Rambert, forms the centrepiece in the current tour, at Bath Theatre Royal until 4th November. The choreographer created the work in 1981, and must have been delighted to see the response from the Bath audience, packed with eager young dance…
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture Glinka: Valse from A Life for the Tsar Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1 Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amyn Merchant Kees Bakels: Conductor Lukáš Vondráček: Piano “IT’S monumental. No one’s ever mad enough to attempt the Rach 3…” says John Gielgud, in the role of a…
IN 1956, when John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger was first staged, it scandalised audiences and critics and cemented the platform for a new wave of English drama, later dubbed Kitchen Sink and Angry Young Man. Seeing it again in 2017, as international governments scratch their collective heads to fathom out WHY young men…
SOMETIMES you want to be challenged in the theatre, and sometimes you want to be entertained. And right now, in a world rattled by natural catastrophes, political paranoia and sexual scandals, many people just want a good night out with a lot of laughs. Graham Linehan’s play, The Ladykillers, based on the hit Ealing comedy…
THERE are lots of ways to describe Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Daniel Kehlmann’s play Christmas Eve, which has its UK premiere run at Bath until 18th November. It’s a love story. It’s a new way of looking at the relevance of midnight at Christmas (sans Prince Charming.) It’s a tense political thriller whose heartbeat is…
SOMETIMES you come across a show that is perfect. It is very rare, but Tall Tree’s debut production, Shackleton, which had three half-term dates with Artsreach, is a little treasure. It is a tale of a dog, but it’s not a shaggy dog story. It’s a story of a dog who wants adventure and a…
WITH Hallowe’en just a day or so away, Thomas Hardy’s The Withered Arm could hardly be a more appropriate tale for a decidedly chilly autumn night. Performed in the highly atmospheric surroundings of Ashton Barn, and to a large and appreciative audience, the story of a wronged woman, a young bride, a worsening affliction and…
Kamila Bydlowska violin, Shiry Rashkovsky viola, Timothée Botbol cello; performances in Lower Pulworthy, Hatherleigh; Bridport Arts Centre; Ilminster Arts Centre Ilminster and The Dance House, Crewkerne THE wonder of the violin, viola and cello trio is the immense possibilities that it holds for compositional creativity and listener response. The range of pitch, tone-colours and texture…
WHEN you think of Oscar Wilde as a playwright you instantly smile – all those dazzling one-liners! But there is equal delight in his exquisite satirical portraits of stuffy aristocrats heading inexorably towards a time of change like the Titanic to the iceberg. An Ideal Husband (1895) is a dramatic comedy which revolves around an…