THERE’S something that professional musicians sometimes describe as “the tyranny of the dots”, and I was reminded of it during Nell Leyshon’s multi-layered play, Folk, now on at Hampstead Theatre Studio. Set, as is so much of Leyshon’s best work, in her native Somerset, it centres on the lives of two sisters. One of them,…
Mrs Delgado, Mike Bartlett’s isolational, observational solo play, opened in Oxford in December 2021, and comes to Bath in the very week that the nation has been focused on the rules that accompanied the arrival of Covid-19 and how we kept them. Set in a small section of an urban street, it’s all about those…
LITERATURE, mythology and the stage are peppered with depictions of male friendship, and undoubtedly it can be heroic and special. But female friendship is also special, and much less shown. Di and Viv and Rose is just that – a play about female friendship which looks at this relationship with kind but honest eyes, unflinchingly…
THIS production, devised by the company under the direction of Julia Head, looks at Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy from the view of young people living in 2022. Any traditional interpretations making full use of the poetry within the words are cast aside in order to emphasise the raw emotions, frustrations and deep passions within the story….
DECONSTRUCTION has become a bit of a fad this century – specially among chefs and playwrights. Mostly I find menus offering deconstructed trifle, Black Forest Gateau, cheesecakes and chicken pies prove that the original classic was famous just because it was “constructed” to go together. Theatrically it has been a more successful enterprise. Brilliant re-workings…
With 27 numbers, many of them containing lyrics that continue to tell the story, and the minimal of dialogue, this fast moving glittery show could be described as a Rhythm and Blues opera rather than a Musical. It is indeed a feast for those who love the R&B music of the 60s and 70s and…
ONE hundred and twenty years after it was first published, a bright new adaptation of E Nesbit’s classic children’s tale Five Children and It comes to the egg in Bath, late due to Covid but on until 16th January. To the delight of the audience, it all starts as the purple sand fairy, the Psammead, tries…
PANTOMIME is the most British of entertainments, traditionally staged over the Christmas period and aimed at all the family. Its essential elements are magic, laughter, colour, baddies getting their come-uppance and a happy, romantic ending. They REALLY don’t come better than Bath Theatre Royal’s Cinderella. We might have been delighted by Jon Monie in Bath…
TAKE 18 characters in the entrance hall of a country house on Christmas Eve, a cocktail tray, illicit romances, true love and the best laid plans, throw in four actors, sleight of hand, fleet of foot and versatile of voice. You have the perfect recipe for an evening of astonishing fun and frolics, served up…
UNTIL halted by the pandemic, Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre had built up a reputation of arguably being the best Christmas show on offer in the area. This new adaptation of L Frank Baum’s classic OZ stories, by Sarah Henley, Zoe Squire and director Emma Earle, has been greeted with such enthusiasm that before the opening…