JOHN Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, written in the 1620s and set in Italy, has incest as its central theme, and has been one of the most controversial plays ever performed. Not seen in England until 1923, the tragedy surrounds the bookish young Giovanni, returning from university and realising that he is in love…
SORTING through family homes after bereavement has been a rich mine for dramatists over the years, and the award-winning play by American writer Lynn Nottage at Bath’s Ustinov Studio is a powerful addition to the list. From her grandmother’s Brooklyn Brownstone, she recovered a shoebox of unidentified photographs, from which she wove this imagined story of her…
BARB Jungr has a new album of songs by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen…. A NEW album from Barb Jungr is always a thrill. You anticipate interpretations that will delight, inspire, perhaps puzzle, but are guaranteed to stay with you., When you have listened to a new collection of Barb’s songs, you know you…
PLAYS have been notoriously “going wrong” since they began, probably long before Shakespeare included the Mechanicals as Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and through the later part of the 20th century we have been treated to Michael Green’s various Coarse Acting versions of plays, the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild’s badly produced…
JOAN Littlewood’s iconic musical satire Oh What a Lovely War, was first performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1963. A pierrot troupe, organised by a red-coated ringmaster, starts the proceedings with War Games, and as they unfold the audience is taken into the maelstrom of the Great War. Littlewood’s message is clear –…
MURDER at Checkmate Manor was the ambitious choice of play staged by The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society or F.A.H.E.T.G.D.S for short. Most drama groups will have experienced a fear of things going wrong on opening night, but fortunately, for actors and audiences alike, the very worst rarely happens. Alas, not so…
SEE it or live to regret it! So says the poster bearing the now familiar image of a male swan posted on the “What’s On” board outside the Bristol Hippodrome. Although probably not meant to be taken literally, this was still some claim. As it was we need not have worried. From the outset, when…
CANCER is an immensely difficult subject for a play. It is inherently about the things that really matter – life and death – but for many (perhaps most) people, going to the theatre is about entertainment and having a good night out. A play about cancer in which there are only three characters, who speak…
STEPHEN Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods is a big show in every way, taking a sweeping overview of fairy stories, psychology and love. So it’s all the more impressive that the best production I have ever seen should be performed in the intimate setting of Wells Little Theatre. The 20-strong cast plays princes and farm…
COLIN Hayman’s innovative production of the 1950s classic The Titfield Thunderbolt is taking over the Studio Theatre in Ashley Road, Salisbury until 17th May. Not only has Colin designed a set that takes in a station, a bar and a vicarage, but even the illustrious steam train makes an appearance, just on time! Philip Goulding, brother…