LAURIE Lee is as inescapably linked to the Cotswolds – and specifically to the dramatic valleys around his home village of Slad – as Thomas Hardy is to Dorset or the Bronte sisters to Yorkshire. And we got a real understanding of the profound connection between the great poet and writer and his home place…
LA CENERENTOLA is a retelling of the fairy tale Cinderella. A real showcase for vocal virtuosity, this vibrant and colourful revival of the production first staged by WNO in 2007 was sung and played with impeccable precision. An absolute delight from start to finish, last night’s performance was, without doubt, one of my musical and…
SIR David McVicar’s staging for WNO of Verdi’s La Traviata, first seen in 2009, is revived by director Sarah Crisp under the youthful baton of James Southall for the Autumn tour. Based on Alexander Dumas’ novel The Lady of the Camelias, it tells the story of French courtesan Violetta and her affair with Alfredo, a…
RONA Munro is one of Scotland’s most prolific writers, in television (Dr Who), on film (Oranges and Sunshine, Aimee and Jaguar), on radio and for the stage, for which she has produced epic works like The James Plays and tiny, intimate dramas like Iron. It was this tense four-hander, first seen in 2002, that director…
TALL Tree Theatre delighted audiences last year with Shackleton, an adventure story inspired by a lost dog. The company is back with another exciting tale, this time all at sea with an albatross, playing to Artsreach audiences at Buckland Newton and Bourton. Written by Anna Harriott, it’s the story of three people, a rackety old…
SALAD Days, by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade, is one of those shows that can hardly fail to delight. Written in the early 1950s as a summer musical for the Bristol Old Vic, the show has enchanted audiences for over sixty years. Indeed, not only does word have it that it was this show more…
HOW do the legends of the Native Americans and the lives of villagers in rural North Somerset come together in a big fun night out aimed at saving the local pub? You need to see Rina Vergano’s play Horses! Horses!, written for Wassail Theatre, to find out, and luckily for you, there will be a…
RC SHERRIFF’S Journey’s End, written ten years after the end of the First World War and based on his own inescapable memories of the trenches, is widely recognised as one of the greatest plays about the conflict. It was chosen by Merlin Theatre Productions as its contribution to the Frome-wide commemorations of the centenary of…
IF you want an evening of inspired enjoyment, head for Bristol Old Vic before 17th November to see Wils Wilson’s extraordinary take on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The co-production with Edinburgh Lyceum is another brave move from BOV artistic director Tom Morris. Wilson is best known for her site-specific pieces and her collaborative approach, but happily…
IT was way back in 1954 that the Wolfenden Committee was set up to investigate homosexuality and prostitution, but it took another 13 years before the Sexual Offences Act decriminalised gay sex. Move on just over a quarter of a century to 1993 when Jonathan Harvey wrote this play about two young teenagers, Jamie bullied…