IN 1956, Yeovil Dramatic Society was revived and William Douglas Home’s play The Reluctant Debutante opened in the West End. This story of a waning upper class holding on to creaking traditions of social engineering was the perfect choice for director Andy Wood and his talented Swan Theatre cast to bring the company’s 60th anniversary year…
Haydn: Trumpet Concerto Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 ‘Romantic’ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amin Merchant Kirill Karabits: Conductor Tine Thing Helseth: Trumpet ‘ROMANTIC’ is a complicated word, and Bruckner’s use of it to describe his glorious fourth symphony has nothing to do with hearts and flowers and St Valentine’s Day. It is medieval romance that he…
DESPITE several stage adaptations, not to mention at least four films and probably numerous loosely connected TV dramas too, any version of D.H. Lawrence’s classic novel is likely to be the subject of at least a degree of interest, controversy even. This new adaptation, a joint English Touring Theatre and Sheffield Theatres production, was adapted…
Schubert: Symphony No. 5 Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 3 Beethoven: Mass in C Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, leader Amin Merchant Bournemouth Symphony Chorus Nicholas McGegan: Conductor Nicolas Fleury: Horn Kate Royal: Soprano Jennifer Johnston: Mezzo-Soprano Robert Murray: Tenor Alastair Miles: Bass If offered a ride in a time machine, it would be tempting to visit Vienna…
THERE is always a special excitement about going into a packed auditorium with an expectant buzz – and Yeovil’s Octagon was really buzzing with electric anticipation on the opening night of the YAOS autumn production of White Christmas. The large theatre was full and an additional Sunday matinee has been added to the 1st to…
OPERA is a relatively new thing to me – I tried one or two in the late 90s but have mainly been drawn to straight theatre and musical theatre since my childhood. I say this to frame my reaction to this production, as it was the first time I have ever seen Tosca, and knew…
YOU might call it Frankenstein – the Tribute Show, but whatever the title it’s monstrously entertaining. When Howard Coggins and Stu McLoughlin turn their extravagant talents to a story, the audience can be certain of fun and invention, and in this co-production with Salisbury Playhouse there is much more – a multi-talented live band, puppets…
IT has been eleven years since Billy Elliot opened in the West End, five years after the original film had wowed audiences worldwide, and I was lucky enough to see the original cast at the Victoria Palace, where the equally-anticipated latest musical sensation from Broadway, Hamilton arrives late next year. The anticipation in 2005 included…
IF you love the work of Kneehigh, the puppetry of War Horse and a barnstorming musical with a story that’s miles from hackneyed predictability, head without delay for Bristol Old Vic. The first official show of the theatre’s 250th anniversary season has been five years in gestation, and reaches the historic stage in sensational form. …
THE prolific inventiveness of Alan Ayckbourn is constant – and constantly remarkable. Snake In The Grass, chosen as IES’s autumn production, is that rarity among the Ayckbourn canon – a ghostly psychological chiller. The Scarborough-based dramatist, who is said to be the world’s most frequently produced playwright, has, over a career spanning more than 40 years,…