Month: August 2012
Love Is Not Enough
New company Beg Borrow Steel makes a promising debut with this story of a west London Jamaican family forced to confront their dark past by an estranged daughter who returns for her late father’s memorial service and the Notting Hill Carnival. Playwright Justin Marosa developed and staged a version of … Continue Reading Love Is Not Enough
Soul Sister
Bookended by Emi Wokoma’s Tina Turner reflecting on her rocky road to success, this musical about the megastar’s marriage to Ike and rise to stardom comes across as a simplified rerun of Turner biopic ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’. It boasts a stunning central performance but lacks substance. … Continue Reading Soul Sister
Cornelius
The Finborough once again demonstrates its keen eye for a timely revival with this gem by JB Priestley. Unseen in London for 70 years, its story of a small import office facing bankruptcy seems painfully prescient. The first half begins as an unhurried, witty sketch of the amusing oddities of … Continue Reading Cornelius
Carousel
With its wife-beating antihero and early dramatic climax, it’s no mean feat to make ‘Carousel’ a satisfying experience. Opera North’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most operatic musical is richly orchestrated and vibrant – even if it doesn’t capture all of its darker edges. An impressive set featuring a lightbulb-lit … Continue Reading Carousel
My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver
I should confess at the outset of this review that I am an enormous fan of Doctor Who. If you think it’s trivial, nothing more than a bit of wobbly-walled sci-fi nonsense, you’re wrong. It’s inspired everyone from Mark Gatiss to Neil Gaiman and is at the root of this funny, moving … Continue Reading My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver
The Revenger’s Tragedy
The engineered cliffhanger that ends the first half of this fast-paced, blackly funny production isn’t followed by a ‘duff duff’, but it could be. This is Jacobean tragedy via ‘EastEnders’ – and it works. Thomas Middleton’s lurid, camp tale of a man’s elaborate revenge on the duke who murdered his … Continue Reading The Revenger’s Tragedy
The Great Gatsby Musical
F Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel about 1920s America continues its 2012 onslaught on the British stage with this musical adaptation. Don’t panic about people singing about hit-and-runs though; it’s handled more subtly than that. But perhaps inevitably, some of the book’s desolate beauty and power is missing. Linnie Reedman has … Continue Reading The Great Gatsby Musical
Jonny and The Baptists
Jonny and The Baptists are the kind of band you wouldn’t mind spending an evening with in the pub – although you’d be wise to avoid any establishment claiming that name if it sells more than beer. As they make clear in a typically witty protest against the advent of … Continue Reading Jonny and The Baptists
Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel
‘Nothing is not giving messages’ reads the sign on the red shelf, in the red room, under the staircase. I am sitting drinking port on a single bed, under the glassy gaze of a tattered teddy bear propped up on a pillow. In front of me, perched on a small … Continue Reading Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel
The Two Worlds of Charlie F
You could argue that this show is critic proof. Woven from the words of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan since 2002, and performed by them alongside professional actors, it has the awful weight of reality behind it. But to grant it special dispensation and to praise it by default, for its … Continue Reading The Two Worlds of Charlie F