Simon Bishop

Two extraordinary nights at the Bristol Old Vic make my joint top spot this year.

Writer Isobel McArthur’s and Director Paul Brotherston’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s best seller, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) was as good a night out in Bristol you could ever reasonably expect to experience. A joyously inventive, funny, satirical yet reverential masterpiece delivered by a cast that lovingly owned the play had the audience roaring and on its feet at the ‘final curtain’.

And joint top: Amélie –The Musical. For those that have seen and loved Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film Amélie, released in 2001, director Michael Fentiman’s contemporary staged musical adaptation simply had to capture the charm of the original and, of course, the mercurial, shy but impish personality of its heroine, if it were to succeed.

Against a lovingly-detailed set that evoked the Paris Metro, and warmed by Elliot Griggs’ deliciously sympathetic lighting, we were instantly thrown into the noisy French capital. Audrey Brisson immediately stood out as the naïve, enigmatic Amélie. She bore considerable resemblance to the film’s Audrey Tautou in a performance that retained the film’s characterisation but with additional Piaf-like chanteuse qualities. A magical night.

Fenton Coulthurst

It has been a good year for theatre when you find yourself having to agonise over the rankings for the end-of-year Best Of, and I am thankful that it took much deliberation to whittle down 2019 in Cheltenham to a (generous) handful of productions. Perhaps reflecting the traditional tastes of this reviewer, some of the plays I enjoyed the most this year were established classics: The Woman in Black was as haunting as when it first crept onto the stage; Glengarry Glen Ross was a bolshie, energetic and profane treatise on the depredations of capitalism; and the Everyman Theatre’s own production of Waiting for Godot was a thoroughly humorous take on the iconic play.

One of the most singular delights of the year was the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s double-feature – the original piece Seasons in Our World and tested favourite with an urban twist Peter and the Wolf. The performance was accessible and playful, perfect for newcomers and established fans of ballet alike.

The biggest (pleasant) surprise for me was the staging of My Beautiful Laundrette. Film adaptations to stage can be a mixed bag – most simply defer to a bland recreation of the narrative without really engaging with the medium. This production, however, was dense with meaning and emotion that it skilfully delivered.

If I have to give the top spot to any production though, it has to be Dead Dog in a Suitcase. The eclectic and cacophonous modern spin on The Beggar’s Opera was stylish, with a very deliberate production aesthetic courtesy of Kneehigh. But more than anything else, this was the performance I kept thinking back to, which is the surest sign that it had a meaningful impact.

Mike Whitton

Looking back at a year during which I enjoyed many excellent productions and suffered relatively few turkeys, I see that three of my top five choices were presented at the Bath Theatre Royal.  English Touring Theatre’s Equus featured a mesmerising performance from Ethan Kai as Alan Strang, the disturbed youngster whose passionate obsessions cause his psychiatrist to look critically at the mundane nature of his own life. At the same venue, the year’s most memorable comic performances came from Jennifer Saunders as the dotty medium Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, and from Katherine Parkinson as the desperately cheery Judy in Home, I’m Darling. At the Bristol Old Vic, Inua Ellam’s genuinely fresh and provocative Barber Shop Chronicles was an outstanding piece of ensemble work, full of vitality and inventiveness.  However, my number one choice has to be the BOVTS’s hugely ambitious Nicholas Nickleby.  Presented in two parts, it gave us Dickens in all his kaleidoscopic glory, mixing comedy and pathos, darkness and light in a thoroughly absorbing and deeply moving fashion.  Bravo!

Robert Gainer

There were many enjoyable productions in the Birmingham and Coventry area during 2019, but there were two stand out performances that have stayed with me long after the curtains came down. In Inua Ellams’s The Half-God of Rainfall at Birmingham Rep actress Rakie Ayola was able to take a strong poetic script and capture her audience with it in a thoroughly convincing display, seamlessly switching between humour and tragedy at will while portraying several characters and maintaining tension throughout. On a different scale, French mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez was sensational in her interpretation of Carmen in Welsh National Opera’s version of Bizet’s classic score at the Birmingham Hippodrome. It was not just her singing, but her new and mature realisation of the eponymous character that left a lasting impression on me. 

Other shows worthy of mention were Circus 1903 and On Your Feet, both at Birmingham Hippodrome. While neither will enter the history books as masterpieces of modern theatre, they were both infectiously entertaining in very different ways, and exceeded my expectations. I went to them unsure if I would enjoy them, and came away delighted. 

Adrian Mantle

At the Bristol Old Vic this year Matt Haig’s Reason to Stay Alive affected a powerful message about the important topic of mental health. With a softer tone Tamsin Hurtado Clarke used the enigmatic novel 100 Years of Solitude as inspiration for her own family story in 100 Years at the Wardrobe Theatre.

Also at the Wardrobe two humorous highlights were The Cabinet of Madame Fanny du Thé and The Jurassic Parks. Both well-acted with comic energy and passion. The delightful Rapunzel at the equally delightful Egg Theatre in Bath was my favourite piece of family theatre. Credit to the creative team here for the sets, which are lush, leafy and enchanting.

But the Standout show was the Wardrobe Theatre team’s genre mash-up, adult comedy Drac & Jill. Clever, rude and very funny. Director Tom Brennan, dramaturg Matt Whittle and the cast eke out every last laugh from this production that is full of lewd fun right through to the end.

Bryan Mason

In another strong year for Bristol based theatre the highlights feature a couple of true life stories with a classic

Best was Unicorns, Almost by Owen Shears in the Weston Studio at the Bristol Old Vic.  Telling the story of neglected poet Keith Douglas it managed to say something new about war and he people who lived and died in it.  An excellent production with Dan Krikler excelling in this one man show. 

I also liked Stranger on the Bridge and Much Ado about Nothing at the Tobacco Factory. The former was the story of Jonny Benjamin who was talked out of jumping off Waterloo Bridge by a total stranger and of his quest to rebuild his life and find his own Good Samaritan.  Jack Brownridge-Kelly excelled as the lead with the whole piece rising to a different level of dramatic intensity. Much Ado was great fun and featured two fabulous central performances of equal brilliance: Geoffrey Lumb’s Benedick and Dorothea Myer-Bennett’s Beatrice elevated this production from good to great.  

@BookingAround

Miles Jupp plays actor David Tomlinson in The Life I Lead which I saw at the Oxford Playhouse. He is jovial and conversational with the audience, teasingly assuming that we remember him from his romantic comedy success, Marry Me. This type of play, where the actor monologues directly to the audience could easily be flat and biographically factual, but instead, Jupp draws us in. It’s possible to forget you’re in a theatre; you could just as easily be in a drawing room, hearing him tell his life story over a glass of something.