Author: Simon Bishop

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at Brandon Hill, Bristol

This was as joyful a theatrical experience as one could wish for. Performed outside on Brandon Hill’s verdant and tree-lined slopes, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men played to a crowd of several hundred, who drifted away into the summer night afterwards with warm smiles on their faces . . . this was timeless Elizabethan theatre at its best.

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BLOOM PRESENTS… at the Wardrobe, Bristol

Eclectic, crazy, moody, intense, personal, funny, faltering and finally formidable… the music cooperative Bloom was all this in yet another mini triumph for The Wardrobe Theatre, who seem hardwired to find and reveal risk-taking artists in this wonderfully creative city . . .

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THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at the Bristol Hippodrome

The Time Warp hit town last night, and in the time honoured way, whether travelling in to the centre on the number 4 or the 43, many succumbing to its pleasures felt compelled to wear nothing but undies, fishnets and basques. St Augustine’s Parade was awash with jiggering flesh as we lined up for our bag checks. Once inside, this jolly crew was more than ready to play its part in a fast, furious and fun evening’s entertainment.

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THE TAMING OF THE SHREW at the Bristol Hippodrome

Birmingham Royal Ballet dazzled with the athletic prowess of its Principal Dancers during this highly stylised and sumptuously costumed performance of The Taming of the Shrew . . . Choreographer John Cranko climaxes this piece with three pas-de-deux involving Principal Dancers Iain Mackay and Elisha Willis as ‘conquering’ lover Petruchio and the Shrew, Katherina. Mackay kept his swagger throughout a gruelling workout of dramatic lifts, slides and off-balance promenades . . .

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KING LEAR at the Bristol Old Vic

The Bristol Old Vic is to be congratulated on its approach to this production in which great ‘old hands’ play alongside hitherto unknown students from the Old Vic Theatre School. The experiment not only worked, it turbo-charged the play with some exceptional performances. Timothy West (Lear), Stephanie Cole (The Fool) and David Hargreaves (Gloucester) were the rocks on which the rest of the cast could build . . . truly sensational theatre.

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