Author: Simon Bishop

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR on Tour

“Back in 1963 what were we doing? Basking on our sofas watching Lassie and the Dick van Dyke Show? Listening to Peter Paul and Mary sing Puff the Magic Dragon perhaps? The scary days of nuclear profusion were still with us, but we had reached a watershed moment when the idealism of the 1960s finally dawned and we could embrace the idea of Peace as an end in itself. While the atomic bomb and the Iron Curtain still loomed, a new un-conscripted generation demanded and expected new social freedoms. The idea of war in itself finally seemed absurd. . . . ”

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Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA at the Theatre Royal Bath

” . . . Kneehigh brought trademark sideshow moments to the production. Throughout, moods were heightened by some lovely playing on violin, xylophone, mandolin, accordion and double bass, and there were full-throated Cornish sea shanties that gave roots to the drama – After the Soul is Gone, and Hang Boys, Hang interrupting the gloominess of the plot. There was puppetry too, notably Jasper the dog, and a hilarious ‘scratch’- style Charleston danced by the full cast. . . “

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WICKED at the Bristol Hippodrome

“. . . The two female leads circle and play off each other throughout, unknowingly becoming crucial influences on each other while an unlikely friendship brews between them. . . The staging of the action was wonderfully realised with a mesmerising set that morphed from twirling cog wheels to portcullis bars; time pieces gave way to an extraordinary mechanised Wizard; changing skyscapes dissolved to the green green shininess of Oz . . .”

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DETECTIVE O & THE COLD CASE CAPER at the Bristol Old Vic Studio

” . . . To a great sound track by local musician Kid Carpet, Cori found ‘clues’ amongst the audience and with the children’s participation started to find links to the missing mini-girl . . . The show is fun and quite gentle – no loud bangs for instance, and relies solely on Cori’s unquestionable talent for instilling life into inanimate objects and her confident and friendly manner. As an alternative to the annual panto, this is a good entrée to the world of theatre for the very young.

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The Government Inspector at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

What better a backdrop to this adapted mid-nineteenth century Russian tale of furtive favours and farce than the current HSBC Swiss branch shenanigans? Today it’s ‘bricks’ of used notes walking out of a culture of silence. Back in 1836 Nikolai Gogol was having enormous fun at the expense of the dodgy geezers in small town Russian bureaucracy – nods and winks divided by almost two centuries, but a common theme to both.

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