Author: Simon Bishop

AN EVENING OF DEMENTIA at the Ustinov, Bath

“. . . Smith uses the play to make wider points. “There is a lot of dementia about,” he says, “We are forgetting to care for one another in an everyday common sense sort of way.” Delivered by the man who no longer recognises his own family, this makes for powerful health politicking. . . Smith’s convincing narrative makes us weep, sometimes ironically laugh at this uncomfortable yet for many inevitable seventh stage in the life of man. By putting the condition centre stage we are all helped to look at it in the teeth.”

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WHO IS DORY PREVIN? at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

“If you look Dory Previn up on YouTube you’ll see that her clips have been viewed on average about 20,000 times each. By comparison Kate Bush’s views on the video-sharing website number in the many millions. Both women were working in the 1970s, both were writing highly original and personal material with sometimes quirky lyrics . . . Kate Dimbleby’s celebratory exploration of Previn’s experiences and songbook breathed life back into this deeply personal work that has always existed outside music’s mainstream.”

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FLEABAG at Brewery Theatre, Bristol

“. . . In your face, up your bottom, Fleabag is about sex – shedloads of it during a steamy, hilarious and sometimes disturbing hour. Bright-eyed, rouge-lipped Maddie Rice delivers Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s pulsating, award-winning monologue with disarming easy confidence . . . Waller-Bridge is a voice to be reckoned with. Take note, this woman knows no fear. At a time when post modernist feminism is battering at The Sun to remove its topless page 3, along comes Fleabag to post us a vagina selfie. You work it out! Brilliant.”

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ORCA at the Alma Theatre, Bristol

Three cheers for the Alma – another thought-provoking play performed with great intensity to an appreciative audience, who despite prolonged applause couldn’t entice actors Lucy Ross-Elliott (Esme) and Angus Harrison (Willard) back out for a second bow at tonight’s performance of Orca. . . Orca is much more than an ocean-going mammal on wheels – it’s well worth experiencing this well-acted black comedy drama, tankside at the Alma.

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To Kill a Mockingbird at Bath Theatre Royal

“The ultimate parable of racial intolerance, bigotry and injustice, in 2006 British librarians ranked Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird ahead of the Bible as one “every adult should read before they die”. It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation has been performed all over the world and in Monroeville, Alabama, the setting for the novel, every year since 1990. . . The full house in the Theatre Royal saved its biggest cheer for the children who starred in tonight’s show presented by the Regent’s Park Open Air Company. . .”

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