The Shawshank Redemption at the Everyman, Cheltenham

The Shawshank Redemption at the Everyman, Cheltenham

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As with all Bill Kenwright productions, visually it is stunning. The towering, box-like confines of the set by Gary McCann and atmospheric lighting by Chris Davey immediately transport us to the grim environment that is an American prison . . . If you are one of the half-dozen or so people in the civilised world who do not know The Shawshank Redemption then I recommend you take this opportunity to discover it. If you are, like the rest of us, already a fan, you will not be disappointed.

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The Madame Macadam Travelling Theatre at Bristol Old Vic Studio

The Madame Macadam Travelling Theatre at Bristol Old Vic Studio

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Thomas Kilroy’s play is set in a small village in the neutral Republic of Ireland during the Second World War. With the rest of Europe going up in flames the fledgling Republic’s stance was a kind of denial of the realities of geopolitics at the time as attempts were made to carry on to carry on as if times were normal – which of course they weren’t.

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Rambert’s ROOSTER at Birmingham Rep

Rambert’s ROOSTER at Birmingham Rep

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The triumphant final act was Rooster, a show for which Rambert has become renowned and received much praise. To laud it is an exercise in reiteration, but it is unavoidable when describing Christopher Bruce’s electric and charming dance. It is funny, but it also successfully displays the truth of young adulthood, where preening and posing mean that there are always those on the outside to the in-crowd. Vanessa Kang is particularly strong here.

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EVENTIDE on tour

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A man walks into a pub. So begins the first line of Barney Norris’s heart-wrenching new play, Eventide, and also its action. The opening line goes on to become a rather rude joke about a ferret, the details of which I will not go into here in case my mum is reading. The teller of this joke is the man that walks into a pub. Well, that walks into a pub garden, if we’re being picky . . . And of not quite knowing what to do when things end. A man walks into a pub. What happens when he walks out again we never find out.

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THE WINTER’S TALE at the Everyman, Cheltenham

THE WINTER’S TALE at the Everyman, Cheltenham

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Shakespeare’s green-eyed monster, jealousy, raises its ugly head again in The Winter’s Tale. Its destructive power is a gift for an actor, enabling him to work through his whole repertoire of emotions and techniques, ranging from initial bonhomie to suspicion, to anger, to revenge and finally to regret. There is a lot of meat there into which the able thespian can sink his teeth . . . a satisfying and entertaining, if not exciting or original, production

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WNO’s ORLANDO at the Bristol Hippodrome

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Director Harry Fehr has painted Orlando as a senior officer in the RAF, given to outbreaks of sudden violent behaviour – a man seized and eventually overcome with hallucinatory dementia inflamed by the realisation that the woman he loves has left him for another man. That other man is the soldier Medoro, also in hospital to recover, but from physical wounds, not a mental condition . . . As can be expected of the WNO, this was another very high quality production showing bold interpretation and delivery.

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