VOLPONE at the Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon

VOLPONE at the Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon

by

As Volpone, Henry Goodman is in his element. Energetic and jocular he takes great joy in his tempestuous life and every twist of his schemes. He confides winningly to the audience, lapses into a delightful cod Italian accent with matching gestures to impersonate a fake medicine salesman, and instantly ages thirty years every time the security cameras spy an approaching visitor. . . overall mastery imaginatively served by a first rate production and a leading performance that will go down in theatre history.

Read More
INFINITY POOL at the Brewery, Bristol

INFINITY POOL at the Brewery, Bristol

by

Helped by a great sound track by Keegan Curran, Bea Roberts builds towards the inevitable denouement. She recognises that profound theatre can be found in unlikely places – in drab business parks or on anonymous computer screens, and that desire and yearning will always find a way to connect, if not to always end well. With Infinity Pool Roberts puts a twenty-first century spin on an old classic. With effortless command over the lingo of the laptop and her precise observations into humdrum lives, Roberts is a writer to take seriously. Go and see this, it’s funny, it’s sad, and it’s very, very different.

Read More
SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER at the Theatre Royal Bath

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER at the Theatre Royal Bath

by

Anita Dobson, beloved by many for her appearances as Angie Watts in EastEnders and in Strictly Come Dancing stole the night with her hilarious entrance as the bedraggled, soaked and much-duped mother of the very naughty Tony. Michael Pennington seethed nicely throughout as Mr Hardcastle, and a very chirpy Catherine Steadman as Kate connived effectively to win her somewhat dubious (you’d have to say) man.

Read More
I AM HAMLET at the Wardrobe, Bristol

I AM HAMLET at the Wardrobe, Bristol

by

I Am Hamlet is a play by Richard James, available by online publisher and rights agent Lazy Bee and apparently award-winning. With its am-dram setting and pseudo intellectualism, it’s been a hit amongst amateur theatre companies for the past couple of years, elsewhere it had a mixed reception. Importantly, this week at The Wardrobe it’s the turn of Bristol-based company, Page2Stage.

Read More
NEW ENGLISH BALLET THEATRE at the Cheltenham Everyman

NEW ENGLISH BALLET THEATRE at the Cheltenham Everyman

by

“. . . I am not a dance aficionado but I can find a night watching a good modern ballet company as satisfying as seeing a great play and wonderful acting. So, it may be just my uninformed imagination, but there seem to be rather a lot of small(ish) independent dance troupes around at the moment . . . New English Ballet Theatre is certainly a company to keep an eye on and one which, when they become fully aware of their strengths, will no doubt become major players.

Read More
Owen Sheers’ PINK MIST at the Bristol Old Vic

Owen Sheers’ PINK MIST at the Bristol Old Vic

by

Originally commissioned and broadcast as part of BBC Radio 4’s More Than Words listening festival in 2012, Owen Sheers’ uncompromising piece about three young men from Bristol who enlist in the army, and the ensuing price they and their partners and relatives pay for that decision explodes onto the Bristol Old Vic stage with a young cast on top of its game. This is a tour-de-force worth catching, and surely the antidote of antidotes to all war games-style army adverts.

Read More

Pin It on Pinterest