THE FORBIDDEN DOOR at Tobacco Factory, Bristol & North Wall, Oxford

THE FORBIDDEN DOOR at Tobacco Factory, Bristol & North Wall, Oxford

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The story itself is a fantastic mix of well-known fairly-tale motifs and new inventions. It shifts – or is shifted – seamlessly, from the gods and the cosmos to the familiar and domestic. As in the myths of Ancient Greece, gods roam the Earth and inhabit human forms. As in all good fairy-tales, familiar, pattern-building repetition is deployed and intercut with surprising twists and turns. Not one, but two epic quests are undertaken, grizzly sacrifices are made and the images and messages conjured by this magic act are as dark, as strange and as vivid as any of Hans Christian Anderson’s or Perrault’s.

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Alan Ayckbourn’s ROUNDELAY at Bath Theatre Royal

Alan Ayckbourn’s ROUNDELAY at Bath Theatre Royal

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” . . . For me the four plays didn’t hang together and were only saved from complete collapse by some good acting. E.M.Forster gives a useful distinction of the difference between a random sequence and a plot; whereas, ‘The king died then the queen died’, is a story, ‘The king died then the queen died of grief’, is a plot in virtue of the fact that the latter contains the element of causality. In Roundelay Mr. Ayckbourn has lost the plot in that sense, but hasn’t quite given us a satisfying replacement . . . ”

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Mike Whitton’s review of 2016

Mike Whitton’s review of 2016

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StageTalk Magazine reviewer Mike Whitton takes a look back over some of the shows he has seen in the past twelve months in Bristol and Bath. He reveals his overall favourite and explains why some shows turned out to be a bit disappointing.

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BROKE at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath

BROKE at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath

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” . . .The Paper Birds have recognised two big truths: firstly that debt is the vehicle by which financial establishments create new money. And secondly that we are all slavishly engaged in the perpetration of this act, but that some are paying a higher price than others. . . Close to the Ustinov you can hear the sound of tennis balls ‘pocking’ away in brightly lit and heated all-year membership-only courts. . . Less than 500 metres away the Bath Food Bank operates out of the Manvers Street Baptist Church. The Paper Birds are right to tap into this dichotomy.”

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LITTLE WOLF GANG at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

LITTLE WOLF GANG at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

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In just under an hour the four members of Little Wolf Gang give vivid and lively accounts of three musical folk tales from Russia. The show opens with A Daring Fiddler Meets a Devilish Stranger at the Crossroads, a supernatural story that gives violinist Fiona Barrow plenty of opportunity to display her expressive and idiomatic skills, ably supported by Eddy Jay on accordion. Narrator Martin Maudsley revels in the devilish details, and makes it clear that audience participation is expected.

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GROUNDED at the Arnolfini, Bristol

GROUNDED at the Arnolfini, Bristol

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“. . This performance by Lucy Ellison is as intense and concentrated a piece of acting as you are likely to find anywhere on the contemporary stage . . . The direction by Christopher Haydon gets the most from the scenario, leading his actress in such a way as to maintain interest with great economy of stagecraft . . . George Brant does not offer any alternative point of view or any answers, but he does raise some fundamental, important and urgent questions about the way we go about killing one another. This is theatre at its most vital, brilliantly acted.”

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