Monthly Archives: August 2013

“The whole play,” wrote Luigi Pirandello in a letter to his son in 1916, “is full of songs and sunshine and is so light-hearted that it doesn’t seem like one of my works at all.” British audiences, brought up on … Continue reading →

Charlotte Bronte’s heady mixture of romantic melodrama and Gothic horror was based on her own passions, dreams, frustrations and rebellion against a lonely and monotonous life. The novel was published in 1847 and staged soon after. There have been at … Continue reading →

Alexi Kaye Campbell’s play was much lauded when it premiered at the Royal Court in 2008, winning major awards, including Outstanding Achievement, Best New Play and Most Promising Playwright. Jamie Lloyd directed it then and he’s also directing this revival. … Continue reading →

West Side Story, one of the great musicals of the 20th century, possibly the greatest, premiered in New York in 1957 and in London in 1958. Sadly, no revival since then has ever been able to equal the impact Jerome … Continue reading →

The difficulty these days for any revival is that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s schmaltzy mixture of affable nuns climbing ev’ry mountain, cute children singing Do-Re-Mi and nasty Nazis invading Austria, still, even 48 years on, has to compete with the memory … Continue reading →

Many people these days have found that an easy way to make money is by putting in dodgy insurance claims and living handsomely off the winnings. It is lawyers, with their offer of “no win/no fee”, who have actively encouraged … Continue reading →

Fredrik Rydman’s ballet is billed as Tchaikovsky Meets Street Dance. Purists should stay miles away. The pre-recorded score used here is only partially by Tchaikovsky and has been grossly distorted, scratched and slowed down. Music is also provided by Swedish … Continue reading →

As everybody knows RMS Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 14 April, 1912. She was the largest and most luxurious ship ever built and she was thought to be unsinkable; … Continue reading →