Monthly Archives: August 2013

Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1955 had their first failure with this long-forgotten musical, a collector’s item, which was set in a brothel in Monterey, California, and based on John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row and its sequel, Sweet Thursday. “We went and … Continue reading →

Carlos Acosta, the highly popular and charismatic Cuban ballet dancer, celebrates his 40th birthday with a revisit to some of his famous virtuoso roles and offers a showcase for eight colleagues from the Royal Ballet. The brief extracts from the … Continue reading →

Rory Fellowes’s monologue on the portrait painter, William Blake Richmond (1842-1921), acted by Nigel Dunbar, is all talk and no drama. The material is more suitable for a straightforward illustrated lecture. Frankly, you would be better off going to St … Continue reading →

Felix Barrett, who founded Punchdrunk in 2000, has directed every production since then and goes for spectacular promenade productions in unusual and unexpected places. The venue this time is the former Royal Mail sorting office alongside Paddington Station. The vast … Continue reading →

The “Josephine” is Josephine Baker, the legendary African American erotic dancer. The “I” is a British black actress who is torn between staying at home with her boy friend and having a baby or seizing a chance for a career … Continue reading →

Dan Gordon’s 80-minute memoir and tribute to the shipyard created by Harland and Wolff in Belfast is based on his dad’s experiences in a lifetime in the yard, starting as a teenage apprentice in 1947 and ending with illness and … Continue reading →

English National Ballet pays tribute to the legacy of Nureyev with a triple bill. The performance began with a short film, featuring Nureyev in a solo from Le Corsaire, a hard act to follow. Fokine’s Petrushka is tamely revived. Maurice … Continue reading →