Monthly Archives: June 2016

Shakespeare’s comedy is performed by seven actors, a fruitless exercise and difficult to follow for those who don’t know the play. Purists should give it a wide berth.

Bertolt Brecht’s 3 Penny Opera is regularly revived worldwide because of Kurt Weill’s mordant, haunting score. Five years after its hugely successful Berlin premiere in 1929 it was officially denounced by the Nazis as a prime example of Degenerate Art. … Continue reading →

Drew McOnie’s Jekyll & Hyde – his first full-length two-act dance-drama – will appeal to a Matthew Bourne audience. The most famous of all double acts is one person. Here he is played by two clever dancers, Daniel Collins and … Continue reading →

Richard Madden and Lily James are not totally at ease with Shakespeare’s verse and much of what they say is just a lot of words. There is no tragedy. Derek Jacobi is unexpectedly cast as Mercutio. What, you may ask, … Continue reading →

The Merchants of Bollywood is aimed at Asian families who will go for the spectacle and the energy. Bollywood dancing is all about energy. There is no respite for the dancers when they are off-stage; they constantly have to change … Continue reading →

Berlin’s Schaubuhne is touring Forbidden Zone, a feminine perspective on war, science and chemical weapons. Audiences will come out of the theatre talking about Katie Mitchell’s characteristic and upstaging multi-media production rather than about the moral responsibilities of scientists in … Continue reading →

“If you want a picture of the future,” said George Orwell, “imagine a boot on a human face – forever.” Jonathan Watkins’s touring version of 1984 for Northern Ballet fails to capture the nightmarish horror of a totalitarian state exercising … Continue reading →

Joe Penhall’s awarding-winning Blue/Orange is the best play on the London stage and not to be missed. Matthew Xia’s revival confirms a modern classic. The acting is excellent. The setting is a NHS psychiatric hospital. A junior doctor and a … Continue reading →