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Review: Angela, Sound Stage

Launching new audio drama platform Sound Stage, Mark Ravenhill’s Angela is a profoundly moving account of his mother’s experience of dementia

“I don’t like it when they change the story, I wish they would stick to the story”

I don’t know why I put myself through dementia dramas. They tap into one of my deepest fears and more often than not leave me terribly distressed but who says art should ever be easy? Mark Ravenhill’s autobiographical Angela launches the Sound Stage platform created by the Royal Lyceum theatre and Pitlochry Festival theatre, adding in virtual theatregoing elements to the audio drama experience and predictably, is gut-wrenchingly yet beautifully felt.

Drawing directly on his mother’s journey with Alzheimer’s and how that impacted the whole family, Ravenhill places her experiences at the heart of his play, a boldly disconcerting move which feels entirely right. As we slip from present to past, as an encounter here triggers a memory there, a portrait is built of the richness of a life lived, even as recollections of it are slipping away from her grasp. Continue reading “Review: Angela, Sound Stage”

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News: Cast announced for the premiere of Mark Ravenhill’s first autobiographical play Angela

The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, in association with  Naked Productions and BBC Radio 3  are delighted to announce the cast for Sound Stage’s first production; Angela, a brand-new autobiographical play by Mark Ravenhill airing 26 – 28 March.

Angela centres on the playwright’s mother, at the age of 84 and suffering with dementia, as she looks back across her life. Intercutting between Angela in her old age, her memories and mind failing her, and in her youth; growing up, moving away from her roots as the world of drama welcomed her. The Play depicts her struggle with depression and the challenges of her own aspirations, and becoming a mother, poignantly set against Mark’s experience of beginning to learn ballet, his lifelong passion, in his fifties. Continue reading “News: Cast announced for the premiere of Mark Ravenhill’s first autobiographical play Angela”

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Review: Betrayal, Theatre Royal Bath

An hour plus of a straight white man justifying his affair or a modern classic? I go in for more Betrayal at the Theatre Royal Bath

“I thought it might be something like that. Something along those lines”

The things I do for the actresses I love. Despite the Herculean efforts of the Pinter at the Pinter festival, I still can’t say I am Harold’s biggest fan. But the announcement of Nancy Carroll in a play, alongside Ed Bennett and Joseph Millson, in these theatre-starved times was one I found hard to resist.

So I made the trip into the safe havens of Tier 1 from Tier 2 to see Jonathan Church’s production of  Betrayal at the Theatre Royal Bath. And once again, I kinda thought ‘huh, this is a modern classic?’. With the memories of Jamie Lloyd’s fresher take still bold too, the choice to keep it firmly in the 70s didn’t click for me. Continue reading “Review: Betrayal, Theatre Royal Bath”

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More September theatre news

SIX reunite, The Theatre Channel switches on, The Shows Go On return and casting is revealed in Bath

© Danny Kaan

The Reunion is the first stage+streaming concert performance by seven powerhouse vocalists who rose to fame as the original West End queens of the musical SIX: Aimie Atkinson, Alexia McIntosh, Grace Mouat, Jarneia Richard-Noel, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Millie O’Connell, and Natalie Paris. The show will be livestreamed by theatre platform Thespie but a lucky few will also be able to get tickets to see the concerts live on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th October.

Performances will be held in Oval Space, a spacious and well-ventilated East London venue that has been entirely reimagined for safe, seated music and theatre performances. The seating plan is entirely flexible which allows seating to be customised to the audience that books. Audiences book for themselves and their household or support bubble only (to a maximum of six), and Thespie’s technology determines a seat plan that ensures safe spacing between households and optimises use of the space. Continue reading “More September theatre news”

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Re-review: Mary Poppins, Prince Edward Theatre

So good I went twice in as many weeks! I rave about Mary Poppins as it delights the West End at the Prince Edward Theatre

“I suffer no nonsense and whilst I remain
There’s nothing else I feel I need to explain”

So good I went twice in as many weeks! When the opportunity presented itself to go back to Mary Poppins, I couldn’t help myself. So why not take a read of my five star review for Official Theatre here. And if you’re that way inclined, you can read my other review here.

Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes (with interval)
Photos: Johan Persson
Mary Poppins is booking at the Prince Edward Theatre until 3rd May

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Review: Mary Poppins, Prince Edward Theatre

Someone clearly has too much time on their hands…enjoy the wordplay in this review of this spectcular revival of Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre

“Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I”

Strallens to the fore,
umbrellas at the ready,
penguins…well we won’t mention them. Making its return to the Prince
Edward Theatre where it debuted in 2004, this
revival of
classic musical Mary Poppins
arrives at just the right time to
lift our spirits as the nights start to draw
in and politicians spout
falsehood after falsehood to further darken our nights. And there’s a
rollicking good time to be had here
as the show recalls the
good old days of easy-going entertainment.
In the
leading role, Zizi Strallen
is a constant delight as the
stern nanny with just the right amount of
twinkle in her eye as she alights upon the Banks’ household. Vocally, she
is impressive too, whether rebuffing
Charlie Stemp’s charmingly flirtatious Bert whose
enormous perma-grin may or may not be the result of
xanax
pills.
In the roles of the domestic staff, Claire Machin
and Jack North get many a
laugh and
if George Banks isn’t the  
dad of your dreams, Joseph Millson pretty much is.
Obviously
children play a big part
in this world and the pair
of tykes I saw this evening were
unusually
sweet and sour as their characters are much naughtier than the film. Continue reading “Review: Mary Poppins, Prince Edward Theatre”

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Full list of 2017 UK Theatre Awards winners

The full list of winners of this year’s UK Theatre Awards have been announced and you can find them below:

Best Presentation Of Touring Theatre
Nuffield Southampton Theatres for the world premiere touring musical production of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox

Best Show for Children and Young People
The Snow Queen, New Vic Theatre

Best Director
Gemma Bodinetz, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse new repertory season
Continue reading “Full list of 2017 UK Theatre Awards winners”

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Nominations for the 2017 UK Theatre Awards

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide Awards to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in regional theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and they have just announced the nominations for the 2017 awards, the results of which will be revealed at a ceremony on Sunday 15th October. 

How many of these did you see, and who do you think should win?

Best new play
Half Breed by Tash Marshall, Talawa Theatre Company and Soho Theatre
Narvik by Lizzie Nunnery, Box of Tricks
Wish List by Katherine Soper, Royal Court and Royal Exchange Theatre

Best musical production
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Sheffield Theatres
Caroline, Or Change, Chichester Festival Theatre
Sweet Charity, Royal Exchange Theatre Continue reading “Nominations for the 2017 UK Theatre Awards”

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Review: Apologia, Trafalgar Studios

“We have just elected our first African-American President
‘Let’s see what happens in the long run…'”

It is tempting to think that this revival of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s 2009 play Apologia was mooted simply so that the above line could get the laughs it richly deserves for its prescience. As it is, Jamie Lloyd has fashioned it into the vehicle that has tempted Stockard Channing back into the West End for the first time in 25 years or so (although she did make it to the Almeida in for Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing). 

Perhaps the word should be refashioned, as the play has been subtly adapted to make its central character an American (I find myself entirely intrigued about the process of this happening – rewrites over accents) but what a character she is. Kristin Miller is celebrating both the publication of a memoir about her career as an eminent art historian and her birthday but gathering folk around the dinner table proves far from a game of happy families. Continue reading “Review: Apologia, Trafalgar Studios”