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Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s Globe

“Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show. But wonder on, till ’truth make all things plain”

Above the stage for Emma Rice’s inaugural production as artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe is an illuminated sign that reads “rock the ground”. A quote from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is the opening show of this season, it also feels like something of a statement of intent, a determination to do things her own which on this evidence, feels guaranteed to ruffle the feathers of a traditionalist or three. 

So lights are being used like never before, sound systems only previously heard at gigs dusted off, and a resolutely idiosyncratic approach to the text employed. At times, it feels like a raucous rough-housing which makes for a different Bankside experience at the very least, and one which I have to say got round to seducing me. I’m sure Rice will have her detractors, as she moves from Kneehigh to the Globe,  but the scope of her ambition here is rather awesome in its boldness. Continue reading “Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s Globe”

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2012 What’s On Stage Award nominations

BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY
James Corden – One Man, Two Guvnors at the National, Lyttelton & Adelphi 
Benedict Cumberbatch – Frankenstein at the National, Olivier 
Jude Law – Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse 
Kevin Spacey – Richard III at the Old Vic 
David Tennant – Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham’s
James Earl Jones – Driving Miss Daisy at Wyndham’s 

BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Vanessa Redgrave – Driving Miss Daisy at Wyndham’s 
Eve Best – Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe 
Kristin Scott Thomas – Betrayal at the Comedy 
Ruth Wilson – Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse 
Samantha Spiro – Chicken Soup with Barley at the Royal Court Downstairs
Tamsin Greig – Jumpy at the Royal Court Downstairs Continue reading “2012 What’s On Stage Award nominations”

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Music Review: Lance Horne – First Things Last

“Now you’re here, where else would I be?”

I was lucky enough to catch the Lance Horne concert at the Garrick at the end of January at which his album First Things Last was showcased, but as the cd features a mixture of both British and American musical theatre stars, the gig saw lots of stand-ins putting their own (mostly) brilliant spins on the songs. But I love the CD so very much that I always intended to review it separately as well but it has taken me a wee while to get round to it…

Opening with Alan Cumming’s witty American and taking a swift detour in soft rock territory with the rather bland ‘In The Name Of The Father’, Horne’s strength as a songwriter is demonstrated in a frankly astonishingly good and incredibly varied run of seven songs which make the purchase of this album pretty much essential. From the mid-tempo story songs like ‘Leap’ performed with transatlantic charm by the delightful Emma Williams and Julie Atherton’s powerhouse vocals on ‘Every Moment’ to the wry humour of ‘Haircut’ with a great turn from Ricki Lake (nicely erasing any memory of Graham Norton’s efforts…!), there’s such strength in depth here.

Continue reading “Music Review: Lance Horne – First Things Last”

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Review: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Gielgud

“The clock will tick away the hours one by one”

‘A French romance that just happens to be sung’ is the subtitle to Kneehigh’s adaptation of the 1964 film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg which has arrived at the Gielgud Theatre, following their hugely successful take on Brief Encounter a couple of years ago. The story is boy meets girl, they fall in love but he gets called to national service in Algeria, but she is…well, I can’t give it all away, but it is a nicely mature look at the ebb and flow of love and romance which rarely runs as smoothly as we would all like.

Perhaps predictably, the show is full of Kneehigh-isms, the tricks and stagecraft for which they have become so well-known, but perhaps with diminishing returns in this instance. We have finger-walking people, freaky puppet children, sailors carrying people around when they want to go somewhere, a man (badly) dragged up as the elderly aunt, a swish-looking video wall: all are professionally done, but hardly any of them feel genuinely part of the fabric of the show, an integral part of the story-telling and so consequently the feeling is often of ‘we know how to do it, so we will’. The video wall is really effective in the way it is employed but it is for the briefest of moments only and I couldn’t help wonder if the focus shouldn’t have been more on keeping the ticket prices down. Continue reading “Review: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Gielgud”

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Review: Lance Horne – First Things Last, Garrick

“What matters are the things you leave behind
And the echoes love can leave inside your mind
And the lights that last from random acts of kindness
Kind of simple, kind of not”

First Things Last celebrated the release of American musical theatre writer Lance Horne’s debut album at the Garrick Theatre, following two shows in New York earlier this month. The album features a host of highly talented stars from the West End and Broadway, so the concerts have had different line-ups reflecting people’s availability but this concert featured a line-up that read like a who’s who of the cream of British musical theatre and then some. The show was produced by those champions of new musical theatre Speckulation and lived up to expectations as a most stunning showcase for some seriously talented stars and a most engaging writer.

Picking a favourite moment from the event is a bit like my own version of Sophie’s Choice, but I was probably most looking forward to Meow Meow’s performance and she did not fail to deliver. Her song ‘January’, a regretful tale of a lost love, is like a 1960s black and white French film brought fully to life, her silkily sultry vocals perfectly matching the Jacques Brel feel of the song and I now could not be more excited for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg if I tried, it is going to be immense! Continue reading “Review: Lance Horne – First Things Last, Garrick”