MIDLANDS THEATRES - REVIEWS
REVIEWERS NEEDED TO COVER SOME OF THE LISTED VENUES ....AND MORE!
(to find a specific production use the
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Selected reviews appear
on this page for productions at: BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY COMPANY; BIRMINGHAM
HIPPODROME; THE ALEXANDRA THEATRE - BIRMINGHAM;
THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE
COMPANY AT STRATFORD-UPON-AVON; THE BELGRADE THEATRE, COVENTRY; THE
HAYMARKET THEATRE, LEICESTER; THE GRAND THEATRE, WOLVERHAMPTON, WORCESTER -
Swan Theatre; MALVERN THEATRES: DERBY THEATRES; NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE,
COURTYARD THEATRE, HEREFORD
THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE
COMPANY
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
Box Office: 01789 295623
(open 9am - 8pm Mon - Sat)
MORTE D’ARTHUR
By Sir Thomas Malory, adapted by Mike Poulton
Royal Shakespeare
Company, Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Now playing in
repertory until 28th August 2010
The
triumph of Gregory Doran’s staging of the Arthurian legend is that it
makes us aware of what a rich psychological study the myth offers. Never before
have I felt, with other versions of the story, the
comprehensiveness of its vision of the range of our emotions. Love, loyalty,
betrayal, courage, cowardice, hatred, obsession, shame, religious awe –
all human life is there.
At
fifteen minutes under four hours, it is a long show, but it does not feel like
it. Mike Poulton has done a remarkable job in
distilling Malory’s twenty-one books into a manageable evening, and we
are taken from the sword in the stone to the death and apotheosis of King
Arthur, and then of Launcelot. The language is that
of fifteenth century Malory, with occasional phrasings more reminiscent of Miracle
plays, and the casting suggests the broad sweep of the work with a full range
of the regional accents of the British Isles, from a Scots Merlin to the
surprising vowel sounds of a Northern Irish Launcelot.
At
the centre is the King Arthur of Sam Troughton, who
ages wonderfully from the boy pulling the sword from the anvil to the Lear-like
figure finally confronting Mordred. It is a
performance of real clarity and power. And he is matched by Kirsty
Woodward’s statuesque, Pre-Raphaelite Guinever,
who, with less to say, manages nevertheless to suggest the Queen’s
contradictory blend of chastity and passion. Noma Dumezweni is excellent as the resourceful and treacherous
Morgan le Fay, and Jonjo O’Neill is a strong Launcelot, although – in spite of a nervous warning
on the RSC website of scenes of a sexual
nature and the possibility of some
nakedness – the erotic charge of his affair with Guinever
(and that of much of the rest of the story) seemed somehow muted.
Forbes
Masson’s Merlin is also a strong and persuasive performance, and Mariah
Gale gives us a delightful Elaine, full of passion, innocence and despair. It
is altogether, barring one or two audibility problems with narrators facing
upstage, a most impressive cast.
As
with The Arabian Nights, the Courtyard
lends itself very well to this kind of narrative theatre. Katrina
Lindsay’s design leaves the stage mostly bare, but makes wonderful use of
a vast, hanging backdrop which is sometimes a curtain, sometimes a rocky cavern
opening, sometimes a mystic mountain, depending on the light shining on it.
Indeed, Tim Mitchell’s lighting contributes a great deal to the
story-telling throughout. Just occasionally, Doran resorts to back-projection
to explain an effect, but, for the most part, we are immersed in theatrical
experience – the sword Excalibur rising from a lake of white mist; a stag
at bay brilliantly pantomimed with a set of antlers; fights
mimed over percussion effects. This
kind of theatre is the RSC at its best.
Reviews by Andrew
Whiffin for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
by William Shakespeare
Now playing in
repertory until 28th August
Royal Shakespeare
Company, Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
After
the best theatrical experiences, one heads for home thinking What a wonderful play! And this was my dominant response to the
RSC’s new production of Shakespeare’s great tragedy Antony and Cleopatra. Its delight in the
contradictory nature of life, in richness of experience, in the triumph of
spirit over mind, is inspiring, and it is no small tribute to Michael
Boyd’s rendering of it – its press night having been delayed by a
few weeks to allow time for an injury to one of the leads to heal – to
say that it does justice to these qualities.
Any
Antony and Cleopatra must stand or
fall on its casting of the Queen of Egypt, whose beguiling nature so clearly
charmed Plutarch in his Life of Marcus
Antonius and, in turn, Shakespeare, who at times seems to be doing no more
than working into a play what he finds in North’s translation of
Plutarch, delighting in including almost every quirk of Cleopatra’s
behaviour. The diminutive Kathryn Hunter, almost Edith Piaf in appearance and
spirit, is as quirky as one could wish, adopting a Middle Eastern accent and a
bewildering range of costume changes in order to bring out the theatrical
instincts of the character. It is
an excellent performance of real charisma and intelligence, and it is easy to
accept that she inspires love in her court – and Hannah Young’s
delightfully happy and playful Charmian contributes
most to this impression.
And
Darrell D’Silva’s Antony works just as
well. He has the physical presence to make his warrior side convincing, and yet
he is also a plausible politician, and thus the sense of his being torn between
the worlds of Rome and Egypt carries some weight. I missed a little of the
lovable boorishness about him, which makes him squirm with discomfort in the
presence of the clinical Octavius of John Mackay, but
it is a sympathetic characterisation, and the central pairing is thus pretty
successful.
It
is a modern dress production, making no particular point by this, but allowing
Cleopatra to shoot at the terrified messenger as well as pull a knife on him.
The modern battle fatigues, however, seem somehow rather reductive. Tom
Piper’s simple set – a convex metal back wall, whose sand and
bronze colouring suggests both Roman and Egyptian associations – serves
well enough too, although the raised platform sliding out periodically from the
central doors was sometimes a little clumsily used (for example, when, in his
final triumph, Octavius Caesar is startlingly
required to shin up a ladder in order to stand upon it).
There
are details with which one could quibble. Some liberties are taken with the
text, often to streamline what is a long play. The Ventidius
scene at the beginning of Act 3 is cut (in spite of its value being praised in
one of the essays in the programme), perhaps understandably. But I missed the
contribution of the Clown who brings the asps to Cleopatra - Charmian now apparently keeping a stock in the cellar - and
we lost something by having the gentle Dolabella
replaced by the plummily-spoken Maecenas, who has
already established himself as a hardened politician in Rome.
Nevertheless,
led by two mature and skilful performances, this is a production which reflects
with direct honesty Shakespeare’s vision of its subject matter.
Reviews by Andrew Wihffin for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
GRAND THEATRE
WOLVERHAMPTON
BOX OFFICE: 01902 42
92 12
Website: www.grandtheatre.co.uk
MURDERED TO DEATH
Now playing until Sat 31st
July
The final play from Ian
Dickens productions began last night and I have to say they saved the best till
last. The cast were first class and included names such as Victor Spinetti, Sandra Dickinson and Roland Oliver, all veterans
of stage and screen.
The action of the play
takes place in the lounge of a country manor house in the late 1930’s
owned and occupied by Mildred (Erin Geraghty) an
elderly widow and her niece Dorothy (Chloe Newsome) who is her only living
relative. When guests are invited for the weekend and Mildred is murdered the
obvious suspect is Dorothy who is set to inherit most of Mildred’s
estate.
The only other full time
occupant of the house is long standing family butler, Bunting (Victor Spinetti), who is on his last legs and very partial to the
household sherry stock! As soon as Spinetti takes to
the stage the audience are in uproar at his great presence and wonderful
one-liners.
Other weekend visitors
to the house are Colonel Charles Craddock (Roland Oliver) and his wife Margaret
(Sandra Dickinson), Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington
(Michelle Hardwick) and the dashing but rather ludicrous Frenchman Piere Marceau.
The play is a comedy
thriller and no more so than when the bungling Inspector Pratt (Norman Pace)
turns up on the scene with his much more sensible and competent sidekick
Constable Thompkins (Christopher Elderwood).
Now, no murder mystery
would be complete without the local busy body and amateur sleuth in the guise
of an innocent old woman. In comes Joan Maple (Elizabeth Williams) and the
scene is complete!
The play is full of
wonderful comic lines which are timed to perfection and the audience seemed to
laugh when there was nothing to laugh at. Great performances by all the cast
makes this a great night out and is not to be missed. It runs at the
Wolverhampton grand until Saturday 31st July.
Reviews
by Fran and Steve Onions for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
MALVERN
THEATRES
FORUM
and FESTIVAL
Grange Road
Malvern
Worcestershire
WR14 3HB
BOX
OFFICE: 01684 892277
Reviews
by Rebecca Vines for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
DERBY
THEATRE
Theatre Walk
Eagle Centre
Derby
DE1 2NF
Box
office: 01332 255 800
DERBY LIVE
Box Office: 01332 255800
Website: www.derbylive.co.uk
E-mail: boxoffice@derby.gov.uk
Reviews
by Mike Wheeler for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
LYCEUM
THEATRE
Heath Street
Crewe
Cheshire CW12DA
BOX OFFICE: 01270 537333
Reviews
by Jonnie Woodall for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE
Wellington Circus
Nottingham NG1 5AF
BOX
OFFICE: 0115 941 9419
Minicom:
0115 947 6100
The Box Office is open
Monday to Saturday from 10.00a.m. - 8 p.m. and Sundays and Bank holidays 2
hours before any performance.
Book Online - www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Email - enquiry@nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Reviews by Elaine Peel
for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
THE COURTYARD THEATRE
Edgar Street
Hereford
HR4 9JR
Box Office 01432 359252
Reviews
by Rebecca Vines for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY
THEATRE
BOX OFFICE: 0121 236 4455
PERMANENT REVIEWER REQUIRED FOR
THIS VENUE - please contact The Editor via email:
GPowner@aol.com
THE ALEXANDRA THEATRE
BIRMINGHAM
BOX OFFICE: 0870 607 7544
PERMANENT REVIEWER REQUIRED FOR
THIS VENUE - please contact The Editor via email:
GPowner@aol.com
THE HIPPODROME
BIRMINGHAM
BOX OFFICE: 0121 622 7437
www.birmingham-hippodrome.co.uk
Permanent Reviewer required for
this venue - please contact The Editor via email:
GPowner@aol.com
HAYMARKET THEATRE
LEICESTER
REVIEWER NEEDED FOR THIS VENUE - Please contact the Editor via e-mail:- GPowner@aol.com
THE BELGRADE THEATRE
COVENTRY
BOX OFFICE: (024) 7655
3055
REVIEWER NEEDED FOR THIS VENUE - Please contact the Editor via e-mail:- GPowner@aol.com
SWAN
THEATRE
WORCESTER
BOX OFFICE: 01905 27322
REVIEWER NEEDED FOR THIS VENUE - Please contact the Editor via e-mail:- GPowner@aol.com
CHESTER GATEWAY THEATRE
Hamilton
Place
Chester, CH1 2BH
BOX OFFICE: 01244 340392
CURRENTLY “DARK”
Reviews
by Jonnie Woodall for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
For more details or individual advice/help - email:
GPowner@aol.com