Review of the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s production of Maxine Peake’s Beryl at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. March 2016 Beryl Burton is the cycling superstar that you’ve probably never heard of. British All Round champion for 25 consecutive years from 1959 to 1983, she held every national title (at one point simultaneously), won seven world titles, […]
Review of the production at Woking Theatre in February 2016. Published in Essential Surrey. Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty is a breathtaking visual feast from start to finish, an incredibly rich box of delights that oughtn’t to be missed. Bourne has reimagined Tchaikovsky’s ballet as a dark gothic tale that starts in a fin de siecle […]
This review originally appeared on the Sheengate Publishing site. The production ran from 7-14 November 2015. King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedies. Old men make fatal misjudgements, the younger generation are corrupted by ambition and the blackest parts of human character are revealed. Nature itself seems to rise in rebellion, but love and loyalty offer hope, and […]
This review first appeared on the Sheengate publishing website. The production, by Headlong Theatre, was at Richmond Theatre from 3-7 November 2015. The Glass Menagerie at Richmond Theatre is an impressive and moving production of Tennessee William’s “memory play”, with strong performances from the entire cast. According to Tom Wingfield, one of the protagonists, the […]
[Northern Broadsides production, Rose Theatre Kingston, 19-23 May 2015] Shakespeare’s King Lear is one of his most powerful tragedies, with fathers estranged from the children who truly love them and betrayed by those who merely pretended to. At the end of the play the dead outnumber the living and what redemption has been achieved has […]
[Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. 15 April – 16 May 2015] Myra Bolton leads a hugely complicated life. Her house is littered with books, pamphlets and newspapers, as well as friends, lovers, ex-lovers, would-be lovers, and the lovers of ex-lovers. They all discuss politics “with the passionate intensity others reserve for sex”. She moves from protest […]
