Reviews
I think the best way of updating this page is linking to the other website where these reviews have been posted! This is mainly the Telegraph:
12 April
Theatre: A Woman Alone, Tabard theatre
Three stars
11 April
DVD: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Three stars
5 April
Theatre: The Watcher, Waterloo East Theatre
Two stars
DVD: Miral by Julian Schnabel
Two stars
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/dvd-reviews/8429030/Miral-DVD-review.html
4 April
Theatre: One on One Festival at Battersea Arts Centre
Four stars
28 March
DVD: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Rating: * * * *
This is a truly beautiful film.
Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul; starring: Thanapat Saisaymar, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Matthieu Ly. 12A cert, 114 min.
24 March
THEATRE: Eight Women, Southwark Playhouse. Rating: * * *
The show wasn’t fantastic, but it’s a fun, entertaining script.
young vic theatre, till 05 June
The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is one that mixes love, death, longing and passion. But the one element of this old story that comes across in the Young Vic’s new production by American playwright Sarah Ruhl is the pain of loss. Transposed to the 1930s, Eurydice is in love with Orpheus, a young master musician who always has music in his head, and loves the beautiful Eurydice. On the night of their wedding Eurydice is lured away by a suave, yet odd individual and falls to her death. Once in the Underworld, she meets her father, who had been sending her letters from beyond the grave. Their reuniting is a touching one, with all the hurt of loosing a loved one agonisingly apparent. Orpheus decides to find his wife and with the aid of his song he woos the lord of the Underworld into a deal to bring Eurydice back. Despite the range of disappointing reviews this production received, the use of water, recreating the river styx, a fountain, and pouring rain, all in one tiny spot of the stage is a wonderful touch. The production glosses over some of the more implausible elements of the story and the characterisation of both Orpheus and Eurydice leaves something to be desired. The next production from the director of Brothers Size was a hotly anticipated event, and failed to match up to his previous success. But overall there is a strong script from Ruhl and an immersing experience for the rest of us.
at national theatre til 07 July 2010 (also reviewed on kultureflash)
Set in the murky area of history around the Russian revolution, The White Guard centres on Alexei Tubin and his family, pro-Tsarists living in Kiev after the 1917 October Russian Revolution. Although a potentially dry and confusing subject, Andrew Upton’s version of Bulgakov’s play is light, witty, truthful and accessible. The two brothers and sister at the heart of the plot are passionate and surrounded by friends willing to fight for their cause. But none of these characters are merely one thing or another, they are friends, fighters, poets and foes, with as many contradictions as the battles they are fighting. Alexei is leading the White Guard against the puppet government set up in the Ukraine by Germany, in an attempt to bring back what Russia once was. But change is on the agenda and the White Guard quickly loose their footing to the Bolshevik read army. With a strong ensemble cast, fantastic direction from Howard Davies and a superb set, complete with pyrotechnics that make your eyes water, The White Guard surprises and delights.
on at soho theatre til 8 may 2010 (also reviewed on kultureflash)
Behud (Beyond Belief) can only really be considered in reference to the playwright’s previous experience with her play Behzti – which was cancelled in 2004 after protests in the Sikh community outside a theatre in Birmingham. Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti takes us through this raw, emotional moment in her life, looking at the situation from all the people involved. Behud begins with the playwright, a new play, a new subject. However, her characters aren’t acting as they should as she writes her play and slowly the playwright becomes almost surplus to requirements. The past forces its way into Behud and the playwright is drawn back into the situation in 2004 as it tumbles out of control. The play itself is a reflection of the mind and feelings of the playwright, as her play was taken off the stage. Its tumultuous structure jumps from local politician, Sikh protesters, the theatre management and the police, leaving the writer lost in the middle with her whole world falling apart. A daring, exciting attempt to verbalise a writer’s desperation to show her work, the play also charts the effect of what happened on the playwright’s mind as a Sikh, a free individual and a woman.
HENRY V
at southwark playhouse until 20/03
What’s so great about this production of Henry V is how rising star director Emily Lim was far from hesitant about cutting Shakespeare’s history play down to size. This production is slimline and while most ardent Shakespeare supporters might gasp at her audacity, it serves a fantastic 90 minutes. Henry V deals with King Henry’s fight against the French at Agincourt and the audience are given playing cards, either red or blue as they wonder into the theatre. The reds (the English) sit on one side and are duely dwarfed by the huge number of blues surrounding them (the French). On the stage before us is a giant board game, with France, masterly and infinite and England, small but proud. With a cast ensemble of six, the audience are rollarcoastered through teams, brotherhood, winnings and loosing. The entire production uses a brilliantly chosen allegory of game playing with the cast dressed as sports teams in netball tabards. England stands out as embodying brotherly support yet fierce drive, while the French bicker and underestimate the tiny English army. With a strong performance from Anna McSweeny as the Chorus who pushes the action along, this Henry V uses Tangled Feet choreographer Leon Smith to create some well paced and highly entertaining moments.
EVERY YEAR EVERY DAY I AM WALKING
at the oval theatre until 13/03
Language comes second place to movement and sound in this production of Every Year Every Day I am Walking by South African company Magnet Theatre. Two sisters Aggie and Ernestine live together in their small African village with their mother until they are brutally attacked and their home burnt. With only one sister remaining, Adie and her mother become refugees, walking and walking before they come to Cape Town where they try their best to live and ingratiate themselves with the busy and alien lifestyle.
The ensemble performances of actresses Jennie Reznek and Faniswa Yisa makes this production beautifully compelling. Working closely together with a minimal set and a few specific props (shoes, swathes of cloth) they create a heartrending treatment of what it means to be lost, without any place to call home but each other. The colour and energy of the characters make them identifiable by everyone. The limited use of language ensures anyone, in any place can recognise this story. Aggie and her mother could be any refugees; two out of millions currently driven from their hometown and walking towards a place of safety.
THE FASTEST CLOCK IN THE UNIVERSE
Hampstead Theatre til 17/10
“Beauty Truth, Truth Beauty…” Ah, if only this really were all we know on earth, and all we need to know… For anyone faced with Cougar in Philip Ridley’s play The Fastest Clock in the Universe, this certainly isn’t the case. One must be worldly wise, and wise to his obsessive, dangerous and menacing persona. Philip Ridley’s play, first performed at the Hampstead Theatre in ’92 is filled with foreboding from the beginning. Steeped in a sunlamp, draped on a chair in his and the ‘Captain’s’ flat, Cougar begins to expose his desperation to be nineteen instead of the explitive age that he currently is. It’s his nineteenth birthday party, again, and Cougar has invited a fifteen year old boy, Foxtrot, who he met at the hospital where Foxtrot’s brother was dying. Tricked into believeing there was a special, fateful connection between himself and Cougar, Foxtrot willing comes to the party, unaware of what Cougar has in store for him.
But all does not go according to plan… Sherbert arrives – Foxtrot’s new and worldly wise girlfriend who is pregnant with their new child. Ridley’s work ripples with intensity at times, and the plot jumps and twists magnificently, as we are exposed to the horrors of vanity, ego, self worth and beauty. This is a fantastic production, with a cast to go with it, and well worth a look at.
http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/prod-productions_details.asp?PID=127
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/sep/23/fastest-clock-in-universe-review
Crocosmia
Battersea Arts Centre, till 26/09
This little gem from Little Bulb theatre company is a sweet mixture of fun, frolicking and poignant saddness. The three actors all take on the personas of children, apparently in a idyllic world of their middle class intelligent and loving parents. This comes to an end when a car crash kills their mum and dad and the kids are packed off to an orphanage where they are duly picked up by two nice, keen adults who want to look after them. The kids’ world is altered from one where fantasy is paramount, to one where suddenly things become real, but the real brilliance about this production is the actor’s ability to represent the young characters without being condesending or irritating.
Filled with wonder and awe, we were transported into the worlds of these children, and laughter filled the auditorium. This company is intriguing and are well worth a look at, and it’s certainly a joy to watch the actors transpose from adults to children effortlessly and entertainingly.
http://www.bac.org.uk/whatson.php?view=current
KATRINA
until 26/09/09
This was an admirable attempt at getting to the heart of the apolcalyptic moment in New Orleans, when the levees broke as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The apolcalypse, however, wasn’t caused by the floods – it was caused by the lack of help from the American authorities who left the New Orleans residents alone, without aid; food,clean water, facilities etc etc. Imagine a city completely destroyed, people swimming through streets, on roofs, getting food from abandoned supermarkets. This was the scene set for us by the testimonials in Katrina, a range of people, who were talked to by writer and director Jonathan Holmes. These stories all centered around the story of Virgil and his partner. Virgil was bound in his old age by taking oxygen, which ran out when there was no aid, and no one to take them out of their house. So when he died, his partner swam him on the back of a door across New Orleans to find a place where she could put him to rest like a decent human being, rather than leave him to the waters that surrounded them.
This production is billed as a promenade production over three storeys in a warehouse under the Oxo tower, and although the sets we see in each room are detailed and fantastic, I felt slightly robbed, as we were put to sit in the third storey, and sat there for the rest of the show. This did lift slightly as at the end we were moved into an upbeat wake, for Virgil with fantastic singing and dancing. The performances were very strong, and I was carried all the way with the actors, while they wallowed through the waters. The music also fell fully in Katrina‘s favour, and captured all the soul and heart of a city now ruined which, even now four years on, is still suffering from the effects of a leadership uninterested in their plight.
http://www.jerichohouse.org.uk/pages/current.html
