Wednesday, July 13, 2011
When Wayne Sleep playing a nine year old in an unfeasibly over the top manner is the highlight of the evening you've got to worry a bit. Especially when the lead couple are the virtually pee…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:17PMTuesday, July 12, 2011
To make a great "Madama Butterfly" you need more than just a great Butterfly, you need two great leading men. The Royal Opera's latest revival of their, let's be honest, rather turgid produc…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:41PMMonday, July 11, 2011
Take one semi-obscure classic, perform in dark, grim, shadowy sets with gorgeous costumes and evocative lighting. It's hard not to see the Donmar Warehouse as just a little formulaic. It's a…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:47PMThursday, July 7, 2011
"London Road" could well be described as a musical about prostitute murders. It really isn't though. It's a piece of theatre about community, both its strengths and weaknesses. A triumph of …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:26PMWednesday, July 6, 2011
An Operatic murder-mystery? All credit to everyone behind "Two Boys": in the world of contemporary opera, it really is a bit different. A Metropolitan opera commission given its premiere at …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:48PMTuesday, July 5, 2011
Magic. Pure Magic. To round out what can only be described as a pretty mixed season the Royal Opera have delivered something of a triumph. Stellar casting, a production of pure delight and a…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:17PMSunday, July 3, 2011
Back on home soil and down to Glyndebourne for that most delightful of operatic champagnes "L'Elisir d'amore". As a production it isn't the most exciting, a fairly generic updating with only…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:58PMWednesday, June 29, 2011
Verdi's "Otello" from the Opéra National de Paris in the Opéra Bastille with a cast including Renee Fleming couldn't have looked better on paper. The reality was altogether different. A di…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 03:33AMSaturday, June 25, 2011
"Emperor and Galilean" is in a great many ways exactly the sort of drama the National Theatre should be attempting. A totally uncommercial classic that would never have been seen without the…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:19PMSaturday, June 11, 2011
Mike Bartlett's "Earthquakes in London" thrilled but lost its full message somewhere in the epic sprawl. "Love, Love, Love" is on the face of it a far simpler tale, a focused family drama, t…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 12:19PMWednesday, June 8, 2011
As the curtain rises the audience are blinded by the light of a car's headlights. The car stops, the stage darkens and our eyes gradually accustom to the gloomy, deeply atmospheric design fo…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 08:05PMWednesday, June 1, 2011
"Manon" is always a favourite of mine and with Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg in the lead roles this performance was up with the best I've ever seen. I haven't see nearly enough of the pai…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:35PMSit in the front row at your peril: prepare to be ruffled, prodded and generally gawked at. Still, one might describe it as being brushed by greatness. For Kathryn Hunter's Monkey is somethi…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:34PMTuesday, May 31, 2011
The Rattigan revival has been one of my theatre highlights for the last year or so and "Flare Path" fits right in. Though I wouldn't rank it with either "After the Dance" or "Cause Célèbre…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:01PMTuesday, May 24, 2011
Unintentional hilarity is not how I really see Macbeth. Reviving Phyllida Lloyd's comically po-faced production seems like one of the dafter choices of the Royal Opera's season. As an entire…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:48PMSaturday, May 21, 2011
After Glyndebourne's first Wagnerian effort with their monumental "Tristan und Isolde", high expectations met the start of this year's festival and their new staging of Wagner's "Die Meister…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:29PMThursday, May 19, 2011
Reaching the interval of Christopher Alden's new production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" I realised I had spent the previous two hours entirely enthralled but not really enjoying a minute …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:51PMMonday, May 16, 2011
The Royal Ballet's latest effort is a dynamic, varied triple bill but one that exposes what the company lack in Wayne McGregor. A true company choreographer. The resident choreographer's new…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:37PMSaturday, May 7, 2011
"Clemency" is James Macmillan's follow-up to his iffy "Parthenogenesis". Laudably it is a large step-up in just about every respect. A simple tale, that of Sarah and Abraham, given an operat…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:30PMLike watching water dry, literally. "I Am The Wind" has quite astonishing international provenence, directed by Patrice Chéreau no less, and yet it is one of the most miserably empty pieces…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:29PMFriday, May 6, 2011
Well I'll be damned (figuratively at least). The English National Opera, after a recent spate of disasters with novice opera directors have hit the nail on the head with Terry Gilliam. He of…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 08:23PMThursday, May 5, 2011
The principal excitement of the Royal Opera's latest revival of Massenet's "Werther" has been the will he/won't he of Rolando Villazón. When I last heard him his career looked bleak, but si…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 08:15PMFriday, April 29, 2011
It's always the unexpected ones that impress me the most. I only ventured to the English Touring Theatre's production of "Great Expectations" because I happened to have a free evening at the…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:05PMWednesday, April 27, 2011
"The Tsar's Bride" represents another Russian novelty from the Royal Opera and if it isn't likely to be entering my favourites list any time soon it's a massive step up from last year's "Tsa…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 08:02PMSaturday, April 23, 2011
Deary me. I can't recall a more disappointing melange of gimmick and pretension. A solid orchestral performance of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" ruined by dodgy, vacuous choreography who…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:25PMFriday, April 22, 2011
"Cause Célèbre" marks another piece within this quite delightful Terence Rattigan centenary. Thea Sharrock, who worked such magic with the magnificent "After the Dance", provides more of t…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:47PMThursday, April 21, 2011
There are many excellent things about "Frankenstein" but I fear the overwhelmingly brilliant light fixture above the stage might linger longer in the memory than the play itself. This isn't …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:22PMWednesday, April 20, 2011
As regular readers may have noticed, I've been in the theatrical wilderness for the past few weeks (hence the lack of posts) but I'll be throwing myself back into things with as much energy …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:52PM 
