By Stephen Collins Connor's score owes a considerable debt to Sondheim, but, that said, it treads in very interesting paths. Complex and intricate, the melodies and harmonies reward careful …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 11:12AMBy Stephen Collins Barker's play is extraordinary, especially given that it was written over a century ago and revised by him in the late 20’s, the original having been banned from perform…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:49AMBy Stephen Collins The revival of Harlequinade, directed by Branagh and Ashford, now playing at the Garrick Theatre (in a 100 minute experience that includes All On Her Own and no intervals)…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:00PMBy Stephen Collins Dench's verse speaking is unrivalled. She picks each word and gives it full, accurate weight, landing the sense, purpose and exact emotion of every glittering phrase. She …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:00PMBy Stephen Collins The three-piece orchestra plays Finnissy's score with exacting skill, quite beautifully. Unfortunately, their efforts are largely wasted as the score is lamentably irritat…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 12:06PMBy Stephen Collins In the early stages of the play, this approach is both confronting and disarming. I found myself consulting the programme to check who was who before catching on to Zeller…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 01:31PMBy Stephen Collins What play should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one ̵…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:12AMBy Stephen Collins Given its inherent flaws, the play cannot hope to succeed without a powerhouse performance from its star and here Laasko has struck gold. Leigh is outstanding in every res…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:28AMBy Stephen Collins What long running show should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 01:08PMBy Stephen Collins What Musical should you see first in London? Here is out list of London’s Top 10 New Musicals. We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 10:40AMBy Stephen Collins What pleasure the play offers comes in the characters Hare has carved from fragments of history. Roger Allam, almost unrecognisable as John Christie, does a superb job, to…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:36AMBy Stephen Collins Cabnet's clear and perceptive direction is sound for the most part, and there is an emphasis on visual aspects of the production which make it something special. Thérèse…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:47PMBy Stephen Collins O’Neill’s play has lost none of its power or resonance. It still feels as shocking and new today as no doubt it did in 1922. Jones’ revelatory and evocative producti…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:30PMBy Stephen Collins This is a perfectly serviceable production, much along the lines of the fare mostly served up by the RSC or the National these days. Indeed, taken as a whole, it is better…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:14AMBy Stephen Collins There are many ways to read the play, but the most obvious is probably correct. Sylvia is a metaphor for a trophy girlfriend; she is someone Greg can use to make himself f…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:23AMBy Stephen Collins Hare's adaptation, the best of the three in the Season, is crisp, charming and comical, thereby magnifying the effect of the more tragic aspects. It's a markedly short ver…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:02AMBy Stephen Collins Another sumptuous production of a superb Hare adaptation of an unwieldy and slightly schizophrenic early Chekhov work, made just that much more glorious by a committed cas…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 02:17PMBy Stephen Collins Honesty, as David Hare points out, is the dominating theme of Ivanov. It is also the dominating principle adopted by Jonathan Kent as the guiding light for his revival of …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:20AMBy Stephen Collins There was a charming mix of reverence and irreverence as well, making the audience feel specially entertained and complicit with the in-jokes. The warm up prelude, People …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 08:26AMBy Stephen Collins There are two ways in which Karam's work steps up to the mark: the dialogue is believable and genuine, splendidly touching in places; the narrative is uncompromising, as f…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:58PMBy Stephen Collins Dames at Sea, the work of George Haimsohn and Robin Miller (Book and Lyrics) and Jim Wise (Score), is well known as the off-Broadway hit from 1968 which launched the star …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:05PMBy Stephen Collins This is a dynamic, challenging and gripping piece of dramatic theatre. It's confronting in a number of ways, especially if you have known someone who took their own life. …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 12:45PMBy Stephen Collins It would be unsurprising if First Daughter Suite constituted a significant hat-trick for the Public, following, as it does, in the footsteps of Fun Home (which won the Ton…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 10:35AMBy Stephen Collins As Young Megan, whom we first meet when she is recovering from the one-night-stand night before, is brought to complex, life-embracing realisation in a startlingly good pe…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:52AMBy Stephen Collins Both actors here are doing something quite different from a drawing room comedy. They are trying to make a point and, bravely, one that extends beyond the Caucasian commun…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 10:24AMBy Stephen Collins Holland Taylor is in exceptional form as the coiled, steely Abby. She manages to humanise a thoroughly inhuman creature, making her likeable despite Abby's more loathsome …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:02AMBy Stephen Collins Director Andy Blankenbuehler has achieved something remarkable and electrifying here. Together with David Korins (Scenic design), Jeff Croiter (Lighting design) and Paloma…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:03PMBy Stephen Collins Now playing at the Laurie Beecham Theatre is a remarkable piece of musical theatre, Club Gelbe Stern, written by Alexis Fishman and James Miller, and directed by Sharone H…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:54AMBy Stephen Collins While the tunes and harmonies for the new material might not be memorable, the orchestrations and playing is first rate. Kenny Seymour and Joseph Church, together with the…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 08:56AMBy Stephen Collins Where Hodge does elect for difference is in the manner of playing. No low-key, slow boil quiet broiling here. No, the parts are played with vigour, brasher than you would …
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:32AMBy Stephen Collins Quite simply, it is one of the most perfectly conceived, cast and executed productions of a musical on any stage anywhere in the world. It's shocking, brutal, brilliant an…
SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 08:45AM