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Hackney Empire- 6th August 2022

Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert

5*****

Siegfried and Götterdämmerung are the third and fourth in Richard Wagner’s colossal Ring Cycle of four operas. Arcola Theatre has been working its way through them, starting with Das Rheingold in 2019, and Die Walküre last year. These are condensed and pared-down productions, with an orchestra of 18 rather than 100, and are much shorter than the originals. Adapted by Graham Vick and Jonathan Dove in the 1990s, they caused a sensation when they first appeared, and their flexibility is useful in the Covid era. But the main thing is that they provide a way to put on intense, thrilling productions of operas that are notoriously unwieldy and difficult to stage. The orchestra is Orpheus Sinfonia: it may be small but it packs a powerful punch, with a big, gorgeous brass sound and subtlety too. I am not expert enough to comment on music technicalities, but take it as read that for players and singers, this music is a titanic workout and hugely demanding.

The whole cycle tells the story of gold stolen from the Rhine maidens and turned into a magical ring, interwoven with the end of the old Norse gods and the destruction of Valhalla. In Siegfried, the eponymous hero has been brought up by the metalsmith Mime, who wants him to kill and be killed by the dragon Fafner, in order to get the dragon’s hoard of Rhinegold (and the Ring). Siegfried kills Fafner and also Mime, and boldly goes through a burning ring of fire to win Brünnhilde, daughter of the god Wotan (aka the Wanderer). She is one of the Valkyrie, the flying warrior deities who take fallen heroes to Valhalla, and has been imprisoned in fire because of events in a previous opera.

It is dizzyingly complicated, but one of the great things about these productions is that they tell their stories very clearly. Surtitles help, and the acting as well as the singing is absolutely wonderful. Neal Cooper is a big, bold Siegfried, looking like recruit for the US Marines; Colin Judson is Mime, creepily hopping about with a teddy bear and pretending he has been a good father figure. Elizabeth Karani is charming as the Woodbird who helps Siegfried; Lee Bissett is an enthralling Brünnhilde, and returns in the same part for Götterdämmerung. I think Brünnhilde will always seem more three-dimensional than bone-headed hero Siegfried, but their love is one of those opera things you find yourself accepting while being carried along by sublime music.

Staging these operas has always been a headache. Anything involving flying deities, giants and Rhine maidens could easily look ludicrous. Wagner himself resorted to building the Bayreuth opera house, to create a ‘mystic gulf’ of theatrical magic. This Ring production heads towards abstraction, wisely leaving it to the music, acting and spectator’s imagination to fill in the gaps. The set is a jumbled ziggurat of scaffolding platforms, suggestive of a scrapyard or the stuff behind a stage (or indeed the end of my garden, but that is another story). It works perfectly with subtle changes of lighting to suggest Mime’s cave or Fafner’s lair. Fafner is the excellent Simon Wilding (more of him later) slithering sinisterly, which is dragon enough for me. It is all stripped down, but takes you by surprise, as in the extraordinary scene between Wotan (Paul Carey Jones) and Erda (Mae Heydorn), who sings divinely in a sort of rippling cloud of ethereal stuff.

In Götterdämmerung, some carpets, lamps and chairs transform the set into a bourgeois home. This is the base of Gunther and Hagen, brothers of the Gibichung clan, whose head is Alberich (Mime’s brother), the one who stole the gold in the first opera. The production team must have had fun with this: Simon Thorpe is fussy and silly as Gunther, while Simon Wilding (formerly Fafner) is fabulously evil and brooding as Hagen. With encouragement from Freddie Tong’s malign Alberich, they scheme to make Siegfried forget Brünnhilde and couple up with their sister Gutrune, while Guthrun takes Brünnhilde for himself. Yes, even crueller than Love Island, and heartrendingly done.

Before that happens Brünnhilde has a visit from her sister Valkyrie Waltraute (gorgeous mezzo Angharad Lyddon) asking her to put things right by returning the Ring to the Rhine maidens; later Siegfried also turns down this chance, and we get a brief, lovely taste of Rhine maidens chorusing from Mae Heydorn (again), Lizzie Holmes and Bethan Langford. Siegfried this time is Mark Le Brocq, who does a good job of looking like someone under a spell and suddenly, too late, wakes up from it. Of course everything goes wrong, or rather destiny works out as it must – Seigfried dies, Brünnhilde joins him on his funeral pyre, the Rhine rises up and Valhalla is destroyed.

We don’t see all this, and serious Wagner fans may be disappointed about the stuff that is left out of this mighty final opera of the Ring Cycle. If you can cope with that though, it is riveting, edge-of-the-seat stuff, that you really don’t want to end. The director is Julia Burbach; Bettina John is the designer; and Peter Selwyn conducts this marathon.

Siegfried and Götterdämmerung are part of Arcola’s summer-long Grimeborn Festival, which champions adventurous, accessible and affordable opera. There are plenty more to come this year: see https://www.arcolatheatre.com/grimeborn/

New Victoria Theatre, Woking

Reviewed by Becky Doyle

5*****

Such a lovely, feel good show for all the family to see and enjoy. The whole cast had something to offer, each bringing energy, charisma, and talent. There were a number of children that deserve a mention but would be too difficult to single out just a couple and so rather I will just say that there are some stars in the making with powerful voices and fantastic dancing skills already shining through!

Linzi Hateley (The Narrator), a constant in the show was fantastic with a strong voice, passion and although at times I felt rather childish in areas, I appreciate the audience and it went down well. Jac Yarrow (Joseph) had such a gorgeous voice with his rendition of ‘Close Every Door’ absorbing the whole audience.

Quite unusually, there was a star of the show for me that probably differs for all other shows I have seen and that is that of John Rigby, the Musical Director – his energy throughout was second to none and I found myself watching him on numerous occasions during the performance. He had the audience up on their feet and it was a special moment to look back from my seat and see the whole audience on their feet dancing and singing along.

I would recommend this show to anyone who is looking for a feel good, easy going couple of hours with the family that you can get involved in sing and dance the night away.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Pleasance Courtyard (Two) Venue 33 – until 29^th August

 Reviewed by Rachel Farrier

4****

Rinkoo Barpaga has created a fascinating and unsettling show in ‘Made in India/Britain‘. An honest and clear-eyed exploration of his own experiences and reactions to navigating life as a deaf person of Indian heritage in modern Britain, it did that rare and precious thing of opening my eyes to a world of which I know very little. He performs the entire show in British Sign Language, with the script also voiced by another performer on the edge of the stage. The physicality of the performance is engaging from the start and Barpaga takes us on his life journey from his upbringing in a hearing family Birmingham to an adulthood where he has moved around and travelled for work, with success and heartbreaking suffering along the way. 

The discrimination and abuse that Barpaga has encountered both from the white and deaf communities are as shocking as they are depressing, and the confusion and anger with which he meets this is conveyed brilliantly. He describes the tension and confusion he feels when travelling to visit family in India and hearing about atrocities perpetrated by the British, because he is British. But also, surrounded by his Indian family, Indian. Despite these serious and important reflections on clearly painful experiences, there is plenty of humour in the show, and there are hopeful  moments where Bharpaga describes ‘finding his tribe’ (when he meets other deaf children and the wider deaf community) and times where he has found acceptance in unlikely places. 

I went along to this show with a hearing friend who also knows British Sign Language and she mentioned that the pacing was at times jarring as the speaking narrator was ahead of Bharpaga in the script. However, we both found this to be a compelling, entertaining and thought-provoking show and left with huge admiration for Bharpaga’s tenacity and courage, as well as the beautiful way in which he told a challenging story. 

Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Summerhall Anatomy Lecture Theatre Venue 26 – until 28 August 2022

 Reviewed by Rachel Farrier

5*****

Hayley McGhee has created an absolute gem of a solo show in Age is a Feeling. A day after seeing it, some of the lines (and feelings evoked) are still zinging around my mind (and heart). In other hands the concept of this show might feel cliched and presumptuous but McGhee’s mesmerising presence on stage and terrifyingly insightful script are beautiful, compelling and moving from start to finish. 

Starting at age 25 (when your adult life begins.) McGhee effectively goes on to describe a life, with all the possibilities, pain, joy and terror in between. The opening line (which I may be paraphrasing, apologies) ‘Nobody gets to know everything about your life, even you’, starts both McGhee and the audience on a quest. The audience gets to choose the course of the ‘life’ that is described by picking specific words that will direct which script McGhee follows. Apart from anything else, my companion and I marvelled at McGhee’s ability to hold all the options in her head, without breaking the fluency of the show at all.

The insights and observations are by turns hilarious and deeply moving, and on many occasions so on point that it felt like I had been hit in the chest. The knowing laughs and awed silences of my fellow audience members indicated that we were all having the same experience, as particular parts of the story resonated with our own lives. It is not often that I leave a show (especially a Fringe show..) knowing that it will stay with me for years to come, but I feel sure that this one will. Go and see this show is you possibly can. 

Theatre Royal, York -until 7^th August 2022

Reviewed by Katie Goldsbrough

3***

York Theatre Royal’s community production of The Coppergate Woman begins with the rise of ‘The Coppergate Woman’, played by Kate Hampson, she has been gone for many years and awakens in a glass case in the Jorvik centre. As the Coppergate Woman rises she discovers a world in need of help to help prevent Ragnarök and the end of the world. 

The remains of the Coppergate Woman were found between 1976 and 1981 and put on display due to her unusual burial. Writer, Maureen Lennon has used the story of The Coppergate Woman and intertwined it with Norse Mythology.

Through the story we are told Norse Myths which are linked with people in modern times and their troubles. We learn of Fenrir, a great wolf who was bound by the gods after it was thought he would bring an end to Odin. Fenrir’s story is linked with Fern, who has been struggling to leave her house due to having underlying health conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

We then meet Sarah, a nurse who has recently lost her mother and has been working none stop due to a fear of breaking down if she gives herself a chance to mourn, her story is linked to Sigyn, the wife of Loki. Loki is imprisoned and Sigyn is forever fated to hold bowl above his head to prevent him being poisoned by the snake which hangs above him. 

The final link is Thor who is struggling to walk the path to hell due to fear, an emotion he has never felt before, this is linked to Toms story, Tom is struggling with fear of seeing his brother in hospital, he struggles to find his was inside to visit. 

Can these humans come together when Ragnarök arrives to defeat the gods and send them back to where they came and prevent the end of the world. 

The Coppergate Woman is well put together, with a choir involved throughout and music mixed with the story telling. It’s an interesting show with mythology cleverly entwined with modern times. The community come together well and it is clear how much effort and enjoyment have gone in to the production and the result is a good one.

FOURTH WALL LIVE

PRESENTS

BROADWAY AND WEST END STAR

SIERRA BOGGESS

LIVE IN CONCERT

‘CHRISTMAS AT THE CADOGAN HALL’

SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2022

2.30PM and 6.30PM

FOURTH WALL LIVE is delighted to announce that Olivier Award nominated Broadway and West End star SIERRA BOGGESS will appear live in concert in ‘Christmas At The Cadogan Hall’ on Sunday 11 December 2022 at 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Tickets are on sale now www.fw-live.com/sierra

Sierra said today, “I’m thrilled to be returning to London to make music together at Cadogan Hall! The concert will feature songs that I love to perform, as well as some holiday music to celebrate the season!”

SIERRA BOGGESS has been seen on Broadway in the Tony nominated musical School Of Rock, It Shoulda Been You directed by David Hyde Pierce, the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, the revival of Master Class and The Little Mermaid, for which she received Drama Desk and Drama League nominations and a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award.

In the West End, Sierra’s theatre credits include Les Misérables, the 25th Anniversary concerts of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall and her Olivier Award nominated performance as Christine Daae in Love Never Dies.

Other New York theatre credits include the recent off-Broadway production of Barry Manilow’s Harmony, Manhattan Concert Productions’ The Secret Garden at Lincoln Center; the one-night-only concert of Guys & Dolls at Carnegie Hall opposite Nathan Lane, Patrick Wilson and Megan Mullally; the final Off-Broadway cast of Love, Loss, and What I Wore; and Music in the Air for City Center’s Encores! series. She also starred as Christine Daae in the Las Vegas production of The Phantom of the Opera. Across the United States she has been seen in Into The Woods, A Little Night Music, Ever After, Age of Innocence, Princesses, and the national tour of Les Misérables. Her Film and Television credits include Vulture Club with Susan Sarandon and the web series What’s Your Emergency, directed by Michael Urie.

Sierra’s recordings include School Of Rock, It Shoulda Been You, the 25th-anniversary concert of The Phantom of the Opera, the symphonic recording of Love Never Dies, The Little Mermaid, and Andrew Lippa’s A Little Princess. Concert appearances include the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series The Lyrics of David Zippel, The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and Broadway by the Year at Town Hall. Sierra has toured all over the world across Australia, Japan, Paris, and London with her concert show, which has been preserved live and released on CD, Awakening: Live at 54 Below. She recently released an album of duets with Julian Ovenden made during the pandemic entitled Together At A Distance. www.sierraboggess.com 

Fourth Wall Live is an entertainment company that produces events, concerts and on-stage shows. In January 2022 FWL presented Bonnie and Clyde The Musical In Concert for two nights to a sold-out audience at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, starring Broadway favourite Jeremy Jordan. The concert broke Drury Lane box office records selling out a two-night run in less than six minutes. The concert was live captured for cinematic/streaming distribution, with its release to be announced in due course.  

In 2022 Fourth Wall Live is delighted to be presenting Audra McDonald at the London Palladium, and Jeremy Jordan at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. FWL regularly presents concerts featuring stars of the West End and Broadway including Keala Settle, Jeremy Jordan, Matthew Morrison and Hannah Waddingham among others.

Fourth Wall Live was also a producer of Bonnie & Clyde the Musical which ran at The Arts Theatre in the West End for 13 weeks during 2022

JOIN THE MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY AT HARLOW MUSEUM & WALLED GARDENS THIS SUMMER!

     The cast has been announced for Alice in Wonderland coming to Harlow this summer!

KD Theatre Productions are thrilled to announce the cast for Alice in Wonderland will open at the Harlow Museum & Walled Gardens this summer.

Hannah Ponting will play the title role of Alice and will be joined by Jonathan Brace, Tommy Carmichael, Michael McGeough, and Joey Warne.

Directed by Oliver Scott with a book by Daniel Bell, music and lyrics by Triple Threat Creative, Alice in Wonderland is the perfect treat for the family this August.

Join Alice down the rabbit hole in her magical adventures through Wonderland in a brand-new open-air adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s family favourite!

Alice in Wonderland will play only four performances on Friday 12^th and Saturday 13^th August. Tickets are on sale now for this fun filled family adventure.

Discover the madness of the tea party and meet the Mad Hatter, The White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts plus many more/other larger-than-life characters along Alice’s journey.

This exciting and playful take on the tale features a professional cast of energetic performers, catchy new songs and lots of humour that will entertain and delight the whole family! Don’t be late for this very important date!

Tickets are on sale now from http://harlowplayhouse.co.uk/

Full casting announced for the forthcoming tour of Pilot Theatre’s award-winning production of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses

Pilot Theatre is delighted to announce full casting for their forthcoming production tour of Sabrina Mahfouz’s adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s critically acclaimed young adult novel of first love in a dangerous fictional dystopia – Noughts & Crosses.

Noughts & Crosses’ exciting cast will be led by Effie Ansah (The Maladies, Almeida Theatre) and James Arden in their first leading roles as Sephy and Callum; Emma Keele (East is East, Birmingham Rep and National Theatre and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, UK Tour) as Meggie; Nathaniel McClosky (Macbeth, Box Clever Theatre) as Jude; Amie Buhari (Flowers, Channel 4 ) as Jasmine; Steph Asamoah (Billy Eliot, Curve Theatre ) as Minerva; Chris Jack (Brighton Rock, Pilot Theatre and York Theatre Royal and Our Town, Royal Exchange Manchester) as Kamal, Daniel Copeland ( Invincible, Orange Tree Theatre and The Jungle Book, Leeds Playhouse) as Ryan and newcomer Tom Coleman as Nought Man, Andrew Dorn and understudy to Callum and Jude. Daniel Norford (Small Island and The Welkin, National Theatre and The Lion King, UK Tour) will be joining the cast in Spring in the role of Kamal.  All actors will also play ensemble roles.

Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. A segregated society teeters on a volatile knife edge.

As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger.

Told from the perspectives of two teenagers, Noughts & Crossesis a captivating love story set in a volatile, racially segregated society and explores the powerful themes of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. 

Noughts & Crosses first toured in 2019 as the first co-production between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and York Theatre Royal who in 2018 formed a new partnership to develop, produce and present theatre for younger audiences. The Pilot Theatre production was seen by over 30,000 people on tour with 40 % of the audience being aged under twenty. It went on to win Pilot Theatre the award for excellence in Touring at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards.

Directed by Pilot Theatre’s Artistic Director Esther Richardson, Noughts & Crosses will open at York Theatre Royal from 16-24 September and will then tour to Richmond Theatre, London (27 Sept – 1 Oct); Exeter Northcott (4- 8 Oct); Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (11- 15 Oct); Northern Stage, Newcastle (18 – 22 Oct); Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield (1-5 Nov); New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (8-12 Nov); The Alexandra Birmingham (15-19 Nov) Liverpool Playhouse (22- 26 Nov); The Lowry, Salford (17-21 Jan 2023), Belgrade Theatre Coventry (24-28 Jan); Rose Theatre, Kingston (31 Jan-11 Feb); Theatre Royal Brighton (21-25 Feb); Oldham Coliseum (14-18 Mar); Poole Lighthouse (21-25 Mar) and Curve Theatre, Leicester (28 Mar-1 Apr)

For more information on Noughts & Crosses please visit www.pilot-theatre.com

Playful Productions, Stage Play and Cedella Marley present 

GET UP STAND UP! 

THE BOB MARLEY MUSICAL 

• OLIVIER AWARD-WINNING, GET UP STAND UP! THE BOB MARLEY MUSICAL WILL PLAY ITS FINAL PERFORMANCE AT THE LYRIC THEATRE ON 8 JANUARY 2023
  
   
• FOLLOWING THE WEST END RUN THE PRODUCTION WILL EMBARK ON A UK TOUR WITH FULL DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON
  
   
• PLANS ARE ALSO TAKING SHAPE FOR MULTIPLE INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA AND EUROPE
  
   
• SINCE OCTOBER 2021 OVER 300,000 THEATRE-GOERS FROM ACROSS THE UK WILL HAVE REVELLED IN THE POWER OF MARLEY’S MUSIC
  
   
• AN ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING IS DUE FOR RELEASE THIS YEAR, FEATURING OLIVIER AWARD NOMINEE ARINZÉ KENE
  
   
• TICKETS ARE ON SALE AT WWW.GETUPSTANDUPTHEMUSICAL.COM

Producers have today announced that the hit production Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical which received its world premiere performance at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue on 1 October 2021, will play its final performance in London’s West End on 8 January 2023.  The critically acclaimed show has been playing to ecstatic crowds since October 2021 at the Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue and it was nominated for 4 Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical winning the award for best orchestrations. Following the West End, the production will embark on a UK-wide tour with full details to be announced soon. The production is also planning multiple international engagements, with discussions underway in Europe, North and South America. A cast recording featuring the original cast including Olivier Award nominee Arinzé Kene as Bob Marley will be released later this year.

Since its opening in October 2021 lovers of Bob Marley’s inspirational music have flocked to the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue to revel in the production’s thrilling and uplifting music and to discover Marley’s extraordinary life, message and wisdom.

Producers said: “‘Bob Marley’s music is inspirational to millions of people around the world.     We are so proud to have launched this brilliant musical about his life and music in London’s West End and to have brought his legacy to the stage. We are very excited to be planning the future adventures of Get Up Stand Up! which include a UK and International tour, a North American production and a soon to be available Original Cast Recording.”

Cedella Marley said: “Hearing my father’s music brought  to life in this wonderful show has made me so proud. Proud that his legacy has reached so many people, proud that his music has so many fans and continues to inspire new generations and proud of the amazing group of people who have put the show together. It is so exciting that we can now plan for the show to travel around the UK and the world and that many more audiences will get the chance to see it and fall in love all over again with my father’s music.”

‘It’s not all that glitters is gold, half the story has never been told’ 

From the hills of rural Jamaica, armed only with his overwhelming talent, Bob Marley applied himself with resolute determination to achieve international acclaim for his prophetic musical message – a gospel of love and unity.

Cambridge Arts Theatre – until Saturday 6th August 2022

Reviewed by Steph Lott

5*****

Regular taxi cabs do not travel to the Pittsburgh Hill District of the 1970s, and so the locals turn to using jitneys—unofficial, unlicensed taxi cabs—that operate in the community. August Wilson’s Jitney explores life through the lens of a group of Black jitney drivers, each trying to find a way to get by, using the hand that they have been given.

We, the audience, are bystanders, witnessing what happens inside the rundown taxi office, created using a small but very effective box set, designed by Alex Lowde. There is rhythm and a pace to the play, which is almost like a dance. We see time pass within the small office, created by clever use of lighting (Elliot Griggs), sound (Max Perryment) and video (Ravi Deepres). That, along with balletic movement and well-crafted pauses in the action (movement created by Sarita Piotrowski), generates an atmosphere that modulates seamlessly from busy to comic to violent to poignant.

This is a beautifully constructed play and this production of it rightly commanded a standing ovation from the audience. Each argument and flash of violence is counterbalanced with sparks and flares of warmth and humour. Tinuke Craig’s direction creates a show with a rhythm of laid-back ease, contrasting with taut, tense scenes. Tough as they are, and have to be, these men have a softness and vulnerability. The dialogue and accents never grate, (voice and dialect coaches Hazel Holder and Eleanor Manners have done a sterling job) and August Wilson’s writing feels very authentic and real; the richness with which Wilson writes his characters is a gift to any actor.

The whole talent-packed cast gave superb performances. The balance and dance between them is arresting. It is Wil Johnson, for me, as the owner of the taxi station, Becker, that is the star however. Worn out from years of hard work and sorrow caused by his tragic relationship with his son, (played by Blair Gyabaah) and by the loss of his wife, he stalks the stage with an air of heavy fatigue. His use of stillness and poise commands our attention. For me there was something of the matador in his demeanour. In dealing with his estranged son, there is frenzied anger and rage, the culmination of which is stirring and heart-breaking. And then his kindness prevails when dealing with alcoholic Fielding (played by Tony Marshall). It’s a rich performance indeed from Wil Johnson.

Jitney is a window into of the lives and struggles of a group of Black men. Arresting and wondrous, Craig’s production brings this play’s soul.