The psychology of Blithe Spirit snaps convincingly into place in Richard Eyre’s production while at the same time it fully utilises every opportunity to make the audience laugh.
’Privilege to watch Pryce & Atkins at the height of their powers’: THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM – West End ★★★★★
After huge UK successes with The Father, The Mother, The Truth and The Lie, now comes Florian Zeller’s The Height of the Storm, once again in the limpid, easy-on-the-ear translation of Christopher Hampton.
‘The design is a fine reward for enduring the tedium of snarky melodrama’: EXIT THE KING – National Theatre
This final sequence of Exit the King is mesmerising. The self-indulgent waffle and navel-gazing that makes up the rest of Marber’s production? No thanks.
‘Patrick Marber directs with skill in an engaging production’: EXIT THE KING – National Theatre
Patrick Marber’s engaging production of Exit the King builds on the central strangeness of Ionesco’s work, attempting to break down our ongoing battle with the idea of death and why no one wants to face it until they have to.
‘Certainly a major theatrical event’: IMPERIUM – West End
This is certainly a major theatrical event — Cicero’s speeches, with their mixture of sarcasm and idealism, are great, but not everyone will enjoy the comic interpretation of some of these characters, and the storytelling does get a bit bogged down in the second part.
CAROUSEL – Touring
Opera North’s production of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Carousel is a curious combination of drama, dance and song that on occasion both hits and misses the mark.
Meant to be a story about love, loss and redemption, this version feels more like a story about anger, resentment and possibly the glorification of domestic abuse.
Opening on a busy fairground scene, we meet the protagonists of the tale: fairground barker Billy Bigelow played by Keith Higham and millworker Julie Jordon, played by Gillene Butterfield. Among the magic of the carousel – and it really is a magical and stunningly visual set designed by Anthony Ward – Billy and Julie seemingly fall in love, losing both of their jobs in the process.
GYPSY – West End
It is rare to see perfection improved upon, but in its transfer from Chichester Festival Theatre, Jonathan Kent’s Gypsy achieves just that. A highlight of 2014, the resonance of Jule Styne’s big band brassy score filled the Sussex theatre’s world class open stage. But Gypsy was written in and for the Golden Age of Broadway, to be mounted on a proscenium stage. In re-sculpting their masterpiece to fit the Savoy’s traditional confines, Kent and choreographer Stephen Mear have excelled.