This touring theatre’s new tartan gothic thriller is complex, but also a bit overwrought and conventional.
NEWS: Online videos of Original Theatre Company’s The Habit of Art and The Croft to be released
In light of the closure of theatres across the UK due to COVID-19, the Original Theatre Company’s productions of Alan Bennett’s The Habit Of Art and Ali Milles’ The Croft, both of which were touring the UK, will now each have an online launch performance.
‘Family saga or spooky horror?’: THE CROFT – Touring ★★★
Writer Ali Milles’ debut play The Croft starring Gwen Taylor gives a promise of some great work yet come.
Could Allelujah!’s transfer from stage to screen change our perception of the production?
Screening Alan Bennett’s Allelujah! on the big screen may well alter the viewer’s perspective, placing it within the tradition of television and film drama that lends itself to the cliffhanger-based six-part series that Bennett’s broad and episodic approach calls upon.
‘It is Bennett’s lasting gift to amateur dramatic societies up and down the country’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre ★★★★
I am fully content to hail Alan Bennett as a National Treasure, and while I enjoyed many aspects of Allelujah!, I still hoped for even better and a return to his form in, say, The Madness of George III.
‘There are zero complaints about the acting, it’s the play that is on life support’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
In some ways, Allelujah! is perfectly symptomatic of the problem I have with the Bridge Theatre. Does London really need any new theatres, no matter how much people think they want interval madeleines?
‘A love letter to the NHS, masterfully written’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre ★★★★
A love letter to the NHS, masterfully written by Alan Bennett with lots of lovely touches – the 25-strong cast is impressive and really brings the play to life.
‘Workman-like production’: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST – Touring ★★★
Overall it is a good, if uneven, workman-like production of The Importance of Being Earnest that struggles, at times, to be funny. It delivers the goods without any flourishes of inspiration.
NEWS: Kerry Ellis makes her non-singing debut in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest on tour
Kerry Ellis will star as Gwendolen, her first non-singing role, at selected venues in the 2018 UK tour of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
THE SLAVES OF SOLITUDE – Hampstead Theatre
Miss Roach is played by the ever-marvelous Fenella Woolgar and she’s partnered by Lucy Cohu, another favourite actress, and there are moments in this gently played Second World War-set story that shimmer with effectiveness.
News & interesting titbits: Madalena Alberto, Slaves of Solitude & a south London library tour
West End leading lady Madalena Alberto will perform in the new concert series Pizza Express Live! in Holborn on Sunday 3rd December 2017, 8pm.
NIGHT MUST FALL – Touring
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the works of Emlyn Williams, it’s that he writes a thriller or murder mystery, if you like, with a predictable culprit and lack of twist. However, it’s the path that leads you to learn the truth that you already suspected all along, that makes for interesting viewing.
NEWS: Gwen Taylor stars in Emlyn Williams thriller Night Must Fall on tour
The Original Theatre Company and Salisbury Playhouse in association with Eastbourne Theatres will present the national tour of Emlyn Williams’ psychological thriller, NIGHT MUST FALL, directed by Luke Sheppard and starring Gwen Taylor as Mrs Bramson. The tour will begin at Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne on 19 August 2016, with a national press night on Wednesday 7 September at Salisbury Playhouse.