Cognitive Strategies for Analysing & Evaluating Theatre Performances
Josey De Rossi The Death of Norman Tortilla Genre: Drama Venue: Tristan Bates Theatre !a Tower St, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9NP Low Down One sparsely furnished uninviting room, plastered with images from popular gossip magazines; one old man (Norman Tortilla) sitting in his armchair, fixedly gazing to his left at presumably the pictures on … Read more
IronBark Theatre, a company specialising in presenting Australian theatre in the UK, produced an excellent production of Ruben Guthrie, an award-winning play by an acclaimed young Australian playwright, Brendon Cowell at the New Wimbledon Studio.
Autumn Fires Genre: Drama Venue: Finborough Theatre 118 Finborough Road London SW10 9ED Low Down The revolutionary nature of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre is well documented through plays by Sean O’Casey and his tackling of Irish Nationalism. Perhaps less remembered is the nuanced ways in which social realism enabled Irish playwrights to … Read more
The Fantasist Genre: Physical Theatre Venue: Blue Elephant Theatre Bethwin Road SE5 0XT Low Down The term fantasist is used by the physical theatre ensemble Theatre Temoin/ Compagnie Traversiere in their latest collaborative production at the Blue Elephant Theatre to embrace several states of mind: a person with a mental illness, a visual artist gripped … Read more
Rocinante! Rocinante! Genre: Physical Theatre Venue: CLF Art Cafe, Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane London SE15 4ST (Peckham Rye) Low Down The pilgrimage through the light and dark crevices of the mind are beautifully evoked in Panta Rei Theatre’s Rocinante! Rocinante! Taking its subject matter from the originality of Cervante’s Don Quixote, the setting … Read more
Genre: Cabaret and Burlseque Venue: Leicester Square Theatre 6 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BX Low Down Every element of Ty Jeffries’ performance of Miss Hope Spring is done in style: that is, in the style of cabaret, female impersonation and solo performer in the spotlight. The realisation of a … Read more
Freedom Genre: Drama Venue: Arcola Theatre 24 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL Low Down When I walked into the Arcola Theatre’s studio space to view Freedom, the stage seemed unusually disjointed from the hemisphere-shaped auditorium seating arrangement. The back wall of the set seemed very detailed yet at least half the seats … Read more
Invariably, the choice of whether a play is rarely or often staged both make the claim that the play is relevant for ‘our times’. Of course, that’s the point. As the audience lives in the here and now, Phil Willmott’s realisation of Shakespeare’sKing John clearly how Shakespeare remains our contemporary. I saw this particularly in way that the production engaged the audience in its psychological depiction of warfare and its exposition of how spiritual and temporal claims live in the figure of the king.
SPECIAL REPORT – UK’s Premiere Musical Production of Little Women Many achievements surround the staging of Little Women as a musical at the Lost Theatre from 12 December to 7 January. This report summarises the production’s critical reception and draws together what theatre reviewers suggest are the strengths and weakness of Little Women: The Musical. … Read more
Next Time I’ll Sing To You Genre: Comedy Drama Venue: Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 2SA Low Down The Orange Tree staged many of James Saunders’s plays from 1973 onwards, including a production of Next Time I’ll Sing To You in 1974, a play in which he looked … Read more