Josey De Rossi

The Amazing Vancetti Sisters

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The Amazing Vancetti Sisters    Genre: Drama Venue: Tristan Bates Theatre 1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP   Low Down   Children do not ask to be born. The majority of children are ‘treasured’ but some, sadly, experience growing into adulthood as a kind of death-defying act which they are lucky to survive. Athena … Read more

The Tempest

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Antic Disposition’s Tempest marks the 400th anniversary of the first recorded performance of the play before James I at Whitehall Palace in 1611. While that venue now no longer exists, the Middle Temple Hall’s direct link to another first performance of a Shakespearean play, Twelfth Night, in 1602, is crucial for maintaining historic and artistic links between the 2011 production and the Elizabethan theatre.

The Conspirators

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The Conspirators    Genre: Comedy Drama Venue: Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2SA     Low Down   Sam Walters & The Orange Tree Theatre’s relationship with Vaclav Havel reveals a long and fruitful history, so its fitting that the artistic director stages the UK premiere ofThe Conspirators to begin the theatre’s … Read more

Wittenberg

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Wittenberg    Genre: Comedy Drama Venue: The Gate Theatre (Above the Prince Albert Pub) 11 Pembridge Road, London, W11 3HQ   Low Down   The programme verifies that the location before me represents Wittenberg, a place that changes the history of European Christiandom when in 1517 Martin Luther nails 95 theses (arguments) to the Castle Church door … Read more

Seemingly Invisible

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Seemingly Invisible    Genre: Puppetry Venue: Blue Elephant Theatre 59a Bethwin Rd (entrance in Thompson’s Ave) Camberwell London SE5 0XT   Low Down   Seemingly Invisible delicately weaves a set of stage images around six characters who through chance encounters find different kinds of relationships, not necessarily with each other. A busy street: a young man … Read more

Snow White

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  Camden Fringe 2011       Genre: Children’s Theatre Venue: Shaw Theatre 100-110 Euston Road. London NW1 2AJ   Low Down   Filskit Theatre’s production of Snow White portrays the character of Snow White as a real girl –  as opposed to the black haired – white skinned character of Disney’s cartoon –  who is fortunate enough to survive … Read more

Mae Naak

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Opera Siam’s European premiere production of Mae Naak at the Bloomsbury last night, by composer and librettist Somtow Sucharitkul (aka S. P Sowtow), proves that it continues to engage audiences all around the world. First staged in 2003, it is a stunning work that fuses a European operatic style with Thai folkloric music. Arguably, such a synthesis reflects the global experiences of S. P. Sowtow himself, whose English scholarship (he was educated at Eton and Cambridge) and links to English musical traditions seems to have been successfully negotiated with his role as founder of the Bangkok Opera and the Siam Philharmonic.

Waiting for Godot, Haymarket Theatre 2009

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As an unknown theatre historian who had come to London to re-think her own place in teaching, researching and creating theatre, I am excited at the prospect of seeing the 2009 production of Waiting For Godot.  The £47 I spend on the tickets is the most I’ve ever spent on tickets.  I read the reviews and seeing the favourable reactions, I conclude that it must be a monumental interpretation of a most challenging play. I so set off to see how four notable performers deal with the central problem which the play presents for actors of not acting, of doing nothing but wait.