Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion, Sadler's Wells, London
Published: 17 January 2008
In 2002, the choreographer Jonathan Burrows began a collaboration with the composer Matteo Fargion. Their duets are small-scale and apparently simple: two men exchanging gestures, speaking in rhythms or walking about. It's gentle and absorbing, with basic means building into virtuoso display.
You Write The Reviews: The Tempest, Arts Theatre, London
Published: 17 January 2008
Tara Arts's production of The Tempest gives us Shakespeare's late masterpiece in an hour and 45 minutes, with no interval, using six actors and the simplest of sets and stage effects.
Angry Young Man, Trafalgar Studios, London
Published: 16 January 2008
The synopsis of Ben Woolf's one-hour play (which he also directs) seems to promise a serious drama about "Yuri, a brilliant Eastern European surgeon", who comes to London and meets a man who offers him help and a trip to the country. "What they find there reveals some cold truths about England," and Yuri is forced "to choose between a life in Britain and his honour".
The Russian National Dance Show, Hammersmith Apollo, London
Published: 16 January 2008
It was the Zeppelin that did it. The Russian National Dance Show includes scenes of Russian life through the ages, sometimes achieving berserk levels of kitsch. The Soviet era, which forms the first-act finale, includes Young Pioneers jiving to a synthesiser arrangement of "Back in the USSR". An astronaut partners a ballerina. Then a remote-controlled Zeppelin appears. There was a gasp from a woman behind me: "It's coming straight for us!"
First Night: Scenes From A Marriage, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Published: 16 January 2008
Walking on Water, White Bear Theatre Club, London
Published: 15 January 2008
A couple of years ago, eagle-eyed visitors to the Edinburgh Fringe were surprised to discover a doyenne of British film and stage, Susannah York, hiding away in a production of The Deluge at a minor venue of the city. Now, she's doing it again, this time appearing in the back room of the White Bear pub in Kennington, south London.
Swan Lake, Coliseum, London
Published: 14 January 2008
Swan Lake is bread and butter to ballet companies; most need a production of the world's favourite ballet. English National Ballet has two. There's Derek Deane's gargantuan arena production, with sixty swans and extra jugglers, shown everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall to a stage on a lake at Versailles. This second version, created for proscenium theatres, is a beautifully lucid staging.
La Cage aux Folles, Menier Chocolate Factory, London
The British Ambassador's Belly Dancer, Arcola, London
Published: 13 January 2008
I Am Falling, The Gate, London
Published: 13 January 2008
La Cage Aux Folles, Menier Chocolate Factory, London
Published: 11 January 2008
Cirque du Soleil, Royal Albert Hall, London
Published: 10 January 2008
Cirque du Soleil is a brand, a hugely successful way of touring circus internationally. As such, its shows are predictable. Before you go, you know you'll get the elaborate make-up, the vague storylines, the singing that gestures at rock, opera and world music. Yes, the circus skills will be remarkable; yes, there will be bad clowns.
You write the reviews: Much Ado About Nothing, NT: Olivier, London
Published: 10 January 2008
Much Ado about Nothing is one of Shakespeare's great comedies. It bubbles with mirth until the false denouncement of Hero causes it to wallow in a bit of melodrama, but soon after matters are resolved; laughter is restored and happiness, in the shape of a double wedding, takes place, followed by music and dancing.
Treasure Island, Derby Playhouse, Derby
Published: 10 January 2008
First Night: Circque du Soleil, Royal Albert Hall, London
Published: 09 January 2008
Preview: Afrika! Afrika!, O2 Centre, London
Published: 07 January 2008
The Winter's Tale, The Courtyard, Hoxton, London
Published: 07 January 2008
Les Patineurs / Tales of Beatrix Potter, Royal Opera House, London
Published: 06 January 2008
The Woman Hater, Orange Tree, Richmond, Surrey
The Young Ones, Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Warehouse, Croydon
Published: 06 January 2008
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Warehouse, Croydon
Published: 03 January 2008
I'm quite a fan of the composer and record producer Rupert Holmes. He produced Lazy Afternoon, one of Barbra Streisand's best albums at the pop end of the spectrum, and he also wrote some pretty good numbers for her (eg "Widescreen"). Thanks to YouTube, we are now in a position to witness the excellence of a further collaboration with Holmes/Streisand that never made it into the shops. He was the producer on a second Broadway album, which the company shelved because they did not want to be seen to be trying the same trick twice too soon. The eventual Back to Broadway ignored the earlier material, which is a great pity because some of the performances are knockout.
An Ideal Husband, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Published: 01 January 2008
There must be a few politicians around today who dread the thought of a dangerous woman like Mrs Cheveley coming into their lives. The revelation of a long-forgotten misdemeanour would surely spell disaster for a prestigious member of the House of Commons. Haughty Sir Robert Chiltern fears just that when an old acquaintance of his wife's turns up at his home with a letter that could ruin his reputation, end his career and jeopardise his marriage. She has a "past" in Vienna but, despite his contacts, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs cannot find evidence of any affair with which he might be able to silence her. And despite his ill-gotten gains from selling a government secret in his youth, even he is not "rich enough to buy back his own past".
The Woman Hater, Orange Tree Theatre, London
Published: 31 December 2007
One of the sharpest and most shamelessly enjoyable television plays of recent times rejoiced in the cheeky title Fear of Fanny. It's not about crawling aversion to the female anatomy, though there are aspects that abut (so to speak) on that territory, in that the subject of Brian Fillis's drama is Fanny Cradock, the TV cook who was the drag queen of TV cookery back in the golden era of the 1950s to the 1970s. She was eventually dropped by the BBC for being rude to a member of the public. Poor Fanny – she was ahead of her time. These days, she would be raking it in as one of the judges on The X-Factor, or as Gordon Ramsay.
Much Ado About Nothing, NT Olivier, London
Marianne Dreams, Almeida, London
Noughts & Crosses, Civic Hall, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Published: 23 December 2007
Nutcracker!, Sadler's Wells, London
Published: 23 December 2007
Tom's Midnight Garden, Library Theatre, Manchester
Published: 21 December 2007
