Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Amaze - Review

Criterion Theatre, London



****


Directed by Jonathan Goodwin



Jamie Allan

Half-term week sees London’s Criterion Theatre packed for Jamie Allan’s Amaze, the latest magic show from this talented UK performer.

Themed around Allan’s childhood, his background and his evident love for his (now deceased) parents, Amaze includes some spectacular sleight of hand and illusions. Close up cameras ensure that even those in the cheaper seats can catch the details, and for the most part the audience are wowed by Allan’s genius. Decks of cards are toyed with, mathematical improbabilities leave us stunned and there’s even a woman who’s levitated off the stage - what more could anyone want from a magic show?

There are moments when Allan’s reflections on his life’s journey - while no doubt sincere - are perhaps too intense, but that’s his choice and it’s his show.

For an evening of traditional family entertainment, Amaze is amazing!


Runs until 23rd November
Photo credit: Danny Kaan

Monday, 28 October 2024

Dr Strangelove - Review

Noel Coward Theatre, London



****



Adapted from Stanley Kubrick's film by Armando Ianucci and Sean Foley
Directed by Sean Foley


Steve Coogan



It is 60 years since Kubrick’s movie Dr Strangelove stunned audiences. Playing to a world still grappling with the aftershocks of the Cuban missile crisis, his satirical take on the superpowers’ governments and their armed forces tapped into existential fears of mutually assured nuclear destruction. Today, Armando Ianucci and Sean Foley offer up an adaptation of Dr Strangelove in an entertaining tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant original.

On screen it was the comedic genius of Peter Sellars that played three of Kubrick’s key roles:  a stiff upper lipped British RAF officer (itself a character offering a precursory hint towards Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder of later years); the American President; and finally the eponymous Strangelove, a crazed nuclear scientist. The story’s satire was inspired, with Kubrick’s movie now recognised as one of the great anti-war narratives of the last century.

In a bold casting move, Ianucci and Foley give Steve Coogan the Peter Sellars responsibilities - adding to his roles by also making him Major Kong, the maverick pilot of the nuclear-armed B-52 bomber. Coogan is a class act, not least when playing Strangelove afflicted by alien hand syndrome. But his evening on stage is a tough gig and he perhaps needs a little longer to become fully fluent in his performance. The supporting company are a blast, with notably great work from Giles Terera as US General Turgidson and John Hopkins as the deranged General Ripper.

It was always going to be a challenge - transferring the opening salvos of a B-52-delivered Armageddon from the broad canvas of film, to the comparative intimacy of a West End stage - and hence it is little surprise that the production team rely on projections (aka film) to convey some of the story’s more graphic moments. The videos are strong but they have a few distracting glitches that need attention.

Wrapping the whole show up, Penny Ashmore rises from the Noel Coward’s bowels to assume the part of Vera Lynne and lead the company in We’ll Meet Again as the world explodes around them. It’s a neat theatrical moment that almost leads into an audience singalong, but it doesn’t match the powerful brutality that Kubrick achieved in his juxtaposition of that song, set to a backdrop of global conflagration.

Dr Strangelove may cut corners in its interpretation of Kubrick’s masterpiece but it still makes for a hilarious night at the theatre as well as a sad reflection upon our world today.


Booking until 25th January 2025 - then on tour to Dublin
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Thursday, 24 October 2024

Fly More Than You Fall - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London



****



Music and lyrics by Nat Zegree
Book and lyrics by Eric Holmes
Directed by Christian Durham


Keala Settle and Robyn Rose-Li

In a show founded on the writers’ personal experiences, Fly More Than You Fall is an exploration of loss through the eyes of 15year old Malia. An aspiring writer, we often see Malia’s emotions expressed through the development of her two fictional creations, a pair of injured birds, Willow and Flynn. 

Whisked back from summer camp early following her mother Jennifer’s diagnosis with a stage-4 cancer, the show’s first half offers a sensitive interpretation of Jennifer’s decline and its impact upon her husband Paul and upon Malia. As well as the most painful of sadnesses there is also an anger that is expressed at the cruelty of Jennifer’s dying - and all portrayed through song and dialogue that is perfectly weighted and free of mawkish sentiment.

The second act opens following Jennifer’s death - and while it delivers some moments of poignant grief there are also patches of shallow cliche that detract from the evening’s impact, particularly in the exchanges with and between the two imaginary birds.

The performances are exquisite. Keala Settle's Jennifer, journeying through the ghastliness of chemotherapy yet trying to remain strong for her family, is an acting masterclass. Cavin Cornwall makes fine work of the more two-dimensional Paul, however it is Robyn Rose-Li as Malia who soars throughout the show. And in particular, those numbers that involve multi-part harmonies are gorgeously delivered.

Fly More Than You Fall is a powerful concept for new musical theatre based on a strong core narrative. With a re-worked second half, it could yet prove sensational.


Runs until 23rd November
Photo credit: Craig Fuller

Tuesday, 22 October 2024

The Duchess [of Malfi] - Review

Trafalgar Theatre, London



****



Written and directed by Zinnie Harris
After John Webster



Jodie Whittaker


Zinnie Harris offers up an imaginative swipe at John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, taking the Jacobean tragedy and thrusting its 17th-century themes into a modern-day staging.

Making her return to the London stage, Jodie Whittaker is the recently-widowed Duchess who, against the wishes of her brothers, wishes to rebuild a life of emancipated sexual independence, much to their controlling shame. Harris follows Webster’s broad plotline, with her dialogue reflecting a modern parlance – and notwithstanding the play’s centuries-old roots, its message remains timely.

Harris places the story's misogyny of the story centre-stage. While her women may be the tragic victims of their controlling menfolk, they are all bestowed with a divine afterlife that offers a display of their strengths not often seen in this tale’s retelling. That being said, the violence meted out to them is cruel, graphic and deliberate, while most of Harris’ menfolk die through Tarantino-esque bungled shootings.

It’s not just misogyny that Harris puts in the spotlight. Paul Ready’s Cardinal makes an excellent display of the promiscuous hypocrisy of the Catholic church and if one then considers the  honour-killing that sits at the very heart of this story, one has to reflect on the prevalence of such murders that are sadly all too prevalent amongst some UK communities today.

Harris’ narrative is exciting and her violence graphic. Whittaker plays a sympathetic victim, far more sinned against than sinning ably supported, in particular, by Jude Owusu’s deeply flawed Bosola and Elizabeth Ayodele’s naively trusting Julia. Tom Piper’s staging is brutally simple, with Jamie Macdonald’s jarring videos adding to the evening’s horrors.

The Duchess is an intelligent revision of a classic that forces us to recognise the timelessness of evil.


Runs until 20th December
Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Wednesday, 16 October 2024

The James Bond Concert Spectacular - Review

O2, London



***




A evening that was definitely for James Bond fans played for one night only on the O2’s Indigo stage.

Q The Music - a tribute orchestra dedicated to performing the Bond classics, provided a sparkling delivery of the franchise’s unforgettable melodies with Kerry Schultz and Matt Walker on vocals. Some of the singing was glorious - GoldenEye, originally performed by Tina Turner was a spectacular cover, however the take on Skyfall, with its demands to replicate Adele’s original understated complex melancholy, failed to hit the spot.

David Zaritsky compered the night with perhaps more patter than was needed and while the music may have been magnificent the O2’s decaying fabric - allowing smells from the adjoining lavatories to permeate the auditorium - detracted from what really should have been a sparkling evening and left some in the audience shaken, not stirred.

Q The Music know their tunes and with perhaps just a quantum of solace added to their programme, this evening could yet prove an all time high.

Thursday, 10 October 2024

Filumena - Review

Theatre Royal, Windsor



***



Written by Eduardo de Filippo
English version by Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall
Directed by Sean Mathias


Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly

Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly star in Eduardo de Filippo’s classic Neapolitan folly Filumena, delivering the 1970s translation penned by those stalwarts of modern English literature, Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall.

There are moments of comedy gold in the play's first half, particularly early on, as we learn of Kelly’s cantankerous, philandering Don Domenico being outwitted by his bride Filumena Marturano (Kendal) on the day of their marriage, a union which itself is a formalisation of their hitherto 35-year cohabitation.

Theirs is an unlikely romance. Filumena in her youth was a prostitute and the Don one of her clients, and from there blossomed a prickly love. Kelly and Kendal sparkle in their roles, with an electricity in their sparring that is frequently hilarious.

But Filumena (the play) cannot just rest on Kendal’s seductive, knowing wiles and Kelly’s frequent states of exasperation, brilliantly delivered though they may be. The story’s narrative offers a glimpse into the foibles and strata of 1940s Naples, but what once may have been an enchanting farce now seems dated and wordy. This review will not spoil any of the plot’s reveals, but especially in the second act, the comedy fast evaporates with the story condensing into a yarn that it is difficult to care about.

One imagines that de Filippo's original may well, like a fine chianti or prosciutto, have been steeped in l'italianità, the very essence of Italian culture, that will have added a richness to the tale that would have been recognised and adored by the cognoscenti.  Waterhouse and Hall’s translation however, for all its wit, strips away the beautiful Italian linguistics and the English that they replace it with quite simply lacks a romantic charm.  

The supporting cast – and all credit to producer Bill Kenwright Limited for employing such a large company – are for the most part a talented bunch with standout work from Julie Legrand as the faithful retainer Rosalia, and Jodie Steele as the Don’s latest young squeeze, Diana. 

At Windsor for another week and then touring, Filumena offers an evening of gentle entertainment.


Runs until 19th October and then on tour.
Photo credit: Jack Merriman

Tuesday, 1 October 2024

Giant - Review

Royal Court Theatre, London



***


Written by Mark Rosenblatt
Directed by Nicholas Hytner

John Lithgow

Set in a bucolic summer’s afternoon in Buckinghamshire in 1983, amidst the drilling and banging of a country residence that’s being lovingly restored, Giant is a drama loosely based on facts, about the antisemitic views and writings of that hero of children’s literature, Roald Dahl.

Bearing a striking resemblance to how we recall Dahl from his appearances in the media, with perhaps a nod to JR Hartley too, John Lithgow makes his Royal Court debut as the author. His foils across the lunch table are real life publisher Tom Maschler (played by Elliot Levey) and the fictional Jessie Stone (Romola Garai), an agent from Dahl’s US publishing company. Dahl has recently published a book review, widely seen as antisemitic, and the two publishing professionals are there, over glasses of Chablis, to coax him into drafting an apology.

Mark Rosenblatt’s drama is tightly written. In what feels like a slightly overlong 2hrs 20mins, the pace never falters, with Rosenblatt’s dialogue proving well-structured and his characters, credible. Garai and Rachael Stirling, as Dahl’s Mitford-like fiancée Felicity Crosland are both outstanding. Levey plays a recognisably luke-warm diaspora Jew, not too bothered by Dahl’s pronouncements and more concerned with trying to smooth things over at all costs. Of the three supporting characters, his is perhaps the least compelling.

Lithgow’s work however is tremendous - and under the direction of Nicholas Hytner, turns in an Olivier-worthy performance.

But other than some smug references to Ian McEwan and the literary world of that time, ultimately what is the point of this play other than to provide a platform for Dahl’s rabid ravings? Giant drips with Dahl’s criticism of Israel (the 1982 Lebanon War was raging), with clear echoes of criticisms that have been levelled at the Jewish state in more recent times during the Gaza conflict. Unsurprisingly for the Royal Court there is little offered by way of challenge to Israel’s actions, although it ultimately has to prove some comfort that Dahl’s rants against Israel are coming from the same mind and mouth that throughout the play utter the vilest antisemitic slurs. There remains of course the sad but realistic possibility that much of that irony may have soared over the heads of many of the Royal Court’s audience.

That this is brilliantly crafted theatre is unquestionable. That it also provides a soapbox for countless tropes makes for an evening that is ultimately deeply unsatisfying.


Runs until 16th November
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan