Welsh National Opera, under the direction of Xevi Dorca and Joan Font, bring us Rossini’s delightful retelling of Cinderella but with a few twists on the way in this candy-coloured world of fairy tale, full of wit, larger than life characters, and vibrant costumes. Oh, and not forgetting the mice!
‘People are people. We’ll always find a way to mess up. Doesn’t matter who’s in charge.’
Callum is a Nought, Sephy is a Cross. In a world where Noughts and Crosses don’t mix, how can their friendship, and love, survive?
According to the programme notes every hour of the day, a curtain rises on a Verdi opera. As La Traviata is widely considered one of his most famous operas, chances are high that the curtain will be rising on this show. Curtains feature heavily in Tanya McCallin’s Tissot inspired design for this revival of David McVicar’s production. As the audience settle in their seats notebook wielding men prowl the dust sheet strewn stage cataloguing what’s there.
You wait ages for a puppet show to come along and then three come along at once. Well, two actually, both filming puppets, adding special effects, and projecting the result in real time onto a screen above the stage. The first was The Missing Light by Make, Do and Mend – a simple tale, beautifully without words, with wooden puppets and a range of props and settings.
‘Still Alice’ is a novel originally written by Lisa Genova which depicts the story of a 50 year old woman receiving the difficult diagnosis of early onset dementia. The book which was published in 2009 was a roaring success and quickly became a best seller which has since been sold in 30 countries and translated into more than 20 languages.
Remembrance week of the centenary year of the end of the First World War is the right moment for a re-enactment of Blackadder Goes Forth and under the direction of Nick Fawdry, Carlton Players serve up a fitting and moving tribute.
The script – written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton some thirty years ago – has stood the test of time with slapstick humour and gags galore: it really is jokes away in this clever stage adaptation of four of the original episodes.
This morning saw the theatre buzzing with the expectations of excited school children waiting to see Make, Mend and Do’s production of The Missing Light by Mark Arends, a magical combination of puppet show, technology, animation, and silent movie that tells the story of a fisherman and his wife. Each morning he sets off on his boat while she goes to the market to sell yesterday’s catch.
As “The Ladyboys of Bangkok” celebrate their 20th year anniversary, they take to the stage at the Epstein Theatre Liverpool. This show, titled “The Wonder Woman Tour”, shares with the audience a range of tracks from Lady Gaga, Abba, Rihanna, Diana Ross and lots more. Although the show is still managing to attract a great audience, it doesn’t appear to have stood the test of time for me as the performance was underwhelming and unimaginative.
LIPA’s 3rd year dance students’ production of Bright Lights, Big City is based on the novel by Jay McInerney which was then turned into a film in 1988, starring Michael J Fox. The musical tells the story of Jamie who is an aspiring author, living a life in New York of sex and drugs, trying to put off grieving over his recently deceased mother.
Isn’t it fabulous when after a long hard day’s work, you gird your loins and set off to see a play you’ve never heard of by a company you don’t know in a theatre you didn’t know existed* and realise you’ve found an absolute gem.
Satan & Mrs Smith is a comedy based around the evil and the virtuous and what happens when a mistake causes both of them to clash together.
Written by Jamie McLoughlin and directed by John Garfield-Roberts, the play tells the story of the recently deceased Mrs Smith (Pamela Ashton) has been a good woman all her life. Charitable, thoughtful and kind, she is fully prepared to walk through the pearly gates to spend an eternity in bliss. But Heaven is having a long weekend, and a mistake leads her to end up in the fiery pits of Hell instead.
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