The clue is in the title, but the title is misleading.... This is a play by William Shakespeare, and the title of Shakespeare's play is, 'The Merry Wives Of Windsor', and despite the rationale for shortening the title for this production as laid out in the programme, I would question the need and value of so doing. The title is a famous one and people know it; people recognise it as Shakespeare, and with any other playwright it would more than probably be under copyright and not be possible to change. Therefore, by so doing, one's immediate reaction to this shortened title is that the production will be either, a) a parody of Shakespeare's play, or b) a play based upon Shakespeare's themes and characters. This was neither. It was the play! [Admittedly certain licence was taken with place names and local dialect adlibs]
We were invited to review and experience a traditional Chinese Wedding to see their traditions, customs and rituals of the ceremony, with traditional Guzheng music and C-pop music and dance at the stunning Contact Theatre in Manchester.
The production was held in space 5 of the theatre and was set out as a wedding venue with 6 round tables hosting 5 seats each laced in red and gold, each table place had wedding favours of traditional sweets all beautifully coloured and delicious. The whole space was decorated in red and gold traditional for luck and wealth.
Ice-skating spectacular Disney on Ice transports audiences to 4 faraway lands in an amazing adventure.
Disney presents its Silver Anniversary Celebration. The stage transforms multiple times into completely different lands. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck take you along this adventure, to many different magical places that are the scene of some of the most popular Disney films.
A warm touch of nostalgia hit the Blackpool Grand Theatre last night with the arrival of Heartbeat on Tour. A live theatre production that’s inspired by the very popular TV programme of the same name - that ran from 1992 to 2010 and became an instant hit alongside being the perfect Sunday night entertainment, enjoyed by millions.
This evening I took a visit to the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool to see the play, Down the Dock Road.
This play was written by Liverpool's own Alan Bleasdale 40 years ago back in 1976.
Down the Dock Road is about a Docker called Grandad and his last day working. He wants to see his last day out in peace but there is no chance of that happening with his workmates around. Dreams, reality, a stolen watch and a case of whiskey all come together for a day in the life of the docks how they used to be.
The title of Mozart’s opera is one of the few that are never rendered into English when the piece is performed. “Women – they’re all like that” would be a close translation, and that maybe grates on twenty-first century ears. It also suggests that the comedic tone will be coarser than it actually is. Opera North’s lively production, now touring, steers a clever course, avoiding slapstick on the one hand, and sentimentality on the other.
The visually startling set, designed by Thomas Hoheisel, is a key element in establishing this production’s atmosphere. As the curtain rises, we are presented with what seems to be a giant wooden box, with huge cut-out lenses, which we soon realise is a camera obscura. This opens out to reveal a monochrome interior, which is where all the action takes place. At the beginning, Don Alfonso, played with wry humour by William Dazeley, stands outside the construction, and invites the orchestra to play: he is the detached observer of the mind games that will be played out within the box.
Shirley is the first production of the spring/summer season at Manchester’s newest theatre venue; Hope Mill. Written by Andrea Dunbar, Shirley is a snapshot of the lives of the working classes in Northern England in the 1980’s.
Upon entering the theatre the stage was set up was incredible and it’s clear that Richard Cooper and Stephen Hoyle (the set designers) have done a good job. The set is that of a classic two bedroom council flat. However, the Blondie poster and the décor couldn’t scream 80s any louder if it tried.
‘The Wrong Crowd’ theatre company stopped off at the Unity Theatre along their 2016 UK tour of their new show, which premiered as a part of the ‘London International Mime Festival 2016’. The hour-long show, inspired by ‘The Snowman’ and ‘The Red Balloon’ is a play without words, all done in mime. It is about a girl who has lost her mother and is taken to live in her grandma’s flat, where she is taken on a journey led by a kite, which seems to have some kind of life force, trying to help her accept the loss.
This musical just gets better, having seen it before I knew I was in for a great evening’s entertainment and I was not disappointed. This is one play I could watch again and again and probably will.
Celebrating the 29th anniversary, Blood Brothers (written by Willy Russell, directed by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright) was performed to a capacity audience at this lovely little theatre. On the stage the set cleverly designed and subtly changed is perfect for this play and enhanced by sound effects and lighting.
For Josie (Lynda Rooke) the dominatrix, tired of her profession and reaching her milestone 50th birthday it is time to evaluate her life. With an absent ‘dead’ daughter Shelly- Louise (Natalie Grady) and another daughter with learning disabilities, Brenda-Marie, (Anna Wheatley) life has been hard for this single mum and during a visit from her most regular and favourite client Lionel, (John Branwell) who likes to dress in ladies clothing and be dominated, she wearily throws in the towel. Martha (Isabel Ford) the religious Irish cleaner is suffering with OCD and has to do everything 5 times over and is totally oblivious to her employer’s profession. It is starting to become clear as to why the set has a huge bird cage arching over it …. This dysfunctional group are all caught up within their own lives one way or another, with a yearning to break free. (Elvis….’Caught in a Trap...’ get it?)
After having played to full houses and with over two million tickets sold for its superb versions of murder mysteries penned by the 'Queen of Crime Fiction' over the last decade, The Agatha Christie Theatre Company is dead. But never fear, in its place Bill Kenwright has created The Classic Thriller Theatre Company to continue in the same vein but with the shackles off when it comes to productions as it tours classic murder mysteries from a range of authors.
Rehearsal for Murder is their debut production of a murder mystery television film written by Richard Levinson and William Link, the duo behind 'Murder, She Wrote' and 'Columbo', and which won a 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Adapted for the stage by David Rogers, the location for our purposes has been transferred from Broadway to London's West End.
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