Month: November 2018

THE Wizard Of Oz at The Rep was both over the rainbow and out of this world.

This is one humdinger of a show and the best seasonal fare the REP has proffered in years. Even if like me you a hardened ‘Wizard of Oz’ watcher, you’ll be enchanted by this new take.

Angela Davies’s design makes Dorothy’s original Kansas house transform itself into everything from the wicked witch of the west’s castle to the Emerald City and back again in seamless transitions.

This is clever, making it all one possible dream. She is supported by Nick Richings’s lighting design where he uses an intense and vivid spectrum of colours to not only point beacons of light towards us in a kaleidoscopic cacophony, but also pencil outlines every piece of scenery. Of course this needs to be witnessed first hand to fully appreciate both the magic and the cleverness of this approach.

Dorothy is played to petulant and feisty perfection by Chisara Agor. Also on ‘Team Dorothy’ is Kelly Agbowu as the Lion, who may be in search of courage but brings the house down with the power of her vocals along the journey.

Ed Wade who makes a nicely laughable and lovable scarecrow and completing the trio, Dillon Scott-Lewis as an athletic tin man – once oiled of course. Having only recently graduated from Guilford School of Acting this must be a huge role for him and he rises confidently to the challenge.

Shinay Holmes performs a lovely warm double as Glinda the Good Witch and Aunty Em whilst Jos Vantyler is her polar opposite in character, but equal in talent, as the hateful Miss Gulch and the evil Wicked Witch of the West. Lorna Laidlaw also gives us a delicious double as Professor Marvel and the Great Oz herself.

The rest of this talented company work solidly in harmony and in a multitude of roles to bring us a night of joy. As such Rhys Batten, Jade Davies, Luke Fraser Yates, Zak Nemorin, Kerri Norville, Elisha Sherman, Emily Squibb and Thomas Vernal are all worthy of mention.

Toto starts and ends as a real dog – I watched Rio (one of three adorable ‘Totos’) play the role on Press Night. In the middle, an almost human dog puppet takes over – brilliantly operated by Ben Thompson who is also the puppet captain.

Samuel Wyer designed the life-like puppets and spectacular costumes– that includes the Munchkins, the talking trees, the enchanting giant poppies and the absolutely terrifying giant ghouls.

There is flying, there is fighting, there is new clever funny dialogue, great singing, a super band and never once in this fairly long show does the evening drag.  My only one criticism is that the curtain call is too quick – the audience were getting to their feet to give a standing ovation as the curtain closed. No doubt this will addressed – after all, it’s thoroughly deserved.

Director Liam Steel has taken L Frank Baum’s classic tale to somewhere beyond a land that we dream of  – this is a must see show for all the family and the wizardry is indeed wonderful.

You can embark on that journey along the Yellow Brick Road into Birmingham until the January 13.

Visit https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-wizard-of-oz.html for times, ticket prices and more information.

Review by Euan Rose

THE THREE Artistic Directors of ‘Imitating the dog’ Theatre Company state it has been about ‘as challenging as it can get‘ to devise and stage Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’. That’s true of writing this review too as I attempt to put into words the glorious bombardment of the senses I experienced whilst watching it in the REP’s Studio.

The opening is an interview with Franz Paul Stangl, an SS commander in Nazi Germany who was part of the infamous T-4 Euthanasia Program, (one of many spine chilling roles performed by Matt Prendergast) – a close up of his face on an overhead screen captures his unrepentant arrogance and removes any comfortable barrier that might exist between actor and audience. Besides setting the theme of genocide and internment, this is also an introduction to Simon Wainwright’s production and projection design. Through his vision we are taken on the most incredible journey.

A huge panoramic green screen backdrop is revealed, initially proffering a black and white photograph of Conrad staring out and challenging us to understand his message. There are three further square screens suspended above the acting area, sometimes used individually, sometimes collectively. Stage-wise the set is simple – props tables reside either side of the stage, there are two practical movie cameras on dollies, some flexible metallic acting blocks and the odd chair. So much is to come from really so little.

Conrad’s 1899 novella is acknowledged to be one of the most important works ever written about the impact of colonisation and with the world stage shifting to seeing emerging nations repeating the same patterns it is undoubtedly of the same relevance today. It also inspired such diverse works as Raymond Chandler’s detective series and the Francis Ford Coppola’s ultimate anti-war classic ‘Apocalypse Now’.

This production concerns the timeless lust for power depicted in the novella and sets it in a forsaken Europe where there is only despair, horror and more horror. The main character of Marlow in both Conrad and Chandler’s stories are white and male whilst here Marlow is black and female. Keicha Greenidge proves she is every inch a feisty, comic book hero match for any male Marlow contender. Keicha’s is a powerful, multi-dimensional performance. The close up on screen final shot of the tears rolling slowly down her cheeks will haunt me for days.

The rest of the flawless, tight-knitted charismatic cast comprises Morgan Bailey, Laura Atherton and Marven Macbeth in a liquorice allsorts collection of roles – all superbly delivered.

There are some other very clever creative touches – some of the discussions the artistic creators had are incorporated into the production in ‘the story so far sections which are clever and relevant. as too are the audible stage and camera directions. There are inventive scenes where an actor speaks the words in perfect sync among others. Martin Sheen in scenes from ‘Apocalypse Now’, which have a double relevance to the play, and the use of hand-props green-screened into the action, is pure artistic genius. For example, a simple round wheel hand held on stage by an actor sitting in a chair becomes a moving truck travelling along roads where an enemy waits in ambush. A special shout-out for the technical manager and lighting designer Andrew Crofts who choreographs the magic effects from the gallery.

No doubt this show will have criticism from theatrical purists who will say film belongs in cinema and live acting on stage, but I believe here the two work in alchemy and harmony to create a unique artistic environment, which draws on the strengths of both disciplines whilst diluting nothing.

I would happily watch this production several times and hope to catch the 2019 tour somewhere on its travels. It’s only a short run.

Heart of Darkness by ‘Imitating the dog’ Theatre Company runs until Saturday, November 24. Catch it if you can!

Visit https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/heart-of-darkness.html for more information and tickets.

Review by Euan Rose

WITH any Shakespeare production, the first five minutes is the maximum time span it has to engage with its audience.

The way to do this is certainly not to spout forth the text as homage to our Will, but to make those glorious words sound like everyday conversations.

Also, if you can smack the punters in the face with a few verbal custard pies that’ll work a treat.

Andrew Cowie is a seasoned director and one who certainly knows how to work a crowd .

In this Romeo and Juliet at the Crescent Theatre he had the house chuckling with an almost impromptu ‘Who’d like to read a bit of Shakespeare’ interaction with the audience piece from Thomas Baldachin, cleverly grabbing the attention as we all thought ‘Please not me’.

This is a very confident and competent show with some clever casting and imaginative staging – the story telling is clear, the pace doesn’t sag and there are some exceptional performances.

Alan K Marshall as the Nurse is quite charismatic and listening to his vocal range is like dipping into a box of nice chocolates.

Likewise Fi Cotton makes a marvellous Friar – again she too brings lusciousness’ to the delivery.

Traditionally of course the Nurse would be female and the Friar male – thank goodness Cowie hasn’t stuck to tradition.

Nor has he simply chosen to dress it in modern middle class attire but follows his vision through by substituting swords for Stanley knives and bottled potions for hypodermic needles.

The simple setting of a white stage within a stage served by two white drops provide an abundance of acting areas all of which are beautifully lit to a design by Kenny Holmes and Molly Wood.

The introduction of red petals cascading down at times when blood is spilt is like watching an artist painting.

The vision of Juliet (a sweetly innocent performance from Charlotte Upton) dying on a carpet of white and covered in red is quite haunting.

Samuel Wilson puts in an energetic performance as Romeo and I’m sure will grow as the run progresses – at the moment it is a little too much delivered on one level.

The stand-out performance is from Holly Prescott as Mercutio who makes the character and stage her own. She is quite simply joyous and it is a pity she has to die so early on in the play.

This is an all inclusive and thoroughly enjoyable production, which I thoroughly recommend if it it’s your first Romeo and Juliet or if you’re a seasoned performance veteran – this one breaks new ground.

It runs at The Crescent Theatre until Saturday, November 10.

Visit www.crescent-theatre.co.uk for more information, times and tickets.

Review by Euan Rose

I HAVE not personally read Alice Sebold’s 2002 novel, but several members of my family have and concur with its reputation as a literary sensation.

‘The Lovely Bones’ is based on true events about 14-year-old teenager, Susie Salmon just entering her prime and having her rite of passage denied by being hideously raped and murdered.

This may sound about as bleak an evening at the theatre as it’s possible to envisage, but I assure you it’s not.

This fast moving adaptation by Byony Lavery; directed cleverly by Melly Still is compelling on many levels, contains much humour and overall is a stand alone triumph.

The story is told through the eyes of Susie Salomon herself, a delightfully sparkling ‘Tinkerbelle’ like performance from Charlotte Beaumont who after her murder, watches over her family and friends in a celestial stroppy teenager manner from some version of a heaven.

She of course wants them to capture Mr Harvey, a suitably skin crawling performance from Keith Dunphy who oozes‘ Uriah Heep’ like platitudes to her family and the police.

We know he is guilty as of course as we watched him do it – everyone suspects his guilt but so cleverly has he covered his tracks that all that is left of Suzie to discover is her elbow. Susie is not his only victim – Mr Harvey is a serial killer – just how many poor young girls he has robbed of their precious years is shown in one of the heaven scenes where the other victims make themselves known to Susie by way of a macabre gathering of different sized girls dresses brought to life by arms acting as puppeteers.

Susie tries to reach out to her grief stricken father Jack Salmon (Jack Sandle) as he descends to a place where he shuts himself off from the rest of the family bringing about a reaction of sexual betrayal from her mother Abigail (Emily Bevan).

As a separate character to the ‘Salmons’ Bhawna Bhawsar puts in a fine performance as Ruana Singh the mother of Susie’s school crush Ray (Karan Gill).

Her dignity in the face of blatant police racism hits just the right tone. She also doubles as Franny, Susie’s spirit guide in heaven.

Another noteworthy performance is from Ayoola Smart as Susie’s sister Lindsey, who shows great emotion in dealing with her own loneliness and guilt.

What makes such a complex tale so easy to follow is the ingenious set by Ana Ines Jabares-Pita which features a huge tilted mirror that moves to allow different locations to be displayed simultaneously.

For instance, we see Mr Harvey cleaning up blood in his death pit whilst the Salmon family are being told Susie’s disappearance is now being treated as murder.

Likewise, Susie’s reflective scenes in heaven happening simultaneously with normal events in the real world cross two worlds. It’s very clever and quite ground breaking.

This is cutting edge theatre presentation at its sharpest whilst retaining the heart of a powerful and shocking story. Well worth seeing.

It runs at the Birmingham Rep House until next Saturday, November 10. Visit https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-lovely-bones.html for more information and tickets.

Review by Euan Rose