THE WORLD premiere of a re-imagining of George Orwell’s Animal Farm – a joint production between the Birmingham REP and the Children’s Theatre Partnership – opened last night to a packed auditorium.

It is indeed an extraordinary and powerful piece of theatre – one which narrows the line between puppetry and flesh-and-bone actors to nigh infinity – the term ‘Warhorse on Steroids’ comes to mind.

From the chickens to the giant plough horse these ‘created by master crafters’ and ‘operated by masterful puppeteers’ are real – right from the dramatic opening chords heralding the animal assembly to the ‘Pigs on two legs’ final conversion.

This is also a far more demonic outing than the original 1945 novel. Here, the farmer and his chums have Range Rovers and guns and there are gory scenes of torture, mutilation and death. There’s even a screen heralding the body count with animal names, breed and means of death.

Orwell’s message is the same though – that despite revolution to bring about a classless society, equality is a myth that never happens.

Someone will always want to be more equal than the others.

A hugely talented cast do the voices and bond with the puppets and includes Matthew Churcher, Darcy Collins, Enrico D Wey, Ailsa Dalling, Jonathan Dryden Taylor, Elisa De Grey, Edie Edmundson, Michael Jean-Marain, Rayo Patel, Yana Penrose, Markus Schabbing, Sharon Sze, Ben Thompson and Matt Tait.

It is directed and adapted by the multi award-winning Robert Icke. Icke’s other Orwell adaption of 1984 was a sensation on both Broadway and in the West End.

The production team also consists of some of UK theatre’s most talented creatives, including four-time Olivier Award-winning designer Bunny Christie and puppetry by Toby Olié – the genius who gave us the original Warhorse.

This ‘Animal Farm’ is a dynamic and contemporary take on a timeless story which I’d say will appeal to audiences aged over 12 as  it goes from the REP onto  a national tour and then beyond.

It is also another huge enticement to get audiences back into our premier, city-centre producing theatre – where – oh joy – the new bar is open!

Animal Farm runs at the Birmingham Rep until next Saturday, February 5.

Click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Euan RoseEuan Rose Reviews

LONDON Classic Theatre rarely disappoint as a touring company – they take much-loved plays which could do with a dust off, direct and cast them well and head off on the high road.

It’s good to see them back after the Covid lockdowns of the past two years with a 2022 tour of the Tony-winning ‘Same Time Next Year’ by Bernard Slade.  It is a splendid choice and a beautifully crafted production, which opened last night at Malvern.

This is a ‘rom-com with a bite’ two-hander, concerning an affair, which starts one February day in 1951 and as far as we can glean, continues in perpetuity. The twist is that our star-crossed lovers, Doris and George, are actually in love with their real life spouses but in lust with each other.

They meet by chance whilst both staying at a country inn somewhere in northern California, several hundred miles in opposite directions from their respective homes. We first meet them in bed the morning after they have committed adultery three times in one night.

There are no guilty repercussions – just a wallow in the magic of the encounter. They make a pact to come back the same time the following year for a rematch. In between time there is to be no contact between them.

We rejoin them five years later in the same guest cottage in the same country inn. Both were amazed that the other turned up on the first anniversary but from that point on it really is ‘Same Time Next Year’. Five years in and it seems the spark has turned to an Olympic flame.

There are two acts and six chronological scenes, each one self-contained and refreshed as we share Doris and George’s once-a-year journey over 25 years of their anniversaries.

We learn not only about their families and lives outside of this annual carnal pleasure trip, but also how America society and attitudes are changing.

Sarah Kempton and Kieran Buckeridge play Doris and George  – and a joyous couple of performances they dish up.  Both are believable and immensely watchable – they’re a hardworking duo too, performing all their own set and costume changes in addition to treading the boards.

Director Michael Cabot has done an excellent job in taking his cast on a near faultless journey.

A 25-year ageing process is a big ask but it never jars and is in fact a welcome little voyage of discovery to see how Doris and George are dressed each time the lights come up.

Bek Palmer’s set is perfect as the timeless hotel cottage – inviting bed, spacious lounge and it even has its own piano – I’d happily stay there.

This production of ‘Same Time Next Year’ is a warm and comfortable watch – it doesn’t set out to challenge, but rather to entertain. With its holiday feel about it, Malvern is an ideal venue to kick off the tour. It is always welcoming and so is this production.

You’re guaranteed to leave with a smile.

Same Time Next Year runs at Malvern Theatre until Saturday, January 29.

Click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Euan RoseEuan Rose Reviews

WHEN I went to see this very same Chicago at the Grand in Wolverhampton last year on an earlier part of the tour, I started my review with ‘The magic of theatre is that, because it’s live – you can expect the unexpected’.

That was because understudy Billie Hardy got to stand in for an indisposed Faye Brookes, to play the lead role of Roxie Hart – and very well she did too.

Last night at The Alex I got to see Ms Brookes herself do it, whilst Billie Hardy went back to playing June. In such a demanding musical, this made a significant difference to the company and the routines all seemed to be that much slicker and energetic.

That is until a moment after the ‘suicide scene’ in act two when the curtain had to come in for some technical reason and we lost our heads and hearts in Chicago to talking amongst ourselves in Birmingham.

When the show eventually restarted it never quite got back into top gear – once again the magic of live theatre had cast its spell.

That incident aside, this is an excellent show.

Directed by Tony award winner, Walter Bobbie, it is in fact a revival of the original 1996 Broadway production from the legendary trio of Fred Ebb, John Kander and the one and only Bob Fosse.

The set is cleverly centred around the fabulous ten-piece band, who are sited within a gold framed, steeply raked podium. Andrew Hilton ably conducts and MCs the proceedings with character introductions, a bit of storytelling and the occasional quip.

This ‘Chicago’ is packed full of raunchy dancing, cool jazz, glitz, glamour and a liberal sprinkling of raw emotion.

It even has a ‘strictly diversity’ – two males dancing routine amongst the stockings and suspenders.

It’s set in the days of 1920s, when Prohibition brought huge profits for Chicago gangsters and the word ‘speakeasy’ was added to the dictionary. There were hundreds of speakeasies (aka illegal drinking clubs) in Chicago and Roxy Hart was a dancer at one of them. She murders her lover when he decides to leave her then hires top defence lawyer Billy Flynn to save her from the gallows.

Flynn is played by Darren Day who brings just the right amount of flamboyance and arrogance to the role, with Flynn’s courtroom antics being much more about show biz than justice. Day’s ‘All I Care About’ when Flynn sings surrounded by feather floating girls in iconic Busby Berkley formation is spot on.

Joel Montague gives an almost show-stealing performance as Roxy’s cuckolded husband Amos. His rendition of the self-deprecating ‘Mister Cellophane’ brought a lump to the throat. He is certainly not invisible

The sexiest number in the show has to be the classic ‘Cell Block Tango’ where the death row girls dressed in black lingerie and sitting aside bentwood chairs, sing how their male victims ‘Had it Coming.’ I guarantee you’d find it difficult to find a male audience member who wouldn’t let them off with a caution.

Sinitta Malone plays the prison boss lady ‘Mama Morton’ with a smile and an entrepreneurial swagger as she acts as part-mother hen and part-manager to the girls.

As to the two leads – there is no denying Faye Brookes is a triumph and oozes charisma as Roxie Hart and Djalenga Scott makes for an equally captivating, Velma Kelly. Their closing duet of ‘Nowadays’ and ‘Hot Honey Rag’ did much to lift the temperature again towards the final curtain.

A great show with much to love including all the classic songs like, Razzle Dazzle, When You’re Good to Mama, My Own Best friend and of course Mister Cellophane.

The choreography is slick, the band is hot and this is a fun, highly recommended night out – and all that jazz!

Chicago runs at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre until Saturday, January 29.

Click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews.

YOU CAN be forgiven for thinking ‘The Red Lion’ is going to be a play about pub life – I did from the title but it is in fact a simply bitingly fearsome piece about club land – football club land that is and we’re not talking anti-vax pampered Premier League footballers with seven figure managers who need interpreters to talk to their players.

No – the Red Lion here is the logol of a nameless, struggling, semi-professional non-league football club. One where like the big cheeses of the beautiful game, passion may be all consuming but corruption hisses on its underbelly. When boiling point is reached it’s time to ring the changes.

Like Marber’s masterpiece ‘Closer’, The Red Lion requires a ‘big ask’ of a small cast to excel individually and feed off each other collectively in order to do justice to his helter-skelter storyline with its beautifully crafted text and subtext.

It also needs a director with a meticulous eye for detail who knows how to make his sheriffs tin star shine when leading his posse into the fray and a designer who can provide a believable canvas.

Director Graeme Braidwood combines with Designer Graeme Braidwood to create a triumph, which is set to become one of those landmark Crescent productions, remembered for years to come.

The cast of three makes for a herculean combo who almost transcend from acting to believing. Even though we may not share their passion, we share their journey and feel their pain.

As we enter the club dressing room, or rather auditorium, we meet Brendan Stanley as Yates the club’s kit man who is meticulously ironing the team shirts.

Stanley gives us the  ‘complete’ performance – he has a grimace for every occasion and wears his life story of faded glory like an open book. He is simply masterful with a telling grimace for every occasion, acting with everything from his eyebrows to his hands.

That’s not to take anything away from the other two. Yates is joined by fresh-out-of-the-shower, seedy low level with big aspirations club manager Kidd – another powerful performance from Mark Thompson.

Francis Quinn completes the trio as Tom, the boy wonder who proclaims himself a fervent Christian. Quinn broods and bubbles beautifully in a menacing and haunting portrayal.

There are so many memorable moments in this play it’s difficult to single them out but for me there is a point in act two where the three protagonists strike poses in a pause from dialogue that I found breathtaking. They showed and shared their thoughts by body language – not words. The late great movement coach from Birmingham Acting Conservatoire David Vann taught me that all characterisation comes from a single point on the body. Once you’ve found it, you’ve found your character. It is apparent that Braidwood knows this too and has employed it brilliantly with his company.

There is much to admire technically too – from the powerful musical underscore, through the clever use of the space to effective, spot-on-cue lighting from James Booth.

This play deserves full houses! Big name productions are struggling for audiences as we come out of this ghastly lockdown and my fear is that ‘The Red Lion’ will pass with a whimper rather than a roar. I implore all theatre lovers not to let this happen.

Theatre isn’t like a film it’s a magical experience that happens but once and you remember the good stuff for a lifetime. This isn’t just good, it’s outstanding!

The Red Lion runs at the Crescent until Saturday, January 29.

Click here for times, tickets and more information.

*****

Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews

A PACKED house greeted the first night of ‘The Dresser’ and quite rightly, as it is one of the most important pieces of modern theatre from the genius pen of the highly celebrated Ronald Harwood.

Set in 1942, in a crumbling provincial theatre where a touring production of King Lear is set to play to an equally full house, The Dresser is a play treasured as much by thespians of all ages as it is by audiences.

‘Sir’  – an actor-manager of way past pensionable age – is flitting between bouts of dementia and panic attacks. Norman, his devoted dresser of 16 years, acts as everything from masseur to cheerleader as he tries to get Sir ready to give his 227th performance.

Many huge names have trod the boards in the roles of Sir and Norman, including of course the mighty Albert Finney and Tom Courtney both on stage and screen – a daunting task then, for Matthew Kelly and Julian Clary to follow.

Happily both Kelly and Clary cross that bridge with true aplomb and simply stellar performances. They take us through the full gambit of emotions on a journey that is both draining and joyous.

In addition to the two leads there are some noteworthy performances from Emma Amos who paints an aura of dignified acceptance coupled with frustration as ‘Her Ladyship’ – Sirs partner on stage and wife in real life – Rebecca Charles as a fearsome stage manager Madge and Pip Donaghy as the amusing ancient wannabe Geoffrey Thornton.

Anything directed by Terry Johnson is for me a must–see and his take on The Dresser is no exception – It is intelligent and engaging on every level.

Tim Shortall’s magnificent set perfectly captures the theatre – from the seedy, damp dressing room through to the backstage waiting to go on areas and onto the stage itself. We are totally immersed in this fictitious theatre-within-a-theatre. So much so that when the interval came, I was momentarily disoriented as to which theatre I was actually in.

This is truly a satisfying night’s theatre and certainly one not to be missed.

The Dresser at Malvern Theatres runs until Saturday, January 22. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

*****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose Reviews