Category Review

REVIEW: Words and Music

Reading Time: 2 minutesThe BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s Words & Music: The Number 10 concert collates literature, poetry and classical music into a singular performance for an evening that explores the relationship between all three mediums of art. Presented as part of the BBC’s renowned Contains Strong Language festival, which returns from 24th to 27th September, the concert marks ten years since the festival was first broadcast, with the programme taking inspiration from the number ten in homage to this key milestone.

REVIEW: The Devils

Reading Time: 2 minutesBefore cancel culture, there was censorship, something that British heavyweight director Ken Russell came to know all too well following the original release of The Devils in 1971. The film, based on a non-fiction work by Aldous Huxley called The Devils of Loudun, was heavily criticised for its supposed blasphemy, poor-taste sexual depravity and general ‘evil’ intentions.

REVIEW: Crime and Punishment

Reading Time: 2 minutesA young man with a furrowed brow in a shabby, hole-ridden black coat walks slowly across the stage, bent over with the weight of a stone. He stops at one end, pauses; then turns around to walk back again. To adapt one of the greatest novels ever written is a similar task - just when you feel you can rest, another route must be taken, another avenue explored.

REVIEW: New Works

Reading Time: 2 minutesWorld-renowned dance company Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater brings two entirely different mixed-bill programmes to Sadler’s Wells. Legacy includes mostly Alvin Ailey’s own choreography and excerpts from his classic works. New Works, in comparison, features fresh pieces from respected contemporary choreographers. Performed by the company, both curations culminate in Alvin Ailey’s iconic Revelations.

REVIEW: Million Dollar Quartet 

Reading Time: 3 minutesSeventy years ago on the 4th December 1956, four of the most popular musicians of their day stumbled quite accidentally into an impromptu jam session at Sun Records’ studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins hung out for one day only and it became known as the Million Dollar Quartet. Backed up by their inimitable producer Sam Philips, whose ear for rock n roll was clearly well tuned, here we find ourselves a concept for a jukebox musical.

REVIEW: Annie

Reading Time: 3 minutesThere is little as impressive as watching young children fill a 3000-person theatre with synchronised dancing, convincing acting and theatrical charm. As soon as you walk into Annie, the set, a colourful but dingy-looking orphanage bedroom complete with eight empty beds, sets the scene. When the children enter as the crowd chatter dims, they effortlessly settle into bed as the show begins. What follows is a two-hour production that feels like cinema on stage.