Tag review

REVIEW: Private Lives

Reading Time: 3 minutesEntering the Ambassador’s Theatre on a sweltering Tuesday night, the excitement for this hotly-anticipated production of Noël Coward’s classic comedy was palpable. Private Lives is a 1930s comedy in three acts. Passion, romance, anger, and lust all intertwine in Coward’s ultimate battle of the sexes as recent divorcees, Amanda and Elyot, bump into one another inadvertently on a hotel balcony after booking two rooms, door-to-door, on their respective honeymoons with their new lovers, Victor and Sybil. Amanda and Elyot are forced to face their true feelings for each other. Realising they have made a mistake leaving each other, they attempt to escape their mismatched partners. They succeed… for a bit.

REVIEW: Great Expectations

Reading Time: 2 minutesIt's hard to tell how many times a timeless tale can be retold without losing its appeal and becoming predictable or dull. However, Tanika Gupta's ambitious adaptation of the Dickensian chronicles of the British class convinced me that great stories can still be relevant today if they carry a message that resonates with current societal issues.

REVIEW: The Bodyguard

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Bodyguard has become synonymous with the 1992 movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. Therefore, creating a musical rendition that surpasses the original is a daunting task. However, The Bodyguard musical puts up a strong fight, with amazing performances and clear vocals. It's such a shame that the show needs a modern update. 

REVIEW: Red Pitch

Reading Time: 4 minutesThe lively and welcoming Bush Theatre, the venue again for the returning Red Pitch. Before we were asked to take our seats, we were invited to have some drinks and hear a few speeches. Lynette Linton (Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre), Daniel Bailey (Director of ‘Red Pitch and Associate Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre), Mimi Findlay (Executive Director of the Bush Theatre), and Lenny Henny, got us all excited for the upcoming show and the upcoming season at the Bush and celebrated all forms of British theatre, Black theatre, and Asian theatre.  

REVIEW: Prom 70: Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto

Reading Time: 2 minutesBBC's penultimate Prom at the Royal Albert Hall saw the pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii take on Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra led by Domingo Hindoyan. The programme was ambitious and greatly impressive; the concerto was exciting and filled the space of the hall - aurally but also its layered and varied sound took up the auditorium tonally and emotionally. Nobuyuki Tsujii, born blind, gained international recognition when he won the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009. His talent and technique is undoubtedly captivating to watch and to listen to.

REVIEW: The Architect

Photography by David Levene

Reading Time: 3 minutesConceived and written to commemorate 30 years since the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, the 18 year old South East Londoner who himself dreamt of a future in architecture, The Architect and The Architect’s Dream – two adjoined yet separate productions from The Actor’s Touring Company and Greenwich+Docklands International Festival – takes us on a curated journey from Deptford to Woolwich tracing as it goes the various quotidian lives and loves and dramas and conversations of a regular Black family.

REVIEW: Academy of St Martin in the Fields & Stephen Stirling

Reading Time: 2 minutesStepping into the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields is quite something. Located next to Trafalgar Square, its interior is spacious and on Thursday night, it was lit up beautifully, ready for the performance of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, a chamber orchestra, and the brilliant horn soloist Stephen Stirling. What followed was pretty special. The programme consisted of an interesting range of pieces, from a mixture of living and passed composers.

REVIEW: In Other Words

Reading Time: 3 minutesThis is a phenomenally good show. In many ways, it’s incredibly simple. It explores the effects of Alzheimer’s on one couple, Arthur and Jane, and tracks their journey from meeting to “the incident” to dementia’s inevitable conclusions while demonstrating the unbelievably powerful effect of music. The set is mostly bare—two old armchairs and a lamp—and it’s only a two-hander, yet the show succeeds in building out its world and packing its punches.