I've seen four productions at the theatre in the last couple of weeks so here's one bloggie to round them all up. They were: 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' at the Bridge Theatre, 'Girl From The North Country' at the Gielgud Theatre, 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' at the National Theatre and 'The Red Shoes' at Sadler's Wells.
'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' at the Bridge Theatre
We all know the story of Narnia, of Aslan's might, the witch and eternal winter (but never Christmas) and the four boys and girls who grow up to become High Kings and High Queens of Narnia. The story is brought faithfully to the stage with lots of physical special effects, such as actors running on stage dressed in white and covering the stage in long diaphanous white sheets to create a snowy landscape. There are probably more sophisticated ways of creating the effects but I quite liked the simplicity and magic of some of them, the energy and speed of the actors and the almost childlike wonder of the thing.
I liked Keziah Joseph as Lucy, Beverley Rudd as Mrs Beaver and Wil Johnson as Aslan and the Professor. Aslan was a giant puppet with Wil walking underneath and emerging as himself for the interactive sections of the play. The production has magic aplenty and I loved it. Have your photo taken with the magic streetlamp that marks the border of Narnia - I did!
'Girl From The North Country' at the Gielgud Theatre
A Bob Dylan musical? Who'd have thought it, but that's what we have here. I didn't see it on it's first run a couple of years ago but caught this production at the Gielgud. Dylan didn't really have anything to do with the play but gave his entire catalogue to Colin McPherson, the writer and director, to use as he saw fit (a very generous thing to do). It's not the cheeriest of plays and I didn't know most of the songs but it's a powerful play and experience. The action takes place in a failing boarding house in small town Duluth, Minnesota, in 1934 and the story tells the sad, little tales of people staying in the boarding house as well as the owners of the place.
The use of Dylan's songs is very clever in places, illustrating aspects of the characters lives and adding additional depth to the characters. I was particularly taken by 'Like A Rolling Stone and 'Forever Young' sung by the mother of the boarding house family and 'Hurricane' sung by a failed boxer. Katie Brayben gave an astonishing performance as the mentally ill mother who lets rip with her great voice to great effect (more effective and painful than whoever sings the role on the cast recording). Highly recommended.
'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' at the Dorfman, National Theatre
This is a new play based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name, a tale about folklore and the supernatural, loss in childhood and, of course, magic. At the centre of the play are a 12 year old boy who meets three generations of Hempstock women, the crone, the mother and the daughter who start out as eccentric country-women and end as powerful cosmic beings as we learn their story. The boy lost his mother and has a strained relationship with his father and sister and he gradually learns to let go and repair the bonds with is family. It's a heart-warming tale but there are some scary moments and shocks.
The staging and lighting was very clever and I particularly liked the way that doors and props magically shot up from out of the floor every now and then - there must've been lots of practice in where the actors needed to stand for that to work as smoothly as it does. I particularly liked Josie Walker as the aged crone with amazing magical powers who gave just the right mix of world weariness and indomitability when needed. It would be good to see this on a bigger stage one day.
Matthew Bourne's 'The Red Shoes' at Sadler's Wells
The Christmas show at Sadler's Wells is always a Matthew Bourne production and this year it is 'The Red Shoes', based on the film of the same name. It's the tale of a young girl who wants to become a ballerina, gets her chance and becomes a star only for it all to start going wrong when she loves a composer but the impresario of the ballet loves her. O dear, it won't end well.... and it doesn't. It's a funny thing to say about a dance production but I always think there's more dance in this show than in many others of Matthew's, probably because the show itself is about dancing. There's also lots of different styles of dancing and it's great to see the dancers being so versatile.
Our young ballerina was Cordelia Braithwaite (who I saw earlier this year dancing Juliet) and she was on effortless top form. It was also good to see Adam Cooper as the impresario since he danced the original Swan in Matthew's 'Swan Lake' all those years ago. The staging and lighting was excellent and I loved the light flooding the South of France seaside scenes. Well done all, another triumph!
And there we have it, a round-up of the latest theatrical productions to get them in the Plastic Bag before the end of the year.
'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' at the Bridge Theatre
We all know the story of Narnia, of Aslan's might, the witch and eternal winter (but never Christmas) and the four boys and girls who grow up to become High Kings and High Queens of Narnia. The story is brought faithfully to the stage with lots of physical special effects, such as actors running on stage dressed in white and covering the stage in long diaphanous white sheets to create a snowy landscape. There are probably more sophisticated ways of creating the effects but I quite liked the simplicity and magic of some of them, the energy and speed of the actors and the almost childlike wonder of the thing.I liked Keziah Joseph as Lucy, Beverley Rudd as Mrs Beaver and Wil Johnson as Aslan and the Professor. Aslan was a giant puppet with Wil walking underneath and emerging as himself for the interactive sections of the play. The production has magic aplenty and I loved it. Have your photo taken with the magic streetlamp that marks the border of Narnia - I did!
'Girl From The North Country' at the Gielgud Theatre
A Bob Dylan musical? Who'd have thought it, but that's what we have here. I didn't see it on it's first run a couple of years ago but caught this production at the Gielgud. Dylan didn't really have anything to do with the play but gave his entire catalogue to Colin McPherson, the writer and director, to use as he saw fit (a very generous thing to do). It's not the cheeriest of plays and I didn't know most of the songs but it's a powerful play and experience. The action takes place in a failing boarding house in small town Duluth, Minnesota, in 1934 and the story tells the sad, little tales of people staying in the boarding house as well as the owners of the place.The use of Dylan's songs is very clever in places, illustrating aspects of the characters lives and adding additional depth to the characters. I was particularly taken by 'Like A Rolling Stone and 'Forever Young' sung by the mother of the boarding house family and 'Hurricane' sung by a failed boxer. Katie Brayben gave an astonishing performance as the mentally ill mother who lets rip with her great voice to great effect (more effective and painful than whoever sings the role on the cast recording). Highly recommended.
'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' at the Dorfman, National Theatre
This is a new play based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name, a tale about folklore and the supernatural, loss in childhood and, of course, magic. At the centre of the play are a 12 year old boy who meets three generations of Hempstock women, the crone, the mother and the daughter who start out as eccentric country-women and end as powerful cosmic beings as we learn their story. The boy lost his mother and has a strained relationship with his father and sister and he gradually learns to let go and repair the bonds with is family. It's a heart-warming tale but there are some scary moments and shocks.The staging and lighting was very clever and I particularly liked the way that doors and props magically shot up from out of the floor every now and then - there must've been lots of practice in where the actors needed to stand for that to work as smoothly as it does. I particularly liked Josie Walker as the aged crone with amazing magical powers who gave just the right mix of world weariness and indomitability when needed. It would be good to see this on a bigger stage one day.
Matthew Bourne's 'The Red Shoes' at Sadler's Wells
The Christmas show at Sadler's Wells is always a Matthew Bourne production and this year it is 'The Red Shoes', based on the film of the same name. It's the tale of a young girl who wants to become a ballerina, gets her chance and becomes a star only for it all to start going wrong when she loves a composer but the impresario of the ballet loves her. O dear, it won't end well.... and it doesn't. It's a funny thing to say about a dance production but I always think there's more dance in this show than in many others of Matthew's, probably because the show itself is about dancing. There's also lots of different styles of dancing and it's great to see the dancers being so versatile.Our young ballerina was Cordelia Braithwaite (who I saw earlier this year dancing Juliet) and she was on effortless top form. It was also good to see Adam Cooper as the impresario since he danced the original Swan in Matthew's 'Swan Lake' all those years ago. The staging and lighting was excellent and I loved the light flooding the South of France seaside scenes. Well done all, another triumph!
And there we have it, a round-up of the latest theatrical productions to get them in the Plastic Bag before the end of the year.
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