3^rd Age Critic Review Marcia Humphries Macbeth  Manchester International Festival(via Odeon Bridgend) 20^th July

                                                                           

This  National Theatre Live screening was part of the project to broadcast stage productions live to cinemas, giving access to major performances  at convenient locations for a reduced price. This transmission was from the…

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Welshman Peter Karrie is internationally famous in musical theatre. Having played Lloyd-Webber’s Phantom more often than any other performer, he began to see parallels with the life of Rasputin. He researched and became fascinated to the point where he has written a musical based on the life of the Russian mystic. An Arts Council Wales grant and support from Making Music Wales has permitted the project to be workshopped to full performance status. This is underway with a team of…

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This  National Theatre Live screening was part of the project to broadcast live to cinemas from the London stage . It gives access to London productions at convenient locations for a fraction of the  ticket price. This performance was an encore of a broadcast on 13^th June from London’s Gielgud Theatre, repeated due to the high demand. 

 

The productions take the cinema audience into the theatre, as the  audience arrives. There is usually an introductory…

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An evening of sheer showbiz at the Sherman!The audience included people who had known and worked with Dorothy Squires,even some who had lived at her lavish homes in the good times.Both the play's authors were present, mingling beforehand and giving an enlightening question and answer session afterwards.The effect of the production was to make you forget you were seeing a play at all. It was more like being allowed to peek into the life of someone going from rags to riches back to rags. The… Continue

The lovely Theatre Royal at Bath was the setting for a packed matinée performance of Relatively Speaking.This was Alan Ayckbourn's first West End success, back in 1967. It features only four characters. This production by Lindsay Posner casts felicity Kendal as one of the four, so the audience was ready for a visual treat, and wanting to laugh.

The tawdry bedsit that featured in the opening scene was in shocking contrast to the plush red and gold of the auditorium. It looked…

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     As swell a party as the MGM version in 1956? The production team seemed aware the packed first night audience would be thinking of Kelly, Crosby & Sinatra. The Millennium Centre's safety curtain was dressed-up as for a film, with an American-accented voiceover. The opening sequence, featuring the whole company, had enough energy and style to convince us they could carry it off.

The choreography and band were worthy of the West End, the cast clearly enjoying…

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