Leicester A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC by Stephen Sondheim. Haymarket Theatre. To 19 May 2001 Runs 3 Hours. One interval. Review Timothy Ramsden 25 April Lustrous revival of 1973 waltz-time musical at Britain's 'home of Sondheim'. The title of Sondheim's 1973 musical may be Mozartian but the source is a rare comedy among the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Smiles of a Summer Night takes Viennese operetta goings on of men and women's unsuitable and uncontrollable passions and plants them …
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Keswick SKYLIGHT by David Hare Theatre by the Lake (studio) In rep to 24 October 2001 Runs 2 hrs 30 mins One interval TICKETS 017687 74411 Review Timothy Ramsden 11 August Hare's arguments fogged by unequal performances Brassneck, the 1974 play David Hare co-wrote with Howard Brenton, ends with characters toasting the last days of capitalism. Twenty years later Hare wrote this chamber piece about the new heyday of capitalism, the Britain forged by Margaret Thatcher, continued by John Major …
Keswick ANORAK OF FIRE by Stephen Dinsdale Theatre by the Lake In rep to 27 October 2001 Runs 1 hr 5 mins. No interval TICKETS 017687 74411 Review Timothy Ramsden 10 August Spotter spotted in spot-on performance In its second full season this elegant, friendly playhouse (sandwiched between Derwentwater and a car park) is already an attraction for fellwalkers and a valuable producing house for a part of England scenically outstanding but theatrically thin on the ground. It's a genuine …
Keswick HABEAS CORPUS by Alan Bennett Theatre by the Lake In rep to 27 October 2001 Runs 2 hours 20 minutes One interval TICKETS 017687 74411 Review Timothy Ramsden 9 August Superb revival brings out the best in Bennett's farce. Keswick has come up with a cracker, a corker, a great walloping smackeroo evening out in Alan Bennett's 1973 saucy seaside postcard of a play, where a middle-class reared on propriety comes cheek to cheek with the permissive society. With …
Keswick BETRAYAL by Harold Pinter Theatre by the Lake In rep to 26 October 2001 Runs 1 hr 15 mins No interval Tickets 017687 74411 Review Timothy Ramsden 9 August Pinter close-up and personal illuminated by outstanding performance. . Judging by Stefan Escreet's production modern actors have absorbed the famous Pinter pauses, once the subject of much rehearsal angst, into an entirely natural playing style. There are losses; the glacial suggestiveness of traditional Pinter playing adds humour and suggests implications …
Keswick MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION by George Bernard Shaw Theatre by the Lake In rep to 26 October 2001 Runs 2 hours 25 minutes. One interval. TICKETS 017687 74411 Review Timothy Ramsden 8 August Some punches connect in revival of hard-hitting Shaw. A pastoral peace pervades Shaw's opening scene and it's well caught in Martin Johns' idyllic backcloth. But Shaw's characters soon bring their moral detritus into this Eden of late Victorian Surrey. What's a well brought-up Victorian girl to do …
London PINOCCHIO IN THE PARK by Michael Rosen. Music by Ben Glasstone Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. In rep. to 31 August. Rune 2 hours 5 minutes. One interval. TICKETS 020 7486 2431 Review Timothy Ramsden 6 August 2001 Tale of the wooden tearaway falls between too many stools It's an excellent idea of the Open-Air to mount a young people's show. This Pinocchio is aimed at 6+ and plays Monday-Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 2.30 plus Saturday mornings at …
Touring till November 20th 2001 Black Umfolosi Tour Info: Adastra, 01377 217662 Runs: 2 hours, one interval Review: Rod Dungate, 3rd August 2001, @ mac, Birmingham Delight in every moment This is a potent mix of black African vigorous dance and hypnotic song. Black Umfolosi is a politicised group of entertainers. They see their songs as 'vocal newspapers' and the aim of their work 'to revive Zimbabwean culture and introduce it abroad.'
London KING LEAR by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's Globe Theatre In rep to 21 September 2001 Runs 3 hours 15 mins. One interval. TICKETS 020 7401 9919/ 020 7316 4703 Review Timothy Ramsden 5 August. A clear account of a mind moving to madness dominates this Celtic season Lear. Rough planks turn the Globe's ornate features into a primitive stockade for a production distinguished especially by Julian Glover's Lear, a confident old man who smiles on complacently when Cordelia (Tonia Chauvet) …
RSC KING JOHN by William Shakespeare Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. In rep to 13 October 2001 Runs 3 hours. One interval. TICKETS 01789 403403 Review Timothy Ramsden 4 August 2001 Rare chance to see Shakespeare's cartoon history play, with humour accented. Two Shakespeare kings receive French ambassadors. Henry V dispatches his with panache. In Gregory Doran's new production, Guy Henry's John turns up late, twitches his fingers throughout, then chases after the departing diplomat with the killer line he couldn't think …
RSC. A RUSSIAN IN THE WOODS by Peter Whelan. The Other Place Stratford-upon-Avon. In rep to 10 October 2001. Runs 2 hr 50 min One interval. TICKETS 01789 403403. Review Timothy Ramsden 3 August. Hot passions in Cold War Germany eventually ignite into explosive drama. When the RSC's smallest theatre stops presenting plays in October, it's to be hoped they find some other place for new writing as urgent as this season's three works, diverse in style and approach but …
London A LIE OF THE MIND by Sam Shepard Donmar Warehouse, Covent Garden. To 1 September 2001 Runs 2 hours 55 mins. Two intervals Tickets 020 7369 1732 Review Timothy Ramsden 2 August 2001 Bravura performances in classy Shepard revival. The supercharged reality of Shepard's America is a world as distinctive as those of Jacobean tragedy, melodrama, or film noir: A Lie is full of crime genre trademarks. Its acts have in turn an urgent 'phone message about a presumed …
Royal National Theatre THE WINTER'S TALE by William Shakespeare Olivier Theatre. In rep to 16 August 2001 Runs 3 hours 15 mins. One interval. TICKETS 020 7452 3000 Review Timothy Ramsden 2 August Final clutch of performances for Nicholas Hytner's brilliantly perceptive Shakespearean romance. Leontes, King of Sicilia, has everything; luxury penthouse, beautiful wife, a son he dotes on, a second child on the way. His best friend Polixenes of Bohemia's visiting: a photo of the two as children dominates …
London WHERE'S CHARLEY? by Frank Loesser and George Abbott Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. In rep to 16 August Runs 2 hours 20 minutes. One interval. TICKETS 020 7486 2431 Review Timothy Ramsden 1 August 2001 Director Ian Talbot proves musicals can be a summer night's dream in the Park The delightful Open Air Theatre offers a rare chance to taste this musicalised Charley's Aunt. The farce is clearly recognisable but refitted, losing one of the Oxford students in love …
London. MACBETH by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in rep to 22 September 2001. Runs 2 hours 5 minutes No interval. Tickets 020 7401 9919/ 020 7316 4703. Review Timothy Ramsden 31 July. Tragedy scores more strongly on images than poetry in Southwark. Tim Carroll's production has been slaughtered like Macbeth's victims. His mistake is performing in English. The verse speaking is awkward, with words swallowed and rhythms mashed. There have been higher definition productions. Macbeth only faces one ghost …
Touring LOVE & OTHER FAIRY TALES by Nick Revell Scarlet Theatre to 17 November Runs c70 minutes Review Timothy Ramsden 28 July at Coventry Belgrade Scarlet's new show proves issues makes their mark in a context of character and story It starts like a convocation of silly walks. Then you realise these medievally-garbed actors are miming riding. They're pilgrims and the bloke who keeps trying to get their wandering attention is Master Chaucer. A pilgrims' revolt against his tedious tale …
Newcastle-under-Lyme BY JEEVES: Alan Ayckbourn & Andrew Lloyd Webber New Vic: BO 01782 717962 Runs: 2 ¾ hours, One interval, till 11th August 2001 Review: Rod Dungate, 27th July 2001 A suitably over-the-top production A highly energetic, highly stylised and highly camp piece of nonsense and none the worse for that. Alan Aykbourn and Andrew Lloyd-Webber's frolic of a musical based on the works of P G Woodhouse is given a suitably over-the-top production by Gwenda Hughes in this UK …
Julius Caesar: William Shakespeare RSC, Main House, Stratford Upon Avon BO: 01789 295623 Runs: 2 ¼ hours, No interval Review: Rod Dungate, 26 July 2001 Hall's no messing production has much to offer Edward Hall has taken some big, bold scissors to Shakespeare's text - gone are the tiresome citizens who dash about at the opening, gone are the tiresome battle scenes that usually ensure productions totter to a conclusion. Left is a play leaner and fitter and more fitting …
St. Andrews PARKING LOT IN PITTSBURGH by Anne Downie Directed by Ken Alexander Byre Theatre. To 11 August 2001 Runs 2 hours 20 minutes. One interval. Tickets 01334 475000 Review Timothy Ramsden 20 July Sisters fall out over inheritance in new comic, unsophisticated drama. After a long closure St Andrews' Byre has re-opened with a sleek foyer and box office, plus a bar and a classy eaterie on its lower level. The new auditorium has ten rows of comfortable, high-backed …
Jubilee: Peter Barnes RSC, The Swan: Stratford Running Time: 3 hours, One interval Review Date:12th May 2001 Review By: Rod Dungate An open-top bus tour of the all-for-profit Shakespeare industry In 1765 Shakespearean actor David Garrick was given the freedom of Stratford and celebrated this with a Jubilee. Peter Barnes has used this to take a healthily cynical look at Bardolotry. His broadly comic, satirical and rather ramshackle play is a kind of open-top bus tour of the all-for-profit Shakespeare …