South West Reviews

Director: Alastair Whatley Writer: Oscar Wilde Reviewer: Helen Tope There are few writers who can boast such a reputation as Oscar Wilde. His death in 1900, after a spectacular fall from grace, is a story so compelling it almost eclipses his impressive list of credits – almost. An Ideal Husband, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Importance of Being Earnest takes top ...

Director: Michael Blakemore Revival Director: Benjamin Davis Conductor: Carlo Rizzi Reviewer: Emily Pearce As one of the genre’s most empathetic composers, Puccini’s Tosca has everything one might want and from high opera and melodrama. An opera about an opera singer trying to defend her politically doomed lover as the state rebels; Tosca is a story steeped in betrayal, murder and ...

Writer: Claudia Jefferies Reviewer: Gareth Roberts Claudia Jeffries' one-woman show Syd & Sylvia attempts to utilise the sleazy and misogynistic world of an ‘eighties working men's club as an entry point from which to explore broader themes of sexism. Performed with extraordinary timing and conviction and a style that is in equal parts brooding, manic and sinister, Jeffries’ brings to ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Simon Godwin Reviewer: Kelyn Luther Just as many of Hamlet’s lines have now become clichéd, the look of a Hamlet production has also become somewhat clichéd; drably set in a vaguely futuristic police state. However, this vivid RSC production blows the cobwebs off. Hamlet’s youth is emphasised during the opening scene as we watch a glimpse ...

Writer: Wassail Theatre Company Director: Jesse Briton Reviewer: Julia Beasley The action takes place in a fictional Somerset village but is based on real-life events – the flooding of the Somerset levels during the winter of 2013-14. Outside, the flood waters are rising at an alarming rate, blocking roads and swamping homes. Inside the village hall, a cast of disparate ...

Director and Choreographer: Matthew Bourne Music: Sergei Prokofiev Reviewer: Joan Phillips Starting with a Second World War public information Pathé News Reel telling people how to behave during an air raid, this famous ballet is immediately set in the London Blitz. Matthew Bourne has once again chosen his own unique approach to this well-known story. But Bourne’s retelling is less a ...

Writer: Told By An Idiot based on a novel by Simon Leys Director: Kathryn Hunter Reviewer: Joan Phillips Napoleon Disrobed imagines the possibility that Napoleon escapes from St Helena and attempts to return to his supporters in France in order to reclaim the Emperor’s throne. Based on the book The Death of Napoleon by Simon Leys this foray into the ...

Writer & Director: Ben SantaMaria Performer: Ryan Price Reviewer: Bethan Highgate-Betts Written and directed by Ben SantaMaria, this is the premiere of the full-length version of Really Want to Hurt Me, with an earlier scratch version longlisted for the national Heretic Voices monologue prize at the Arcola Theatre. Performed by Ryan Price, the show follows a young man as he ...