Tag Archives: Birmingham REP

Writer: Winsome Pinnock Director: Amit Sharma Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Can we ever truly know what’s in someone else’s mind? Their drivers, priorities, needs? It’s difficult to imagine how it must feel to drive a train and see someone step in front and be unable to do anything to avoid an impact with the inevitable outcome. How can you come to terms ...

Writer: Isobel McArthur from the book by Jane Austen Director: Paul Brotherston Reviewer: Katie Burchett It is a truth universally acknowledged, that every Jane Austen novel adapted for the stage must include karaoke. Or if it wasn’t before, it should be now, thanks to Tron Theatre Company’s all-female co-production of Pride and Prejudice*(*sort of).  Raucous and vibrant, Isobel McArthur’s adaptation ...

Writer and Director: Terry Johnson Reviewer: John Kennedy The only hair-in-the-gate blemish on this otherwise exquisite, elegantly framed, semi-biographical exposé on the life of cinematic craftsman, Jack Cardiff, is that Writer/Director, Terry Johnson calls it a wrap so perfectly soon – maybe it’s the light – he’s used it all up. Fiat Lux – Let there be Light. For Jack, it’s ...

Writer: Inua Ellams Director: Bijan Sheibani Reviewer: John Kennedy This heart and soul hug from a 100% proof rum-soaked octopus, is a pan-African celebratory safari of the human condition. The episodic chronicles, bookended with a capella tribal chants rendered in location-context local dialects, are a seductive, ear-stalking delight. These barbers’ shops monopolise the community-chest treasury of folly, frailty and home-spun ...

Creators: Robin French and Alex Brown Director: Alex Brown Reviewer: John Kennedy Complementing the programme’s Punk Font front cover, the audience are welcomed with hi-viz stickers proclaiming  ‘NAZIS are No Fun’. Evidence alone that, not only did Rock Against Racism coalesce seemingly impossible, eclectic musical genres under a common cause, they also had a wry sense of ironic understatement. Mixed-race, Denise’s ...

Writer: Bryony Lavery from the book by Alice Sebold Director: Melly Still Reviewer: John Kennedy Protagonist, the traumatised young teenager, Susie Salmon (‘like the fish’), following her abduction, rape, murder and dismemberment, maintains a compelling narrative as she navigates through and beyond the ‘Inbetween’. That gossamer veil separating her personal Heaven from her family still stupefied with guilt and grief ...

Writer: Roderick Smith, based on Homer’s Iliad Directors: Madeleine Kludje and Philip Morris Reviewer: James Garrington Homer’s Iliad is a lengthy and detailed epic poem, with a huge array of characters – Greeks, Trojans and Gods. That undoubtedly creates difficulties in translating even the essence of a part of it onto the stage. Writer Roderick Smith has had a fair ...

Writer: Rona Munro from the book by Louis de Bernières Director: Melly Still Reviewer: James Garrington There are always huge challenges involved in adapting a well-known book for the stage. How faithful can or should it be to the original, how easily can we portray inner thoughts, how can we deal with characters ageing? With Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the team has ...