Tag Archives: David Tarkenter

Writer: John Wolfson Director: Andy Jordan Reviewer: Karl O'Doherty It looks like history, if feels like history, but this is a story that is apparently not something that could ever have been written down so we’ll have to remember to suspend belief. This imagined meeting of real characters began life at the Globe. Moving a few steps away to the ...

Writer and Director: Simon Aylin Reviewer: Michael Gray   Simon Aylin's snappy Aladdin begins with a prologue set in the Stygian supervillain's lair - the dastardly Abanazar appearing on his throne in a puff of smoke, supported by a team of black-clad avian minions from the excellent juvenile chorus. After that it's a more or less faithful romp through the ...

Director: Michael Emans Writer: Arthur Miller Designer: Lisa Sangster Reviewer: Amy Taylor From the very beginning of Rapture Theatre’s The Last Yankee, there’s a sense that you’re watching an experiment in human nature. Performed in Summerhall’s Red Lecture Theatre, Michael Emans’ production, creates the feeling that the audience are watching Arthur Miller toy with our ideas of the American dream ...

Writer: Mike Cullen Director: Michael Emans Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys [rating:3.5] Mike Cullen's The Collection is a tale of desperation, conscience, poverty, avarice, inevitable tragedy and depressing relevance and resonance, despite being written almost twenty years ago. After ten years, Bob Lawson (Jimmy Chisholm) is at the top of his "profession", something to be proud of you would think, well it ...

Writer/Director: Dan Sherer Reviewer: Stephen Bates [rating:3] Set in a Northern Ireland coastal town, this 70 minute one-act play examines themes of romantic love, parent/child love, loss and grief and considers how fragments from the past can shape the future. Its writer and director Dan Sherer adopts techniques to create his work in conjunction with the actors, similar to those ...

Writer and Director: Janice Dunn Designer: Richard Foxton Sound Designer: Gari Dixon Musical Director: Graeme Du Fresne Choreographer: Charlie Morgan Reviewer: Michael Gray [Rating: 4]   Foxton's fabulous set design has a leafy beanstalk stage right, ominous fiery thunderclouds stage left. So far so traditional, but Janice Dunn's original panto for the Mercury begins not with a bang and a ...

Writer: Richard Sheridan Director: Gari Jones Reviewer: Michael Gray [Rating:3.5] Why not treat Sheridan to what Shakespeare has been accustomed to for years, now ? A director-led, concept-driven production to point up the play's relevance to our times. So this was Gari Jones's Rivals, done as in-your-face Burlesque, with hints of the circus and the catwalk. “Garish, gaudy, cheap and ...