Tag Archives: Gwen Taylor

Writer: Oscar Wilde Director: Alastair Whatley Designer: Gabriella Slade Reviewer: Dave Cunningham It has been a long, brutal winter and we are all desperate for something cheerful and bright. Recognising a cue The Original Theatre Company offers Oscar Wilde’s evergreen classic The Importance of Being Earnest. The works of Oscar Wilde defy innovations; updating the setting to the present day simply ...

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 ...

Writer: Oscar Wilde Director: Alastair Whatley Reviewer: Bill Avenell What a wonderful conceit it is that a relationship should be founded upon a name and what a wickedly witty script Oscar Wilde produces to lure audiences into that conceit. But alas the input of the author is the only really wonderful part of the Original Theatre Company’s production of this ...

Writer: Emlyn Williams Director: Luke Sheppard Reviewer: Ben Miller-Jarvest "Everyone loves a good murder," as one character quips during the evening, but Emlyn Williams’ Night Must Fall is no cosy drawing room murder mystery, but a thriller in which there is little doubt from early on who the murderer is, and therefore the tension comes from knowing the other characters ...

Writer: Emlyn Williams Director: Luke Sheppard Reviewer: Paul Couch Emlyn Williams’ Night Must Fall was written in 1934 (first produced in 1935) and, at the time, must have seemed shocking to an audience with just access to embryonic cinema and television yet to arrive. By 2016, it has dated, of course, but not as much as one would expect. The ...

Writer: Emlyn Williams Director: Luke Sheppard Reviewer: Selwyn Knight The scene is Forest Corner, an isolated bungalow in the forest belonging to the selfish, overbearing and thoroughly unpleasant Mrs Bramson. In Forest Corner, we find a small household in which the niceties of life in the 1930s are played out, but one is immediately aware that civilisation here is the ...

Writer: Eric Chappell Director: Roger Redfarn Reviewer: Janet Jepson Many clichés could be attributed to this performance – ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ is one, ‘you can’t turn back the clock’ is another – and they would all be proved true. The basic idea of resurrecting the 1970/80s sitcom about two couples on holiday in Spain sounded a good proposition, but ...

Writer: Michael Morpurgo Adapter/Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Michael Gray [Rating:4.5]   Will they mind the liberties I've take? thinks the adapter/director. Will they change too much of the book? thinks the child in the audience. There’s no need to worry on either score. Michael Morpurgo's The Butterfly Lion is a magical book; the story of a white lion, blue butterflies ...