Tag Archives: regional theatre

Director and Conductor: Timothy Nelson Writer: Giovanni Faustini Translators: Anne Ridler and Timothy Nelson Music: Francesco Cavalli Reviewer: Gareth Roberts English Touring Opera’s production of La Calisto is a profoundly serviceable production with patches of intermittent brilliance. The Renaissance Opera tells the story of the nymph Calisto, whom the god Giove falls in love with, his seduction of her by ...

Composer: Francesco Cavalli Conductor/Director: Timothy Nelson Designer: Takis Reviewer: Ron Simpson At the start of English Touring Opera’s extensive UK tour, and in sharp contrast to the production of Ulysses’ Homecoming (a much more austere opera, be it said), Timothy Nelson’s imaginative take on Cavalli’s La Calisto got short shrift from the reviewers who unanimously took against its Carry On ...

Writer: J B Priestley Music: Conrad Nelson Director: Barrie Rutter Reviewer: Janet Jepson Playwright J B Priestley was born in 1894 in Bradford, and although he left the city to go to war at the age of 19, he never forgot his native roots, drawing much of the social aspects and moral ideas of his plays from the West Riding ...

Music: Benjamin Britten Libretto: E.M. Forster Director: Orpha Phelan Conductor: Garry Walker Reviewer: Sue Collier This Opera North production of Billy Bud is in two acts and is based on the short story Billy Budd by Herman Melville. The story is set in 1797, at a time when the French are revolting and there is great enmity between Britain and ...

Founder &Artistic Director: Cassa Pancho MBE Music: Steve Reich, Dustin O’ Halloran, Kurt Weill Choreographer: Arthur Pita, Christopher Marney, Christopher Hampson Reviewer: Beverley Haigh Founded in 2001 by Cassa Pancho with the intention of providing a platform for dancers of black and Asian origin, Ballet Black has become much more than this, carving out a niche for themselves. As a ...

Writer: Tom Wells Director: James Grieve Reviewer: Anna Ambelez Three school friends meet in Megan’s (Faye Christall) shed over the summer to try and change their lives. We’re nobodies… I’m all fat and gobby, you’re brainy, weird and brainy and quiet and Ben’s like, you know. So says Megan, who endeavors to change their existence before they start college. The ...

Writer: Mike Kenny Director: Wendy Harris Designer: Kate Bunce Music: Ivan Stott Reviewer: Louise Jones Mike Kenny’s rewritten Peter Pan tale is in safe hands with Tutti Frutti’s strong sense of adventure and wonder, introducing the boy who never grew up to a new generation. Seeking to modernise the tale, Kenny frames the story within Wendy’s narrative, allowing her to ...

Writer: Agatha Christie Director: Ian Watt-Smith Lighting Designer: Peter Vaughan-Clarke Reviewer: Ron Simpson How do you review a Great British Institution? Particularly one that has been as much mocked as loved. Immediately we are in territory that invites parody: the handsome traditional country house setting (strangely uncredited) and an opening scene that recalls Tom Stoppard’s glorious send-up, The Real Inspector ...