Tag Archives: Stephen Brimson Lewis

Writer: David Edgar, from the book by Charles Dickens Director: Rachel Kavanaugh Reviewer: James Garrington When Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, he lived in a country full of great poverty. The Poor Laws allowed people to be sent to the Workhouse to claim relief, debtors were imprisoned – including, for a period, his own father – and even ...

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica Director: Annabel Arden Revival Director: Caroline Chaney Conductor: Manlio Benzi Reviewer: Claire Hayes Welsh National Opera (WNO)’s evocative 2012 production of Puccini’s La bohème returns to the stage for a well-deserved revival, as part of the company’s Love’s Poisoned Chalice season. Here, Annabel Arden’s original combination of strong vocal performances, atmospheric staging and clear ...

Music: Giacomo Puccini Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica Director: Annabel Arden Revival director: Caroline Chaney Conductor: Simon Phillippo Reviewer:  Barbara Michaels Welsh National Opera’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème was last staged at the Wales Millennium Centre back in 2012.  One of the most frequently performed of all operas, La Bohème was described by Luciano Pavarotti as “The perfect ...

Writer: Harold Pinter Director: Sean Mathias Reviewer: Maryam Philpott ‘I have never been loved; from this, I draw my strength’. Pinter’s version of no man’s land exists in a strange purgatorial world, somewhere between love and complete solitude, between past and future, between reality and dreams. The four men, in what is probably his least straightforwardly comprehensible play, speak of ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Gregory Doran Reviewer: James Garrington This year marks the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, and the RSC are commemorating it with what is possibly the funniest and most entertaining version of Henry V that you could hope to see. Director Gregory Doran has approached the play with a nod to the past, both in ...

Writer: Eleanor Bergstein Director: Sarah Tipple Choreographer: Kate Champion Reviewer: Dan English   Forget your foxtrots as this dazzlingly sizzling production of Dirty Dancing delights audiences at Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre as part of its tour. The production, directed by Sarah Tipple, is a toe-tapping retelling of one of the most iconic films ever made. It's a love story with dancing ...

Writer: Ben Jonson Director: Trevor Nunn Reviewer: George Attwell Gerhards Volpone is a play which really has its finger on the pulse. Greed and wealth; institutionalised sexual assault hushed up by clandestine establishment forces including both the justice and finance system; concentration of power in select elites – Ben Jonson’s play is as much about 2015 as it is about ...

Director: Gregory Doran Writer: Arthur Miller Reviewer: George Attwell Gerhards It’s the centenary of Arthur Miller’s birth this year, which goes some way to explaining the recent plethora of productions of (a very select few of) his plays. In the West End there is the transfer of the Young Vic production of A View from the Bridge, and the same ...