Tag Archives: Women

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi  Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave Director: Matthew Richardson Conductor: Rumon Gamba Reviewer: Dominic Corr Seduction, tangled with an overbearing father all play a part in the turmoil of Rigoletto, the hunchbacked jester. The 1851 libretto opera has been revived by the Scottish Opera following Matthew Richardson’s 2011 production. Now, fully escaping its historical censorship, Rigoletto can serve to ...

Writer: Rona Munro Director: Richard Baron Reviewer: Dominic Corr Janet Horne, the last woman to be legally executed in the British Isles, arrested in Dornoch Scotland is the subject of Rona Munro’s The Last Witch. Alone with her claw-handed daughter, Janet fends for the pair in the Highlands. Her charms, herbal remedies and manipulation tricks those into offering scraps of ...

Musical Director: Adam Hoskins Reviewer: Scott Matthewman This one-off concert was, as emcee Lucy Dreaver reminded us on more than one occasion, a celebration of one hundred years of women in musical theatre. The reasoning for the rounding to an exact century is not clear – there’s certainly nothing in the 1918 musical calendar of particular note, unless one wishes ...

Director: Vicky Igbokwe Reviewer: Holly Sharp Head Wrap Diaries. If you came prepared for a lecture, prepare to be disappointed. If you came for a party, prepare to get one. The show tells the stories of three black female characters exploring their gender, community, heritage through discussion of their hair. A fabulously produced score by Ghanaian musician Kweku Acht provides ...

Writer: Afsaneh Gray Director: Pia Furtado Reviewer: Deborah Klayman What happens when the way we self-identify is not included in the multiple choice checklist? Set in a possible near-future, Afsaneh Gray’s Octopus examines the nature of identity and poses the question: is the way we define ourselves as important as the way that others see us? In the world of ...

Writer: Maud Dromgoole Director: Tatty Hennessy Reviewer: Deborah Klayman When two ancient tales entwine, then are given a modern twist, what can we discover about the stories we tell about women? Taking the Grecian myths of Persephone and Eurydice as its inspiration, Maud Dromgoole’s Acornis surprisingly modern and witty, with more than a few tricks up its sleeve. Persephone’s opening ...

Writer: Theresa Ikoko Director: Elayce Ismail Reviewer: Deborah Klayman How far would you be willing to go to survive? Theresa Ikoko’s award-winning play Girls places three friends in an increasingly dangerous situation that challenges them individually to answer the question, and stretches their relationships, sometimes to breaking point. As the audience enters, Ruhab (Yvette Boakye), Haleema (Anita-Joy Uwajeh) and Tisana ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Adaptor: Dominic Power Director: Andrew Hilton Reviewer: Lucy Corley All’s Well That Ends Well is the second half of a double-bill at Exeter Northcott by Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, following a production of Hamlet that was fairly well-received, if a little predictable for this reviewer. Back for a second round, we find the same concrete-esque grey ...