Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Week 7: The Wonderful World of Dissocia by Anthony Neilson
Anthony Neilson’s play, first seen at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2004, is divided into two disparate sections. In the first, its troubled heroine, Lisa, travels to the land of Dissocia in search of one lost hour that has tipped the balance of her life. The inhabitants of the wonderful world she finds herself in are a curious mix of the funny, the friendly and the brutal. Dissocia itself is a carnivalesque amalgam of Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, and NF Simpson, filled with singing polar bears, flying cars and wild-goose chases. After the exuberant fantasy of the first half, the play shifts into stark realism; Lisa is now a patient in a psychiatric hospital where she is on enforced medication, visited by her uncomprehending sister and bewildered partner. This magical, fantastical and, frankly, wacky, play attempts to take us into the unreachable world of Dissocia.
The Wonderful World of Dissocia will be running from Friday 27 February- Sunday 1 March at the Drama Barn. Doors open 19:30
Week 7: Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti
Marc Camoletti’s jaunty, jet-setting farce ran in the West End for most of the 1960s and returned again with Matthew Warchus's 2007 revival. Boeing Boeing focuses on Bernard, a successful architect living in Paris, with not one, not two, but three air-hostess fiancées. It’s all a matter of managing timetables and relying on a long-suffering housekeeper to play the role of romantic air-traffic controller. But, as one can imagine with farce, things collapse into chaos: itineraries are changed, flights are delayed, and things start to get a little turbulent. Appealing to a romantic yearning for the days when international air travel was still glamorous, Boeing Boeing is a fast-paced, hilarious show, boasting some well-known faces, like Mandy from Hollyoaks…
Boeing Boeing will be at the York Theatre Royal from Tuesday 24 February- Saturday 28 February. Tickets are available from the Box Office on 0844 847 2322 or online
Week 8: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (a musical) Book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts
Still reeling from the musical-mania prompted by Mamma Mia last summer, I am in eager anticipation for the show on at the Drama Barn in Week 8: a musical! I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is a comedic musical, presented in the form of a series of vignettes, which cleverly explore the trials and tribulations of being single, dating, marriage, loss, and heartbreak. It addresses everything in the typical relationship process that many have secretly thought: what it means to be a part of the crazed, hopeless single scene; cold feet and pre-wedding jiterrs; the in-laws; the 30 years of marriage etc. As the longest-running Off-Broadway show, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change promises to be an enjoyable, hilarious and special treat for Drama Barn goers.
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change will be running from Friday 6 March- Sunday 8 March at the Drama Barn. Doors open at 19:30.
Week 9: The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh By Martin McDonagh
The Pillowman was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best new play in 2004 and nominated for Tony Award for Best Play in 2005. Martin McDonagh was the director of the BAFTA awarding-winning film 'In Bruges' and the Oscar winning short film ‘Six Shooter’. So far, so good. The Pillowman is an especially dark black comedy. It gives us the tale of Katurian, a writer in a non-specified totalitarian state. He is interrogated over the content of several of his dark, Brothers Grimm-style short stories. Initially assuming he is being questioned over a ostensive political subtext in his writing, he discovers that there have been a series of local child murders that appear to have been inspired by a few of his gruesome and imaginative stories. If he cannot prove his innocence, he will be executed by the end of the night. A powerfully unsettling and disturbing shocker, The Pillowman promises to have people jumping from their seats.
The Pillowman will be running from Friday 13 March- Sunday 15 March at the Drama Barn. Doors open at 19:30.
Week 9: Where There’s a Will by George Feydeau
Angèle is the wealthy widow of a philanderer and she has a few trust issues. Married for the second time, she vows to keep her new husband Ribadier on a tight leash. But Angèle has every right to be suspicious of him: Ribadier hypnotises her so she conveniently falls into a deep sleep every time he wants to meet his mistress. Just as she starts to get him where she wants him, however, things are complicated by the arrival of Ribadier’s close friend who is determined to get her for himself. Directed by Peter Hall, one of Britain’s most distinguished director of plays, films and operas and the founder Royal Shakespeare Company, Where There’s a Will is undoubtedly the hot-pick for York theatre, not just for March, but for the whole year. Clever, hilarious and true to the spirit of French farce, this play cannot be missed.
Where There's A Will will be at the York Theatre Royal from Tuesday 10 March- Saturday 14 March. Tickets are available from the Box Office on 0844 847 2322 or online
Week 9: Future Me by Stephen Brown
Peter is a young up-and-coming lawyer. His career is booming, and he is thinking about moving in with his journalist girlfriend, Jenny. But Peter has a secret that is about to be revealed to everyone, from his employer to his dad, when his computer suddenly sends out an email and attachment to all the contacts in his address book. Future Me tackles the issue of paedophilia, and probes the promise of the internet and the pervasiveness of pornography. On paper, it tackles complex and challenging material; on stage Future Me is a gripping and fearless production, leaving people on the edge of their seats.
Future Me will be at the York Theatre Royal from Thursday 12 March- Saturday 14 March. Tickets are available from the Box Office on 0844 847 2322 or online
Week 10: Lucky Sods by John Godber
Hull Truck Theatre has come a long way since its beginnings in the back of a lorry in the 1970s. Then it was a tiny touring company; now it is a powerhouse of northern drama, and Lucky Sods exemplifies this. Hull Truck’s BAFTA award-winner John Godber brings us a hilarious, satirical look at an impecunious family. Jean and Morris have been married for over twenty years. They’re in dead-end jobs, their daughter and one mother-in-law have died, they tolerate her sister Annie and her good-for-nothing husband, and they play the National Lottery every Saturday. One day Jean decides to change their usual numbers. They win the £2million jackpot, and declare that it won’t change them one bit. But inevitably it does and what unfolds is a tale of submerged longings, envy and greed so that the play’s title becomes an ironic one. Fusing black comedy and poignancy, Lucky Sods promises to be an entertaining night out.
Lucky Sods will be at the York Theatre Royal from Tuesday 17 March- Saturday 21 March. Tickerts are available from the Box Office on 0844 847 2322 or online.
Week 10: On the Shore of the Wide World by Simon Stephens
From a writer who has been hailed as a ‘brilliant writer of immense imagination’, from a theatre company who gave a sell-out, critically-acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot, On the Shore of the Wide World comes to Stockport to locate a touching tale of family frailty and emotional devastation. Combining laughter, bitterness, hope and sadness, On the Shore of the Wide World presents an exploration of what it means to leave home, the family traits you can’t fail to inherit, and how the impossible somehow gets resolved. If the fact that On the Shore won the Oliver Best Play Award in 2005 at the National Theatre us anything to go by, this production looks to be another particular highlight at the Theatre Royal.
On the Shore of the Wide World will be at the York Theatre Royal from Tuesday 17 March- Saturday 21 March. Tickets are available from the Box Office on 0844 847 2322 or online
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