EMLYN Williams was an actor and dramatist who died in 1987 at the age of 81. He was a great favourite in his time, and my mother was among his many avid fans. He had a 35 year marriage, and was actively bisexual throughout his life. He wrote 15 plays and performed in more than…
WHEN a frisky faun with a dirty mind and a way with words travels from his usual stone plinth in the Tuileries gardens in Paris and settles in Dorothy’s garden, the scene is set for the kind of mayhem you don’t often encounter, as ancient Greek gods meet a 21st century mother and daughter, with…
BEFORE the friends, relations and fans of the late Lord Tweedsmuir, John Buchan, rush to point out that it was he and not Alfred Hitchcock who penned this classic tale of mystery and adventure, it should be pointed out that in their programme Fiery Angel, who present the current touring production of this show, give…
THE Greek myths? A lot of old nonsense. Ancient colourful legends, full of violent, sex-obsessed gods, vengeful goddesses, weird monsters and helpless, mainly human, victims of the deities’ lust or greed? Well, that’s the common image. And it’s not wrong – the gods, after all, are really only super-humans, in the sense of being the…
IN chapter 26 of the King James version of the Bible you will find the line: “No man can serve two masters.” This world premiere of Michael McManus’ new politically-based play is inclined to ignore the truth of those words and rather falls between two stools. Of course, you can mix drama with comedy and…
IT’S good to see the Cornish-based Miracle Theatre back on the summer touring circuit, and this year they have chosen what they describe as a reimagining of Hannah Cowley’s play The Belle’s Stratagem and entitled it Love Riot. The company has been touring a huge variety of plays over more than two decades, so it…
MORE than 40 worthy residents of Lyme Regis, and scores more volunteers making sets, props and costumes, and moving them and the audiences around the Marine Theatre – that’s what it takes to mount a community play, and this group is now very good at it. Locally-born writer Andy Rattenbury, on this fifth community play…
WHEN Laurence Boswell decided to move on after seven-plus highly successful years as artistic director of Bath’s Ustinov Studio, it was a little like Manchester United searching for a replacement for their legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Unlike United, who have had seven new leaders in the nine years since Sir Alex retired, the Ustinov…
FROM Shakespeare’s As You Like It to Mark Twain, who believed you could not have too much good whisky, there have been variants of the saying ‘You can’t have too much of a good thing’. In the world of entertainment, there are all too many examples when this saying doesn’t hold water. Most notorious is…
GARETH Farr’s new play, A Child of Science, is clearly a heartfelt project for the writer and director – and by the end it has hauled on the heartstrings of everyone in the audience. It’s the true story of the development of In Vitro Fertilisation and the years of obstacles that the three pioneers, Patrick…