Last week, Performance Reviewed went to see the London première of Northern Ballet’s breathtaking adaptation of The Great Gatsby at Sadler’s Wells, a production choreographed and directed by David Nixon, with co-direction by Patricia O’Doyle. Amidst the glittering visuals and evocative music by the late Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Tobias Batley (Jay Gatsby) and Martha Leebolt (Daisy) delivered performances that left the audience in raptures. Continue reading “Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby with Tobias Batley, Martha Leebolt and Lily Amy”
FreakShow at The Roundhouse
Walking into the Dorfman Hub at the Roundhouse in Camden the viewer was thrown into a Victorian circus. Whilst walking around you could have your tarot read, try to knockdown stacks of bottles or watch a young girl twirling a ribbon. What was this all about? It was a little pre-show taster from the performers that were about to throw us into the world of a Victorian freak show.
Hypnotist Theatre Company’s ‘The Trial’, Burton Taylor Studio, Oxford
In performing Kafka’s The Trial, as adapted by Steven Berkoff, Oxford’s Hypnotist Theatre Company took on two masters of theatre. The play in itself deals with issues of identity and illusion, of double meanings and deception and at its heart, dystopia. These themes are perfectly matched to Berkoff’s Brechtian production; the audience’s awareness of the actors as players taking on a different identity reflects the way in which the narrative questions the roles we all take on within society. Continue reading “Hypnotist Theatre Company’s ‘The Trial’, Burton Taylor Studio, Oxford”
Mischief Theatre on the theatre, the West End and things that go wrong!
Mischief Theatre Company is an improvisation group, formed in 2008, whose production of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ received universal acclaim and recently moved to Trafalgar Studios from the gloomy recesses of fringe theatre. Two of their revolving troupe of actors- Jonathan Sayer, who is also the company director and Henry Lewis, the artistic director- talked to Performance Reviewed about the formation of a theatre company and the transition to the West End.
Continue reading “Mischief Theatre on the theatre, the West End and things that go wrong!”
Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby at Sadler’s Wells
The Northern Ballet is a dance company famous for their narrative productions and so in taking on ‘The Great American Novel’, they set themselves an incredible challenge.
Continue reading “Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby at Sadler’s Wells”