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As the tumbleweeds blow by...
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Waiting for Godot at Bury Theatre Royal
Last night we went to the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds to see Waiting for Godot.
The play is one of my favourites but it was new to W. Fortunately, it was a very entertaining, well-paced production that maintained a lightness that complemented the dreamy surrealism of Beckett’s text. Michael Cabot has directed dozens of touring shows of which I ( Read more... ) -
Sweet Charity
I went to see Sweet Charity, the musical, at the New Wolsey Theatre. W saw it last week and loved it so I had high hopes but a couple of people (who are not keen on musicals) had been dismissive. The lead was played by Katie Birtill, who was new to me but has real star-quality. She grabbed my attention whenever she was on stage as the eternally ( Read more... ) -
Hercules: A Dance Cabaret
Recent shows at the New Wolsey Theatre have grabbed my attention from the very start but this one took a while to grow on me. I was expecting a comedy dance revue but instead got pantomime. The show opens with a misunderstanding and a discussion between the small cast as they try to resolve the problem. Thirty years ago I wrote a show based on a ( Read more... ) -
Pulse Festival 2015
For ten days at the beginning of June China Plate curated the annual festival of new theatre at the New Wolsey Theatre and its satellite venues in Ipswich. Of the fifty shows, we saw nine. More than half of these were among the very best pieces of theatre that I have ever seen. To see more would have been to sup the fire hose. My reviews of each of ( Read more... ) -
Wot? No fish!!
"Have you ever had gefilte fish?" asked a middle-aged man as he proffered a Tupperware container of fishballs on cocktail sticks. We were among the first into the New Wolsey Studio for the last show of Pulse Festival. He produced more containers and arranged for other members of the audience to pass them around as they took their seats. As a child ( Read more... ) -
I, Malvolio
The New Wolsey Theatre auditorium had been constricted with black cloths. Raked seating filled back stage and in this small draped space we looked down on the apron in a reversal of our usual positions. Upstage right stood a man in a stained onsie; it seemed to have been soaked in blood at the top and in urine at the middle. On his feet were ( Read more... ) -
Rockinpaddy
John Kelly first caught my attention as a lead singer in productions by Graeae Theatre Company where he displayed an engaging wit and a rough charm. I was, therefore, excited to learn that he was bringing a band to Ipswich as part of the Pulse Festival. I had been planning to go to Hove to see Pete Atkin launch his new CD this evening but I was ( Read more... ) -
Fat Man
Stage right a fat man in a crumpled suit slept in a pool of light beside a small table bearing a carafe, a glass, and a donut box. He slept on as the audience took their seats and only awoke when we were settled. He seemed disoriented then suprised and angry as he realised that he, Orpheus, was going to have to retell his tragic story to an ( Read more... ) -
Every Brilliant Thing
As we entered Ipswich's High Street Exhibition Gallery (HEG) for Every Brilliant Thing, a man ahead of us asked wearily "Are we going to be read to again?" Like us he had just come from Stand and, as it turned out, we were going to be read to again. Indeed, we would be doing some of the reading ourselves and this experience was going to be very ( Read more... )