Arcola Theatre, London (****)
© Manuel Harlan, Paul Hunter as Napoleon
Who writes history? History is never permanent though the victors always like to think their version will be the one that survives into the millennia. Continue reading
Arcola Theatre, London ****
© Andreas Grieger, Anthony Flaum as Lensky, Felix Kemp as Onegin. The duel scene
Something very exciting is happening in small scale opera. This is the third one I’ve seen in as many months, all striking in their own ways but Onegin is by far the most enjoyable. Continue reading
Arcola Theatre, London (***)
© Robert Workman, Alison Rose as the Vixen
Even if Czech is not your first language, nor Leos Janáček’s music for that matter, Guido Martin-Brandis, Oliver Till and The Opera Company’s chamber version, part of the Arcola’s excellent Grimeborn festival, will still touch you in unexpected places. Continue reading
Arcola Theatre, London (****)
© Helen Murray, Alexander-Luttley-Anne-Marie-Piazza-Rosalind-Ford-and-Eilon-Morris
It began 40 years ago, the Mothers of the Disappeared, the `madres of the Plaza de Mayo’, circling the square, in white head scarves demanding answers as to why their children had `disappeared’. Continue reading
Arcola Theatre, London (***)
© Talula Sheppard, the company, Rez Kempton (Ali), Mitesh Soni (Faisal), Beruce Khan (Shaz), Shireen Farkhoy (Samina)
In Hassan Abdulrazzak’s Love, Bombs & Apples, Asif Khan became a mesmerising shape-changer, adopting different Muslim and Jewish personas as varied as pugilistic to down-trodden. Continue reading
Arcola Theatre, (****)
© Alex Brenner, Greg Hicks as Richard III
This was a huge undertaking for somewhere like the Arcola. Big cast plays don’t often surface so it’s a coup for the ever enterprising Mehmet Ergen to not only do one of the most famous Shakespeare History plays but secure Greg Hicks in the leading role. Continue reading