Posts with the label Vaudeville Theatre
Showing posts with label Vaudeville Theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vaudeville Theatre. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 November 2021
Six the Musical, Vaudeville Theatre | Review
Six The Musical
Vaudeville Theatre
Reviewed on Wednesday 10th November 2021 by Olivia Mitchell
★★★★★
Since opening in 2017 Six the Musical has taken the world by storm, with productions running in the West End, Australia and Broadway, as well as on tour and cruise ships. Laden with awards, critical, and audience praise, it's a history lesson you'll want to revisit time and time again.
In Six the wives of Henry VIII come back to life and remix five hundred years of trauma, grief, drama and exploits to decide who will get to lead their girl-power band. A series of stylistically varied songs chronicle their lives and how they got their place in the classic rhyme: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. It's an 80 minute treat that flies by in a whizz of comedy, vocal excellence, spangly costumes and heart.
The incredible women who make up the cast (at this performance: Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Courtney Bowman, Collette Guitart, Cherelle Jay, Sophie Isaacs and Hana Stewart) give first class solo performances, whilst also bouncing off of one another perfectly. The chemistry and camaraderie on stage is a joy to watch and alongside the stellar audience reaction, makes you really feel part of the girl power rewrite. From the opening beats the energy in Six's new home, the Vaudeville theatre, is completely frenetic and doesn't slow until you're brought back to the real world when you step onto the Strand.
Gabriella Slade's bedazzled costumes are the perfect combo of modern sass, mixed with historical elements. With Tim Deiling's fantastically precise and impactful lighting the women sparkle like royal disco balls and the whole production is an explosion of brilliance. Like the whole show, Emma Bailey's set has had a slight upgrade and continues to perfectly frame the Tudor tale. Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss' score continues to hit however many times you hear it and since last seeing the show, the small tweaks and tucks have made the whole thing tighter and chicer than ever before.
With huge energy, this royal riot is everything you could wish for and Six the Musical is sure to continue it's reign long into the future. Move aside Henry, it's these Queens we want to remember!
photo credit: Pamela Raith
Friday, 28 May 2021
Public Domain, Vaudeville Theatre | Review
Public Domain
Vaudeville Theatre
Reviewed on Thursday 27th May by Olivia Mitchell
★★★
Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke first premiered their verbatim musical Public Domain in January as part of the Southwark Playhouse's lockdown streaming series. Directed by Adam Lenson, they have moved to the Vaudeville Theatre to bring their fresh, British musical to in person audiences.
Public Domain is interesting in the way that it doesn't have a fixed narrative or structure. Instead it's a melange of different characters' lives and their journeys with social media. There are two influencers, Z who drops out of school at 16 to make YouTube his career but who really doesn't know what he's doing with his life; and Millie, a health and lifestyle vlogger who is all about the #positivevibes. Alongside these two, we also hear mostly from Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr Priscilla Chan. A number of other characters, all played by the extremely talented Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke (who also wrote the book, lyrics and orchestrations) join together to take us back to the roots of Facebook and see how what started as a harmless way of keeping in contact, has become so ingrained in our everyday lives without us even realising.
The set is simple but effective, with Libby Todd setting up see through screens that separate the actors and the audience, a clever nod to the divide between online personalities and their viewers. The space in the middle becomes the "real world" and the screens also provide the backdrop for a selection of extremely well done projections by Matt Powell. In a show about technology, it's delightful that there is so much of it used so well. The video overlays of real life comments made by Mark Zuckerberg amongst others are seamlessly woven in and the virtual choir who join for one number work really well. Cameo's by Donald Trump and George Bush also feel painfully poignant.
The verbatim musical takes quotes directly from posts, tweets, videos and other online content to create a semi-real, semi-distorted reality which is moved along by an entertaining techno-pop score. Forristal and Clarke are relentless and excellent in their performances and they cleverly highlight the struggles and contradictions of today's social media world, however, it does end up feeling a little one layer.
Whilst the topics covered are very affecting, especially that of the Facebook content moderators who were left scarred by watching hundreds of videos of abuse and murder, it was overall very 'the internet sucks, we're in an endless cycle of bad things'. Which to an extent is obviously true, but it would have been interesting to have a little balance with the more positive, community driven, wholesome sides of social media. There is a heart-warming moment with some senior citizens discussing their use of the internet but the positives felt somewhat outdated and brushed over.
That's not to say this isn't a good show though and aside from anything, it's a real treat to see a new, British musical paving the way in the West End. The music is incredibly catchy and the overall presentation of the show is great, it just feels like it's almost scratching the surface of what social media is, and what message the show wants to put across. This will certainly be a musical that has many iterations and it will be very interesting to see how it grows and changes alongside social media.
photos by Jane Hobson
Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Emilia, Vaudeville Theatre | Review
Emilia
Vaudeville Theatre
Reviewed on Monday 29th April 2019 by Olivia Mitchell
★★★★
A transfer from the Globe, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's play about the 17th century poet Emilia Bassano Lanier is already receiving highly positive acclaim as it rouses audiences to their feet night after night. The emotive feminist speeches and fantastically comedic setup of the whole show, make it entertaining, informative and transformative.
It's incredibly encouraging to hear unashamedly feminist words be spoken and performed by such a diverse, encompassing, all-female cast. Despite Emilia being a huge part of feminist history as one of the first published female poets, she has been brushed under the carpet for years. Lloyd Malcolm has made an excellent choice to shine a light by using Emilia's rhetoric to discuss the centuries-long oppression of women. The issues, though different in today's context, are still painfully relevant and Lloyd Malcolm's clever twist on language mixes the past and present wonderfully. Nicole Charles' playful direction also helps make the show buoyant and engaging.
Charles has three actresses (unified by their blue dresses) take on the role of Emilia at different stages of her life. Little is factually known about her life so poetic license is taken as she travels through her introduction to court, motherhood and time as a teacher. The mental growth of Emilia is physically shown as she changes person after life altering moments.
Saffron Coomber, Adelle Leonce and Clare Perkins are exceptional in their roles, thriving both in their individual moments and even more so when they support one another. Emilia is supposedly the 'dark lady' in Shakespeare's famous sonnet, an idea which Lloyd Malcolm has really zoomed in on. The love affair between Emilia and Shakespeare fizzles as Emilia struggles with not being offered the same as him, her male counterpart. Charity Wakefield expertly takes on the role of the famous writer who is witty but insecure and self-absorbed as he exploits Emilia for her words.
The dense plot flows well, and efficiently highlights a number of struggles faced by women. Whilst entertaining, the 'south of the river' women Emilia teaches, do lack some dimension but help the story flow. Equally, the occasional parallels to modern immigration are a little lacking but provide food for thought in their brief moments.
The heart of Emilia and the heart of this piece is anger. In a unsubtle but completely justified way, Perkins closes the show with a magnificently stirring speech which calls for female empowerment. This is a modern musical that shows just how strong women are. The inclusivity of Emilia must also be applauded in terms of it's cast and audience. From a baby friendly performance to last nights captioned show, this is a musical for now in so many ways. If you need motivation, go see this show.
Emilia runs at the Vaudeville Theatre until 1st June
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