literature

Anne of Green Gables – London Children’s Ballet, Peacock Theatre

by Michaela Clement-Hayes

Anne of Green Gables is one of those stories that will never lose its appeal. She is a charming, feisty orphan who gets into continuous scrapes, but is ultimately trying to do her best.

It’s far from a complex story, but there is a lot going on. Yet, telling the story through the medium of dance seems no simple feat. The London Children’s Ballet have accomplished this phenomenally. Director Ruth Brill ensures all children have a significant role to play, with different ages and abilities involved in multiple scenes.

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Our Man in Havana, VAULT Festival

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By Zahid Fayyaz

Spies Like Us Theatre have returned for one week with their award-winning show from 2017’s Edinburgh Fringe. A five-person adaptation of the Graham Greene satirical novel, this one-hour show follows the story of a local vacuum cleaner salesman pushed into working as a spy for MI6 in Cuba, Havana.

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Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four, Greenwich Theatre

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by Meredith Jones Russell

In this post-Cumberbatch age, you can’t help but feel slightly sorry for any actor taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes. The BBC series has provided such a defining image of Holmes to a generation that one wonders why a company might take on another rehash of a Conan Doyle classic.

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The Full Bronte, The Space

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by Jack Solloway

Raucous, loose and incredibly silly, Scary Little Girls’ The Full Brontë is as much about the Brontës as is a bare arse and a lick across the arm. Subjected to both of these, audience member Clive was about as prepared as the rest of us for the romping, light entertainment cabaret about Yorkshire’s most famous sisterhood of writers.

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Fagin’s Twist, The Place

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By Laura Kressly

Charles Dickens’ story of the orphan boy who nicely asked for more dinner in an orphanage before training to become a pickpocket is here refocused on the older ringleader of Victorian London’s underworld, Fagin. In the musical and film, little is shared of Fagin’s backstory.  But it is the beginning of this contemporary dance piece in two acts.

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Arabian Nights, Hoxton Hall

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by Lara Alier

If you close your eyes and I mention ‘Arabian Nights’, what can you see? How does it feel, sound and smell? The description of Hoxton Hall will probably match what you imagine. Strong incense blends with warm lights and the sound of a little fountain adds ambience to the big Arabic arches.

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The Unexpected Guest, Mill at Sonning

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by guest critic Meredith Jones Russell

Arriving at the Mill at Sonning you might as well be stepping in to an Agatha Christie novel before Brian Blessed’s revival of The Unexpected Guest even begins. A country retreat where the whole audience dines together before the show, this is an ideal setting for witnessing the rum old business of a classic whodunnit. And The Unexpected Guest does not disappoint.

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The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, VAULT Festival

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by guest critic Lauren Gauge

At it’s best The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha is a one of the most ridiculously fun, liberating examples of interactive, ensemble storytelling. Though the narrative is intrinsic and the episodic adventures of Don Quixote are told with great clarity and comedy, the novel the production is based on is not the main attraction, nor is it important that one knows the original material.

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