Reviews

Some open-air productions are surprisingly sophisticated technically, but in the lovely setting of Christchurch’s Priory House Gardens, Bournemouth Shakespeare Players strip this production down to the bare essentials: an almost empty stage, modern dress (although, incongruously, the final fight is with swords), no sound amplification and lighting confined to a couple of floodlights shone from the upper storey of the Priory House itself. The ‘bare essentials’ in this case are of course Shakespeare’s lines and how well they are spoken. Leo Smith as Duncan gives full value to the verse, as does Daniel Withey as Macduff. Banquo is strongly played

Having spent the best part of the last two weeks stuck at home with a nasty virus I picked up on holiday, I couldn’t have been more pleased that one of my first ventures back into the outside world was to the annual show that I have regularly described over the years as my end-of-term treat. The RMDS Summer Show is the stuff of legend: three completely separate short entertainments, each seen in turn by the audience – who are also divided into three – and with plentiful nibbles on hand during the breaks to sustain us as we walk

Like half the western world, I am familiar with the musical version of Blood Brothers. What I did not realise is that Willy Russell originally wrote it as a straight play, with no music, for a Merseyside youth theatre group. It is the play that Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society are offering, which gives the evening added interest because it raises the questions of how much the addition of music changes a play, and whether it is for the better. ‘Hugely’ is the answer to the first question (think Pygmalion and My Fair Lady), while the second is as irrelevant

It was a real treat to be able to enter the grounds of the magnificent property that is Hamptworth Lodge and wander unimpeded around a venue that is rarely allowed to be seen by the public. The gardens prove a delight and natural background for this equally rarely seen adaption of the famous Jules Verne novel, perhaps more famous for the screen version with David Niven and Shirley MacLaine. Jonathan Marmont plays Phileas Fogg with suitable British Empire bounce and resolve, forever eschewing the sights for the journey and rescuing his long-suffering manservant, Passepartout – played with energetic verve and flawless accent by

Albert Perkins is blessed with a loving wife and cursed with a fearsome mother-in-law, Boadicea. When his good friend, Hilary Armitage, writes to him reminiscing about the good times they used to have, Boadicea reads the letter and determines to remove her daughter instantly from his clutches. Albert has a hard time explaining that the letter is perfectly innocent, and anyway, Hilary is a man. He isn’t helped when Hilary turns up, wearing a blonde wig and a glamorous evening dress. By the time Hilary manages to explain he’s come straight from doing his drag act at the local pub,

‘Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act, Threatens his bloody stage’ Come the planned opening night, the thoughts of the cast and company of Hamlet may well have turned to these lines from Macbeth, Bournemouth Shakespeare Players’ companion offering next week. All the rehearsal and preparation, undertaken recently amid glorious weather, were thwarted as the heavens opened, accompanied by thunder and lightning, necessitating last-minute cancellation. Happily for all, on the following evening, rain held off until ten minutes after the performance concluded to richly-deserved applause. Simply staged – effectively so – with black dominating set and costumes alike