A life of hope and promise, interrupted, lies at the heart of Mr Jones: an Aberfan Story. The play follows two young people in Aberfan before and after the disaster that killed 144 people, including 116 children. It’s an emotional coming-of-age tale of intersecting lives, family, love, and the shock of tragedy. With two vivid performances and strong characterisations, you feel immersed in 1960s Welsh small-town life. It’s now running at the Finborough Theatre , after performances at the Edinburgh Festival and across Wales. The Aberfan disaster is well known in the UK but perhaps less so elsewhere. The facts of the tragedy are confined to the programme notes rather than in the piece. On 21 October 1966, the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on a mountain above Aberfan engulfed a local school, killing many. The play avoids the causes and negligence, instead focusing on those working and building lives in the town. Writer-performer Liam Holmes plays Stephen Jones, a...
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Theatre: Priscilla Queen of the Desert
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Tuesday evening I was at the Whinger's organised evening to see a preview of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I had been avoiding this musical when it was playing in Australia as the only thing I had heard about it was how the costumes were amazing. When I asked about the book, the music and the acting I just got blank stares. The movie has become a modern (albeit camp) classic and so has the soundtrack. So I guess on one level it seemed somewhat logical to make a jukebox musical out of it... Still it seemed like such a missed opportunity. The casting announcement of Jason Donovan and early bird ludicrous offers of inflated prices for a free programme and cheap champagne didn't make it sound any more appealing, however the Whinger's do book early and so I was locked in...
It was never going to be a night of high art, and with a rather frisky and silly audience there was such a buzz from the crowd that once the music started it was hard not to resist this show. Sure the show makes the movie seem like high art, particularly once the characters are stripped of any realism and there is a song every five minutes (whether needed or not). But when they weren't trying to chew through the plot, every number was such a spectacle of dance and costume and so entertaining that you could just let it sweep you away.
Despite playing caricatures, the cast were great. This included Jason Donovan, who managed even to put in the occasional tender moment in the show. Although having been to a taping of the Graham Norton show last week, I couldn't help but think how similar the two look nowadays... Tony Sheldon reprising his performance of Bernadette from the Australian production was a nice touch. Particularly as Bernadette was dressed in clothes that could have come from the wardrobe of Ita Buttrose... Or Hazel Hawke. The YouTube clip above is from the Australian Production. Unsurprisingly there seems to have been higher production values for the London production...
Seeing the show made me a bit homesick. Not for good old fashioned Australian drag shows however (my experience with Sydney drag queens was seeing a couple of shows at the Albury where they made racist jokes about the Redfern aborigines), but for the yumour. Dead kangaroos, sheilas with big tits and ping pong balls. It was still all there. I guess ultimately you can't forget (or should that be escape) your roots.
The show has started previews and looks set to be a perfect antidote for the recession. With such big frocks and over the top production values you could easily forget about the rising unemployment. Well, at least while this show is in town there will be plenty of work for those in wardrobe. Not to be missed, but best to sit in the circle so you can take it all in...
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan...
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue . Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple. The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
