Richmond Theatre | Family Affairs and other matters

BETTE AND JOAN REVIEW

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Anton Burge’s new play “Bette and Joan” had it’s first night at the Richmond Theatre last night. What a lovely couple of parts for two of our well known, slightly older shall we say actresses. Brilliant performances by Anita Dobson as Joan Crawford and Greta Scacchi as Bette Davis that they are clearly having fun [...]

LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT REVIEW – RICHMOND THEATRE

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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I am now happy to report that I did get invited to watch last night's performance of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the Richmond Theatre and what a brilliant play it was. Brilliant performances by David Suchet as the father figure, Laurie Metcalf as the morphine addicted mother, Trevor White as the older, drunken bum of a son and Kyle Soller as Edmund the ill peace keeper of the family. It was hard to watch but fascinating to see this immensely personal play by Eugene O'Neill, completed in 1941 still feel so relevant today. An intimate insight into the damage human beings can do to each other. Each character was harbouring such deep resentments that the actors had to move from touching sensitivity and compassion to ferocious attacks almost within the same sentence often triggered by the line "what are you staring at?". The mother in particular couldn't release the past from the present, or indeed even the future. She recognised her addiction but it was tragic to see how her decline affected those around her and herself "I no longer call my soul my own". It was excellent. Exhausting roles to play. Very physical in many ways. The mother featured mostly in the first half whereas it was David Suchet drinking with his son mostly in the second half. My only complaint was that Richmond Theatre are selling the wrong sort of crisps. They need quieter ones. Not the really, really crunchy folded up ones that couldn't be chewed owing to the soundless, on the edge of their seats audience. Ice cream at half time a much better option. Thank you to Richmond Theatre for sorting out my tickets.

EVA CASSIDY MUSICAL – OVER THE RAINBOW – RICHMOND THEATRE REVIEW

Monday, February 13, 2012

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I took my mother to see “Over The Rainbow” the musical about the life story of Eva Cassidy at Richmond Theatre last night. If you like Eva Cassidy’s songs then you should see it. Sarah Jane Buckley from Hollyoaks plays her role very well and sings beautifully and the set, whilst simple, has a backdrop [...]

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REVIEW BY ALAN AYCKBOURN – RICHMOND THEATRE

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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First night of Alan Ayckbourn’s 75th professionally produced full length play. 75th!!! How prolific can you be…where does he get all his ideas? I love his plays – used to go with my father years ago. Now it seems the audience has remained relatively old – we need to find a way to get young [...]

CINDERELLA PANTOMIME AT RICHMOND THEATRE

Friday, December 16, 2011

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BRILLIANT! I took my 4 year old goddaughter, her sister and my son to see Richmond Theatre's latest pantomime "Cinderella" our favourite rags-to-riches fairy tale. Generally, being of the ex-music-company-don't-be-ridiculous-I-don't-clap-my-hands-in-public level of cool misery I don't enjoy pantomimes as a rule. However, taking my goddaughter to her first ever pantomime was pure joy. She absolutely loved it. Danced, sang, shouted, stood up, sat down, wanted to go on stage, gasped, pointed, you name it, she did it. This year Cinderella features Jenny Eclair as the Fairy Godmother, Gary Wilmot as Buttons and Kellie Shirley (Eastenders) as Cinderella and it all works very well. Gary Wilmot was exceptionally good and very funny and of course had lots of local and double entendre jokes that even made me laugh. It is also guaranteed to wow the whole family with it’s mix of stunning sets, glittering costumes, wonderful songs, dazzling dancing, and hilarious family friendly comedy. The two Ugly Sisters are brilliant and spectacularly awful - very meanly they're called Beatrice and Eugenie and at one point one of them comes out in that splendidly dreadful hat Eugenie wore at the royal wedding earlier this year. Then in total opposition there is the cutest scene with the enchanted coach and two real live white fluffy teeny weeny horses which looked amazing:- Honestly, if I wasn't disappointed then you certainly won't be....here are a few more photos:- Friday 9th December– Sunday 15th January RICHMOND THEATRE The Green, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ Box Office 0844 871 7651 www.atgtickets.com/richmond Tickets: £15 - £29 (premium seats available)

THE JUNGLE BOOK, RICHMOND THEATRE REVIEW

Monday, June 27, 2011

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A friend when instead of me to see The Jungle Book performed at Richmond Theatre last week and her lovely 11 year old daughter has written a review – a much more informative review than my children would have given – I would have got “it was sic” and that’s about it:- “In my opinion, [...]

JEFFREY BERNARD IS UNWELL – RICHMOND THEATRE REVIEW

Friday, June 10, 2011

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I was invited to the press night of “Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell” at the Richmond Theatre on Monday evening. I thought it was brilliant. Very funny. Robert Powell gave a very convincing performance as a lovable drunk rogue, although when we met him after the show he commented that the audience was the hardest he’d [...]