NBT nominated for MEN award
November 13, 2008
Northern Ballet Theatre has been nominated for the 2008 Manchester Evening News Dance Award for performances in the city. The Leeds-based company has earned the nomination for performances of NBT artistic director David Nixon and Patricia Doyle’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Manchester’s Palace Theatre between 14th and 17th May.
After his previous productions The Three Musketeers and Madame Butterfly were respectively last year’s winner and a 2006 nominee in the category, Nixon was delighted to make another shortlist. “NBT was founded in Manchester in 1969, and as the company celebrates its 40th anniversary next year it’s fantastic that we maintain our relationship with Manchester,” he commented. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream has proved very popular with audiences up and down the country and I’m delighted the production and the performances by the company in Manchester have been recognised by the MEN Theatre Awards panel.
Opera North wins TMA Achievement in Opera Award
November 9, 2008
Leeds-based Opera North has won the 2008 Theatrical Management Association (TMA) Award for Achievement in Opera for the second consecutive year. The company was given the honour for its Shakespeare Resounding season, which featured lauded productions of Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo et Juliette.
After winning the award last year for Phyllida Lloyd and Richard Farnes’ production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, Opera North triumphed again, withstanding stiff competition from Glyndebourne’s Hansel and Gretel, Scottish Opera’s A Night at the Chinese Opera and Welsh National Opera’s The Sacrifice. It was also honoured at the TMA’s annual Theatre Awards ceremony, which aims to recognise excellence in provincial theatre, in 2004, for its Eight Little Greats season.
Review: Of Thee I Sing
November 8, 2008
Date reviewed: 7th November 2008
Venue: The Lowry, Salford
So it’s Obama for the White House! Not in the case of Opera North, where John P. Wintergreen is in occupation until at least March. Opera North’s celebration of the American election takes the form of a revival of the Gershwins’ political satire, Of Thee I Sing, a Pulitzer Prize-winning show from 1931. Read more
Review: Spyski! (or The Importance of Being Honest)
November 7, 2008
Date reviewed: 7th November 2008
Venue: West Yorkshire Playhouse
Having spent a month at The Lyric Hammersmith, the members of well-established comedy outfit Peepolykus (pronounced, they insist, “people-like-us”) have now brought their latest piece, Spyski! (or The Importance of Being Honest) to the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Courtyard theatre.
A glance at the programme both reveals and confuses: it is entitled The Importance of Being Earnest (Absolutely not Spyski!… no way… no spies at all). What comes across abundantly, however, is the company’s confidence. The goofy photographs and mock monologues in which the Earnest cast members digressively explain their suitability for their roles suggest little fear of failing to amuse.
Review: Death of a Salesman
November 6, 2008
Date reviewed: 6th November 2008
Venue: York Theatre Royal
Although it is easy to contrive reasons why there has never been a better time to perform a given play, there seem to be some quite sound ones in the case of Death of a Salesman. As I watch it, Barack Obama is getting elected to the US presidency, yet a couple of months ago its government had to buy a bunch of rancid assets from its banks to try to navigate the country past the consequences of their untamed ambition. “The Americans really ought to make up their minds,” I had thought. “Does this ‘Dream’ of theirs work or not?” Perhaps Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work from 1949 could disentangle the wires; director Damian Cruden was probably hoping so, at any rate.
There are some distractions during the first few minutes. The chief offender is the set. Presumably, it is meant to blend fluidly into the action but, given that it consists of two flaps on either side of the stage covered in mounds of window and door frame, skirting board and floral wallpaper all jutting out at angles to which even the most venal local council would never grant planning permission, this is not a realistic aim. Furthermore, Eileen O’Brien’s wobbly attempt at an east coast accent diverts the audience’s attention from what she is saying.