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No country for old women: Old Ladies - at Finborough Theatre

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The day after seeing The Old Ladies at the Finborough Theatre , I was describing the play to someone in great detail: about three old ladies who lived in a rickety house in southern England in 1935. Based on Hugh Walpole’s novel and adapted by Rodney Ackland, it is the sort of story with enough believability, humour and mild thriller to stick in your mind. Perhaps it is the lure of this dark, forboding tale of a life without money, to be alone and to be old, that makes you feel attracted to this poverty porn. But then again, given the state of the world, the cost of living, an ageing population, or just the fact that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, it might as well be an every little old lady-for-herself, too. It’s a well-acted and staged piece that moves at a brisk pace, so there isn’t much time to think about it too much. And in the intimate (or should that be claustrophobic?) space of the Finborough, there’s nowhere to avert your eyes. Even if you wanted to.  The scene is a grim Cathe...

Those underground Italian girls: L’Italiana In Algeri @popupoperauk


Popup Opera’s second summer show is full of energy, enthusiasm and some fine singing… Even if it is a rather silly show, it is great to see a piece that has not been performed in London for a while in such an unusual space.

This minimalist opera group has pared back Rossini’s work and taken away all that business of harems and bad Turks. Instead it moves the story to a modern day den on iniquity - Las Vegas - and the Algiers Hotel.

Popup Opera’s unusual choice of venues and performing lesser known works (with a modern twist) is a great introduction to opera.  Silly plotted operas work well with this format and so moving the piece to Vegas gives the tale of gambling, infidelity and cheap thrills a new dimension. Although perhaps a few cuts in the second half to bring things to a quicker conclusion might help.


There are two casts that perform the show. On Tuesday night we had the lovely Catrin Woodruff as the faded showgirl Elvira and Helen Stanley as the strong and feisty Italian-American lover of Lindoro. Oliver Brignall as the hero Lindoro with his clear vocals and wonderful phrasing was also a delight. Rounding out the cast was Bruno Loxton as Mustafa, Oskar McCarthy as Taddeo and Amy Payne as Zulma.

Keeping everything together was the ever resourceful regular Popup Opera MD Berrak Dyer, with just an electric piano as the accompaniment and a sometimes unforgiving acoustic that only a round brick tunnel shaft with a metal roof can provide.

Still the venue provided plenty of atmosphere and not just from the regular rumbles from the adjacent London Overground line. Apart from the experience of entering the space through a teeny tiny opening (and descending temporary stairs to get to the ground floor), there was a sense that the space fitted the Vegas theme particularly well. I had the opportunity to walk through parts of Vegas last year and I could see the parallels with the veneer of glamour and decaying structures surrounded by freeways.

Of course Popup Opera will be playing the piece at far more civilised locations throughout the summer. They are back in the shaft in July if you want the true underground experience, but check their website for other locations.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

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