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Showing posts with the label Hazel McBain

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Sex, violence and caviar: Men's Business @finborough

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Life's a dog in Men's Business. It's a nasty, cruel life where amongst the banality of everything, love, or something resembling a bit of it, exists out of a butcher's shop. And in between feeding dogs or chopping up offcuts of meat to sell as pet food, there's always time for sex and violence. The play gets into these dark and disturbing themes, inviting the audience to immerse themselves in this claustrophobic world. It's not a pleasant night at the theatre. Still, the intensity of the piece in the confined space of the Finborough Theatre and the exploration of these ideas make for an engrossing experience.   This is a new translation by Simon Stephens of Franz Xaver Kroetz's work. Initially published in 1972 and would later be expanded in the piece Through The Leaves, the action is set in a butcher's shop.  We're introduced to Charlie (Lauren Farrell), who inherited the shop from her father. Family don't seem to be around anymore. All she has...
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Duelling sopranos, love gone wrong: Der Schauspieldirektor and Bastien Und Bastienne @Popupoperauk

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The singing is always the key to Popup Opera’s touring operas in small or unusual spaces. Along with the chance to see some overlooked or minor pieces by famous composers. Again the company does not disappoint with its Mozart double bill: Der Schauspieldirektor and Bastien Und Bastienne. The first half of the piece, Der Schauspieldirektor, is essentially half an hour of music stretched out to a mildly amusing farce. Tradition has it that the dialogue around this piece is rewritten. Here the scenario is duelling auditions between two sopranos when a struggling opera company can only afford one. It’s an amusing premise that becomes a bit silly in its execution. But there’s still some serious music making. Particularly when older diva Sarah Helena Foubert and younger diva Hazel McBain spar in a thrilling duet. In the second half we have Bastien Und Bastienne. Both consult a relationship guru (updated from a soothsayer) when one suspects the other is having an affair. After a series of s...
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