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Showing posts with the label Rachel Lea-Gray

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Extraordinary shenanigans: Extraordinary Women - Jermyn Street Theatre

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Compton Mackenzie’s novel about bed-hopping lesbians on Capri (here fictionalised as Sirene) and their escapades gets a musicalised treatment in this intimate show. It’s all a bit silly, really, and not much happens in the end. However, the musical succeeds in evoking a time, a place, and a mood with its sublime music and stellar cast. It’s currently playing at Jermyn Street Theatre . Set in the aftermath of World War I in 1919, Extraordinary Women explores the lives of unconventional women—chiefly English writer Aurora (Caroline Sheen) and her lover, Rosalba (Amy Ellen Richardson). Aurora has purchased a villa on the island with the hope of encouraging her part-time lover, Rosalba, to settle down with her exclusively. However, Rosalba, who is romantically involved with several women and depends on them for her lifestyle, is hesitant to commit. The story revolves around their on-again, off-again romance, along with the various affairs among the other women on Sirene. Meanwhile, the anc...
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Carmen follies: Carmen 1808 @TheUnionTheatre

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Carmen died twice for me last week. The first time at the Royal Opera. Barrie Kosky’s black, minimalistic yet infuriating production of Carmen has large chunks of plot read to you in French. The effect stops the action dead and bores the audience to death.  Then there was this Union Theatre production. Here in Carmen 1808, Carmen’s working for the resistance and standing up to the French during the atrocities of the Peninsular War. But it’s a passionless 90 minutes of political posturing.  The inspiration has been taken from the Goya’s Los fusilamientos del tres de mayo. There’s probably a great story about Goya and his transition to his black period. But it would have been nice to leave Carmen out of all that.  Bizet’s Carmen is sensual and sexy. Sexual politics not hard politics is what’s at stake. Here it’s given a flat musical treatment that feels part Les Miserables and part Allo Allo. Gypsies join the partisans to support the king, the ladies work in a cigarette fa...
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