Theatre & Performance – Page 6 of 12

25Sep

By Josip MartincicNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

A Dark Season

A theatre will usually create a season of shows with a shared concept, and an example of this is the upcoming season of Oscar Wilde at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. It is often the case with Shakespeare’s Globe, especially during Emma Rice’s time as the artistic director, with seasons called ‘Summer of Love’, for example, or ‘The Wonder Season’. Therefore, it is very interesting to see that, unintentionally, the Performing Arts Societies on campus are all putting on some very dark shows, while The Student Workshop, the extension of the Drama department not affiliated with the SU, instead chose an intentionally light show. Drama Society is putting on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Musical Theatre Society (MTS) is doing Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, Savoy Opera Society is offering Br...

RHUL hits the Fringe: Singing on Skid Row

15Sep

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

RHUL hits the Fringe: Singing on Skid Row

Ethereal Theatre Company held auditions at Royal Holloway months ago, choosing the best of the best to go with them to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to perform the cult classic ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’. As the other audience members and I stood in line to enter The Grand Theatre at Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh for their last performance, two of the show’s crew greeted us in hazmat suits and stamped us all with Skid Row barcode ‘tattoos’, a key component of the direction in which the production has gone in. Director Mahmoud Zayat took Howard Ashman’s script and incorporated dystopic themes of “control”, “surveillance” and “innovate science”. This production thus has Skid Row under surveillance, as they are an experiment in determining a person’s level of greed. For those who don’t know,...

Medea: a monster, a mother, or a murderer?

13Jun

By Victoria BastableNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV, Literature, Theatre & Performance

Medea: a monster, a mother, or a murderer?

‘A bride of hate to me and death / Tigress, not woman’ (Euripides, Medea) Medea: a monster, a mother, or a murderer? Victoria Bastable reviews her week with By Jove Theatre company and how their ‘Season of Violent Women’ has made her question the dehumanisation of violent women in culture from Ancient Greece to the 21st century. I Googled ‘violent women in art’ and the results were dominated by articles titled ‘Violence Against Women in Art’. To me, this demonstrates how in art we often attempt to distance women from being portrayed as the perpetrators of violence, perhaps because of cultural expectations of the ‘ideal woman’ as either the nurturing mother or passive victim. But what about the violent women who do appear in art and literature? By Jove Theatre Company have been a...

Flood of tears from laughing and an actual flood – wetting ourselves for the sake of comedy

6Jun

By Josip MartincicNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Flood of tears from laughing and an actual flood – wetting ourselves for the sake of comedy

Read Arts Editor, Josip's, review of Drama Society’s production of Noël Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’. As part of the Drama Society’s 130th anniversary of Quad Productions, Amber Lickerish directs this light-hearted classic 1920’s farce focusing on family values, age and class issues and seduction, something us students can all resonate with. The first thing that an audience member experiences is the immersive improvised interaction between the actors on stage, with music from the era serving as a soundscape which transports the audience back in time. This is heavily aided by the immaculately executed costume by Molly Stapleton and set design by Cassie Boyce, which is both simple and effective. The wacky Bliss family are at the same time bizarrely distant and irresistib...

Absolute Harmony Spring Concert: A Bright and Breezy Treat

12Apr

By Rachel Perry-WattsNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music, Theatre & Performance

Absolute Harmony Spring Concert: A Bright and Breezy Treat

On the 11th of March, RHUL’s resident acapella choir, Absolute Harmony, treated us to their Spring Concert in the Boilerhouse lecture theatre. For those not familiar with the choir, their website explains that they ‘sing a wide array of original arrangements, ranging from pop hits to film soundtracks, all sung in at least four (usually five or more!) part harmony’. This range was certainly displayed in their concert; from ‘Raise Your Glass’ by P!nk, to ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton, there really was something for everyone. The evening was in support of two different charities, Dementia UK and The Children’s Trust, both of which were of special significance to the choir. A collection was made after a member of the choir gave a short introduction; it was really inspiring to see how passionate AbH...

3Apr

By Samantha DavisNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Hamilton: I’m Willing To Wait For It

Hamilton: whether you've been listening to the soundtrack non-stop or have been lucky enough to see it live on Broadway, it's a near guarantee that you've heard the name. The musical written and composed by the genius Lin-Manuel Miranda - whose other works include In The Heights and Bring It On - tells the story of Alexander Hamilton and the founding fathers of America as they create the foundations of the political system that is still in use today. Having opened on Broadway in August 2015, the show was immediately a smash-hit, producing sold-out performances almost every single night. Hamilton also broke records, beating Wicked's $3.2 million for nine performances with a record breaking $3.3 million in a week for only eight shows. In fact, as tickets were difficult to obtain and sold ...

28Mar

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Dreamgirls: A Dream Come True

Dreamgirls, a brilliant musical that opened in October 2016 at The Savoy Theatre on the West End stars Glee’s Amber Riley and tells the story of a group of African American singers in the 1960s trying to make a name for themselves. I had the opportunity to see Dreamgirls last month at the Savoy theatre and, not having seen the original movie that the show is based on, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I found was an amazing spectacle of bright lights, beautiful costumes and spectacular music, used to tell the story of these young women who struggled to make a name for themselves while having to deal with the societal pressures of beauty and race in the male-dominated world of music. Amber Riley, with her powerful voice, played the role of Effie White, the lead singer of ‘The Dreamet...

Curtain Call: The Expense Of The West End

14Mar

By Georgia BeithNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Curtain Call: The Expense Of The West End

Georgia Beith discusses the inflating prices of the West End theatre scene and how that negatively impacts upon students. Theatre has long since been a favourite pastime of British society. From the playhouses of Elizabethan England, to the grand music halls of the Victorian era, theatres have been landmarks of London for centuries. Yet with soaring ticket prices, it’s becoming an art form that is increasingly inaccessible for people without mountains of disposable income, people like students and young people. Despite sales of tickets stagnating, the prices for West End tickets have continued to rise, alienating much of the British public from enjoying London’s top plays and musicals. A quick Google search show that if you want to book tickets to see a West End show this weekend, yo...

Founding Fathers: Hamilton and the American Identity

7Mar

By Rachel Perry-WattsNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Founding Fathers: Hamilton and the American Identity

As many will be aware, and many will not, the hit musical ‘Hamilton’ recently released tickets to its West End show, opening at the Victoria Palace Theatre in November this year. According to the Telegraph, over 100,00 people registered to be notified of the general sale of these tickets. I was lucky enough to get one through the pre-release sales, however as time goes on tickets will undoubtedly become like gold dust. But what is it that has made this show such a global phenomenon? The musical was written by the multi-talented playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and tells of the life of the lesser known founding father, Alexander Hamilton, predominantly through the medium of rap and show tunes. To many, this might sound like an absolute nightmare, but to others, like myself, it gives a fresh...

The Student Workshop presents ‘Doctor Faustus’

24Feb

By Rosalie FallaNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

The Student Workshop presents ‘Doctor Faustus’

Rosalie Falla reviews The Student Workshop's newest production. Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is not a play usually considered a comedy, but Rafael Aptroot and Saxon Rose’s production manages to swing from raucous laughter to deeply dark moments. The Elizabethan tragedy follows the demise of Faustus as he takes up the dark art of necromancy, selling his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 years of life with a devil as his servant, Mephistopheles. Faustus, played by the wonderful Jack Read, does not use his magic for anything worthwhile, instead playing practical jokes on powerful people. The oft-left out Pope scene had the audience in fits of laughter, with Eleanor Cobb’s papal figure stealing the scene with some outstanding facial expressions. Another comedic moment was the entrance of t...