Louis Train - Page 4

A bird, a bunny, and a baby; a shoemaker and a clock and a critter on a walk. Waltz of the Hommelettes is a breezy, charming distraction of a play, 50 minutes of children's illustrations brought to life through costume, props, and puppetry.

The Sun Line is currently playing at Sadler's Wells. Russian stage director and actor Viktor Ryzhakov discusses the show, as well as the universality of theatre, the relationship between art and politics, and how he's come to understand the world.

When I first saw The Sun Line, at The Meyerhold Centre, in Moscow, I was so jolted by its aggressively inventive technique that I started recommenidng it to all my friends.

In Trevor Nunn's extraordinary new production of Fiddler on the Roof, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a dimension of intimacy and immediacy recasts a familar show, dragging it, sometimes tearfully, always beautifully, closer to the audience than it has ever been.

Not many people know the name Claude-Michel Schonberg, but everybody knows his music: as the composer of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, Claude-Michel is present in everyone's playlist, in a songbook on everyone's piano, and in every karaoke lineup. Last night, he sat down with journalist Edward Seckerson to talk about his life, work, and inspiration, and the projects that didn't quite make it.

Guys and Dolls has come to the Mill at Sonning, and brought with it all the sleazy music, flashy dancing, and good, clean fun you could want in an evening.

Chris's new book, Rise Up!, looks at Broadway and American society from Angels in America to Hamilton. In an interview with fellow critic Matt Wolf, at the Bloomsbury Institute yesterday, Chris talked about what makes a show successful, how the theatre has changed in American and Britain, and what we can expect to see in the future.

Put simply, Ruby's caricaturistic portrayal of Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel, does great injustice to the source material, and blends comedy and melodrama so unevenly as almost to be making fun of Mrs Meir and the country she led through war.

Now, the London Musical Theatre Orchestra have added their own spin, mounting Girlfriends as a concert with only minimal narration, rather than a fully produced musical. It seems they've found the winning formula: LMTO's Girlfriends is musical dynamite, a burst of energy and passion and very, very good singing.

On November 11, 2018, people everywhere will commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One with events, speeches, prayers, and moments of silence. At The Progress Theatre in Reading, a special performance of Birdsong, Rachel Wagstaff's adaptation of the novel by Sebastian Faulks, is being mounted to commemorate the lives lost to the war, and to raise money for British Legion. I sat down with director Steph Dewar, who told me why Birdsong is special to her, what her cast has done to prepare, and how theatre can help keep history alive.

Troilus and Cressida begins with a thunder of drums that knocks the programme out of your hands.

There is a kind of macabre fun in Body Worlds. Some of the plastinates are posed majestically; others demonstrate the strength and dynamism of the human body. Still others seem like they're just having a lark. Walking through the dark and winding corridors of the exhibit is a bit like visiting the lab of Edgar Allan Poe.

The pupil comes prepared for her lesson: pens, notepad, ruler. The professor apologises for being late. The lesson begins. And then, the lesson really begins. In Matthew Parker's clever new production of Ionesco's play, everything is in order but nothing makes sense.