WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb
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Hitting the right notes
A play about choral singing, hedge funds and dementia proves to be an intricate exploration of family relationships and the redemptive power of music, says TOM KING
(Left) James Fletcher as Simon and Dan Wolff as Jack
[Miles Elliott]
RITA DI SANTO points out the social experience of exploitation and oppression that inform the popular winners at this year’s festival
PETER MASON is tickled by a new book and exhibition that mine the rotten anachronism of the monarchy for laughs
A Nazi zeppelin whodunnit, death amidst detoxification, a twistaholic’s delight, and noir fiction for criminals
STEVE JOHNSON salutes the mellifluous tones and clear-minded political message of a uniquely relevant Birmingham-born singer-songwriter
STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
Short Memory
Golden Goose Theatre, London
YOU would be forgiven for thinking that a play about Handel’s Messiah, short selling and Alzheimer’s disease was born of a theatrical version of Ready Steady Cook — three disparate themes, pulled out of a hat, to test the skill of the playwright in weaving together a compelling and convincing narrative.
Richard Roques has passed this entirely hypothetical challenge with flying colours: Short Memory is an adroit exploration of love, loss and the redemptive power of music, via three generations of the same family, over the course of several years.
The play begins with an on-stage choir concluding the first part of Handel’s masterpiece recounting the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — a favourite with community choirs all over the world — whereupon husband-and-wife singers Adam and Nancy (Peter Saracen and Janet Behan) meet their grandson Simon (James Fletcher) in the audience.
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