WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb
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Noyes Fludde, Theatre Royal, Stratford East
Britten's biblical epic gets an engaging pop-up production
Noye's Fludde at Theatre Royal Stratford East
[Marc Brenner]
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
THIS collaboration between English National Opera and Theatre Royal Stratford East, with Lyndsey Turner directing, has a magnificent cast of both professional and amateur performers and musicians who bring Benjamin Britten’s opera vibrantly to life.
The cast includes 60 children from two local primary schools who, thanks to simple but effective outfits by Oliver Jeffers, make up a colourful menagerie.
Intended as a sort of pop-up opera, to be performed in church halls and community centres on a shoe-string budget with ample audience participation, its simplicity — reflected in a clever set design from Soutra Gilmour — remains true to Britten’s ideals.
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