Tezza's Theatre Place

Andy Nyman (Tevye), credit Johan Persson. The Book of Exodus says that after crossing the Red Sea, Moses led the Hebrews into the Sinai, where they spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Fortunately for the inhabitants of a small Russian village at the turn of the last century, all they had to do was move across the river as they took the highly successful Menier Chocolate Factory production of  Fiddler on the Roof  across the Thames to the Playhouse Theatre. The story centres around Tevye (Andy Nyman) a poor Jewish milkman, his wife Golde (Judy Kuhn) and their five daughters, Tzeitel (Molly Osborne), Hodel (Harriet Bunton), Chava (Nicola Brown), Shprintze (Elena Cervesi/Lia Cohen/Shoshana Ezequiel/Valentina Theodoulo) and finally Beilke (Sofia Bennett/Lottie Casserley/Talia Etherington/Isabella Foat). Like all of the Jewish inhabitants of Anatevka, the family lives an uneasy life by the side of the Christian Russians who are the dominant people in the village. Still...

Alice Hutchinson as Ralph in Lord of the Flies. Photo by Adam Trigg. S ome books have a real pedigree to them. For example, one well-known book was awarded a place on both lists of Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 41 on the editor’s list, and 25 on the reader’s list. It also made number 70 on the BBC’s survey The Big Read. In 2005, it was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. The book is Lord of the Flies and the Lazarus Theatre Company are presenting the theatrical version of the story as the second in their current season at the Greenwich Theatre. The story starts with a plane crashing on an isolated island in a remote region of the Pacific Ocean. The survivors of the crash are all school children being evacuated from the UK. The children are scattered around the island until they hear the sound of a conch shell, which acts as a rallying cry calling them to come to the blower. This is a boy called Ralph (Alic...

Goodbye Norma Jeane – PBG STUDIOS. For someone as in love with musical theatre as I claim to be, I have to hang my head in shame that until last night, I had never heard the name Jack Cole. And if you, like me, are not sure who this man is, well I can now tell you that he was one of the most influential choreographers of his day, inventing the idiom of American show dancing known as “ theatrical jazz dance ” and whose style continues to influence musical theatre choreographers today. Jack was also famous for his work with one of the true icons of the movies and this story is told in Liam Burke’s play  Goodbye Norma Jeane  which you can catch at Vauxhall’s Above the Stag Theatre. It is the 6th August 1962 and Jack Cole (Tim English) is trying to write his weekly column for Dance magazine. Turning on the radio, he hears the tragic news of the death of Norma Jeane Mortenson – better known to you and I, as Marilyn Monroe. Shaken by the news, Jack talks of his life and his wor...

(c) Nick Rutter. From left to right_ Freddie Hogan, Lewis Brown What does the word ‘undetectable’ mean to you? If you were a fan of detective stories, it’s a crime that cannot be solved. If you are a reader of some of our more right-wing papers, then we are talking about illegal aliens living in the country under the radar. If you are a gay man, then it is something far more serious that will affect your life forever.  Undetectable is also the title of Tom Wright’s new one-act play which is receiving its world premiere at the King’s Head Theatre. As far as gay relationships go, Bradley (Lewis Brown) and Lex (Freddie Hogan) are very unusual. Despite dating for three months, this twenty-something couple have not actually slept together yet. And their relationship is going from strength to strength. For instance, this very night, Lex has introduced Bradley to his, rather judgy, housemates, something he has been loathe to do with other men that he has gone out with. So, tonight is...

Do you know who Ada Lovelace or Charles Babbage are? The chances are that you will say no to the first and yes to the second name. Well, back in the 19th Century, Ada Lovelace carried out pioneering computing work on the Analytical Engine with Charles Babbage. Ada is one of the great unsung heroines of science whose works are only known by the men they collaborated with. Of course, that was the 19th Century and things are so much different today aren’t they? Unfortunately not. Historically the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) specialisations have always been perceived as the purview of men. This is one of the themes running through Katie Granger’s play  Ares  being performed during the final week of the Vault Festival in Waterloo. This one-woman show tells the story of Alice (Andrea Hall) a young lady who has moved from a humble farm – where she was brought up by her father after her mother abandoned the family – through to becoming an astrophysicis...

The Holocaust has been a major source of material for books, films, television programmes etc. Most of these tend to concentrate on the horrors of the death camps or the ghettos. But not all of the Nazi’s victims were sent straight to these places and some were interred in transit camps such as Westerbork which is the setting for Ian Buckley’s play  The Project  receiving its world premiere at the White Bear Theatre. At this camp, things are slightly better for the inmates. As well as reasonable housing – a far higher standard than in the ghettos – there is a school, hairdresser, and even restaurants for the occupants to use. Conditions may not be perfect but, under the command of SS Officer Conrad Schaffer (Mike Duran), life is bearable most of the time. It certainly is for the performers of the camp cabaret. While they have to wear the Jewish star on their clothing, at least it is their own clothes and not the striped pajamas worn in other parts of the Reich. The leader ...

Dawid Minnar Janine Ulfane – Photograher credit Alixandra Fazzina. “Survival of the fittest” is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. Which means that even in the most inhospitable of placers, life will find a way – even if at times, you may look and think what’s the point? For example, in South Africa, the aloe plant is considered one of the country’s most powerful, beautiful and celebratory symbols. It survives out in the wild when everything else is dried. At the end of everything, the aloe is still there. And it is this survival that is at the heart of Athol Fugard’s  A Lesson From Aloes  which has returned to the UK and is currently in residence at the Finborough Theatre. Set in South Africa in 1963, where apartheid is at its height and the citizens are living in a paranoid police state. The play revolves around a middle-aged left-leaning couple – Afrikaner Piet Bezuidenhout (Dawid Minnaa...