Tezza's Theatre Place

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/197788/review-redbellyblack-theatres-ok-bye-vault-festival/ RedBellyBlack Theatre’s OK, Bye – VAULT Festival 2018 (courtesy of Robert Boulton) There is a saying about opera that ‘it ain’t really over till the fat lady sings’. This is probably because lots of operas end when a well-proportioned lady sings her final aria then dies, bringing the curtain down with her. This expression has made its way into normal language, a fact exploited by the RedBellyBlack Theatre Company in their production  OK, Bye which I saw at the Vault Festival. This is the story of three siblings – April (Kate Goodfellow) the eldest, Peter (Sam Cornforth) an advertising executive and baby of the family Oliver (Oscar Scott-White) a successful freelance nature photographer – who have come together for the funeral of their mother. It’s the first time the three have been together for a while as the boys are very busy with their professional lives and only got home to vis...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/174252/review-i-know-you-of-old-hope-theatre/ Shakespeare could be said to be the most abused playwright. His plays have been performed a million different ways. In two years I’ve seen six performances of  Romeo and Juliet  and four of  Midsummer Night’s Dream  and each one has been completely different to the other. However, when you look at the prose of a Shakespeare play, there is always the possibility to use them and move them around to produce a completely different outcome. Not sure exactly what I mean? Then nip down to the Hope Theatre where Golem is staging  I Know You of Old . Based on Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ the play is set in a chapel where a lace draped coffin is sat waiting for the funeral tomorrow. The occupant of the coffin is Hero who collapsed and died when, at the altar, her fiance Claudio (Conor O’Kane) denounced her as a wanton woman. Now although he feels so much sorrow and guilt that ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172655/review-my-world-has-exploded-a-little-bit-bella-heesom/ I’m going to start this review with two facts. You may not like them and may resent me saying them but remember, they are facts. First, everyone you know is going to die and second, everyone you have ever met is going to die. Unless there are some huge leaps forward in medical skill, death is inevitable. And yet, somehow, people are often caught unawares when death occurs. Well, not any more thanks to Bella Heesom’s semi-auto autobiographical play  My World Has Exploded a Little Bit  which is having a run at the Ovalhouse. As well as writing the show, Bella, along with the totally mad Eva Alexander, also performs the play. Bella is a really lovely and affable person who warmly greets each member of her audience as they arrive to take their seats. In a real effort to avoid spoilers,  My World Has Exploded a Little Bit  is part performance and part lecture on Bella...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/158767/review-glockenspiel-tristan-bates-theatre/ Military life isn’t for everyone. Even in peacetime, it puts a lot of strain on not only the serviceman or woman but also their family and friends. In a time of conflict, that strain gets even more intense. This gets worse if the service man/woman doesn’t fully believe in the cause and justness of the action they are being ordered to take. However, possibly the most difficult part of military life is when it ends. After a lifetime of service, adjusting to civilian life can be traumatic, to say the least. All of these themes and more are examined in Steven Dykes  Glockenspiel  at Soho’s Tristan Bates Theatre. Glockenspiel tells the story of the funerals of three current and former members of the American armed forces. Whilst none of the deceased died on active service, they are all entitled to and receive a military funeral. At each, the Defence Department has supplied an Honour Gua...