Tezza's Theatre Place

Pippin: Credit Michael Smith In the year 769, the great King Charlemagne welcomed his first born son into the world. Quite a lot is known about the child, but this is not some boring history lesson, as in the mid-1960s composer Stephen Schwartz decided the son’s story was an ideal subject for a musical. A few years later, and with a book a by Roger O. Hirson, the show was born. Its name is  Pippin  and is currently being given a well deserved run out by Sedos at the Bridewell Theatre. Narrated by the Leading Player (Corin Miller), this is the story of young Pippin (Joe Thompson-Oubari) and his travels as he tries to find out where he belongs in the world. Yes, he is the eldest son of Charlemagne (Kris Webb) and heir to the throne – much to the annoyance of his stepmother Fastrada (Vicky Terry) and half-brother Lewis (Paul Nicholas Dyke) – but he feels there should be more to his life than this. Having completed university, Pippin sets out to find his place. He tries bei...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/166447/what-shall-we-do-with-the-cello-review-vault-festival/ The Vault Festival is renowned for the diversity of its productions. Over the course of the festival, there will be a show or two that are pure ‘marmite’, loved by some and disliked by others. An example of this can be found in Atelier Theatre Studio’s UK premiere of Matei Visniec’s  What Shall We Do With the Cello? . The action is set in a waiting room where there are four chairs, a cello and a bow. Suddenly, in rushes, a man (Nick Allen) obviously getting away from the storm outside. He picks up the cello and starts to play. The music is very contemporary, with hard, discordant notes that jar the ears rather than a flowing melody. Soon after the man starts to play, the Lady with the Veil (Simona Armstrong) enters. She is young and pretty but and has a rather prim and proper appearance. The two of them are not alone for long and are soon joined by The Man with the Stick (Mihai A...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/158698/the-trackers-of-oxyrhynchus-finborough-theatre/ Many plays that are performed take place over a limited time span. Anything from a few hours to a couple of days. However, there is the odd one that spans a time period from the 5th Century BC to 2017, a range of some 2500 years. Not an easy feat you may think and to cover this in seventy-five minutes is nigh on impossible. However, it is not only possible but is currently happening at the Finborough Theatre where  The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus  has returned to London after nearly thirty years. The story starts in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt where archaeologists and Oxford Dons Grenfell (Tom Purbeck) and Hunt (Richard Glaves) are searching amongst the ancient papyrus fragments matching the pieces to make documents. Whilst most of the re-united fragments are fairly mundane – mostly pleas from the local peasantry – Grenfell is looking for something in particular. Prodded by a vision of the God ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/154832/review-day-job-fanny-pack-theatre-bread-and-roses-theatre/ Day Job – Photo by Minglu Wang Most people have a secret ambition to be something other than who they are. In my own case, I would love to be a professional theatre reviewer, working for one of the great daily papers and getting paid lots of money to go and watch theatre every night. Until that happens, I still need to live and so, like lots of people I have a  Day Job  which coincidentally is the name of the latest production from Fanny Pack Theatre and which is currently playing at the Bread and Roses in Clapham. Day Job  is made up of a group of individuals with interlinked stories of women in their workplace. The linkage is provided by the fact that they all at some point get the same, rather crowded, bus and interact with the driver – someone everyone seems to underestimate dismissing her with the words “what do you know, you’re just a bus driver”. The stori...