Tezza's Theatre Place

Ever think about retirement? I must admit I am starting to and face the prospect with absolute dread. I know some people look forward to giving up work and spending the halcyon days of their lives in a relaxed and carefree way in the company of friends and loved ones. That was certainly the plan for the couple in Adrian McLoughlin’s play  The Golden F**king Years  currently being presented by Vital Signs Productions & Andrew Livingstone Productions at the Brockley Jack. On a sun-drenched balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, two people sit. Gordon (Adrian McLoughlin) and Helen (Deborah Maclaren) have been married for 18 years and are now retired. They spend their days relaxing in their apartment, drinking gin and reading – and their nights at the local bar. The couple don’t have a hectic life. After all, they aren’t as young as they once were – Gordon is nearly 70 – so obviously their pace of life has slowed down. In fact, Gordon seems happy to drink his way through ...

https://www.lastminutetheatretickets.com/londonwestend/carmen-1808-union-theatre-london-review/ Carmen – Credit Scott Rylander Ah, the classics. As everyone knows there are two types of performances that involve people singing on stage. There is opera – grand stories, big voices, elitist and not for the plebs – and there is musical theatre – shallow plots, jazz hands, available to the Saturday night, ‘gotta catch a show crowd’. And as everyone really knows, the last sentence is rubbish. Opera can be accessible and musical theatre can be amazingly deep in plot and composition. And, of course the two genres can be mixed which is precisely what Phil Willmott has done with  Carmen 1808  at the Union Theatre. Spain in 1808 is under the control of Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops. Our narrator, the painter Francisco Goya (Alexander Barria) sets the scene. The Spanish nobility have accepted France’s rule and the French army – along with their new comrades in the Span...