Titus Andronicus
Globe Theatre
September 2006

The theatre looked as we’d never seen it: a black canvas roof stifling the air, intensifying the smell of incense, and the pillars and back wall swathed in funereal black drapes, the double doors seemingly leading to the jaws of hell. All this lent the space a glowering intimacy entirely appropriate for Lucy Bailey’s excellent production.

The Alchemist
National Theatre
September 2006

The engaging trio of fraudsters run a successful scam pretending to know the secret of turning base metal to gold, blinding the victims with bogus science. It was a hilarious antidote to the ravages of our previous theatrical experience!

The Woman In Black
Fortune Theatre
October 2006

Susan Hill’s classic English ghost story, imaginatively adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, gathered together all the ingredients for a chilling evening: an old deserted house, spooky graveyard and church funeral service, unforgiving Yorkshire mists, and a thrilled and terrified Year 10 group!

Galileo
National Theatre
October 2006

Bertolt Brecht’s powerful dramatisation of the conflict between the scientific rationalism of the astronomer, Galileo, versus the towering religious dogma of the Roman Catholic Church in 16th century Italy. Fantastic design enhanced compelling performances.

Amadeus
Wilton’s Music Hall
October 2006

Salieri cannot forgive God for denying him the effortless genius of Mozart.

Matthew Kelly and Johnathan Broadbent, supported by the excellent actor-musician ensemble, gave supreme performances; but part of the joy of the evening was the experience of watching this chamber piece in the beautiful, crumbling grandeur of the Wilton’s Music Hall.

Cabaret
Lyric Theatre
October 2006

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome…to pre-war Berlin, a dark, sexually and morally ambiguous haven of decadence. We were excited and impressed with this highly-charged production and even more delighted to watch the performance of an ex-JAGS girl, Clemmie Sveaas,

Faust
Warehouse, Wapping Docks
January 2007

Inspired by Goethe’s Faust, this indoor promenade performance was either a personal nightmare or a thrilling evening, or perhaps a bit of both, depending on your sense of independence! Forced into an industrial lift, let loose around five floors of a disused, vast, abandoned archive, made to wear masks, deliberately disoriented, it was definitely a case of being thrust outside our comfort-zone.

Twelfth Night
Old Vic
January 2007

In this production nothing was quite what it seemed: a shipwreck, storm, late-night drinking, nervous duel and broken-hearts made for a rich, beautiful re-working by an all-male ensemble of one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies. A group of Year 10 were so taken with the innovative treatment of the text that they took the initiative to see the other production in the company’s repertoire, The Taming of the Shrew.

Waves
National Theatre
January 2007

Katie Mitchell’s multi-media staging of Virginia Woolf’s extraordinary novel turned every passing thought into an exquisite physical and visual image. It was not a surprise that the production was given an Olivier award for best sound design.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle
National Theatre
March 2007

This is a play within a play about post-war Europe, hung on the framework of an ownership dispute between peasants. The ancient Chinese story confirms their decision. The story pits the maternal claims of the neglectful Governor’s Wife against those of the foster mother, Grusha, a kitchen maid, who rescues the boy and brings him up on her own at considerable personal expense. A striking treatment of a familiar text.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Roundhouse
March 2007

Tim Supple’s Indian Sri-Lankan Dream enchanted us all. It was a visually ravaging recreation of the play capturing all its magical strangeness; the wood itself being a place of physical danger, erotic mayhem and startling beauty.

Kindertransport
Hampstead Theatre
May 2007

This was a desperately harrowing production, hard to watch as a mother or a child and a sharp reminder of the suffering of displaced people. Packed off from her elegant Hamburg home, 9 year old Eva comes to the awful realisation that she will never see her parents again. She buries her memories in the attic boxes, until they are unpacked by her English daughter. Past and present were entwined in Polly Teale’s fluid direction, making the piece resemble a haunted ballet.