Published Date:
30 December 2008
Our reviewers have picked their best shows of 2008:
Hamlet, Courtyard Theatre, Stratford, August.
The buzz surrounding David Tennant in Hamlet at the RSC has to be a highlight of the year.
This is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays and in its entirety it would take about 10 hours to perform in full. But thankfully, for those of us with jobs, this was an abridged version of about three hours.
It saw the Dr Who star taking on the lead role of the young man haunted by his father's ghost and driven to madness in his obsession to avenge his death. The sets were spartan, but fitting and Tennant's portrayal of the role was superb.
It was staged at the Courtyard Theatre and I was lucky enough to be there on opening night. Hundreds of people of all ages gathered outside the theatre and in the foyer and the queue for unsold tickets was an age long. And it remained that way as no one was surrending their seat that night.
Lucia Clifford
Dry Rot, Loft Theatre, Leamington, July.
Dry Rot had me and the rest of the audience in stitches all the way through.
Having never been to see a Loft production, this was a delightful introduction. The inoffensive slapstick gave everyone something to laugh about, while those who could remember the 1950s - or even golden oldies on television such as Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served? and Yes, Minister - took much enjoyment from a warm sense of nostalgia.
The play, directed by Wendy Anderson, is set in country hotel The Bull and Cow and managed by a constantly bickering couple who like to think they are wealthier than they are.
Predictable jokes about husbands and wives, the French and the English, exaggerated romance and the like managed to come across as absurdly hilarious, thanks to excellent comic facial expressions, movements and timing.
A memorable evening's entertainment.
Well done The Loft.
Sundari Sankar
Black Watch, National Theatre of Scotland, Warwick Arts Centre, April to May 2008.
There were no opportunities to applaud during this magnificent theatrical piece - though the urge to do so was constant.
Not until the end, when all the performers were left exhausted after putting their hearts and souls into 110 uninterrupted minutes of exhilarating drama, were the audience allowed to stand and show their unanimous appreciation.
Wonderfully innovative artistic techniques are used to tell this true Scottish soldiers' account of their time serving in the 'Black Watch' Highland Regiment during the current Iraq war.
The bodies and voices of the expertly trained cast, supported by a vivid and powerful soundtrack, provide the most incisive dramatic tools as they move, dance and sing their way through the hypnotic narrative.
And Gregory Burke's script, which contains all the gallows humour and uncompromising realism of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, ties the piece together perfectly.
Anti-war sentiments aside, the heritage and brave legacy of the Black Watch is in good hands with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Verdict: Stunning
Oliver Williams
Charley's Aunt and Love's Labours Lost
Two comedies were my favourite shows of the year and choosing between them has proved just too difficult.
Watching a Heartbreak Productions play is usually a treat and Charley's Aunt in Jephson Gardens in the summer was no exception.
A bevy of talented - and tough - actors battled high winds to deliver the fast-paced farce with aplomb and stayed in character at the start and interval to help create a 'world' for the audience to enter.
Other small touches that gave it that Heartbreak feel included a tapdance routine in the interval and girls handing out brazil nuts - you'll have to watch the play to understand!.
The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Love's Labour's Lost at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford was superb and probably the funniest play I have ever seen.
David Tennant put in a great performance as a worldly rake made lovesick, but I will always remember Joe Dixon's brilliant, laugh-a-line portrayal of the hapless, sentimental, broken-English speaking Don Adriano de Armado - I wish I could see it again, this truly was theatre at its best.
Holly Whitmill
The Good Thief, Loft Theatre, February.
Eight characters, one performer, no set: this was theatre at its purest and rawest.
So vivid and compelling was Roy Donoghue's performance that the lack of any other actors, or much typical theatrical paraphernalia, was forgotten. But this was far more than just an impressive feat of memory and versatility. This was terrific drama, as Donoghue inhabited Belfast's gangster underworld with menace and humour aplenty. The plot was pacy, twisty and engaging, the sound and lighting startling and imaginative, and Conor McPherson's supple, sparky script the ideal canvas for Donoghue to paint upon.
And so Donoghue engages in searing arguments and violent confrontations with himself, but does so with such vigour that it's easy to forget there's only one of him. One minute he's playing a swaggering murderer, the next he's playing a three-year-old girl better than many three-year-old girls.
Breathtaking, spellbinding, and a lesson to local theatres that much can be achieved with little.
Peter Ormerod
The Cropredy Festival, August.
Pouring rain and seeping, squelching mud couldn't stop Fairport Convention's annual August folk get-together from living up to its billing as Britain's friendliest festival.
With Supergrass, Midge Ure and a Bob Marley tribute band on the bill, much of it wasn't really traditional, and much 1970s musicianliness ensured it was far from fashionable. But real ale, remarkably clean toilets and keeping it small (for a festival) ensured three days of camping and watching bands in a field did not descend into a hellish mudbath.
On a soggy Saturday, Richard Digance was better than he is on the telly, Scots Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis was the undiscovered diamond of the weekend and a did-that-really-happen? rendition of The Battle of Evermore with Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was the ace up the sleeve. Can they repeat it next year?
Robert Collins
Accrington Pals, Talisman Theatre, November.
The best show for me this year in Kenilworth had to be Accrington Pals.
It was on at the Talisman in November and was appropriately timed to coincide with Remembrance Sunday.
The auditorium was not only full to the brim with the regular crowds, but many younger people in the town also turned out to watch it. The absorbing play by Peter Whelan is a gritty northern offering with a sense of humour and a touch of immense sadness.
The play is set during the Great War and centres around the pals' experiences in the trenches, which are then contrasted with those of the women left behind.The women have no choice but to take on the men's work, for which they are paid much less and face daily discrimination. Lucia Clifford
Folk concerts
Over the past 12 months, I have been fortunate enough to see some excellent folk music.
Steve Knightley, half of Show of Hands, got the year off to a great start with a poorly supported by excellent solo concert at the Spa Centre.
PJ Wright and Dave Pegg entertained a sweltering crowd on one of the very few hot days of the summer at Warwick Folk Festival.
West Country bard Tom Palmer was a great discovery supporting an electric Phil Beer.
But my show of the year has to be Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph appearing at Rugby Roots in March. In the spirit of Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen, both heroes of his, Joseph told the stories of the marginalised and sang of how the world could change if people could only love and respect each other.
An extemporised song, reflecting on his experiences on tour, was clever, bordering on genius. Quite a night.
John Howes
The Emperor's New Kilt, Warwick Arts Centre, June.
The children loved it...and so did the adults.
This magnificent piece of children's theatre had everything: a funny story based on a famous fairy tale, an excellent group of Scottish actors, wonderful stitched cloth backdrops, jokes galore, stupid adults and switched-on children.
The two six-year-olds in our party were still talking about the show several days later.
The Wee Stories theatre company, in association with the National Theatre of Scotland, gave Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale added spice. Verdict: Fun for all ages.
Peter Gawthorpe
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Last Updated:
30 December 2008 5:08 PM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Leamington Spa
