Review – All is But Fantasy, Royal Shakespeare Company at the Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, 4th February 2026

Posted on February 5, 2026 by therealchrisparkle

©Marc Brenner

Arresting, challenging and innovative, Whitney White’s All is But Fantasy blasts the stage of the RSC’s Other Place like a subversive hurricane, tossing out ideas and insights as debris in its wake. Whitney White speaks with passion and conviction of her love for Shakespeare that started at an early age and has become unstoppable, and she is obviously thrilled to be performing her play at the heart of Shakespeare Country in Stratford-upon-Avon.

©Marc Brenner

It’s an ambitious project and it’s clear to see that Ms White herself is an ambitious person – and if that includes playing Richard III, sobeit. She’s certainly not content with being just the maid or playing one of the roles that inevitably gets cut. What disturbs her is that all Shakespeare’s strong women never seem to make it to Act Five. Their ambitions, their dreams, their potential, never get to full fruition – and Ms White says it’s time she did something about it.

©Marc Brenner

All is But Fantasy – that must be a quote from Shakespeare, no? Well, actually not quite. But Whitney White certainly had fantasy in mind when she created this two-part gig-theatre production, examining four of Shakespeare’s iconic characters from a fresh, new perspective. She takes the formidable Lady Macbeth, Emilia (from Othello), Juliet and Richard III out of their natural environment and places them centre stage in a rock gig. Actors playing instruments on stage is now commonplace, but the concept of placing them in a live concert is something else.

©Marc Brenner

But there’s much more to this than some kind of elaboration on Six. Accompanied by her protective posse of three witches – that’s how they’re described in the programme, don’t blame me – White delves deeper into who these women really are, what they represent, and the assumptions made about them over centuries of men being in charge, particularly in respect of the problems that black women additionally face when tackling Shakespeare’s works. For me, the most exciting aspect of the two productions is that they allow you – indeed encourage you – to question everything you know about Shakespeare’s work and characters. Who, for example, when asked is Othello a good play, would dare reply no? To be fair, at yesterday’s performance we all agreed that Othello is a good play, but it made me think again of those assumptions that have indoctrinated us through our English Literature lessons and the general received wisdom of the years.

©Marc Brenner

You could watch both plays in either order, but to get the deepest understanding of what’s going on, definitely start with Part One – Lady Macbeth and Emilia. Whitney White sets the informal tone right from the start, instantly breaking the fourth wall, introducing us to the other cast members, and explaining what has led her to this point. At times it feels like a Dramaturgy Group Therapy Session, with everyone chipping in their thoughts as to where the emphases should lie and which risks to take. There’s also a lightly suggested ongoing narrative about the relationships between the cast members as well as the parts they’re playing. It’s not quite at Kiss Me Kate levels, but it adds an entertaining side intrigue.

©Marc Brenner

The productions constantly reveal fresh insights into Shakespeare’s characters, not just those named in the titles of the four separate playlets. Iago making sexist and racist jokes is an outstandingly uncomfortable moment but gives us a terrific glimpse of what he would be like in the 21^st century. Juliette Crosbie sweeps on stage as Desdemona, her style, costume and confidence channelling full-on 1960s Marianne Faithfull. Whilst Whitney White finds it hard to get under the skin of Juliet, again needing Ms Crosbie to provide a shadow Juliet to use as a theatrical template, Daniel Krikler, the only man in the company, shows us how he learns what it is to become Romeo. When the gender roles are reversed in the final sequence, Richard III, what primarily comes across is that it doesn’t matter which gender plays which part, it’s the individual characterisations and motivations that count.

©Marc Brenner

Soutra Gilmour has wisely left a largely empty set for the actors, with the addition of simple but very effective elements to create context – a red carpet for Macbeth’s banquet, a coffin for Richard III, and a playground climbing frame to suggest both Juliet’s balcony and the playfulness of the youngsters who find themselves at the heart of that particular tragedy. Ryan Day’s lighting design is also simple but extremely effective in adding atmosphere and tension.

©Marc Brenner

It’s full of theatrical brilliance; a surprise gunshot at one point terrifies the life out of both the cast and the audience, Romeo betrays the thrill at getting close to Juliet by excitedly cavorting on her climbing frame, White’s supporting crowd surprise us when they turn on her for making it all about her, and there’s an unexpected disappointment for musician Nick Lee when Macbeth loses it at the banquet.

©Marc Brenner

And I haven’t mentioned the music! It’s more a play with music than a musical, but Tom Knowles and his band of four do a splendid job with not only White’s songs but also the frequently sinister incidental music that just hovers ominously in the background. The tunes are enjoyable and atmospheric, although the lyrics have a tendency towards being repetitious, occasionally hammering home their message without subtlety – but then, what do I know, I’m no rock expert.

©Marc Brenner

The cast are uniformly excellent – Renee Lamb, Georgina Onuorah, Timmika Ramsay, Juliette Crosbie and Daniel Krikler are a constant delight with all that attitude, humour, and the essential mix of strength and vulnerability that is at the core of humanity. Their vocals are outstanding and each lends their own power and individuality to every characterisation. And, at the heart of it all, Whitney White holds the whole show together with a must-see performance of voice, presence, integrity and sheer wow factor.

©Marc Brenner

Despite its best intentions – maybe even because of it – All is But Fantasy is an uneven piece, with the clarity and insights of Lady Macbeth and Emilia diminishing to the point where Richard III sometimes feels messy and hard to follow. Teeming with ideas, nevertheless, it leaves you teeming with ideas of your own, sparking your own debate about these characters and the relationship between Tudor/Jacobean Shakespeare and his 21st-century counterpart. A thrilling and endlessly surprising subversion of traditional Shakespearean opinions, performed with true heart and commitment.

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Little Shop of Horrors, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 19th December 2024

Posted on December 21, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

When I saw that the Sheffield Crucible were staging Little Shop of Horrors as their Christmas musical this year my heart leapt. One of my favourite memories from ever watching a show was the first time I saw LSOH in 1984 at the then named Comedy Theatre in London; I still recall the genuinely terrifying moment at the end when unseen tendrils descended from the roof and gently touched my face and hair without my knowing where they had come from – they gave me the fright of my life!

Forty years on, Amy Hodge brings a new production to the Crucible with its wide open spaces and new challenges as to how to present the show; and the whole team has done a fine job in updating it, with some bold staging decisions which certainly pleased a large percentage of the audience at Thursday’s matinee, but didn’t always sit quite right with me.

But let’s not run before we can walk. I’m sure you know the concept behind Little Shop of Horrors, but just in case… Mushnik’s flower shop on Skid Row is down on its uppers; a dead beat location, an unmotivated staff and Mr Mushnik is just about ready to shut up shop for good, when his assistant Seymour shows him a new plant he’s been cultivating. Its creation coincided with an unexpected total eclipse, which seems to have given it a life of its own. Unfortunately for Seymour, it thrives on blood, and, because it’s his protégé, he feels obliged to feed it a few of his own red drops every day. He calls the plant Audrey II, in honour of his much admired colleague Audrey who doesn’t seem to notice him – she only has time for her sadistic boyfriend who assaults her. However, Audrey II grows, and grows – and becomes celebrated in the neighbourhood, transforming the fortunes of the shop and Mushnik’s income. What could possibly go wrong? You’ll have to come and see the show if you don’t know!

Georgia Lowe has created a very inventive set that combines the destitution of Skid Row with modern digital interfaces as well as the traditional florist shop. I love how the refuse bins at the side of the stage become their own acting spaces – extremely clever! Of course, the big challenge is how to create Audrey II. In the past it has been brought to life purely by means of puppetry and an offstage actor’s voice. But in this production, Audrey II is now performed by an actor, who gradually increases in power and vocality by means of additional mouths and stems, separately animated by other actors.

Despite Sam Buttery’s excellent vocal performance, I simply couldn’t believe in this presentation. Separating the different elements of Audrey II’s body (for want of a better word) so clearly stops us from believing in its being one plant and not several; and seeing Sam Buttery’s face at a relatively early stage in the performance also prevents our own imaginations from working to imagine the increasingly horrific appearance of the plant. Once seen, Audrey II’s identity is fixed in our brains, so there’s no route for her to get scarier, and, despite all the other actors lugging around enormous green shoots and tendrils, you never really get the impression of Audrey II’s overwhelming growth.

The show is clearly set on Skid Row; a distinctly American term for a down-at-heel environment, and the Americanisms of the original show are all still there in full force – prices are given in dollars, and when we see money being handled, it’s undoubtedly American greenbacks. However, Seymour has a pure strong Brummie accent, Orin speaks the Full King’s English, and the chorus of street girls are as London as you can get; in fact, there’s not an American accent anywhere to be heard. Don’t get me wrong; I found it rather refreshing to witness a very British Little Shop of Horrors, but it reveals a huge disconnect between the performance and the material, which just doesn’t feel right.

Fortunately, the performances are extremely good, with some outstanding vocals and characterisations. Wilf Scolding does a terrific job of portraying just how vile Orin is, and he mines all the humour out of the excellent Be a Dentist. Lizzy Rose Esin Kelly, Paige Fenlon and Charlotte Jaconelli give us great harmonies as the Ronette/Chiffon/Crystal girls, and there’s great support from Michael Matus’ Mushnik and indeed the whole talented ensemble.

In the lead roles, Sam Buttery’s powerful voice leaves us in no doubt as to the menace of Audrey II’s appetite, and Colin Ryan’s Seymour is nicely nerdy, like a green-fingered IT specialist. Georgina Onuorah is sensational as Audrey, with a stunning voice and a powerful, emotional delivery. It says a lot for their performances that, despite all the high energy, flashy dancing and big rocky numbers, the two stand-out moments were Ms Onuorah’s fantastic Somewhere That’s Green in the first Act and her shared Suddenly Seymour with Mr Ryan in the second. For me, these heartfelt, plaintive performances really blew the rest of the show out of the water.

One can only admire the creativity and inventiveness that went into bringing this show to the stage, and the audience went wild for it. Remember – always stick to regular plant food, much the safest way. Little Shop of Horrors is on at the Crucible until 18^th January.

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Kiss Me Kate, Barbican Theatre, London, 11th July 2024

Posted on July 12, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

There aren’t many musicals where there isn’t a duff song in the entire score, but Cole Porter’s fantastic Kiss Me Kate is one of them. The very definition of an Evergreen show, the new production at the Barbican features an eye-catching set, a lush orchestra and a quirkily talented cast; and it seemed a perfect opportunity to catch up with the old thing.

It was also an opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the Barbican Theatre – it’s been an extraordinary 38 years since we were last there! And I’d forgotten what a pleasant experience it is. A huge stage, comfortable seats, terrific sightlines and a plethora of bars, cafes and toilets. I wonder what they did to upset us so much that we had to wait so long for a revisit?!

Porter’s musical retelling of The Taming of the Shrew sees actor/producer Fred Graham trying out the show in Baltimore as Petruchio opposite his starry ex, Lilli Vanessi, as Katherine. Lilli has moved on, and is now being courted by General Harrison Howell, a military bigwig who’ll promise her the earth – for at least three months. But for now, Fred and Lilli have to rub along together as best as they can for the sake of the show. Meanwhile second billing male, Bill Calhoun (Lucentio) is dating second billing female, Lois Lane (Bianca). No sooner does he earn money than he loses it through gambling; and he’s just signed a $10k IOU for one big night’s losses. However, he signed it as Fred Graham; so when two heavy gangsters turn up at the theatre to put pressure on, it’s Fred they target, not Bill. It turns out that these gangsters have an artistic streak; but not enough to prevent them from threatening Lilli when she decides she’s going to walk out of the production. Honestly, if you haven’t seen it before, it’s very easily understood when it’s acted out.

Whilst the story is good fun – although alarmingly misogynistic in some respects, just like Taming of the Shrew is – the prime interest in seeing this show is in the music. It would be unforgivable if the production cut out any of the songs; but as soon as I opened the programme, I saw that not only were we missing Were Thine That Special Face, but to add insult to injury, no From This Moment On! You might try to defend the decision to exclude it on the grounds that was originally written for a different show and was only included in the 1953 film version. But I would parry that with the fact that Could We Start Again Please was not included in the original stage version of Jesus Christ Superstar but written for the film, and woe betide any production that now excludes that song from the show. It’s common practice today to have From This Moment On sung by Harrison and Lilli in the second Act. Definitely an opportunity missed.

Fortunately all the other great numbers are there. The songs in Kiss Me Kate fall into three categories. Those that evolve naturally from the plot – Why Can’t You Behave, Always True To You in My Fashion, Another Op’nin Another Show; those that evolve from the plot of Taming of the Shrew – I’ve Come To Wive it Wealthily in Padua, I Hate Men, Where is the Life that Late I Led; and those that have absolutely nothing to do with anything – Wunderbar, Too Darn Hot, Brush Up Your Shakespeare. If you consider a typical musical theatre show to be a portrait, Kiss Me Kate comes as close as you can to a Picasso, with a dislocated smile in one corner and a nose in the other, all plonked higgledy-piggledy across the canvas. But it works; it’s just one of those amazing shows.

Bartlett Sher’s new production contains some inspired directorial decisions, and the occasional totally bizarre one – for example, in Too Darn Hot, why is nobody, erm, hot? Michael Yeargan’s striking set dominates the Barbican stage, revolving to reveal the dressing rooms and the communal backstage area, as well as the stage of this unnamed theatre in Baltimore. This gives a great opportunity to follow characters from one part of the set into another as they race around the stage in a panic, fury, or simply because they can.

The stage also juts forward to create an apron around the orchestra pit, with the effect that conductor Stephen Ridley’s head pops up in the middle of the stage floor as though he were the next tissue in a packet of Kleenexes. The apron works well as additional acting and dancing space, but the orchestra pit does create a slight distraction, especially as you spend a lot of the time worrying that someone is going to fall into it. However, you have to admit it – Stephen Ridley’s relatively massive stage orchestra sends out a sensational sound, and, from a purely audio perspective, this is about as good as it gets.

But we’ve got to consider that quirky cast head-on. Leading the team as Fred Graham is Adrian Dunbar, a much loved actor primarily because of Line of Duty but also through many other TV and stage appearances. We saw his Claudius to Cush Jumbo’s Hamlet at the Young Vic a few years ago and found him oddly underwhelming. However, he seems much more at ease as Fred Graham, with his quieter delivery very effectively conveying his sarcastic asides; he very much looks the part, and I appreciated this rather less showy interpretation of the role. He has a thoughtful singing style, in that it conveys a lot of meaning; however, what he doesn’t have is a jazz-hands singing style, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. He underperformed Wunderbar, and slightly mixed up the lyrics of Where is the Life that Late I Led (even thought that is probably still his best moment in the show).

However, he may well have been distracted, because playing Lilli for our performance was Stephanie J Block’s understudy, Anna McGarahan. Ms McGarahan has a terrific voice, no question; I have no idea how much notice she had that she was to play the role, and one must always admire and appreciate an understudy without whom, basically, the show can’t go ahead. That said, I felt that in many of the scenes she was under-rehearsed – not her fault. This was most obvious in the physical comedy scenes which involved a level of stage combat that was amongst the least convincing I’ve ever seen. Like Mr Dunbar, she gave us a very tentative Wunderbar, and her I Hate Men had – I’m afraid – absolutely no conviction to it at all; we came out at the interval reminiscing about how good Nichola McAuliffe had sung it at the Old Vic in 1987.

This had the effect of unbalancing the performance strength, as the lower you went down the cast list, the more impressive and memorable the performances. Charlie Stemp and Georgina Onuorah are excellent as Bill and Lois, the former’s incredible ability to dance, sing and act at the same time coming to the fore whenever Anthony van Laast’s breathtaking choreography called upon his skills; and Ms Onuorah gives one of many scene-stealing performances with her powerfully and intelligently delivered Always True To You In My Fashion.

Nigel Lindsay and Hammed Animashaun give us possibly the best portrayal of the Gangsters I’ve ever seen, with brilliant characterisation, wonderful physical comedy, and a Brush Up Your Shakespeare that we all sang along to. Jack Butterworth’s Paul completely wows us leading the dance in Too Darn Hot – inviting Mr Stemp to keep up with him in a sequence that is performed to perfection – and Josie Benson as Hattie starts the show with arguably the best vocal performance of the production in Another Op’nin’, Another Show.

I guess that all boils down to the fact that – at our performance at least – it was a rather uneven presentation. However, you simply can’t not love it; and there were so many hugely enjoyable songs, scenes and performances that the temptation to book again is surprisingly strong. Kiss Me Kate continues at the Barbican through the summer until 14^th September.

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!