Reviews

Daniel Keene’s writing is always intriguing, most particularly because his characters and their issues are so acutely realized. He distils day-to-day life and brings us his own unique ‘poetic realism’ that proffers subtle, perceptive, poignant and thought provoking insights.

It seems, to me, that this work is about when the everyday meets the ‘shadow.’  Where the sudden announcement of life changing intentions throws light onto what has tacitly been ignored.   

Gilbert and Sullivan's collaboration in the 1800's produced masterpiece's including HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado that have stood the test of time. Surprisingly though, Sullivan's lesser known non Savoy operettas written with other lyricists contain musical treasures of equal beauty and wit. This two hour soiree contains rarely performed songs and arias, carefully selected by the director Robert Ray and musical director and piano accompanist Geoffrey Urquhart.    

This operatic morality tale has been entertaining audiences since 1879. While a lot has changed since the Victorian era, this musical masterpiece still delights modern crowds with its lovable characters, wit and wordplay. Stage Whispers was treated to front-row seats for the latest incarnation of the Pirate King and his swashbuckling comrades. Popular singer Nathan Kneen was charming in the coveted role, without resorting to the egotistical, hammy focus-pulling some other performers have brought to the part.

In 2004 Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph said Noël Coward had written three ‘comic masterpieces’ Hay Fever, Private Lives and Blithe Spirit. The latter was created in 1941, ran five years in the West End, and was the longest-running play in London until overtaken by The Mousetrap. It was Coward taking a swipe at the fashionable pastime of Ouija boards, séances and mediums, and it still hasn’t lost its currency today.