Reviews

Whilst the stage play and later film, Born Yesterday, were written and set in post war America in 1946, Independent Theatre’s latest production reminds us how up to date the concept of questionable political and business partnerships remains. In the era of the “Me Too” campaign the misogyny and mobster-style brutality of the story is also poignant and highly relevant.

Thirteen appears to be a fortunate number for The Actors’ Hub’s Gap II students. The thirteen students in the program form a tight ensemble and work organically as a team to present this engaging devised work. 

Burning Rose, developed under the leadership of director Ellis Pearson, is an anthology of two stories, From the Ashes and beauty. Half the cohort presents each story, while the remaining students provide well-developed musical accompaniment on drums and other percussion, guitar and vuvuzela.

The Olde Time Music Hall was a popular form of British entertainment of yesteryear, originating around the middle of the 19th century and lasting well into the 20th century. 

It featured many of the popular songs of the day, like “The Pheasant Plucker”, performed by the well-loved entertainers of the period, interspersed with the witty patter from the convivial Master of Ceremonies, Mr Martin Jennings. 

I’d seen this lavish production before, and it still wears well. In Act 1 the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle looked magnificent with layers of gold on the walls, and in the gaol of Act 3 a guard patrolled the upper level as some frightened Jews try to sleep below.

Setting the opera in Nazi Germany worked well. I particularly liked the “shepherd boy” being a young Jewish lad inside the gaol, with an uncertain future. In the second act Scarpia molests an embarrassed female officer in front of the other soldiers.