Reviews

The fairy tale of the Beauty and the Beast is timeless.  It can only be because it embodies enduring themes and archetypes.  Transformations are possible, it tells us.  Appearances can be deceptive.  And, of course, Love Conquers All.  The basic story has gone through many transformations: it’s been abridged, rewritten and adapted many, many times as fiction, film (most famously by Cocteau in 1946), television and theatre.

The Odd Couple is as sharp, insightful and humorous as when it first lit up Broadway and sparkles with this excellent cast.

The play opens in the living room of a fancy fashionable eight-room apartment in New York City, that is incongruously in a state of disorder for a poker game hosted by slothful sports journalist Oscar Madison (Shane Jacobson). The wise cracking players fire off each other, with one observing that the milk is standing in Madison’s fridge without a bottle.

Roleystone Theatre’s second production in their new theatre, and they are clearly now feeling at home, with this well-polished, thoughtfully directed, and expertly performed production of The Addams Family. 

A striking, multilevel set designed by Peter “Pear” Carr nicely evokes the Addams’ family home, lit with appropriate eeriness from a design by Keely Johnson. Costumes, designed by Jo Padgett are picture perfect and lifted further by Yvette Drager-Wetherilt’s superb makeup and wig design.

If you have ever hesitated at choosing a ‘relaxed performance’ to attend for fear of missing out on the action – then think again. A group of us – aged between 8 and 80 – attended the relaxed version of My First Ballet: Cinderella at the gorgeous Talbot Theatre. Matthew Lawrence, the production’s Stager, and dancer Jack Jones (playing one of the Step Sisters) introduced the performance and reassured the audience that they were there to have fun in a safe environment.