'The Complete Deaths' adapted by Tim Crouch

10 May 2016

When I last wrote here about the extraordinary theatre-maker Tim Crouch (reviewing his show 'I, Malvolio' at the Brighton Festival in May 2010) I said “take any opportunity to see what Tim Crouch does next”. He is a really interesting and unusual writer, performer and director who specialises in breaking down the fourth wall and creating entertaining, provocative and unsettling theatre. I was intrigued, therefore, to be at the Royal Theatre, Northampton, on Saturday to see the results of his new collaboration with the superb quartet of clowns that is Spymonkey (who I reviewed here in February 2012 and April 2014). Produced to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, 'The Complete Deaths' – adapted and directed by Tim Crouch and performed by Spymonkey (in a co-production with Brighton Festival and Royal & Derngate, Northampton) – re-enacts all 75 onstage deaths from Shakespeare's plays. Crouch's research into Shakespeare's deaths (23 stabbings, 12 sword fights, 5 poisonings, 12 suicides etc) is impressive. The production fuses Crouch's tendency to blur the boundaries between actor and character with Spymonkey's trademark stepping out of character to portray a company at war with itself. The use of video cameras and projection is a familiar Tim Crouch trope and Spymonkey's excellent physical slapstick is well-used. There are some very funny moments as the deaths are ticked off, with a large digital display counting them down. But I'm not sure the conceit completely worked as a show and I found my attention wandering at various points. 'The Complete Deaths' was a little too close to the Reduced Shakespeare Company's version of 'The Complete Works', with elements of the National Theatre of Brent and the self-imposed challenge aspect of Chicago's 'Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind' (30 plays in 60 minutes). But I'm still looking forward to seeing what Tim Crouch and Spymonkey do next.

'Kiss Me Quickstep' by Amanada Whittington

6 May 2016

On Saturday we were at Oldham Coliseum Theatre to see 'Kiss Me Quickstep' – a new play by Amanda Whittington co-produced with the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, directed by Theresa Heskins. The play opens with a young man walking into an empty ballroom, gazing around awestruck and uttering a single word: “Blackpool”. This is the story of three couples competing at the British Amateur Ballroom and Latin Championships in the Empress Ballroom at the Blackpool Winter Gardens. It's a fairly slight tale but nicely told with a good balance between humour and poignancy – and the dancing was excellent. The action takes place on two consecutive days – the interval neatly dividing the ballroom from the Latin, and providing the opportunity for a complete change of costumes. When you know your dance steps, watching actors pretending to ballroom dance can be excruciating but the cast of 'Kiss Me Quickstep' were clearly all very accomplished dancers. The lead actors were joined by a community cast of local amateurs to provide several spectacular dance sequences which filled the Coliseum stage. Amanda Whittington's research (at Blackpool Dance Festival) was meticulous: even the conversations about dance steps and routines felt believable. And her script is very witty: at one point local girl Nancy insists that a rival couple whose car has broken down and can't get home must stay the night at her house. Nancy says “We'd be delighted to have you … Cos that's what we do here. We're Blackpool.” To which her father quickly adds “Well, strictly speaking, we're Lytham.” 'Kiss Me Quickstep' is a feel-good celebration of ballroom dancing, described by its author as “life caught in a mirrorball light”.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

26 April 2016

Last Saturday was the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and the Royal Shakespeare Company marked the occasion with a star-studded gala performance at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, hosted by David Tennant and broadcast live on BBC2. I was thrilled to receive an invitation from the RSC but quickly remembered that I was already committed to playing in the Northampton Symphony Orchestra's own Shakespeare celebration – 'The Bard's Birthday Bash' – the same evening. Our Shakespeare-themed concert opened with music from Prokofiev's ballet 'Romeo and Juliet' followed by 'The Magic Island' – a piece by Northampton-born composer William Alwyn which was inspired by 'The Tempest'. Alwyn's score quotes Caliban's speech 'Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises' – the words spoken by Kenneth Branagh at the start of Danny Boyle's London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony and which I used in ‘Island Race’ – the short choral piece I wrote with Robin Osterley and Evan Dawson to celebrate London 2012 (see: http://culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/island-race.html). But the main event in Saturday's NSO concert was a performance of William Walton's music from the 1944 Laurence Olivier film of 'Henry V', arranged by Christopher Palmer as 'Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario' – in which the music is interspersed with key speeches from the play. For our performance actor Graham Padden and NSO Conductor John Gibbons had added even more of Shakespeare's text to turn the piece into a one-man performance of the play, accompanied by 80-piece orchestra. It was great fun to play and Graham Padden did an amazing job of conjuring up Shakespeare's scenes and characters. The shunning of Falstaff by the King was a really poignant moment, Henry's wooing of the French Princess was playful and touching and the Battle of Agincourt was powerful and brutal: 'Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'. There were many great woodwind solos, a mysteriously wandering off-stage trumpet and an army of percussionists. With a series of short movements carefully co-ordinated with narrative cues it felt more like playing for a show than an orchestral concert but it was a really enjoying and satisfying experience. I'm glad I decided to celebrate the Shakespeare anniversary with the NSO: when you've got Graham Padden, who needs David Tennant?

Milton Keynes City Orchestra concert

22 April 2016

It feels quite old fashioned to start an orchestral concert by playing the national anthem but this week's Milton Keynes City Orchestra concert coincided with the Queen's 90th birthday on Thursday and the whole audience was on its feet singing 'God Save The Queen'. The concert, in the magnificent new auditorium at 'The Venue' at Walton High in Milton Keynes, featured 'Haydn's Symphony No 103 (The Drumroll)' followed by the 'Violin Concerto No 5' written by the 19-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and played exquisitely by the young violinist Aleksandra Li – a winner of this year's Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe competition. The performance finished with Prokofiev's 'Symphony No 1 (Classical)' – a short symphony written in 1916 that draws on the classical tradition of Haydn and Mozart but adds twentieth century harmonies. I hadn't heard the Classical Symphony for years and was reminded what a perfect piece it is. Hearing a small orchestra playing it at close quarters was really exciting. It felt like the professional players of the MKCO, precise and comfortable in the Haydn and Mozart, were much more on the edge of their seats for the Prokofiev: it was a thrilling and charming performance under their new Musical Director, Damian Iorio.

Heliotrope Chamber Ensemble concert

13 April 2016

On Saturday I made my third appearance with the Heliotrope Ensemble (following previous concerts reviewed here in April 2013 and May 2015). Once again we were at Abington Avenue United Reformed Church in Northampton to perform a programme of chamber music for large wind ensemble. The first half of the concert featured Mozart’s ‘Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments’ (the ‘Gran Partita’) – a legendary summit for wind players to climb. I've played the Gran Partita twice before – at a Music in the Brickhills concert in 2011 (reviewed here in May 2011) and last summer at Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire (reviewed here in July 2015). It's a beautiful piece but the horn parts are fairly straightforward: the intricate solos are in the oboes, clarinets, bassoons and basset horns and my Heliotrope colleagues gave an excellent performance, ably led by conductor Peter Cigleris. In the second half of the concert we tackled the 'Sonatina no. 2 for 16 Winds' by Richard Strauss ('From the Happy Workshop'). This rarely performed work is one of the last Strauss wrote and was intended as a tribute to the wind music of Mozart. There are many similarities and references to the Gran Partita but one of the most obvious differences from Mozart is the writing for the four horns, which is magnificent. I found the first horn part a major challenge – incredibly high, fast and intricate – but huge fun to play. I think our performance went really well: the decision not to rehearse on Saturday afternoon, as we normally would, left me with enough stamina to get through the concert. Any mistakes were down to lack of concentration rather than stamina. There was some brilliant playing throughout the ensemble and it was a privilege to be asked to be part of it. I look forward to the next Heliotrope project.

'Super' by Pet Shop Boys

8 April 2016

It's always a pleasant surprise to discover that the Pet Shop Boys are still going. I've been enjoying their new album, 'Super', which is a good example of their ability to combine criminally catchy choruses, serious dance music, intelligent lyrics and a gentle wistfulness. On 'Happiness' Neil Tennant sings “it's a long way to happiness and when we get there is anybody's guess” and you realise it would be quite a shock to see the Pet Shop Boys exhibiting signs of happiness. Theirs is a dead-pan, straight-faced delivery that makes you want to dance whilst simultaneously contemplating the sadness of the universe. 'The Pop Kids' is an excellent exercise in nostalgia for early 90s clubland: “They called us the Pop Kids 'cause we loved the pop hits and quoted the best bits so we were the Pop Kids”. 'The Dictator Decides' evokes the melancholy of a reluctant tyrant “The joke is I'm not even a demagogue – have you heard me giving a speech? My facts are invented, I sound quite demented, so deluded it beggars belief. It would be such a relief not to give another speech”. Super.

'Going Off Alarming' by Danny Baker

1 April 2016

I've just finished reading 'Going Off Alarming' – the second volume of autobiography by Danny Baker. In Quixotic style Danny Baker spends much of this book reflecting on the reaction to its predecessor, 'Going to Sea in a Sieve' (reviewed here in July 2013 and subsequently adapted to become the TV sitcom 'Cradle to Grave' starring Peter Kay). Many people, it seems, have been quick to point out to him what he missed out from his account of his childhood – and some of those marvellous missed stories now find a place in the new book, though this volume focusses mainly on his first few years on television and radio. Danny Baker was at the height of his fame in the early 1990s when, for a while, he became almost ubiquitous on TV. He describes the origins of his close friendships with Chris Evans, Paul Gascoigne and Jonathan Ross and meeting Spike Milligan, Mel Brooks, Frankie Howerd and many others. His witty, self-deprecating, descriptions of his encounters with the stars bears comparison with David Niven's great autobiographies ('The Moon's a Balloon' and 'Bring On the Empty Horses'). 'Going Off Alarming' is a deliberate antidote to the current vogue for 'misery memoir': horrible things have happened to Danny Baker but he makes it clear from the start that he has no interest in writing about them. This is an autobiography with the hat cocked on the side of the head and, as he reassures the reader early on “I don't get cancer until Book Three'.

'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare

1 April 2016

Regular readers may remember that I am a fan of the theatre director Simon Godwin – having enjoyed his productions of 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' (reviewed here in July 2014) 'Man and Superman' (reviewed here in May 2015) and 'The Beaux' Stratagem' (reviewed here in September 2015). Last Tuesday we were at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to see Simon Godwin's new RSC production of 'Hamlet' starring Paapa Essiedu. Setting the play in a nameless West African dictatorship showed parallels between Hamlet's return from university in Wittenburg and those African leaders who studied in Europe. It was a refreshing reversal to see a cast with only a handful of white actors in minor parts. 25-year-old Paapa Essiedu was very impressive – a young, impetuous and very believable Hamlet. Natalie Simpson also gave Ophelia a poignant realism. Clarence Smith's Claudius was very much the soldier and Tanya Moodie emphasised Gertrude's ambiguous role in the events that precede the play. Every time you see 'Hamlet' you remember aspects of previous productions but every new version also shows you something new in the play. This was a fresh, bright, colourful and highly entertaining production and Paapa Essiedu is clearly a name to watch.

Wiltshire

1 April 2016

We had a lovely holiday in Wiltshire last week. We stayed in a cottage near Bremhill, between Calne and Chippenham and enjoyed a week with hardly any rain and plenty of sunshine. We did a lot of walking – on the chalk downs near Marlborough, on Box Hill and in the grounds of the stately homes at Corsham and Bowood. It was good to revisit Bath, for the first time in many years. And we had a lovely day in Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds on our way to Stratford-upon-Avon. It was a really relaxing week.

Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert

14 March 2016

Another week, another stunning young Russian pianist: on Saturday I played in a Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert where the undoubted star of the show was Ilya Kondratiev who gave a thrilling performance of the spectacular 'Piano Concerto No 1' by Prokofiev. Ilya is an amazing pianist and was clearly having a great time, beaming from the moment he walked in, finishing the concerto with an exaggerated flourish and beguiling both audience and orchestra with two brilliant encores. Conductor David Knight and the Milton Keynes Sinfonia then faced the daunting challenge of following this bravura performance but, fortunately, we were armed with the substantial might of Shostakovich's 'Symphony No 10'. I played this symphony with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra nearly ten years ago (reviewed here in March 2006) and I was surprised how well I remembered it. It's a long, complex work that manages to be bleak, angry, powerful and beautifully delicate. Our performance on Saturday went really well and featured many excellent solos but I will particularly remember the piccolo solo by Andrea Patis at the end of the first movement and Kate Knight's horn solo in the slow movement which were both wonderful. We opened the concert with the ‘Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia’ from ‘Spartacus’ by Khachaturian – still better known as the theme from 'The Onedin Line'. Having recently read Julian Barnes' novel about Shostakovich, 'The Noise of Time' (reviewed here in February 2016), it was interesting to see, in the concert programme, a rare photograph of Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Khachaturian together. Their stories are intertwined with each other, and with the story of 20th century Russia. It was fascinating to play music by all three on Saturday, in what was a great concert.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

8 March 2016

For horn players, tackling a Mahler symphony is the equivalent of running a marathon. It requires extensive training to build your stamina. And like preparing for a marathon, it is difficult to find the time and energy to practice doing the whole thing before the day itself. Regular readers may remember me writing here in 2011 about preparing to play Mahler's 'Symphony No 6' with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra. The First Symphony by Gustav Mahler is not quite such an enormous undertaking as the Sixth but it is still a monumental challenge. I've played through the final movement almost every day for the past few weeks in an attempt to build enough stamina to survive its glorious finale. Last Saturday was the day of reckoning, with the NSO concert taking place at St Michael's Church, Northampton, conducted by John Gibbons. The concert also featured the beautiful 'Piano Concerto' by Alexander Scriabin in which we accompanied the amazing young Russian pianist Vavara Tarasova. It was a stunning performance of a lovely piece which has much in common with the piano concertos of Chopin (and, I thought, some echoes of Rachmaninov). Our performance of Mahler 1 seemed to go really well, with beautifully delicate woodwind solos, some fine off-stage trumpet fanfares and a great double bass solo by Matthew Jackson at the beginning of the slow movement. And then we reached the finale and it was thrilling to be one of eight horn players standing with bells raised for the final bars. In the end it felt like we just about managed to fall over the marathon finishing line, exhilarated, exhausted and gasping for breath. It was a brilliant experience but one I would be happy not to repeat for a while!

'Hangmen' by Martin McDonagh

4 March 2016

The Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has carved out a reputation for violently black comedy. Hi stage play 'The Leiutenant of Inishmore' and his screenplays 'In Bruges' and 'The Guard' share a bleak humour. His latest work 'Hangmen' is another great example of this style. Set in Lancashire in the mid 1960s, the play deals with one of the last hangmen as he comes to terms with the abolition of capital punishment. The scenes in an Oldham pub felt like a particularly funny episode of Coronation Street – albeit with more swearing. Matthew Dunster's Royal Court production (which we saw at Cineworld in Milton Keynes as a NTLive broadcast from Wyndham's Theatre in London) stars David Morrissey as the hangman Harry Wade. He is joined by a fabulous cast of comic characters. Although there is some hysterically funny dialogue, much of the comedy comes from the well-drawn characters and their believable reactions to a dramatic turn of events. Morrissey is a master of the double-take: you can almost see his brain processing information while he is mistakenly ranting at someone and he then manages to turn his mood on a sixpence. 'Hangmen' has plenty of McDonagh's trademark wince-inducing moments of violence which shouldn't be funny – but really are. And Johnny Flynn is both menacing and creepy as a very out-of-place crude but erudite Londoner – an unexplained stranger who the Guardian review of the play wittily described as a 'Pinterloper'.

'The Noise of Time' by Julian Barnes

3 March 2016

The composer Dmitri Shostakovich certainly lived in interesting times. Julian Barnes' new novel 'The Noise of Time' (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Daniel Philpott) fictionalises the remarkable true story of an artist constantly challenged by the controlling interest in his art taken by the Soviet state. In 1936, when Shostakovich's opera 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' (described by Pravda as “muddle instead of music”) is banned, apparently at Stalin's behest, the composer assumes it is only a matter of time before he will be forced to surrender his life. Reluctant to flee into exile (as Stravinsky had done), and concerned for how his actions will impact upon the lives of his family and friends, Shostakovich finds himself a reluctant collaborator with Stalin's regime. Is he coward or pragmatist? It is scary to wonder how we each might have behaved in a similar situation. Julian Barnes suggests that the composer's yearning to continue living and composing steers him away from martyrdom but leads him into uncomfortable compromises. In 1948 when Stalin asks the composer to represent the Soviet Union at the Congress for World Peace, Shostakovich arrives in New York shortly after a Russian woman has defected by jumping out the window of the Russian Consulate building. A protester on the street outside the building holds a placard imploring “Shostakovich! Jump thru the window!” but, of course, he doesn't. 'The Noise of Time' is a fascinating book but feels more like a biography than a novel. Although Julian Barnes has imagined Shostakovich's point of view and describes particular scenes in detail, the book presents a fairly factual account of his life. The narrative structure, built around three key moments, each twelve years apart, and featuring several recurring themes and motifs, has the feel of a piece of music – a literary symphony. But it's a melancholy refrain about an imperfect man coping badly with an impossible situation. Shostakovich lived until 1975 and, towards the end of his life, made increasing use, in his string quartets, of the musical instruction 'morendo' (dying away). As Julian Barnes says: few composers finish their lives with a major chord played fortissimo.

'As You Like It' by William Shakespeare

26 February 2016

On Thursday I was at Cineworld in Milton Keynes to see the live broadcast of Polly Findlay's new production of 'As You Like It' at the National Theatre. This modern dress version of Shakespeare's reliable comedy is a lovely theatrical experience, dominated by a wonderful double act and a stunning coup de théâtre. Rosalie Craig as Rosalind and Patsy Ferran as Celia are both outstanding and form the warm, funny heart of the production. Ferra – who was Portia in Polly Findlay's RSC production of 'The Merchant of Venice' (reviewed here in August 2015) – is a great comic actor whose reactions tend to draw your attention away from whoever is speaking. And Craig's infectious smile forms the lasting impression of the evening, leaving the audience similarly grinning. The relationship between the two characters is natural and incredibly believable. The other star of the production is Lizzie Clachan's amazing set – and particularly its moment of transformation into the Forest of Arden which is worth the price of admission alone. I don't want to spoil the effect if you haven't seen it but this stunning use of the massive space in the Olivier Theatre will linger long in the memory. The other really innovative aspect of this production is the use of a choir, scattered amongst the trees of the forest throughout the play, who provide a variety of sound effects (birdsong, sheep etc) as well as performing some beautifully strange choral music composed for the production by Orlando Gough.

'Poppy + George' by Diane Samuels

25 February 2016

Watford Palace Theatre has a strong commitment to new writing and it was good to be there last Saturday to see 'Poppy + George' – a new play by Diane Samuels. Set in a dressmaker's workshop in London in 1919, 'Poppy + George' explores changing gender roles in a world still coming to terms with the transformations caused by the Great War. Jennie Darnell's production had much to commend, including a wonderful set by Ruari Murchinson and great acting by all four cast members. And it was interesting to see the use of music hall songs and comic routines in Watford Palace Theatre, which was itself a music hall in the early twentieth century. But the play felt like it still needed some work to make it click. There was an inconsistency of tone that made it hard to know what level of realism was being aimed for. From the opening scene it was immediately obvious to the audience that the young man, George the chauffeur, was being played by a female actor. But it took the whole first half of the play before we were presented with the revelation that George was a woman pretending to be a man. Once the 'secret' was out the play became much more interesting, comparing two approaches to how women might assume roles previously reserved for men. The contrast between the comedy of the music hall female impersonator and the seriousness of the woman living as a man was also cleverly constructed. George's story reminded me of Jackie Kay's novel 'Trumpet' (reviewed here in September 2011) but Diane Samuels' play didn't feel quite as effective as it could have been.

David Mitchell and Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation

19 February 2016

On Thursday I was at the Royal Festival Hall to see two of my favourite contemporary British novelists, David Mitchell and Kazuo Ishiguro, in conversation with each other. It was a fascinating event – a free-flowing discussion without a chair that was completely compelling. Both authors clearly knew each other's novels extremely well and they quizzed each other about technique, genre, plot and much more. Short film clips were used as a prompt to move the conversation on but I suspect they could have carried on their conversation all night without these. In my review here of David Mitchell's latest novel 'Slade House' (in November 2015) I noted the similarities to Kazuo Ishiguro's evocation of dreaming, 'The Unconsoled', so it was wonderful to hear the authors themselves discussing the links between their works. The two writers were a great double act – Kazuo Ishiguro's serious, taciturn delivery contrasting with David Mitchell's smiling enthusiasm. It was refreshing to see a literary event that was not about blatantly plugging their latest novels. And it was great to see a huge audience (of more than 1,000 people I think) for a fairly cerebral literary discussion.

'Purity' by Jonathan Franzen

19 February 2016

Jonathan Franzen’s wonderful 2001 novel ‘The Corrections’ cleverly made the reader sympathise simultaneously with people who held completely opposing points of view – turning apparently unlikeable characters into sympathetic people. Franzen's new novel 'Purity' seems to reverse this approach: the more we get to know each of the main characters, exploring their backstories in lengthy flashbacks, the less likeable they seem to become. 'Purity' (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Dylan Baker, Jenna Lamia and Robert Petkoff) is another mammoth novel addressing 'state of the nation' issues while focussing on the minutae of family life – with much in common with 'The Corrections' and Franzen's 2010 novel 'Freedom' (reviewed here in April 2012). In 'Purity' he tackles the Internet and the world of Julian Assange, Edward Snowden et al. Large parts of the book portray events in East Germany prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The prose is beautifully written but the subject matter is often quite grim and each section of the book – exploring events through the eyes of each of the principal characters in turn – is incredibly long, making it difficult to remember characters and events from the earlier chapters when you finally return to them near the end of the book. The main protagonist, a young woman called Purity, is nicknamed Pip – suggesting parallels with 'Great Expectations', particularly when we learn that Pip may well be about to come into a fortune – but the potential links to Dickens feel disappointingly under-explored. Jonathan Franzen is a fascinating and impressive novelist but I would not recommend new readers to start with 'Purity'.

Hampton Court Palace

19 February 2016

Last Sunday we made our first visit to Hampton Court Palace – Henry VIII's royal palace on the banks of the Thames in Surrey. Hampton Court is one of those iconic historic buildings that feels immediately familiar. We worked our way through the historic maze and explored the parts of the palace that showcase the influence of Henry VIII and William III. It's a huge site that you could easily spend all day discovering. One of our highlights was the newly opened Cumberland Art Gallery – a small suite of rooms in the centre of the palace that now houses a selection of paintings from the Royal Collection. These include works by Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Gainsborough and a whole room of Canalettos.

'The Herbal Bed' by Peter Whelan

12 February 2016

I discovered this week that Shakespeare's last direct descendant is buried in Abington Church in Northampton. Elizabeth, Shakespeare's granddaughter, ended her life as Lady Barnard, wife of the MP for Huntingdon. This added a local angle to the Northampton Royal & Derngate production of Peter Whelan's play 'The Herbal Bed' which we saw at the Royal Theatre in Northampton last Saturday. Elizabeth appears as a young girl in the drama, playing in the garden of her parents, Susanna and Dr John Hall, in Stratford-upon-Avon. This is the first revival of Whelan's play since the original Royal Shakespeare Company production in 1996. It deals with the actual allegations that Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, had an affair with a married neighbour. She was acquitted by an ecclesiastical court in Worcester in 1613 but 'The Herbal Bed' looks at what might have led to the allegations and how it might have affected all those involved. It's a cleverly constructed play: there is a great scene where four characters have agreed to support each other by embroidering the truth but each have been given a slightly different version of the story they are intending to stick to. William Shakespeare himself is peripheral to the play and does not appear as a character but is, nonetheless, a powerful off-stage presence. Whelan resists the temptation to throw in Shakespearean references or mimic the bard: this is more a social history of the period. James Dacre's production was impressive and the cast were all strong, though the show was stolen by Jonathan Fensom's beautiful set which inventively recreated both the garden at Hall Croft and Worcester Cathedral very effectively on the stage.

'Areas of High Traffic' by Damien O'Kane

5 February 2016

I've been enjoying 'Areas of High Traffic' – the new album from Irish folk singer, banjo player and guitarist Damien O'Kane. This is a collection of mostly traditional Irish songs in contemporary arrangements which sound more like gentle rock music than folk. This approach to reworking traditional folk songs has a lot in common with O'Kane's English contemporary, Jim Moray (reviewed here in August 2008 and July 2011), though based more around a band of musicians than the electronica often used by Moray. Damien O'Kane, who comes from Coleraine, has a gentle singing voice and has created some beautiful arrangements – delicate easy listening with a hint of melancholy. And if you listen carefully you can pick out the distinctive voice of Damien O'Kane's wife Kate Rusby (reviewed here in June 2006) on backing vocals.