The Magic Flute or the stories they tell ★★★ Above The Stag Theatre | June 30 - July 4, 2021


The Magic Flute or the stories they tell is an extremely unusual mixture of dialogue, singing and even audience participation. This piece is part of a season, curated by Matthew Baldwin, which challenged a collective of theatre makers to create and develop pieces over just a two week period. Edwina Strobl with Mark Daniels and their highly talented performers, Mais Robinson and Freddie Love, take us on a very strange journey which loosely uses themes from Mozart and Schikaneder's weird and wonderful opera. It takes as its premise that The Magic Flute – particularly with reference to Tamino and Pamina, as well as the use of the benign male (Sarastro) and evil female (Queen of the Night) – is a work deeply imbued with binary issues. Robinson and Love use their non-binary personae to create an enchanting pair of friends: Min and Patty. Min is nervous about playing the flute whilst Patty flits in and out, often wearing a Papageno-esque parrot headdress. Additionally, Min has a very complex relationship with her mother (like Pamina and Queen of the Night). Confused? We certainly were. The Q & A session after the play clarified many elements of what we had seen but should this be necessary? The work feels somewhat unfinished but, given the short gestation period, this hardly surprises. Both Robinson and Love work extremely hard and bring us truly believable characters who certainly gain our sympathy. Love also displays a fine singing voice. Despite the lack of thematic and developmental clarity, there are definitely many magical moments.

Rated: ★★★

Reviewed by D.S.J.
Photo by Oli Sones.

Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: 72 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP, UK

Most Popular

Your Lie In April – The Musical in Concert ★★★★★ Theatre Royal Drury Lane | April 8 & 9, 2024

Image
Based on the popular Manga of Naoshi Arakawa, Your Lie In April – The Musical in Concert tells the story of a young, prize-winning pianist who has lost his ability to hear the piano after his mother's death. The passing of his perfectionist parent has led Kōsei, played by Zheng Xi Yong, to abandon his vocation and to sink into despair. Although supported by his friends, Ryōta and Tsubaki, it is not until the enthusiastic and free-spirited violinist, Kaori, comes along that he begins to rediscover his aptitude for music. This is a modest little love story that is unabashedly sentimental, but it has a magic that will melt even the hardest heart. Frank Wildhorn has written a lovely score and songs like "Just Like A Movie" and "One Hundred Thousand Million Stars" are instantly relatable. The in-concert version of the show exposed a few wrinkles that still need to be ironed out, but the simplicity of this presentation nicely complemented the unpretentious nature of
Full Details »

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

Naked Boys Singing, The Garden Theatre at The Eagle - ★★★★ - Until October 25, 2020

Image
There is still a certain taboo around naked men on stage. Well, Naked Boys Singing firmly grasps the nettle and does exactly what it says on the tin. If the sight of naked guys singing and dancing is shocking for you, this musical revue should probably be avoided, but you'd be missing a lot of good clean fun. There is plenty of talent on display and the six guys perform splendidly; perhaps, one or two of the voices would be helped by microphones but the lack of costumes would make that difficult. So sing up boys! We're not watching 'great art' here, but several of the numbers stand out including "The Entertainer", "Robert Mitchum" and especially "Perky Little Porn Star." One hilarious song reminds a lonely man that the solution to his problem is in his own hands. There is also a beautifully sung chorale using the multifarious names for the male member! It would be invidious to single out individual cast members as all have plenty of opport
Full Details »

Life with Oscar ★★★ Arcola Theatre | April 2 - 20, 2024

Image
Life with Oscar is less a play than it is a personal and professional exorcism. The show is an exposé of writer/actor Nick Cohen's origins, ambitions and encounter with the hollowness that is Hollywood. The piece chronicles three generations of Cohen's family and his experience trying to get a film made. As the child of immigrants who have left their roots to pursue success in a new world, the little golden statuette of Oscar comes to represent for Cohen the ultimate symbol of achievement, not simply in a film career but in life itself. In his narrative, Cohen plays an amazing 29 characters, and he manages to bring them all to life. From the bombastic father to the self-effacing mother, and from the sleazy producer to his drug-addled daughter, all the personalities emerge as recognisable individuals. However, while the performance is dazzling, none of the characters are really developed. They remain simply nicely sketched types. The story itself is familiar territory: a tormen
Full Details »

Sister Act – The Musical ★★★★ Dominion Theatre | Mar 15 - Aug 31, 2024

Image
The nun on the run is back in London! This is a show full of silliness and outrageous fun. A mobster's moll who's seen a murder hides out in a convent, and during her sojourn in witness protection, she transforms the nunnery while also gaining some new perspective on her own life. However, despite its spiritual setting, this isn't a show that leaves the audience asking existential questions. It's just a good old-fashioned, razzle-dazzle-em musical. The plot is thin, the characters familiar and the outcomes predictable, but that's all just fine if you get into the spirit of things. Beverley Knight is a delight as Deloris van Cartier the soul sister who brings the boogie to the cloister's choristers, and Ruth Jones is hilarious as the skeptical Mother Superior who finally catches the rhythm. We loved Knight's "Sister Act" and Jones' "I Haven't Got A Prayer" was a definite highlight. Lizzie Bea, as the postulant Sister Mary Robert,
Full Details »

Player Kings ★★★★★ Noël Coward Theatre | Apr 1 - Jun 22, 2024

Image
Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I and Part II deal with young Prince Hal and the rather libertine lifestyle in which he indulges before he assumes the throne as Henry V. To the despair of his father, Hal has fallen in with a gang of wastrels centred around the notorious Sir John Falstaff. The narrative arc of Shakespeare's story then becomes about Hal's choices as he is torn between two worlds: the enticements of hedonism and self-indulgence, and his father's call to duty and honour. However, in Robert Icke's adaptation of the two plays, the central character actually becomes Falstaff, and Hal's dilemma and decisions seem more like simply a backdrop for the comic hijinks of one of Shakespeare's most enduring and endearing creations. As Falstaff, Sir Ian McKellen puts in an unforgettable performance. He lights up the stage whenever he appears as the drunken prevaricator whose cunning and cowardice are somehow completely beguiling. Indeed, on the occasions when
Full Details »

Power of Sail – A Moral Thriller ★★★★ Menier Chocolate Factory | Mar 20 - May 12, 2024

Image
The bon mot that academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small has various attributions, and its history of apparently being "borrowed" is not without some irony. Set in the context of a debate about free speech, Paul Grellong has written a piece that is less a moral thriller and more of a satire. It is really about the pettiness and lack of principle involved in navigating one's way through the choppy seas of academia. The play doesn't really do much to advance the debate about finding the line between hate speech and free speech, but it is a clinical dissection of the mendacity and petty ambition that infects the environment of those who are supposedly charged with exploring and refining that important distinction. Apparently under the rubric of free speech, Harvard professor Charles Nichols (Julian Ovenden) has invited a well-known white supremacist to participate in a panel at the university. The students are outraged and the dean is
Full Details »

Red Pitch ★★★★ @sohoplace | Mar 15 - May 4, 2024

Image
Three friends are at a turning point in their lives. For sixteen-year-olds Joey, Omz and Bilal everything is changing. Secondary school is ending, the neighbourhood is being gentrified and QPR trials will soon determine if their professional football aspirations are going to be realised. Tyrell Williams' play takes us into the boys' safe space. The red pitch represents security, camaraderie and control. This is the place the three can escape from their responsibilities in the real world and can dream. However, their banter, competition and bravado resonate an innocence that will soon be tested in the real game of life that lies ahead. After two sold-out runs at the Bush Theatre, all three actors are totally comfortable in their well-drawn characters, and they bring a brilliant authenticity to their portrayals. Emeka Sesay does a nicely understated job as Joey, the sensible one, who sees the need for a plan B in case the professional footballer route doesn't work out (no coi
Full Details »

Opening Night ★★ Gielgud Theatre | Until July 27, 2024

Image
This is a play, based on a film, that is about the making of a play that is being filmed for a documentary and which suggests the audience's reality is also a construction. It is all very meta, but unfortunately, it is not very interesting. Opening Night , based on John Cassavetes' film of the same name, looks at the struggles of leading actress, Myrtle Gordon. The diva is horrified by the fact that she is aging, and she strives to reconnect with her past artistic inspiration which she identifies with her youth. When she sees a girl, who is a super fan, killed outside the theatre, Myrtle attempts to channel the adolescent's spirit in order to play a character for whom the star feels no affinity in a play for which she is only reluctantly rehearsing. No doubt fuelling Myrtle's aesthetic and existential despair is the fact that she drinks to excess. It is all quite sad, yet perhaps intentionally, not very engaging. All the layers of artifice and the one dimensional natur
Full Details »

Priscilla The Party! ★★★★ HERE at Outernet | Until September 29, 2024

Image
Priscilla is back! If you've seen the film and enjoyed the musical, now you can experience the party. The story is unchanged. Three Australian drag queens set out to do a show in Alice Springs. On their odyssey through the outback, there's some unsurprising prejudice, some unanticipated openness, unexpected secrets and an unforeseen love story. In this version the tale is narrated by the raucous and ribald Gaye Cliché (Trevor Ashley) who proves to be a tour guide par excellence. But this evening isn't really about story-telling. The aim is to immerse the audience in the wonderfully over-the-top world of our three sojourners, and the show succeeds with flying colours. It has an irresistible sing-along, sway-along score including classics like "It's Raining Men," "Go West," and "Born This Way." Set and scenery designers Brian Thomson and Justin Nardella have imaginatively used the space and video designs to create a wonderfully effervescent d
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings