What: A Christmas Cracker
Who: Riding Lights Theatre Company
Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith, London
When: December 9 & 10th 2015
This was the second annual Christmas play / pantomime at the Ravenscourt Arts theatre in Hammersmith and saw the theatre once again join forces with the Riding Lights Theatre Company from York to bring joy to the lives of an audience who were mostly between the ages of 4 and 11 with a smattering of teachers and parents.
Cracker the Dog
Who: Daughters of Davis
Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Ravenscourt Road, Hammersmith, London
When: October 3rd, 2015.
The season at Ravenscourt Arts ended at the beginning of the summer with an outstanding concert of acoustic music from Judie Tzuke which played to a sold-out venue. The show tonight had one of those things in common. This was truly a night of great acoustic music even if there were a number of vacant seats around. No accounting for that – last time Daughters of Davis played here, they played to a very healthy audience indeed so let’s concentrate on the music.
Who: Judie Tzuke
What: Songs and Stories Tour
Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith, London
When: 11th April 2015
On the opening night of Judie Tzuke’s first UK wide all-acoustic tour, questions were invited from the audience as they will be on every night of this long jaunt around the country.
One sample question: What do you do to keep your voice so strong for so long?
Answer: Nothing. I was once given some vocal exercises but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten them.
Presenting Shakespeare for ages 10-14 (i.e. the ages before they start formally studying the writer for exams in school) is not an easy task but it is a challenge that I have set myself over these last six years and I have to say with some degree of success.
This year was our largest project to date. With 1600-1700 young people signed up to attend and with our troupe now firmly esconced in our own theatre at Ravenscourt Arts, we decided to strip back to basics and bring in a new cast to work with a new script. Time to take some risks.
Who: Gary Numan
What: Convergence 2015
Where: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London
When: 20th March 2015
In 1981, after an exhausting two years, two number one singles and three number one albums, Gary Numan retired from touring with a lavish set of final shows at Wembley Arena in London. On Friday night, at Convergence in the Royal Festival Hall, London, for Numan it is now thirty-four years since he returned from retiring from live shows and he has a one-off special concert to mark his influence as a pioneer of electronica. The poster outside the venue doors described him as having “a ever-growing fanbase”. Apparently despite this, his records no longer trouble the top of the charts. Numan’s career has been a regular conundrum and a game of snakes-and-ladders and tonight was just the latest twist.
Who: The Daughters of Davis
Where: Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith
When: 18th February 2015
Being piggy-in-the-middle on a three act bill is never an enviable task but when even the opening act is allowed access to the higher ranges on the volume sliders of the mixing desk that you’re not and the top act’s target audience is very different from your own then it’s somewhat more problematic.
But having said that Daughters of Davis blew everyone else off stage when it came to artistic integrity and provided a great set for an audience who entered not really caring who they were and exited won over in some numbers.
What: The Shakespearience Too
Who: The Shakespearience Production Company
Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith, London
When: March 2015
In 2009, I had a dream. I mean literally. I had a dream. I woke up in my hotel in Stratford-Upon-Avon with a notion that I should start a theatre company that would present Shakespeare for schoolchildren in a way that would be informative, entertaining and educational. I was in town to review a play by the Bard but I have to say that I can’t even remember which one. But I do remember what happened next.
Who: Sparks & the Heritage Orchestra (conducted by Jules Buckley)
What: Kimono My House (40th Anniversary Performance)
Where: Barbican Hall. The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London
When: 19th December 2014
There have been various rock bands down the years who have performed albums and other projects with an orchestra (Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake and Palmer have done whole shows, Eagles used an orchestra on certain sections of their “Hotel California” tour, for example) but for a band like Sparks who are regarded as more of a pop outfit a show like tonight was quite unusual.
Sparks, of course, are an underestimated outfit amongst large sections of the general public and could be said to only really understood by their dedicated band of followers.
What: Goose Chase
Who: Riding Lights Theatre Company
Where: Ravenscourt Arts
When: 9th December 2014
This was Ravenscourt Arts’ (a new venue in Hammersmith) first attempt to stage a play / pantomime for families with young children. This reviewer attended two performances on this date – a free daytime one for local school children which was packed and a evening one which carried a ticket price for which there was a good number of spare seats.
Who: John Shuttleworth
What: A Wee Ken to Remember
Where: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
When: 1st December 2014
Few artists have had a book published of their collected lyrics. Bob Dylan has had three (don’t try lifting the most recent one, you’ll do yourself a mischief), Paul Simon has had one, Sting has one (his Mum might have bought a copy) and so has John Shuttleworth. The difference between the first three and Shuttleworth is that John’s is self-published.
twilightdawning 