Phil Willmott

Review: THE TEMPEST Birmingham Royal Ballet at Sadlers Wells Theatre

By Phil Willmott Monday, October 17 2016, 14:02

The Tempest Birmingham Royal Ballet There’s so much to enjoy in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s version of Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST, choreographed by their Artistic Director, David Bintley, with a new score by Sally Beamish.

The ballet, as you would expect, simplifies the original plot but the ex Duke of Milan, Pospero and his eligible daughter, Miranda are still shipwrecked on an island following a coup back home in which his brother has seized power.

12 Oct

News

Shakespeare was right, all the world IS a stage!

By Phil Willmott Wednesday, October 12 2016, 15:54

I really enjoyed the current revival of THE DRESSER last night, Ronald Harwood’s melancholy comic tragedy about a back stage wardrobe assistant coaxing and bullying an ageing actor through a production of King Lear during a WW2 bombing raid. Through this situation Harwood explores the futility we all feel from time to time using theatre life as a metaphor for existence.

10 Oct

New Shows

Actor RUFUS SEWELL is on top form as he returns to the West End

By Phil Willmott Monday, October 10 2016, 15:01

The actor Rufus Sewell has been very busy recently and you can currently enjoy two superb pieces of TV acting by him. He is impossibly handsome and utterly terrifying in the Amazon Prime hit, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, as a Nazi Officer and impossibly handsome and adorably kind in ITV’s VICTORIA in which he plays Queen Victoria’s first love, Lord Marlborough.

10 Oct

News

Say Goodbye to the Jersey Boys

By Phil Willmott Monday, October 10 2016, 11:06

Sad news that after nine years the West End must say goodbye to the popular musical, JERSEY BOYS.

I was first aware of it in NYC and when it opened and it was impossible to get a ticket. In New York the title has a powerful resonance as everyone is aware of their near neighbour, New Jersey, the setting for much of the story. When it opened in the West End I thought the title might mystify people as when we think of Jersey we think of the pleasant isle just off our coast that’s a favourite, if genteel, holiday destination!