Phil Willmott
21 Oct
Reviews 
Review: A PACIFIST'S GUIDE TO THE WAR ON CANCER at the National Theatre
By Phil Willmott Friday, October 21 2016, 14:42
Cancer is a very emotive subject. It touches most of our lives in a deeply traumatising way. It certainly has touched mine so how you react to this musical will probably be informed by how raw you’re feeling. It could be that the cathartic experience of watching a show, any show about cancer, no matter how crudely assembled, will be enough to move you and allow you to over look its considerable flaws. I wasn’t moved, I grew increasingly alienated by its attempts to make excuses for its short comings and to justify itself whilst bullying me to tears and daring me not to be moved.
17 Oct
Reviews
Review: THE TEMPEST Birmingham Royal Ballet at Sadlers Wells Theatre
By Phil Willmott Monday, October 17 2016, 14:02
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!
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