Phil Willmott
09 Oct
Reviews 
Review: THE WARS OF THE ROSES at The Rose Theatre in Kingston
By Phil Willmott Friday, October 9 2015, 09:21
In the early nineteen sixties, according to the programme, celebrated Shakespeare directors John Barton and Peter Hall tied them selves up in knots and reached the point of nervous breakdown over adapting Shakespeare's HENRY VI trilogy into two plays.
I'm not quite sure why. I've adapted and directed them twice and although it's challenging it's not exactly working down a coal mine. Anyway they tacked a production of RICHARD III on the end, historically England’s next monarch and a continuation of the story.
05 Oct
Reviews
Review: SLAP at The Theatre Royal Stratford
By Phil Willmott Monday, October 5 2015, 11:58
The Theatre Royal, in Stratford, East London has a fine tradition of giving a voice to those under represented in theatre. In the 1960’s director Joan Littlewood put a whole generation of East End writers on stage and in recent years Philip Hedley and now Kerry Michaels have tirelessly reflected the culture and ethnic diversity of London in the range of writers they’ve presented in the lovely old Edwardian venue.
30 Sep
Reviews
Review: Pure Imagination at St James Theatre
By Phil Willmott Wednesday, September 30 2015, 17:23
Shows like this, which feature the back catalogue of popular song writers either within a story or, as here, in a cabaret presentation, often surprise you with quite how many of their hits you know.
I think it's fair to say that the extraordinary range of songs co-written by lyricist and composer Leslie Bricusse over a glorious 60 year career won't be familiar to you unless you were around in the 1960's and 70's when it was hard to leave the house without a Bricusse hit slapping you in the face.
30 Sep
Reviews
Review: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
By Phil Willmott Wednesday, September 30 2015, 15:28
"Bleak" and "devastating" are two words you wouldn't expect to use describing a great evening's theatre yet the opening production of the English National Opera's (ENO) new season is all three of those things.
LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK was written by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich during the Stalin era and indeed the great dicator himself allegedly penned a front page newspaper editorial denouncing it as a decadent muddle and lamenting the lack of conventional tunes.
28 Sep
Reviews
Review: THE COMMITMENTS at The Palace Theatre
By Phil Willmott Monday, September 28 2015, 11:36
The West End is always full of shows closing, some departures are barely noticed, some deserve to close but Shaftesbury Avenue is going to be poorer when THE COMMITMENTS finishes its two year at the Palace Theatre on November 1st where it’s played more than 1,000 performances since it originally opened on October 8, 2013.
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