The President's Husband's Drama Reviews

Before Wicked , and before Everafter , there was Into The Woods , the original fractured fairytale. Sondheim created this mashup of childhood myths in 1987, the same year that William Goldman deconstructed fantasy worlds of ogres, wizards and Prince Charmings with The Princess Bride . It was the height of postmodernism, and bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. But the popularity of Into the Woods has never waned. It was done in Queen's College Garden within the last two years (in fact some of the cast of this Playhouse production are having their second bite at Sondheim's poisoned apple). The show is so clever and so satisfying, and it's there waiting for every adult who listened to fairy tales as a child, and needs them to grow up. It's like Shrek for intellectuals. So how would Peach Productions, an Oxford theatre company with an (ironically) unimpeachable record, tackle this big, complex, technically demanding show? In the past they have mounted productions in th...

All I can say is, Eh bien, raise your berets to a joyful, original and utterly irresistible revival of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's and Tim Rice's early, and most beloved, collaboration. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat may be almost old enough to get free prescriptions at Boots, but it still feels as fresh as the day it first got young fans hooked on Genesis as a fifteen-minute pop cantata in a school hall. Lloyd-Webber himself had already given up on Oxford after one term at Magdalen. But with this show he's back in town again, and I'd be more than happy to give him an honorary degree in Entertainment. Joseph has evolved over the years, with new songs and dances bulking out those fifteen minutes of fun to a blink-and-you’d-miss-it two hours. Like the multi-coloured coat itself, the show is a patchwork of pastiches, incorporating rock, country, calypso, Piaf-style chanson, and pop anthem. I've seen it so many times, from its 'basic' days, through th...

The great and much-loved actor Timothy West died just three weeks before Twelfth Night opened in December, starring his son Samuel as Malvolio. Tim may not have been a Knight like Sir Ian, Sir Ken or (thank god) Sir Toby. But his talent, his experience and his benevolence elevated him to the status of a kind of theatrical favourite uncle to the nation. His loss hovers with a gentle and mournful smile above this beautiful production, like the deceased father whose passing has shut Olivia up in grief. Her eventual return to life and love feels like part of the healing process after this real-world bereavement. Maybe Tim’s spirit is watching over this show, and as a result it’s suffused with tenderness. Neither too funny nor too sad, it has plenty of moments of hilarity, tempered by scenes of pain, regret and cruelty. It’s the most balanced Twelfth Night I’ve ever seen, and perhaps the closest to what Shakespeare himself originally intended. As well as being one of our leading Shakespea...