Preview of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre
Coming the Milton Keynes Theatre next week is a return to the stage for the hit production The Great Gatsby brought to the stage by Northern Ballet. The production reaches Milton Keynes as part of its UK spring tour for 2022 which culminates in Cardiff in June. The production based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald brings all the glamour and seduction of the roaring twenties to life and premiered in 2013 and which has now had three UK tours.
Set on New York’s Long Island, in the heady, indulgent days of the 1920s, Nick Carraway comes to know his infamous neighbour Jay Gatsby – a mysterious millionaire with a secret past and a penchant for lavish parties. As the sparkling façade of Gatsby’s world slips, Carraway comes to see the loneliness, obsession, and tragedy that lie beneath.
The Great Gatsby was nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance. David Nixon OBE choreographed The Great Gatsby and earned a nomination for Best Classical Choreography in the 2014 National Dance Awards. Performed to the unforgettable music of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett CBE, which is played live by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, The Great Gatsby also features a lavish set designed by Jérôme Kaplan, complemented by the dazzling colourful costumes designed by Nixon.
David Nixon said: “I’m delighted to be bringing The Great Gatsby, one of the Company’s most beloved productions back to the stage this Spring. Like many, I fell in love with Fitzgerald’s timeless novel at a young age and it continues to capture my imagination to this day. As a choreographer, I had always wanted to depict Gatsby’s tale of passion and obsession through ballet and in 2013, with the help of Patricia Doyle, it was a thrill to bring The Great Gatsby to life. The glamour of the 1920s lends itself beautifully to the stage with stunning costumes and Jérôme Kaplan’s expertly designed set that conjures an America as painted by Edward Hopper. Music by the late Sir Rodney Richard Bennett CBE completes the backdrop and transports the audience to an elusive time of lavish parties and prohibition. So much has changed since the ballet was last performed in 2019 including the addition of many new young dancers to the Company so I am looking forward to seeing them flourish with this repertoire.”
The Great Gatsby performs at Milton Keynes from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 May.
Other than, randomly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The War of the Worlds , John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men is perhaps one of the most familiar of stories to me. I have seen it several times before, and while at school, we studied it, and dissected it like the work of Mr Shakespeare, but with Steinbeck, I got out the other side still liking it. This brand new version from Selladoor Productions, which opened in Canterbury last week, brings a by-the-book presentation of the trials of George and his slow, but incredibly strong friend, Lennie, to the stage. Perhaps, this is its first issue blocking a huge success from this production, in that it rarely does anything brave or different. It's clearly been expertly cast visually, with the hulking form of Matthew Wynn as Lennie, and the diminutive (in comparison) Richard Keightley and Kamran Darabi-Ford as George and Curley respectively. Darabi-Ford especially perfect in his tremendously awkward scenes wit...
Red Inquisition from Memoir Theatre evolves from a theatre groups creation of a play based on the 1947 Hollywood blacklist and McCarthyism So that I can get it out the way early on and take this review in a more upbeat direction that Red Inquisition deserves, I am going to get a real bugbear done first. There was a huge negative for me from this production and one that I ended up getting negative vibes from. For me there was far too much video and audio footage in this production. Much of it was while excellently researched, surplus to requirements. The were a couple of occasions especially where we saw material repeated on screen that had already been performed. The show did not need this and for me theatre is not about watching a screen in any case, its about seeing performances. This however does need to be taken as a positive as what I am simply saying is that I wanted more acting from the trio of Daniel Hadjivarnava, Ciara Goldsberry and Jaryd Headley as they work excellently ...
As millions were sitting down to watch the misery of EastEnders and its big reveal of Lucy's killer, A Small Mind ventured out to the theatre for some light relief. Yeah right! That Face by Polly Stenham is generally as far from light relief as you could imagine, like the aforementioned soap being unshackled by its pre-watershed needs, this was gritty family drama in the extreme. Long before the play begins those who had made their way to their seats early get the chance to see curtain up and a girl sitting bound and masked in a chair. Moments of 50 Shades fears aside, its clear that we are seeing one of the unluckiest actresses you could imagine. Destined to be in two scenes with no lines, the first of which involves her being mauled about no end, its a thankless role, which todays actress of pain Julie Hicks plays very well. Suffering for her art indeed. Doing the mauling are boarding school "buddies" Mia (Amber Mae) and mad as a box of frogs Izzy (Clare Balbi). Mia...
