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The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Kieron Quirke's rating
Reader rating
Dir: William Christie (cond).
Cast: Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lucy Crowe (sop), Claire Debono (sop), Anna Devin (sop), Carolyn Sampson (sop), Robert Burt (ten), Ed Lyon (ten), Andrew Foster-Williams (bs-bar), Glyndebourne Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Description: William Christie conducts the chorus and orchestra in Purcell's masque opera based on Shakespeare's play. With sopranos Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin and Carolyn Sampson, tenors Robert Burt and Ed Lyon, and bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams.
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington 
, Tube / Bus: 9, 10, 52, 360 
Phone: 0207589 8212
Website: www.royalalberthall.com
Extra info: Food, Pub
Magic: The Fairy Queen's conductor William Christie
Semi-opera semi-staged was the offering at the Proms last night as Glyndebourne came to town.
Luckily, we were more than semi‑amused. Purcell’s Fairy Queen (nothing to do with Spenser) is of an operatic form that lends itself to extravaganza. The Glorious Revolution types, you see, liked an all-in-one approach to entertainment. So in this piece, they got a tightly abridged, fully acted version of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’sDream, with a great masque of music and dancing stuck on the end of each act.
Last night, the acting was fine. The best work came from time-honoured William Gaunt as Theseus and Desmond Barrit’s ludicrous boyo Bottom. The lovers’ performances were callow and the fairies tried too hard to be mercurial but that’s pretty much par for this play’s course, and in the end we’re here for the music.
The production’s finest asset is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, guided by William Christie. Christie’s reading is sprightly and fun and, above all, theatrical. When those period instruments tremble, they really shudder, when they groan comically, it’s funny: Purcell’s magical instrumentation brought to intelligent, vivid life.
I had reservations about the soloists, most of whom were either objectively bland or just beggared by comparison with Carolyn Sampson. Her singing, pure, caressingly controlled and imbued with constant variety, was the evening’s highbrow highlight. The lowbrow one? Of Jonathan Kent’s direction, little palpable made the Lewes train but the bunny-mascot Kama Sutra was hilarious.
www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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This production of the Fairy Queen was pure decadent sensuous pleasure. We got 4 exquisite performances for the price of one - orchestral playing, singing, dancing and acting. The (edited) Shakespearian text and Purcellian score were obviously top drawer - genius level. This version was imaginatively produced and, taken as a whole, faultlessly performed. It was ravishingly sexy & amorously suggestive in the most elegant and graceful way imaginable - not something usually said about classical music and drama. This is what an evening's entertainment should be about. O, how I wish we lived in an age that were not so vulgar yet priggish ...
- Paul Doxey, London
Absolutely brilliant to hear your reviews on the Fairy Queen and
your comments on William Gaunt, Thank you so much
- Somebody, LA
