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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Appealingly beady-eyed: Andrew Bridgmont as Paolo Levi
Given that Michael Morpurgo has written more than 100 books, theatre-lovers can look forward to a good many more nights out. The work of the former Children’s Laureate, whose triumphant War Horse is about to gallop into the West End, lends itself felicitously to dramatic adaptation, packed as it is both with incident and startling emotional truth-telling.
This one-man show is almost fable‑like in its brevity — we’d be happy for more than these 50 minutes — and clarity of message, about the redemptive power of music down the generations.
Venetian violinist Paolo Levi is about to perform a concert to mark his 50th birthday but has a family secret that he’d like to share with us first. Thus unfolds a moving account of his young self being shown a dusty violin long abandoned by his parents, who met when they were forced literally to play for their lives in an orchestra in a concentration camp.
Director Julia McShane rightly opts for an unfussy production and an uncluttered stage, the better not to pull focus from Morpurgo’s pacy narrative, slickly adapted by Simon Reade. Andrew Bridgmont plays the violin beautifully, which is obviously a good start for the role of Levi, and brings an appealingly beady-eyed, childlike intensity to his portrayal of a curious young boy drawn inexorably to the sounds of a busker’s late-night violin.
The horrors of the camps are not dwelt upon, as Morpurgo reassures us that out of degradation families, as well as sublime music, can survive and flourish.
Until 4 April (0870 033 2733).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
