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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
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,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Kristine Landon-Smith.
Cast: Tamasha, Coliseum Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith
Description: Kristine Landon-Smith directs a Bollywood-themed musical adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel. Presented by Tamasha.
Trains: Tube: Hammersmith 
Phone: 0871221 1722
Website: www.lyric.co.uk
Email: enquiries@lyric.co.uk
Lovers: Shakuntala/Cathy (Youkti Patel) and Krishan/Heathcliff (Pushpinder Chani)
A wag once said that there was nothing one needed to know about Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel that couldn’t be gleaned from the Kate Bush song of the same name. For a more abundant take on this winding narrative of Gothic love and twisted revenge, Tamasha has come up with the delightful idea of letting melodrama meet its match, by whisking Cathy, Heathcliff and the rest off into a Bollywood-style musical.
The setting is Rajasthan in the 1870s, which means that instead of windows and moors we now have camels and deserts. Deepak Verma’s book sticks faithfully to the original storyline: rich Baba adopts “gypsy boy” Krishan, his daughter Shakuntala takes a shine to the new arrival while his son emphatically doesn’t but differences of class/caste mean that rich Vijay is far better husband material. Cue much anguish all round.
Although the stage drips with opulent hues and lavish silk saris, and Sue Mayes’s clever multi-levelled design gives a pleasing sense of endless desert vistas, too much of the first half is unforgivably lifeless. Director Kristine Landon-Smith sanctions a lot of faffing about in the attempt to establish local colour and we realise with mounting disappointment that there is to be almost no dancing. What’s Bollywood without a good ensemble number? Where’s the wet sari scene?
In keeping with Indian tradition, the actors lip-synch their way through previously recorded music. Felix Cross and Sheema Mukherjee have written some catchy numbers, although the majority could do with another couple of bursts of chorus to make them stick fast in our brains.
Belatedly, passion, tempers and stage energy flare up. Youkti Patel rightly makes Shakuntala a headstrong young madam whose head is turned by wealth. There’s not much sense of brooding cruelty about Pushpinder Chani’s Heathcliff, sorry Krishan, in the lengthy first act, which makes the 45 minutes of exceedingly bad behaviour in act two something of a gear change. If Verma had carried his account over into a second generation like Brontë did, it’s unlikely Krishan would have been so merciless to the youngsters.
Not, then, the absolute heights of Wuthering-ness but a respectable climb to a decent look-out point.
Until 23 May (0871 22 117 22, www.lyric.co.uk).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I don't understand why Tamasha Theatre company even gets funded!?? The only reason they get a chance to put on such ridiculous pieces of work and adaptations of classical writing, is because the Arts Council sponsors them. Being one of the 3 main Asian theatre companies in the UK, I presume it inevitabally puts a "tick" in their "Ethnic" box!
When will an established organisation like the Arts Council begin to understand that its not "equality" they should be focusing and spending their money on, but "QUALITY"!!!
The sooner Arts Council wake up and "smell the coffee"...the better and more worthwhile it will be for every theatre goer who spends "hard earned cash" to watch decent shows.
In a Guardian article I read this paragraph which is so apt for this company - "Two thoughts ran immediately through my mind. First: "Not another western classic sprinkled with a little bit of garam masala?" The second thought struck me in the pit of my stomach: "Is this it? Are British Asian stories dead?"
In another review it said the meaning of Tamasha is to cause a "Commotion"...I think they truly live up to that name as the only "Commotion" they stir in you is "Frustration"!!
- Sam, Uk
saw this show in Coventry and really enjoyed it. Perhaps that's because the stage isn't as big as the Lyric, hammersmith. Three quarters of the audience were asian, which is really good for UK theatre. It was colourful, caught the basics of 'Wuthering Heights' and told a good enough tale.
- John Maynard, Kidderminster UK
What a travesty!!It bore very little resemblance to Wuthering Heights or Bollywood...amateurish in the extreme
- Jackie Smith, maidstone uk
I also had the misfortune of watching this play/musical at the Lyric in Hammersmith. It fails to deliver in every aspect. The book is weak and shallow, the directing of what looks like a amature cast is very poor and fundamentally, there is very little of what it says on the tin: Bollywood!
Bollywood is not just miming to awful lyrics. Bollywood is about dynamic song and dance routines as well as cheesy melodrama... at least the latter was accounted for within this panto... and 'pant' being the operative word.
Bring back David Farr!
- Terry Mardi-Lund, London, UK
Yep, lacks Pace and Energy. Where is the Bollywood energy?
- Simon Smith, London
I saw this production when it started out in the north and it was garbage.
I'm surprised it reached London.
- Rory Cavendish, Manchester
