Mainly Opera and Ballet
This Jeremy Herrin production grabs our attention with a great bang at the start … followed by the storm at sea with passengers and crew swaying and falling on the tilting deck of a ship, despite the fixed stage. Imagination? Indeed. And my lasting impression is the contrast between the bewitched characters, with their ready …
For mockery and a self-deprecating sense of humour, Roger Allam’s Vanya is hard to beat. From his first clumsy entrance onto stage, to his bumbled expostulation, “I could have been a Dostoevsky”, and his failure to shoot the brother-in-law he’s learned to detest, this was a Vanya fated to manage the estate as an also-ran. The brother-in-law, Professor …
Roger Allam was gloriously endearing as Falstaff — one could not imagine a better portrayal.
