Debbie Gilpin - Page 2

“Do, or do not. There is no try.” On this occasion, the National Youth Orchestra chose to ‘do’, as they took on some of the most iconic orchestral music of the 20th century. The teenage ensemble were very keen to perform Gustav Holst’s Planets, and so it was quite natural that a suite of music from the Star Wars films should follow; the first performance at the Proms of Caroline Shaw’s The Observatory was chosen as a natural bridge between the two. This was kimono-clad conductor Dalia Stasevska’s first time working with the National Youth Orchestra - her natural enthusiasm proved a great match for their youthful exuberance.

It was a night of concerti for this Prom, with Polish composers Grażyna Bacewicz and Witold Lutosławski on the programme alongside Sergei Rachmaninov; three 20th century classics to be performed, in the form of Concerto for String Orchestra, Concerto for Orchestra, and the already alluded to Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. On this occasion, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales was led by Igor Yuzefovich, on loan from the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio were both born one hundred years ago in Montbrison and Oneglia, respectively. During the course of their lengthy careers, they worked separately and together, innovating in their own ways as the 20th century brought new technology to music. For this Late Night Prom, Ensemble intercontemporain (under conductor Pierre Bleuse) brought together three pieces to engage the two composers in posthumous conversation in the lofty surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall.

How better to celebrate a selection of Gallic compositions than with Cristian Măcelaru conducting the Orchestre Nationale de France? The programme for the evening was bookended by a pair of pieces by Ravel, with works by Joseph Bologne (better known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges), Charlotte Sohy and Ernest Chausson - with young American violinist Randall Goosby making his first appearance at the Proms as the night’s featured soloist.

A slightly curious evening lay in wait with this Prom, performed by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under the guiding baton of Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth. Shostakovich, Ravel and Walton are all familiar names to the classical music enthusiast, but the pieces themselves don’t appear to have anything to link them; that it’s the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death and the 150 years since Ravel’s birth is possibly as close as we’re going to get.

Once Proms season comes around, there aren’t many better places to be on a Sunday morning than at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a return to more traditional Proms fare this time, with a trip to the 17th and 18th centuries for a selection of mostly Vivaldi and Bach pieces - although the programme also featured work from some of their contemporaries, such as Giovanni Legrenzi and Nicola Matteis Jr.

The scheduling of certain Proms seems to be a controversial topic in some quarters, with certain factions expressing a desire for the first week of the season to be entirely classical - and then start dipping into different genres once the dust has settled. That’s not the way things are being done this year, however, with jazz newcomer Samara Joy making her Proms debut in the second concert of the season, and hot on the heels of back-to-back Grammys success.

“I have had a most rare vision. I had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was…” Like Nick Bottom (and the lovers), stepping out of the Bridge Theatre auditorium after a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream does feel like you are waking up from some kind of reverie. Even if you’ve been sat down instead of promenading, the performance space is designed so well that everyone feels immersed in the world of the play. Nicholas Hytner’s production of the Shakespeare classic was something of a revelation in 2019, and it feels just as bold six years on.

The Globe Theatre is no stranger to witches, but usually this takes the form of the Wyrd Sisters in the Scottish Play rather than a trip to Salem in the 1690s. It's a rare thing indeed for a non-Shakespeare play to take pride of place at the heart of the Globe Theatre during the summer season, let alone a 20th century classic, so this outdoor production of The Crucible is marked out as pretty special before it even starts.

It finally feels like the world is waking up to the epidemic of violence perpetrated by men towards women and girls, but John Donnelly’s new play has come up with a new way of countering this: vampirism! Clearly this is a supernatural ‘what if?’, but it raises some interesting questions and lays bare some unpleasant truths - in society at large, and even in the audience.

It’s 30 years since Amy Heckerling’s American high school adaptation of Emma hit cinema screens, so how better to mark that than with a move to the stage? Fresh from try-outs in Bromley last year, the musical adaptation has just opened in the West End; Heckerling’s book is backed by music from KT Tunstall and lyrics by Glenn Slater - as opposed to the first attempt at adapting the film for Off Broadway, which had more of a jukebox musical feel.

'I'll bandy with the barons and the earls, and either die or live with Gaveston.' There has been much conjecture over the centuries as to the true nature of Edward II’s relationship with Piers Gaveston; were they friends, committed partners, or something in between? It’s not something for which we can ever have conclusive proof, thanks to the passing of time and the fact that sexuality wasn’t as rigidly defined in medieval times as it is now. Christopher Marlowe had his own thoughts about the pair, and that is what we see brought to life in his history play.

“Nothing is trivial, and nothing is important, it’s all the same.' Conflict rages around the world, and yet normal life (with its requisite anxieties) is expected to go on regardless. This is the situation in which Tolstoy’s War and Peace characters find themselves; the Napoleonic Wars continue, but high society and family dramas will never rest.

'I’ve seen it before, and I’ll see it again… Just little bits of history repeating.” This Shirley Bassey vocal may not feature on the soundtrack of this stage version of The Buddha of Suburbia, but you can’t help but bring it to mind as you watch events unfold: strikes, political turmoil, far right aggression - staples of the 1970s, but all too familiar to modern audiences.

'The tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else, save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!' Queenie Mukherjee has always been the Bengali matriarch to end all Bengali matriarchs, except recently her children have started to notice the odd slip: a burnt pan here, a wrong date there. She can’t see anything wrong, but reluctantly attends a doctor’s appointment anyway - and the resulting diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s proves even harder for her to accept. Only hallucinations of her late husband, Ameet, can provide her with some comfort.

'The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.' Charlotte Jones’ new play delves into a curious pocket of showbiz history, with Michael Havers QC at the centre of it all. Fresh from a momentous victory, he is personally selected by The Rolling Stones’ manager Allen Klein to defend Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in their upcoming trial - and all the while, his teenage son Nigel is trying to work out how to break the news that he doesn’t want to go into the law, he’d much rather be an actor.

“Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside…” Anne Odeke’s play about the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK is a celebration of a bit of Essex’s history that has previously flown under the radar, as well as an interrogation of the effect of empire and patriarchy on the individual. That may sound heavy, but there is a deftness of touch that ensures the production is entertaining as well as thought-provoking.

Another helping of Shakespeare, in this otherwise rather Eastern European-themed Prom. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales was guided through the evening’s events by Principal Guest Conductor Jaime Martín, who seemed to relish every moment of his appearance on the Royal Albert Hall stage, and brought the best out of the ensemble because of it. This lent a distinctly theatrical feel to the whole event, the first two pieces complementing Romeo and Juliet to great effect.

“What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” More often than not, when Shakespeare is adapted into different formats, the text is largely lost but the story remains - not so in this case. Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears opted to go without a librettist, instead taking Shakespeare’s words and shuffling parts of the play about a bit. It certainly makes sense that work from such a lyrical playwright could be directly transformed into song, and by and large it feels like quite a natural transition.