HAMLET (Bristol Old Vic)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/hamlet-on-demand

Available until: 29^th November 2022 (48 hour rental)

Content warning: Violence, blood, vomit, death, suicide, live gunshots, strobe lighting

Age rating: 14+ (I'm only 12. I've seen Hamlet lots of times so we forgot to check the age rating because it's not a new play. It's not as violent as some of the films I've watched at sleepovers but Hamlet probably isn't a good choice for your first ever Shakespeare play)

 

I haven’t written a review for a very long time. I hope I haven’t forgotten how because this is a really good production which deserves the best possible review I can write. But I am out of practice and I am still only twelve so there might be things I get wrong and things I don’t understand.

DO YOU LOVE ME YET? (Theatr Clwyd/Oxford Playhouse/TORCH/Bristol Old Vic)***

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.theatrclwyd.com/event/do-you-love-me-ye

Available until: Livestream on Friday 30^th April at 7.30pm, available for at least three hours after the broadcast.

Do You Love Me Yet? is a really lovely idea and it’s a shame there are only two livestreams. I hope they’ll do more in the future, but the theatres involved in this will probably be too busy doing live shows for audiences. Which is definitely a good thing.

DESERT ISLAND THEATRE WITH TOBY JONES (Bristol Old Vic)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/toby-jones 

Available until: 2^nd May

Desert Island Theatre is a bit different from Desert Island Discs but it’s just as good.

Toby Jones is the guest and Desert Island Theatre was actually his idea. The guest has to choose seven theatre productions they’ve seen which had a big effect on them to take to a desert island with them. He got the idea when he was thinking about the different ways people remember theatre and what they remember.

PINK MIST (Bristol Old Vic)****

  

By Cal

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/pink-mist 

Available until: Thursday 22^nd April

Warning: Contains violence, distressing themes, strong language. 12+

Pink Mist tells the story of three boys from Bristol (though Geraint, known as Taff, sounds quite Welsh to me). They all decide to fight in Afghanistan. At first, it’s a bit of a game to them, like the games they played when they were younger.

When they get there, they discover it’s very different from a game.

MESSIAH (Bristol Old Vic/English Concert/Erebus Ensemble)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/messiah

Available until: If you buy a Season Pass you’ll have access until 28^th February. Or you can rent it for 48 hours.

I love the Messiah. My mum sang it at the Royal Albert Hall and my uncle sang it at the Barbican but I didn’t go because I wasn’t born yet. It is a really beautiful piece of music by George Frideric Handel and this production is especially magical.

The Messiah isn’t a theatrical work. It is an oratorio which is written for a choir and four soloists – a soprano, a contralto or mezzo-soprano (or sometimes a counter tenor), a tenor and a bass or baritone, though sometimes there are extra soloists like having a counter tenor as well as a contralto. Something else that sometimes happens is that a boy treble will sing some of the soprano music and that happened in the Bristol Old Vic’s production.

SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS (Bristol Old Vic)****

  

By Lottie & Ricky

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/swallows-and-amazons £4.50 to rent for 48 hours or £12.99 for a season pass which enables you to see five productions.

Available until: 28^th February

 

THE NIGHT THAT AUTUMN TURNED TO WINTER (Little Bulb Theatre/Bristol Old Vic)***

 

By Lottie & Ricky

Link: The Night that Autumn Turned to Winter | Bristol Old Vic

Available until:

 

LIVING SPIT’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Bristol Old Vic)***

 

By Dave

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/living-spits-beauty-and-the-beast-catch-up

Available until: 9^th January

Warning: Contains strong language, innuendo and general filth. 12+

Living Spit’s Beauty and the Beast is a modern re-telling of the story. Belle and her father live in a small village in France and everything seems great but her dad has a secret – he owes the Beast. As payment, Belle (not her real name) has to go and stay with the Beast. You probably know how the rest goes.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Bristol Old Vic)*****

 

By Arran

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-carol £4.50 for A Christmas Carol or £12.99 for a season pass (5 productions)

Available until: You have 48 hours’ access to the play.

There are lots of good productions of A Christmas Carol and this one is right up there. Everything about it worked really well and it is very enjoyable even when it is your fourth Christmas Carol in a couple of weeks.

THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK (Wise Children/Bristol Old Vic/Kneehigh Theatre)****

By Emma

Link: https://wisechildren.ticketco.events/uk/en?_ga=2.199443112.724185000.1607024189-131572380.1607024189

Available until: Livestreams on Friday 4^th December at 7pm, Saturday 5^th December at 1.30pm and 7pm, and Friday 11^th December at 7pm. The 11^th December performance also has audio-described and captioned versions of the play. You can also buy a gift card for a friend so they can watch any livestream.

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk by Daniel Jamieson is about the artist Marc Chagall and his wife, the writer Bella Chagall. The play tells the story of their relationship and their love for one another but it is also about all the terrible world events that go on around them.

HEDDA (Bristol Old Vic)****

 

By Dave

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/hedda from £10

Available until: Further livestreams on Thursday at 2.30pm and Thursday and Friday at 7.30pm

Content warnings: Loud noises and themes of suicide. Recommended 15+

Hedda is a modern retelling of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler which is performed by members of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Lucy Kirkwood’s script has the same basic idea of Hedda being trapped in an unwanted marriage and wanting to do something to stop herself from going crazy with boredom.

ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS (Bristol Old Vic)***

 

By Emma

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/romantics-anonymous

Available until: Performances livestreamed on 23, 24, 25 and 26 September

Romantic Anonymous is a sweet musical about two people with social anxiety who meet at a chocolate factory and fall in love. It is based on a French film from 2010 with the same title. The musical is also set in France and the characters have French names, but it’s almost all in English. (There is a lot of French at the beginning and that worried me because I didn’t know what was going on, but some of the other people who write on this blog speak French and they said I didn’t miss anything important. Megan says they spoke slowly and clearly and it was very good practice for her.)

UNDER A CARDBOARD SEA (Bristol Old Vic)***

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSqkaioqF8

Available until: Unknown

Under the Cardboard Sea is a play for over 100 children and young people (aged 5-25) from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. I think the children had lots of the ideas and Silva Semerciyan wrote the script for them and turned it into a story where everything was linked up. I was very impressed by the inventiveness in the story. There were lots of ideas I haven’t heard of before.