BEING MR WICKHAM (Original Theatre Online/Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds)*****

 

By Megan

Link to 3pm show on May 1^st: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/23/being-mr-wickham-live-streaming-saturday-1-may-at-3pm-bst

Link to 7.30pm show on May 1^st: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/24/being-mr-wickham-live-streaming-saturday-1-may-at-730pm-bst

Link to captioned 7.30pm show on May 1^st: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/25/being-mr-wickham-live-streaming-saturday-1-may-at-730pm-captioned-bst 

Available until: This show can only be watched live at the above times. There will be a different Q&A after every show.

Being Mr Wickham was inspired by a very popular TV series of Pride and Prejudice which was first on TV in 1995. It was Colin Firth who played Mr Darcy who got most of the attention but most people agreed it was a very good series.

A SPLINTER OF ICE (Cheltenham Everyman Theatre/Original Theatre Online)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/20/a-splinter-of-ice

Available until: 31^st July 2021 at 11.55pm

The reviews say you’ll get more from the play if you know about the Cold War. It’s impossible to be sure whether this is true or not, but my lack of knowledge certainly didn’t prevent me from enjoying the play. Perhaps I even had an advantage as everything in the play was new to me. I also haven’t read any Graham Greene and spent part of the play mentally confusing him in my head with Graeme Garden, but I still had no difficulty in enjoying it.

BARNES’ PEOPLE: LOSING MYSELF (Original Theatre Online/Perfectly Normal Productions/Theatre Royal Windsor)****

 

By Cal 

Link for Losing Myself: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/16/barnes-people-losing-myself-starring-matthew-kelly

Link for complete series: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/14/barnes-people-complete-series 

Available until: 31^st July 2021

Losing Myself is the final monologue in the set of four that were recorded and released by Original Theatre Online. It’s been a fascinating series and one thing that has stood out is that they’re actually not that dramatic. There is certainly drama, but it’s not of the kind you get in soap operas. It’s not all affairs and fist fights. There’s nothing hugely controversial or taboo. It’s just four relatively ordinary people speaking about an aspect of their lives – and it’s great.

BARNES' PEOPLE: BILLY & ME (Original Theatre Online/Perfectly Normal Productions)****

 

By Tommy

Link for Billy & Me: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/15/barnes-people-billy-me-starring-jon-culshaw

Link for complete series: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/14/barnes-people-complete-series 

Available until: 31^st July 2021

The third monologue in the astounding inventive Barnes’ People is a conversation between a ventriloquist and his dummies.

The ventriloquist is feeling depressed, as he often does, and he has difficulty in believing a conversation with Billy – who is, after all, a character of his own creation – can be of any particular benefit to him. Billy is loquacious and has strong opinions, particularly when he is accused of being merely a ventriloquist’s dummy. Billy believes that he is considerably more than that.

BARNES’ PEOPLE: ROSA (Original Theatre/Perfectly Normal Productions)****

  

By Emma 

Link for Rosa: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/17/barnes-people-rosa-starring-jemma-redgrave

Link to set of four monologues: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/14/barnes-people-complete-series

Available until: 31^st July 2021

Rosa is a sad story but it really makes you think. You hear a lot of horror stories about people whose job it is to help the vulnerable. They speak to the elderly and the disabled as though they’re stupid. They take children away from parents who love them and leave children with their abusers. They make decisions on other people’s behalf and if anyone dares to argue that just proves they weren’t fit to make the decision in the first place.

BARNES’ PEOPLE: A TRUE BORN ENGLISHMAN (Original Theatre Online/Theatre Royal Windsor)*****

 

 By Dave

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/15/barnes-people-billy-me-starring-jon-culshaw Also available as a set with the other episodes in the Barnes’ People series: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/14/barnes-people-complete-series

Available until: 31^st July 2021

If any actor’s going to know what it’s like to serve a monarch, it’s probably Adrian Scarborough.

In 1994, he served King George III when he played Fortnum in the film The Madness of King George. In 1999, he appeared in a series entitled Let Them Eat Cake. In 2003, he was in the vicinity when Oliver Cromwell overthrew Charles I in To Kill a King. In 2007, he appeared in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, when Elizabeth I was on the throne. He played a BBC Radio Announcer in 2010 in The King’s Speech, a film about George VI. He played King Lear’s fool in 2014, and in 2018, he returned to serve George III in the play on which the film was based, The Madness of George III, this time playing one of the King’s doctors.

So who better to spill the secrets about working for our current Queen, Elizabeth II?

GOOD GRIEF (Platform Presents/Finite Films/Original Theatre)**

 

By Dave

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/13/good-grief

Available until: 15^th April 2021

This isn’t an easy review to write. I have honestly loved a lot of what Original Theatre have produced in lockdown. Watching Rosie and Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon were both really great, Ms Goldie Vs the World was brave and The Haunting of Alice Bowles was a really interesting adaption of a great story.

THE HAUNTING OF ALICE BOWLES (Original Theatre)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/8/the-haunting-of-alice-bowles £15, £17.50 with digital programme

Available until: 28^th February 2021

The Haunting of Alice Bowles is based on The Experiment, a short story by M. R. James. Not to be confused with P. D. James or E. L. James. M. R. James was an author of classic ghost stories which were published in the early twentieth century. P. D. James wrote modern detective stories in the second half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first. E. L. James… we don’t need to go into that now.

MS GOLDIE VS THE WORLD (Original Theatre)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/9/mrs-goldie-vs-the-world

Available until: 27^th November 2020, 1am

Ms Goldie vs the World is presumably autographical. It’s written and performed by Nicky Goldie and it’s all about her relationship with her ninety-four year old mother. It’s presented as a monologue, with Nicky sharing her thoughts, frustrations and memories with the audience.

APOLLO 13: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Original Theatre)*****

 

APOLLO 13: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Original Theatre)*****

By Angel

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/4/apollo-13-the-dark-side-of-the-moon

Available until: 31^st December 2020. Pay once and watch as many times as you like.

Age guidance: 11+

The first moon landing was Apollo 11. That went well so they tried again with Apollo 12. That also went well so they did Apollo 13. That turned out to be the kind of mission that makes superstitious people think they’ve got a point.

WATCHING ROSIE (Original Theatre)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/3/watching-rosie – you will need to register for an account in order to watch the film but it is free.

Available until: 30^th September 2020.

Watching Rosie is the story of a young lady called Rosie and her grandmother, Alice, who suffers from dementia. The title refers to the fact that when Rosie video-calls Alice, Alice feels that she is watching her granddaughter on the television. It’s a short film written by Louise Coulthard and directed by Michael Fentiman to help draw people’s attention to the many people in the UK who are suffering from dementia and separated from their families due to the pandemic and to encourage us to donate to Dementia UK.