Tides of time: The Return of the Wildman, Thea Smiley
“A merman was caught at Orford in the thirteenth century, and kept for some time; he could not be induced to take an interest in the services of the church,…
The Doctor will see you now: The Curse of the Black Death, UpShoot Theatre Company
Bungay boasts several natural blessings when it comes to the arts. The town itself is of storybook prettiness; its Georgian theatre, sensitively restored in recent years, still has some original…
Halloween shivers: Ghost Stories from M.R. James, Simon Michael-Morgan
The Suffolk coast, though dotted with pastel-painted beach huts and gracious Edwardian esplanades, can also be unnervingly bleak – and eerie. So many East Anglian villages have slipped under the…
Fresh sea air: Much Ado About Puffin, Open Attic Company
“On a small island, in the middle of the sea, a man meets a big bird…” Much Ado About Puffin tells a beguiling story of an unlikely, exciting friendship in…
Heartworn hoodlums: Handel’s Rodelinda, ENO
Even ruthless, psychotic gangsters have to fall in love sometimes. And Rodelinda is all about what happens when the people at the top of the cruel power pyramid have got their minds…
Half-term heaven: The Dream Factory, House of Stray Cats
“Have you ever wondered where dreams come from? Or how they get into your head?” A thought-provoking debut production from House of Stray Cats, The Dream Factory takes us on…
Desperate to live the truth: An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde
It is a strange and fascinating inversion of life by art that, as Oscar Wilde’s own life unravelled towards its final, dark ruin, his dramas became ever lighter and funnier.…
“I was made for destruction;” Wilde at Heart, Patrick Marley
The last time I saw a one-man show which an actor had personally researched about the life, times and trials of his lifelong hero, it was Simon Callow’s brilliantly vivid…
Anglian Mist, Tim Lane & Cordelia Spence
Stuff of Dreams Theatre Company first performed Anglian Mist in a site-specific, immersive performance on Orford Ness itself in June. Written by Tim Lane and Cordelia Spence, who also directs,…
Enthralling brain and ear alike: Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, Saffron Opera Group
Saffron Opera Group’s Ring Cycle finally culminated in a direct, satisfyingly shattering Götterdämmerung, in which we felt the world change as the story left the gods behind, and brought the…