Arts Reviews
A show to charm animals and humans
Published 28 November 2008
Wind in the Willows, Caldbeck Village Hall Ratty, Mole and Badger would have been proud of Caldbeck Players’ production of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows (which ran from Sunday to Wednesday this week).
Clean, but so so cool
Published 28 November 2008
Sherman is looking good. He is in a great mood. He is in love and we felt it too.
A massive talent the world will be hearing much more of
Published 28 November 2008
Aynsley ListerSunday afternoon is not generally a bluesy time of day but the audience at the festival were in a blues bubble and ready for more.
Tchaikovsky Christmas cracker
Published 28 November 2008
The Nutcracker, The Sands Centre, CarlisleCarlisle’s cultured citizens travelled through a bitter November evening for an evening of ballet, and were suitably rewarded.
Tosca’s toxic enchantment
Published 28 November 2008
Tosca, The Sands Centre, CarlislePuccini’s Tosca is the most dramatic of operas. Its mix of sex, blackmail, torture, murder and suicide stunned audiences when it was first performed in 1900 and earned it the epithet, “a shabby little shocker”.
Dolores steps up the Revs
Published 28 November 2008
See How They Run, Victory Hall, Dalston Dolores McQuillin directs the cast of four vicars and a bishop, with a wife, a maid and a police sergeant thrown in, all part of the mayhem created in the farce by Phillip King.
Threatened and wooed by Blues’ best
Published 28 November 2008
Carlisle Blues Festival – Ian SiegalIan Siegal showed us two aspects of his huge blues talent. On Saturday evening he was in strident mood for his opening number ‘Revelator’.
Musical warmth compliments Penrith church acoustics
Published 28 November 2008
Martinu String Quartet for Penrith Music Club, Penrith Methodist ChurchIn her opening remarks to the audience Jitka Vlasankova, the cellist from the Martinu Quartet from Czechoslovakia, expressed the group’s delight at being in Penrith and particularly paid tribute to the church’s acoustic qualities. Why the players were so pleased with it was evident as soon as the music, Martinu’s Quartet No.2, began.
Down (in)to the earth
Published 28 November 2008
Discovering the Caves of the World – RGS (with IBG) lecture, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick Mountaineers are held in high esteem in Britain for their bravery and adventurism, and nowhere more so than in Cumbria.
Rapturous applause for the RLPO
Published 28 November 2008
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The Sands Centre, CarlisleSat atop The Sands Centre stage, bathed in pale yellow light before a silent audience, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra enthralled those lucky enough to be present with a performance of flawless elegance.
Musical warmth compliments Penrith church acoustics
Published 21 November 2008
Martinu String Quartet for Penrith Music Club, Penrith Methodist ChurchIn her opening remarks to the audience Jitka Vlasankova, the cellist from the Martinu Quartet from Czechoslovakia, expressed the group’s delight at being in Penrith and particularly paid tribute to the church’s acoustic qualities. Why the players were so pleased with it was evident as soon as the music, Martinu’s Quartet No.2, began.
Down (in)to the earth
Published 21 November 2008
Discovering the Caves of the World – RGS (with IBG) lecture, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick Mountaineers are held in high esteem in Britain for their bravery and adventurism, and nowhere more so than in Cumbria.
Rapturous applause for the RLPO
Published 21 November 2008
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The Sands Centre, CarlisleSat atop The Sands Centre stage, bathed in pale yellow light before a silent audience, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra enthralled those lucky enough to be present with a performance of flawless elegance.
Stylistics by name... and nature
Published 14 November 2008
The Stylistics, The Sands Centre, CarlisleI’ve waited more than 37 years to see The Stylistics in concert but Bet You By Golly, Wow it was certainly worth the wait.
Tears and laughs for Blood Brothers
Published 14 November 2008
Blood Brothers, The Sands CentreCarlisleIt’s been selling out West End theatres for 25 years and last night it came to Carlisle as part of a touring theatre circuit.
You were made for me – back then and today
Published 14 November 2008
The Sensational 60s Experience, The Sands Centre, CarlisleBilled as The Sensational 60s Experience, this concert certainly lives up to its name.
Danish ‘ambassadors’ bring colour, brilliance, fluency and skill
Published 24 October 2008
The Esbjerg Ensemble for Keswick Music Society, Theatre by the LakeEsbjerg is for me the gateway to the welcoming land of Denmark, and the ensemble that bears its name consists of musicians who make excellent ambassadors.
Massed choirs’ Messiah is a true celebration
Published 24 October 2008
Messiah – Cumbrian Rural Choirs, St John’s Church, KeswickAfter the organist John Green’s authoritative prelude, the drama began with the tenor’s optimistic advice from God: Comfort ye my people.
Fanfare for the men of Dalston
Published 24 October 2008
Dalston Male Voice Choir, Wigton Road Methodist Church, CarlisleAn appreciative audience shared the melody, rhythm and sheer exuberance of the sound of Dalston Male Voice Choir .
Outstanding contributions from opera company
Published 17 October 2008
Lakeland Opera, Theatre by the Lake, KeswickIn their ‘fallow’ year between full-scale productions, Lakeland Opera presented a gala programme of well-known operatic excerpts which fully confirmed their reputation for versatility and accomplishment.
