That’s not to say that Born in the Gardens is a strictly nostalgic exercise and indeed Nichols’ play resonates with a 2012 audience with the political and economic parallels between then and now adding an extra dimension. The decision to produce this play now is extremely shrewd and reinforces the main themes of the piece quite beautifully.

Maud lives in Tudor Manor with her grown up son Mo where the pair share a rather eccentric but terribly content existence. Maud spends her days in conversation with the characters on her black and white television whilst Mo mixes a mind boggling assortment of cocktails, listens to jazz records and plays the drums. The death of Maud’s husband results in her other two grown up children coming home to mourn their father and to try and convince Maud and Mo to leave Tudor Manor.

The character of Maud is a brilliant comic creation and Katherine Senior provided the stand out performance of the night playing this sweet old lady. It’s Maud’s Malapropisms that lead to the biggest laughs (Michael Wave for microwave being my favourite) but Senior also manages to add a beautiful sympathetic depth to the role and ensures that the audience feel the same way about Maud as they might about their batty old aunty or nan.

Edward Ferrow as Mo is superb in reflecting the genuine love that the son has for his mother and the discomfort that results from the fact that his idyllic life in Bristol might have to change. Jonathan Parrish plays the conflicted eldest son, Hedley, with a heavy sense of responsibility and false arrogance. Rachel Howells’ Queenie is a wonderfully neurotic creation, freshly returned from California and a string of broken relationships.

The contrast between Maud & Mo and Hedley & Queenie forms one of the strongest themes of the play with the former pair being seen as odd and eccentric for wanting to stay in the family home and continue in their well established ways. Hedley and Queenie could both be described as successful people but with two solo scenes on the telephone we see that neither is happy and that their lives are far from what they would wish them to be.

It’s important to note that there is some racial language in the play that could be seen as offensive if this had been a script written today to reflect the 1970’s. However, Nichols wrote this piece at the end of the 70’s when such language was prevalent and it is, therefore, a brave and correct decision of the Creative Cow company to keep the language as written by the playwright.

Born in the Gardens is a wonderful production by a company that just keeps improving with every new play that they tackle. Small touring troupes like Creative Cow form a backbone to the British theatre industry and should be supported at every opportunity. I for one cannot wait to see what they do next. It is rumoured that a revival of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals is on the cards for this hardworking company and after seeing Katherine Senior deliver the Malapropisms in this play with such aplomb I cannot wait to see her step into the role of Mrs M herself.

The production is touring throughout England until the end of June and a full listing of upcoming dates is available at www.creativecow.co.uk

Words: Tony Sharpe

The show was impressive: it was a spectacle of high drama, flamboyant costumes, fireworks, murder and loud, powerful, emotional singing that kept me gripped to my seat throughout. Add a couple of handsome lead men, and a beautiful lead actress, what more could you ask for? The set changes, while elaborate, were swift and added a bit of magic to the performance. The set design was beautifully crafted and excellently contrasted the murky underground world of the Phantom to the bright magnificent world of the opera.
This performance will sweep you off your feet, even for non-regular theatre goers/opera fans. The attention to detail was spot on and the performances were exquisite. Highly recommended.

The Phantom of the Opera continues at the Theatre Royal until March 31.

Words: Angie Knight

Is it a bit of an off the wall choice?
Well, the People’s Company’s remit is to make use of neglected classics. Sometimes that can things that haven’t been seen for ten years or so but this time we’ve taken it to an extreme. I feel the play is timeless though and has as much to say to audiences today as it did when it was first written back in the 17th Century.

Can you tell us why?
It begins in hell with one of the Devil’s little demons, Pug, pleading to be allowed to go to Earth and cause trouble in the Devil’s name. His boss basically thinks he’s out of his league, as mankind is already embraced more evil than Pug could handle. He’s closer to the Dennis the Menace kind of trouble making we used to read about in comics and the Devil thinks mankind has already gone to a whole new level. Plus, that was back in the 1600s . . . imagine the difference today!

That’s the premise that keeps it timely then?
Yes, we’ve not made a conscious effort to set it in modern times but at the same time we’ve allowed for what’s relevant today. When Pug gets to Earth he launches into get rich quick scams and causing trouble with a nobleman and his trophy wife. You only have to watch the news these days to see we haven’t really moved a million miles away from those situations.

Have you made any alterations to the play?
We’ve trimmed to make it punchy and pacey and removed anything that was really only relevant to audiences hundreds of years ago. What we’re left with now seventy minutes of drama that’s really interesting to a modern audience and says something about their lives.

Has it been an interesting jump for the actors too?
Yes, the writer, Ben Jonson, was a contemporary of Shakespeare and so the language is of that time. We decided to not try and modernise the language, however, but to make it make sense in blank verse. Some have found it more challenging than others but we’re really happy with the results and it allows the audience to engage on a different level.

You think Ben Jonson would be pleased to see his neglected classic reenergized in the Drum then?
I’m sure he would, Ben Johnson was a bit of a larger than life character. He was England’s first Poet Laureate, accused of being involved in Guy Fawkes’s gunpowder plot and had an explosive temper which led to him killing an actor in a duel. We’ve not been as extreme in rehearsals for this play.

The Devil Is an Ass is running from Feb 16 until Feb 18 at The Drum, Plymouth.

Simon Bailey will star as ‘Raoul’, Angela M. Caesar as ‘Carlotta’, Andy Hockley as ‘Monsieur Firmin’, Simon Green as ‘Monsieur Andre’, Elizabeth Marsh as ‘Madame Giry’, Vincent Pirillo as ‘Ubaldo Piangi’ and Olivia Brereton as ‘Christine’ at certain performances. They join John Owen-Jones who will play the role of ‘The Phantom’ and Katie Hall who will play the role of ‘Christine’. The company also includes Alistair Barron, Rosie Bell, James Bisp, Greg Castiglioni, Cindy Corinne Ciunfrini, Caroline Crawley, Rachel Crocker, Michael Diana, Liesl Dowsett, A C Garcia, Hannah Grace, Henry Grant Kerswell, Sam Harrison, Sophie Hartley, Kirk Jameson, Sarah Joyce, Lauren Lotz, Lee Ormsby, Siani Owen, David Phipps-Davis, Claire Platt, James Pullum, Leigh Rhianon Coggins, Emma Roberts-Simms, Ben Sleep and Richard Woodford. This spectacular new production is directed by Laurence Connor, with choreography by Scott Ambler, Set Design by Paul Brown, Costume Design by Maria Björnson, Lighting Design by Paule Constable, Sound Design by Mick Potter and Video and Projection Design by Nina Dunn for Knifedge. The production is overseen by Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh.

The Phantom of the Opera became the longest running show in Broadway history on 9 January 2006 when it celebrated its 7,486th performance, surpassing the previous record holder “Cats”. This coincided with the Broadway and the US national touring company celebrating an unprecedented 20,000 performances in the United States. In October 2010 the London production celebrated its 10,000th performance. It has won over 60 major theatre awards, including seven Tonys on Broadway and three Olivier Awards in the West End. It won the ‘Most Popular Musical Audience Award’, voted by the public, in the 2002 Laurence Olivier Awards. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 starred Michael Crawford as ‘The Phantom’ and Sarah Brightman as ‘Christine.’ It is produced by Cameron Mackintosh by arrangement with The Really Useful Group.

The Phantom of the Opera runs at Plymouth Theatre Royal from February 27 – March 31. Tickets from £20adv at www.theatreroyal.com More information at www.thephantomoftheoperatour.com

So, can you tell us a bit about the play?
Well, it’s concerned with a man called Max who works in a planetarium and isn’t afraid to ask himself all the big questions in terms of the universe and his place in it. Something happens to Max that causes him to rethink things and forces him to see things differently.

Would you say the play is a metaphor for life then?
In a way, Max’s situation is quite extreme but we all reach moments in our lives where we have to take a step in another direction and make sense of where we are. Max is very much in that situation. What’s happening to him has serious consequences on his real life and his role as a father. He has to question everything that he understood previously.

And his job has a bearing on what he’s going through?
Oh yes, he’s forced to look beyond his own little life and into the universe as a whole. In crisis your sense of self is heightened and you become acutely aware of who you are and where you sit in the world in addition to the lengths you can go to protect what’s important to you.

Do you feel the play is quite appropriate for this period in time then?
It certainly is. When the writing on this piece began the Brian Cox wasn’t in the public eye at all but over the last two or three years his media star has really risen. I think people are interested in people who immerse their lives in cosmos. There’s a kind of reality yet unreality to it. We’re dealing with the universe on a far more scientific scale yet is all seems like magic or illusion in comparison to our every day lives.

Are you keen for the audience to get this sense of reality vs super reality then?
Oh yes. Our staging borrows from the design of planetariums and the audience literally spend much of the time in pitch-blackness. I think it provides a unique experience though and a way to really consider your own place in the universe.

Going dark is running from Feb 8th until Feb 11h 2012 at The Drum, Plymouth

Words: Alan Butler

Tell us about the play…
What I really like about the play is that it doesn’t feel the need to talk down to a younger audience. There’s a tendency for writers to think people who are fourteen or fifteen have no idea about who they are or life in general.

You don’t think this is the case?
Oh no. I’ve been thinking about it quite deeply since we began the rehearsals for this tour and I think the situation is almost the other way around. When you’re fourteen you actually do think you know it all and, if you cast your mind back, it’s a time in your life when you really do need to be sure of who you are and where your place in the world is.

Do you think it’s a critical point in life then?
Definitely. I’m actually the oldest person in this cast, which is a really unusual place for me to be based on my other work, but it gives me chance to really consider my character. I think fourteen could well be the last time in your life when you’re not afraid to look at the big picture. See the world how it is and really consider your place in it. At fourteen you’re not afraid to talk about the universe.

Do you think we stop doing that afterward?
Well, we try but let’s face it, as you get older you just tend to get on with life. This role has reminded me what it was like to question and take chances.

So in that way, it’s not just a play for teenagers?
No it’s a play for everyone. I think teenagers will get a real kick out of it as it doesn’t patronise them and it says something about their lives. Having said though, I think an older audience will find themselves looking back over times in their lives and the choices they made. It really has something to say for anyone in the audience.

So the plot of the play allows for some real examination of our make up as people . . . Our DNA I guess you could say?
That’s right. The storyline crashes the youngsters into a situation which literally becomes life and death. The situation changes quickly from harmless fun, bunking off school and drinking vodka, to a conspiracy to cover up something terrible which they’re all responsible for. There’s no luxury for them to be kids anymore. This is serious adult stuff with adult consequences that they have to face up to. Anyone coming to see this show, whatever age they may be, is going to get an interesting taste of what life is all about.

DNA is running from Feb 1st until Feb 4th 2012 at The Drum, Plymouth. More info at www.theatreroyal.com