Big Love
By Charles Mee
12-18 March 2006
Big Love was a modern retelling of Aeschylus' Suppliant Women, with all the moral richness of the original, but only half the calories. When Lydia and her 49 sisters decide to flee their arranged marriage to Nikos and his 49 brothers, they land on the shores of Italy, where Piero and his extended family welcome them with open arms - until the men arrive to claim contractual rights to the (mostly) unwilling brides.
Director Mickey Killaney’s version of Charles Mee's (re)making of this classic work was a wily, raw combination of music, circus acrobatics, talk-show confrontations and confessions with the reverence of a Prom Season and the continuity of Monty Python's Flying Circus. This romantic tale reminded us that love is so much bigger than any wedding vow, family bond, or lustful urge.
This was no everyday love story - this was Big Love.
Merrily We Roll Along
By Stephen Sondheim
31 May-10 June 2006
After the huge success of Sondheim’s return to the Bridewell with Company in 2005, Roger Harwood returned with another Sondheim classic. Regarded as one of Sondheim's most eloquent and accessible scores, Merrily had been hugely successful around the world, despite initially lasting just two weeks on Broadway in 1981. Two decades on, after various revisions to the script and the score, it made a triumphant return to the Bridewell to sell out houses for two weeks.
As compelling as the Donmar's [production] a few years ago
Mickey Killianey was a convincingly likeable and human Franklin Shepherd - oxymora, if ever two were more apparent! This was no mean feat and also overcame one of the difficulties of the piece: that we meet the main characters at their worst and so do not find it easy to empathise with them as, or until, they become nicer/younger in the second act… For me the hero(ine) of the piece is Mary. Mary is the glue that makes sense of the relationships and really breaks your heart with Not a Day Goes By, even though you think Beth (Bridget Cross) had already done that on the steps of the divorce court. And here Chloë Faine got my vote from the opening; here was a woman who had been on a journey and I wanted to witness it. Right on cue my heart was duly broken - again.
The Shape of Things and Bash
18-22 July 2006
A Neil LaBute Double Bill : 2 one act plays
In July Sedos brought a powerful and mesmerising evening of plays written by one of America's greatest modern writers to the Bridewell. Exploring themes of art, death, love, relationships, anger and beauty, both plays worked together to explore the modern western psyche.
Bash
Fantastic play - really absorbing. I thought it was one of the very best plays I have ever seen. Will Harrison-Wallace gave an outstanding performance
Completely riveting and gobsmackingly good acting - pulls no punches, a dark glimpse into the sides of people we'd rather not see. Still get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it! NOT TO BE MISSED!
Dark, shocking and compelling - I loved this play! The performances were outstanding - which helped create the desired audience involvement in an almost voyeuristic way! Very clever, and thoroughly enjoyable!
The Shape of Things
Ohmigod - I can't believe this isn't in the West End. It's completely compelling! Don't go to some rubbish musical in some huge barn of a theatre - go and see this instead and see what theatre can be like when people really put their hearts into it!
It was a scorching hot and stuffy Tuesday evening in The City; it was going to take something pretty spectacular to make me sit still for 3 hours in a sparse, humid basement theatre. Needless to say, it was and it did! Thoroughly entertaining; a super performance by all concerned. Thought provoking and entertaining.
Superb show! One of the best things I have seen in London for some time. Pitched perfectly, and cleverly reworked for a British audience. Great performances all round, with special mentions for Jenny, played with a bubby sexiness, and a phenomenal Adam, who was played with a subtlety and likability that made the final scene absolutely heart wrenching. I was riveted throughout - and I only found out afterwards, that this was an amateur company! The west end better pull its socks up!
Much Ado About Nothing
11-21 September 2006
Shakespeare in the City
Once again Sedos toured the city of London with a modern version of a Shakespeare classic. A re-imagining of the Bard’s classic comedy as a Thursday evening sitcom, brought audiences across several of the City’s best know institutions into their boardroom for a quick fix of Shakespeare and a glass or two of champagne. Directed by Rebecca Smith, and starring Tom Brennan and Juliette Chrisman, this Shakespearian sitcom impressed audiences across the city.
Clever and funny
City of Angels
8-18 November 2006
A hugely ambitious project, Sedos took on the challenge of bringing Cy Coleman and Larry Gelbart’s time traveling, film noir detective musical to the Bridewell Theatre. Directed by Dan Chasemore, with musical direction from David Griffths and Choreography by Angus Jacobs, Tom Brennan and Andrew Overin starred as Stone and Stine, two sides of a Hollywood screenwriters personality as we see the two stories of our protagonists play out simultaneously.
City of Angels played a sell-out two week run at the Bridewell theatre, and received excellent reviews.
Bobbi/Gabby is phenomenal and both the stones/stines are gorgeous
Absolutely Fantastic - only found out in the interval it was an amateur production! I'd have never realised otherwise! All performances were excellent, but especially impressed with Bobbi and Buddy. Brilliant!
