Ensemble Theatre, November 8 7/10 For the snide critic to rip into Alan Ayckbourn’s TV-style sit-coms is as easy as shooting ducks on a pond. But that is to miss many skilful subtleties, most notably the shrewd plotting of his plays, brilliantly exemplified by the 45-year-old trilogy known as The…
John Shand Posts
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (Asynchronous) 7.5/10 If you’ve seen the film, to hear the music is to have the magical images once more dancing before your eyes. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is Phillip Johnston’s score for the revolutionary silent feature film of that name made in 1926 by…
GRATITUDE AND GRIEF (Kin/Universal) 8/10 The dichotomy could not be wider, and yet it is exactly this that makes the album work so well. Firstly Michael Leunig reads one of his picture-of-innocence, charm-laden, spell-casting poems in his uniquely lugubrious way, and then that same poem is set to music and…