John Shand Posts

October 3, 2014 / Concert Reviews - Archive

St Stephen’s Uniting Church, City, September 27  Writing liturgical music in the Tudor age obliged a certain flexibility. Thomas Tallis was England’s preeminent composer as the state faith flicked back and forth between Catholicism and Protestantism, and burning archbishops was much in vogue. Andrew Robson exhibited a flexibility of his…

September 28, 2014 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Theatre Royal, September 24  Is David Suchet as perfect a Cardinal Benelli on stage as he was a Hercule Poirot on television? No. But this production is studded with moments denoting an exceptional actor, capable of imbuing his character’s power and gravitas with charm. And Benelli needs a layer of…

September 20, 2014 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Hayes Theatre, September 14  We all have our secret addictions, whether electric trains, absinth, bondage or Jane Austen. Baroness Bianka’s secret craving is the elixir of life itself: blood. She is, she tells us, a haemophiliac. The poor thing has been this way ever since she was knee-high to a…