GREAT EXPECTATIONS - THEATRE REVIEW

GREAT EXPECTATIONS AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Tuesday 9 - Saturday 13 October
Performance Viewed: Tuesday 9 October (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

For a story that has been re-imagined and re-interpreted an almost immeasurable number of times, the challenge always falls upon the likes of Great Expectations to bring a new or alluring take on the familiar, a hook to pull in audiences who are already so familiar with the tale, and of course those who may have not yet took the plunge into the world and works of Dickens.

As Great Expectations begins it’s national tour (ahead of a West End transfer) it is evident from the outset that the producers and designers were aware of this need to apply their own take on the source material and breathe fresh life into the tale, and in doing so have crafted an intriguingly gothic and suitably eerie theatre experience that should be equally accessible and enjoyable to both the ardent Dickens enthusiast and casual theatre-going audience.

BRAVE: MOVIE REVIEW

BRAVE

Release Date: 17th August (UK)*

Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane (Voices)

Screening Reviewed: US Theatrical Release

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

For a Studio so proudly determined in developing consistently original and unique cinematic outings over the course of it’s highly successful existence, Brave seems to represent the first time originality and purely self-contained storytelling have fallen by the wayside for animation giants Pixar. Whilst this may not deliberately have been the case, it is difficult to ignore the fact that their latest feature length outing, which depicts the story of feisty Scottish princess Merida, is their most pedestrian, by-the-numbers offering since 2006’s Cars (ignoring that films risible 2011 sequel). 

At a time when Katniss Everdeen has given ‘girl power’ its latest shot in the arm (likewise with bow in hand) and other releases such as Snow White and the Huntsman have similarly empowered their princess leads, so much of what Brave seems set on telling and showing us with its central protagonist seems a little old hat and unremarkable to say the least. Little time is wasted on establishing Merida as an independent and headstrong yet fortunately quite likeable young woman, daughter to Billy Connolly’s bawdy King Fergus and Emma Thompson’s resolute yet overbearing Queen Elinor, and within the first few opening scenes the tension and dynamics between the royal family are very effectively laid out. Merida feels stifled by royal protocol and the way of life expected of her whilst Elinor is the atypical over-zealous parent who is firm out of necessity yet distanced and detached as a result.