Take a royal family living firmly in the middle of a media storm. Stressful? Well kings have always been public – they are literally at the head of their people and therefore visible; an invisible king is no king at all.
It used to be regarded as slightly perverse playing baroque music on authentic period instruments, but the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment changed all that for good and this wonderful last 2015 Festival night of music and song proved beyond all doubt that this is how it should be heard.
Intimate Theatre’s contribution to the Lichfield Festival is always a much-anticipated highlight for me, but this year director Elle Knight somehow surpassed even her own high standard to produce an evening that rose to a theatrical peak many professional companies would struggle to come anywhere ne
LipService Theatre are no strangers to the Lichfield Festival – I saw their play about the Brontes, Withering Looks some years ago – and here they’ve gone bigger and better with The Picture of Doreen Gray.
Anyone who hadn’t taken the precaution of reading the Lichfield Festival programme carefully might well have been disappointed to discover that in fact the famous cellist has, because of a degenerative shoulder condition, been forced to give up playing the instrument permanently.
I’ve only seen ever the Magic Flute once before, Glyndebourne on tour with magnificent production values, a full-sized orchestra and an overall grand tone as was to be expected. But this new Lichfield Festival production was far, far better.
Just occasionally a show comes along that’s so wonderful you want to shout it out loud, and this is truly the case with David Bintley’s revival of Sylvia.
A new ballet by David Bintley is always a hotly-anticipated event and the world premiere of The King Dances before a packed audience exceeded all expectation.
