It's Showtime!!! - Theatre Review - I Capture The Castle.

Hi!!!

Welcome back! Today I have a theatre review for you - it feels like centuries since I last wrote one and I know you guys like them so I'm happy to be writing one now. Today I'm reviewing a new musical called 'I Capture the Castle', which is currently on at the Palace Theatre in Watford. I went to see it with some members of my family and I just wanted to thank them for a lovely time before I begin the review.

'I Capture the Castle' is set in bohemian 1930s England, where Cassandra, played by the amazing Lowri Izzard, lives with her family. They are in financial difficulty because her father (Ben Watson) cannot write a novel to follow up his last. The arrival of their new landlord, a wealthy American named, Simon (played by Theo Boyce, another stand out actor in this production) along with his brother, shakes up their dynamics. They seem like the answer to the family's wishes, but is it all too good to be true?

I enjoyed 'I Capture the Castle'. It's a promising new musical. The cast are fantastic, and they work well together. Their harmonies are wonderful and clearly well rehearsed, and the voices of Izzard, Shona White (as Leda), and Julia St John (as Mrs Cotton), are particularly strong. The harmonies between Izzard, Boyce,  Luke Dale (as Neil), and Kate Batter (as Rose) are testement to the work and vocal talent that has been put into this production. The songs are good musically and lyrically - although I think one or two have some (very brief and minor) echoes of other musicals - and the songs create a cohesive collection.

I found the plot entertaining and engaging. The musical is based on a novel of the same name by Dodie Smith, which alas I haven't read, however I should imagine the show is faithful to it as the plot is full of various elements. In some ways I think refining which elements make it onto the stage could benefit the show - at times the plot feels a bit busy. However, I did enjoy it all the same and it explores a full range of emotions with relative ease.  The key theme of the play is love in it's many forms, with married love, unrequited love, first love and new love explored throughout the show's course.

It's a show filled with interesting characters and Cassandra is a loveable one who guides the narrative with asides to the audience. Each character is an individual, from Cassandra's eccentric stepmother Topaz, played brilliantly by Suzanne Ahmet, to her admirer Steven (Isaac Stanmore). I'd say this musical is character-led, and I loved that.

The costumes are true to the period setting and add to the characterisation. The set is really unique, mainly constructed from tables and chairs, and is the constant feature of the show. The staging allows for creative use of the set and the levels created by it, and I found that it added greatly to the Romantic and rustic charm of the play. The best elements of the direction and movememt are, I think, shown in a scene involving travelling into London - without changing the set, the characters are clearly on the tube, on the street and so on. 

I'd recommend going to see 'I Capture the Castle' if you get the chance - it's on at the Palace Theatre in Watford until the 22nd of April. It's an entertaining show and one that I think has a lot of potential.

I'm going to give it four stars, because I do think it would benefit from some adjustments even though it is a very enjoyable show featuring a truly talented cast.

Find out more and buy tickets here.

I hope you enjoyed this review and that you get chance to see this at the theatre.

Have you seen 'I Capture the Castle'? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading. Speak soon.

Have a brilliant day!

GingerSnaps xxx

So, To Sum It All Up - October in Photographs.

Hi!!!

In October, I got a new phone. Finally. It's only taken me a year of dealing with one that wasn't working properly to actually get myself to the Carphone Warehouse to upgrade it. I now have a very pretty rose-gold Samsung Galaxy S7. One of the reasons I chose it was its snazzy camera - it is so good! - and I've been playing around with taking photos on it all month. I thought I'd put some into a little autumnal photo essay to share with you all. Its also a bit of an October summary, which is nice.

One perk of getting the bus everyday (yes there are some...) is that I get to walk through some very pretty places to get to the bus stop.

 I love walking and I love being outside so the parks and tree lined roads are always a highlight of my day.

I've been spending quite a lot of time in the house as the nights draw in.

 My room has seen more blankets and books joining the crew, the fan in my bedroom being packed away (yay!) and the living room has been home to board games and even more cups of tea than normal.
 

I've made a little routine of reading on weekday mornings rather than getting dressed straight away which has been nice. I'm currently reading Atonement by Ian McEwan, and I'm about half way through - it is a great read - so points to me!

Oh also, I got glasses this month - I'm short sighted (recently diagnosed). I don't wear them while reading, but they make a nice addition to photos of books, so never mind, haha. Mine are from Vision Express, just in case you were wondering.

I went on a little trip out to Leamington Spa with the familia and  this month on one of my days off (massive YES to days off) and I took some pictures of the autumnal sights in my beloved Jephson Gardens (and made friends with a squirrel).

It is beautiful at all times of the year, but would definitely encourage you to take a trip out this autumn, especially if you're Midlands based like me, because its even more lovely.

I spent some time with my family a few weekends back. It was lovely to see everyone - I hadn't seen some of my cousins in a year which seriously needed to be fixed. I watched Spirited Away for the first time with the littlest ones, played Uno and Snap, ate lots of cake and did a bit of a makeup master class with one of my older younger cousins (did that make sense?). Anyway, it was loads of fun and thanks to my Auntie for having us and everyone else for carving out time to spend with us.

We popped into Hemel Hempstead and St Albans while we were visiting, as we always do, and I did some serious shopping in Hemel Hempstead at TKMaxx, as well as other places. And then in St Albans, we went to the cathedral, which we have done once or twice before - it is such a lovely place to walk around and take in, as are the grounds.

A trip to the Watford Palace theatre was also something we managed to fit into our weekend - we went to see Arms and the Man on Friday night. It was an excellent production (as many are at the Palace), the actors were great and I laughed a whole lot which is always good.

Then, we travelled back home because I had tickets to go and see Jake Bugg at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, which had been bought for me for my birthday (thanks Uncle B!). It was such an amazing gig, and I had such a great time. The set list was fantastic and all my favourites were played and Jake's performance was outstanding (vocals, guitar and personality wise). A major highlight of this year.

 

And then, as it does every October, Halloween happened. Look at the coffee table display for the living room - isn't it super cute?

 

 

 

We had a little family get together with some very nice food, a fire going in the fire pit and some fireworks. When we do fireworks in our family, the policy is 'go big or go home' so the grass is looking a little worse for wear but the neighbours got to see a great display (as did we!). Oh and the next day we all met up again for a huge Sunday lunch.

It was loads of fun - thanks everyone!

So, I hope you liked this post! It was quite different from anything I've done before but I really liked putting it together and looking back on what was a great month.

What did you get up to this October? Did you enjoy this post? Do you like photo based posts as much as me? Got any comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks ever so much for reading. Oh and I hope you had a gloriously lovely and sparkly Bonfire Night last night!

I hope your day is spectacular!

GingerSnaps xxx