Quite pretty. That's about the kindest thing I can think of in describing the English National Opera's new staging of Handel's Messiah. I'd call it a dramatisation but there wasn't a jot of drama all evening. I should start by saying I've never quite...

I really wanted to enjoy this. The rather Disneyfied Russian designs are an absolute treat to look at, the costumes similar and the narrative a charming, witty take on a standard fairytale. Pity it's all so boring. Endless stretches of music that never...

Six Hours of adapted Shakespeare, entirely in Dutch with the added kicker of running effectively continuously without intervals. Quite remarkably this was one of the most stunning pieces I've seen in a good long while. It wasn't just wholly involving...

The Birmingham Royal Ballet's "Cyrano" had a particularly hard job impressing me. Having turned up in a pretty miserable mood, thirty minutes on the street after a fire alarm went off didn't help matters and when the curtain finally went up forty...

Daniel Kramer's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" is a magnificent creation; Michael Keegan-Dolan's "Rite of Spring" is nothing but a mess. Both give bold interpretations but whilst Kramer stamps something new and original onto the text, Keegan-Dolan goes for...