Alexandra Taylor: Writer

A moving tale of love, loss and letting go. Those familiar with the 1990 film will think of ‘Ghost’ as a sad and intimate story which deals with the sensitive emotions around losing a loved one. It’s not an immediately obvious subject for musical theatre, a genre best known for its bold, brash and upbeat song-and-dance routines. However, this production proves that, when done well, stage musicals can be both entertaining and emotional. It’s the visual effects that are the star of this show, most notably the stunning projections which create impact, mood, depth and movement in a variety of innovative ways. They enable the action to move swiftly and smoothly from loft apartment to tube train, rainy street to police station. But it’s not all about the big spectacle - just as much care has been put into the small touches, such as newspapers which fly unaided into the air, characters which walk through walls and some very nice sleight of hand tricks. The lighting is also wonde...

When I was born, Nelson Mandela had already been in prison for eleven years and South Africa was a country in which 80% of the population were excluded from political representation. As I was growing up, that country was increasingly synonymous with inequality and lawlessness, boycotts and embargoes. When I was thirteen, the satirical TV show ‘Spitting Image’ released the record ‘I’ve Never Met A Nice South African’, a song vitriolic in its condemnation of South Africa’s political system. I read Tom Sharpe’s novel ‘Riotous Assembly’ and was shocked at the racism, incompetence and casual violence attributed to the South African police. When I was fifteen years old, I watched the world’s biggest musical stars celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday, while the man himself continued to endure incarceration. It seemed extraordinary to me that South Africa’s politicians could persist with their discriminatory policies in the face of such widespread international outrage. The situation see...

A festive favourite with a contemporary kick and a large slug of rum.  In December 1853, Charles Dickens stood in Birmingham Town Hall and gave his first  dramatic reading of the story that has come to symbolise Christmas more than any other. Since that night, it has been retold in countless ways - for the stage, for radio, on television and in films - each version a different take on the classic tale of ghosts and greed, love and loss, regret and redemption. Just a stone’s throw from where Dickens gave his story its first performance, Birmingham Repertory Theatre are marking the festive season with a musical version of ‘A Christmas Carol’. If you’re fond of the familiar then you won’t be disappointed with this production. There’s ‘humbug’ aplenty, a feast of frock coats and bonnets, foggy London streets and an achingly adorable Tiny Tim. Much of the dialogue is taken from the original novella and the plot plays out as you would expect. But this production is cer...