Debbie Gilpin

'I’ve seen it before, and I’ll see it again… Just little bits of history repeating.” This Shirley Bassey vocal may not feature on the soundtrack of this stage version of The Buddha of Suburbia, but you can’t help but bring it to mind as you watch events unfold: strikes, political turmoil, far right aggression - staples of the 1970s, but all too familiar to modern audiences.

'The tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else, save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!' Queenie Mukherjee has always been the Bengali matriarch to end all Bengali matriarchs, except recently her children have started to notice the odd slip: a burnt pan here, a wrong date there. She can’t see anything wrong, but reluctantly attends a doctor’s appointment anyway - and the resulting diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s proves even harder for her to accept. Only hallucinations of her late husband, Ameet, can provide her with some comfort.

'The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.' Charlotte Jones’ new play delves into a curious pocket of showbiz history, with Michael Havers QC at the centre of it all. Fresh from a momentous victory, he is personally selected by The Rolling Stones’ manager Allen Klein to defend Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in their upcoming trial - and all the while, his teenage son Nigel is trying to work out how to break the news that he doesn’t want to go into the law, he’d much rather be an actor.

“Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside…” Anne Odeke’s play about the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK is a celebration of a bit of Essex’s history that has previously flown under the radar, as well as an interrogation of the effect of empire and patriarchy on the individual. That may sound heavy, but there is a deftness of touch that ensures the production is entertaining as well as thought-provoking.

Another helping of Shakespeare, in this otherwise rather Eastern European-themed Prom. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales was guided through the evening’s events by Principal Guest Conductor Jaime Martín, who seemed to relish every moment of his appearance on the Royal Albert Hall stage, and brought the best out of the ensemble because of it. This lent a distinctly theatrical feel to the whole event, the first two pieces complementing Romeo and Juliet to great effect.

“What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” More often than not, when Shakespeare is adapted into different formats, the text is largely lost but the story remains - not so in this case. Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears opted to go without a librettist, instead taking Shakespeare’s words and shuffling parts of the play about a bit. It certainly makes sense that work from such a lyrical playwright could be directly transformed into song, and by and large it feels like quite a natural transition.

“Can you tell me what it is, this capacity for emotion, this force of suffering that is wearing me out?” The focal point of Prom 58 was Hector Berlioz’s 49-minute “Episode in the Life of an Artist”, his Symphonie fantastique; written while he was still in his twenties and at the mercy of his infatuation with Harriet Smithson (who he had seen play Ophelia in Hamlet), it is a colourful and evocative tour de force. It’s also a piece that the Orchestre de Paris knows inside out.

“Never seen a TARDIS before?” For many in attendance at the Royal Albert Hall, this probably is quite likely! The Proms haven’t had any adventures in time and space since Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary celebrations back in 2013, so its return was well overdue - especially as there have been several incarnations of the Doctor in that time. With the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the London Philharmonic Choir on hand, a spectacular showcase of the programme’s music was guaranteed.

'Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.' Aside from a couple of Horrible Histories songs, most people probably know Cleopatra for her unique manner of death - almost certainly an apocryphal story (it's far more likely that she simply poisoned herself), but that and her ill-fated relationship with Mark Antony clearly piqued William Shakespeare's interest.

There has always been much conjecture over what it really means to be British – most recently, a group of self-proclaimed “patriots” got together and trashed libraries, independent businesses, and community hubs across the country in the name of supposedly getting their country back. This, of course, isn't patriotism at all. Something that is often held up as a paragon of Britishness, however, is the Proms season; outside of the famous Last Night, this year's Prom 33 may end up being the most quintessentially British of the lot.

'‘Tis time to fear when tyrants seems to kiss.” It’s true that most of Shakespeare’s most well-known works remain perpetually relevant, particularly in the difficult times that continue to afflict populations worldwide, but sometimes it’s worth shuffling the pack and pulling out a lesser played work. The thing with geniuses like Shakespeare is that their less popular output is often just as good as the stuff that everyone’s heard of. Enter Tamara Harvey and her production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

During the Restoration and beyond, there were numerous attempts at rewriting Shakespeare - one famous example being Romeo and Juliet changing to a happy ending. His work has also been adapted for slightly different kinds of staging, which is evident in Henry Purcell’s operatic composition; The Fairy Queen is in fact a musical and slightly alternative view of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ahead of Prom 68 (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Les Arts Florissants and Compagnie Käfig combined to present their interpretation of Purcell’s piece, with Paul Agnew conducting.

'To promise nearly fifty million people truly universal health care - ‘cradle to the grave’ - is crackers.' Despite this quote featuring quite prominently in promotional material, and the poster image showing a pair of midwives, The Promise isn’t wholly about the founding of the NHS. Paul Unwin’s new play instead depicts the rise of Clement Attlee’s Labour Party in the wake of the Second World War, and their attempts to create unity and growth in the years that follow.

“I believe in nothing.” Listening to Verdi’s Requiem would certainly suggest otherwise, its 85-minute journey from “Introit and Kyrie” and “Dies irae” - via “Offertory”, “Sanctus”, “Agnus Dei” and “Lux aeterna” - to “Libera me” explores a wealth of emotions, and is rooted in spirituality.

Unlike the Last Night of the Proms, which has developed its own mythology and status (thanks to the traditions that surround it), the First Night of the Proms is not bound by any particular structure or the need to play any specific pieces; there’s a freedom to it that spills out into the audience, eager for the new season to get underway.

“What we need is harmony, fresh air, stuff like that.” Almost 40 years after it first graced the big screen, cult classic film Withnail and I has been adapted for the stage – and it is currently in the middle of a limited engagement at the Birmingham Rep.

“More matter for a May morning.” Given that the majority of Shakespeare’s plays began with outdoor performances of one kind or another, it’s a perfect fit for the leafy surroundings of Regent’s Park – which has made it all the more conspicuous for its absence from the programming over the past few seasons. Owen Horsley steers the ship as this well-loved comedy docks in north London for the next few weeks.

“This way, you win, no matter what.” The Women’s Cricket World Cup Final in the present day, and eighteenth century Calcutta – on the face of it there’s the barest of connections, but when you drill down a bit deeper you can see how the relationship between England and India was first forged. Or, perhaps more accurately, forced.

“People don’t pay to see Reginald Dwight, they pay to see Elton John!” In the sea of ubiquitous biopic-by-numbers that is modern cinema, one film really stood out from the crowd. Dexter Fletcher and Lee Hall’s Rocketman is the epitome of ‘What Would Elton Do?’, as it veers from one multicoloured musical explosion to another; whereas most biographical depictions of a star’s rise to (and fall from) fame in the most straightforward and accurate fashion they can, this is unashamedly a fantasy memoir told from Elton’s nostalgic perspective. And it has finally made its way to the live arena in the UK.

Welcome to a high school reunion with a difference: this one has an uninvited (but secret) guest. In Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ latest play, a group of friends collectively known as “MERGE” have gathered for a pre-reunion meet-up; Ursula, Emilio, Caitlin, Kristina and Paco haven’t all been in the same place together for quite a few years, so there’s lots to share - and plenty of old grievances to be aired.