Tchaikovsky: Child of Glass

Not Entirely Serious follows up last year’s Beethoven: I Shall Hear In Heaven with another play about a titan of the classical music world: Tchaikovsky: Child of Glass. Written and directed by (and starring) Tama Matheson, it sees Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky recount his life story to the audience – an unvarnished account? We are left to decide. The whole play is set to various pieces by Tchaikovsky, as well as a handful of works from other composers, and all are adapted, arranged & performed by pianist Jayson Gillham. Whilst the whole concept of the play is enticing (and refreshing, given the propensity to turn literally anything into a musical at the moment), it ultimately fails to follow through on its potential. The combination of script and music should make the whole production more dynamic, but it’s clear that there’s no focus to the show as a whole; sometimes Matheson (as Tchaikovsky) speaks while Gillham plays in the background, and other times there is extended piano-playing…