Julian Woolford Theatre Director and Writer


2 PIANOS, 4 HANDS

by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt

Vienna's English Theatre

'Two brilliant actors! A brilliant start to the season...an atmosphere like that at a pop festival with two fabulous musicians Kevin Farrell and Steven Worbey. Jubilation! For they excel as actors and virtuoso musicians, playing on two pianos or four hands at one piano, quickly switching places and characters. Musical skill and heart-warming comedy combine into a brilliant evening, directed by Julian Woolford in the best British fashion with verve and wit: It has been a long time since Vienna's English Theater laughed so hard.' KronenZeitung

  

'They not only do they master all stations of life with flying colors, they also slip into all the other roles of this thoroughly entertaining evening at the English Theater. And surprisingly they turn their hands to Bach, Chopin and Jazz by the end of the evening. The audience is thrilled.' WienerZeitung



THE BED BEFORE YESTERDAY

By Ben Travers

Mill at Sonning Theatre


     

'Director Julian Woolford switches the action from 1930 to the Swinging London of the sixties, which suits the action very well. Susan Penhaligon shines as bossy, well-heeled Alma...there is plenty to laugh at on the way...' Oxford Mail

'This battle of the sexes provides much hilarity, led by convincing performances from Penhaligon and Deacon.' The Stage

I DO! I DO!

By Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

Vienna's English Theatre

  

'As a classic tale of scenes from a marriage, the fine performances of Neil Ditt and Yvette Robinson were thoroughly engaging...the balance of understanding keeps shifting and the relationship feels real in this polished production by Julian Woolford. Most joyous, these two can really sing and really dance...' Vienna Observer

   

Photos: Reinhard Reidinger

'Two outstanding performers and a piano suffice to stage an entertaining touching and charming musical...I Do I Do is simply a charming feelgood piece which is excellently realised' K2 Centrope

'It is a charming piece of the old American school' Wiener Zeitung


FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

By Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick

British National Tour

 

' For a reminder of the sheer emotional and historical power of this tremendous story, though, it's worth seeing Julian Woolford's austere and beautiful touring production, playing this week at the Edinburgh Playhouse. With its dancing figures moving against a wash of golden sky that suggests a perpetual sunset, this show is not so much impressive in detail – although the dancing and music are glorious – as overwhelming in its seriousness of purpose, and its cumulative effect.

Joe McGann is in muted, almost subdued vocal form as the hero Tevye the milkman, trying to honour Jewish tradition and keep his family together while tides of historic change sweep towards his little village of Anatevka. But he acts like a man stunned into reverence by the significance of the story he carries on his shoulders, not only for Jewish people, but for all the scapegoated and dispossessed of history, and when a page of family portraits from the Warsaw ghetto slides down over the big Playhouse stage at the end of each act, the hairs rise on the back of the neck, in recognition of a superb and intensely humane piece of theatre.' The Scotsman

 

Photos: Bob Workman

‘Made a slightly dated musical youthful and relevant again.'  Sunday Express

‘A sincere and thoughtful production.’ Edinburgh Evening News

'Simply superb. This is quality musical theatre at its best.' Worcester Standard


'All in all a real treat for Nottingham theatre-goers and in fact, I am tempted to go and see the show again' BBC Nottingham

'This production is remarkable... Joe McGann is brilliant, the rest of the cast too were excellent.' Kent on Sunday


SOUTH PACIFIC

By Rodgers and Hammerstein

British National Tour

'**** Julian Woolford’s stylish and enjoyable production, a show that pulses with life.’
Sunday Express

'A colourful, rowdy spectacle brought to life by an energetic and acrobatic cast' Hull Daily Mail

   

'*****  Take yourself on a enchanting, insightful, musical journey to the South Pacific' Entertainment Manchester


  Photos: Bob Workman

'South Pacific shows that London is not the only place to see a good musical' 50Connect.co.uk

'This production is simply superb' Oxford Daily Info


DEADLY MURDER

By David Foley

Vienna's English Theatre

 

Photos: Reinhard Reidinger

'Julian Woolford has directed the complicated story almost like a film, edgy and fast-paced.' Kurier

'Effectively brings together a modern big-city atmosphere a la 'Sex and The City' and the crackling tension of Agatha Christie'  Kronenzeitung

'Seldom do we see such exciting violence on the stage as in "Deadly Murder."' Wiener Zeitung


THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL)

By Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell

Sound Theatre and King's Head Theatre

 

‘****Julian Woolford’s energy packed production fits perfectly onto this tiny stage’
Evening Standard  

‘ a cast who work like demons and sing like angels’ The Independent

 

Photos: Allesandro Evanglista

‘***** So deadly it’s amazing the West End is still standing…I was notching up three giggles and a belly laugh per minute…Excellent…The direction is as slick as oil’  Metro

‘**** A runaway hit’
Critics Choice
Time Out

‘More laughs per minute than anything else in the West End…I’ve seldom seen an audience so giddy with pleasure.’ Evening Standard Diary


IN YOUR HANDS

By Natalia Pelevine

New End Theatre

  

‘**** This is an impressive production, directed by Julian Woolford, with gripping performances from the entire cast’ Ham and High

‘Julian Woolford’s powerful staging’ The Guardian


VITA AND VIRGINIA

By Eileen Atkins

Sevenoaks Playhouse Studio


‘A tour de force, not only because artistic director Julian Woolford’s clever staging of the enigmatic relationship…but because of dynamic performances by Joy Brook and Penelope McGhie’  Bromley Times

‘This is a solid production, confidently and powerfully performed by two very strong performers’
The Stage