Reviews
★★★★★
“a hauntingly brilliant exploration of one of literature’s greatest figures. It masterfully intertwines fiction and reality, giving voice to the women overshadowed by Dickens’ fame.”
Pink Prince Theatre (November 2024) on What the Dickens? at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
★★★★
“a playful patchwork of references from across the centuries ... sure-footed, entertaining theatre ... an engaging Christmas outing.”
The Reviews Hub (November 2024) on What the Dickens? at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
★★★★
“a playful and unexpectedly lively biographical journey, bolstered by a jubilant musical accompaniment throughout ... an ebullient, energetic, inventive reminder that the art of storytelling”
Mark Aspen Reviews (November 2024) on What the Dickens? at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
★★★★
“The mixture of comedy ... serious drama and musical interludes make for a very refreshing and enjoyable night in the theatre. Clare Norburn has an original take on Dickens which is thought-provoking and indubitable.”
LondonTheatre1 (November 2024) on What the Dickens? at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
“a thoroughly enjoyable production with an engaging text, beautifully arranged songs and splendid professional singing
Stratford Herald (October 2023) on What the Dickens? in Stratford-upon-Avon
"Clare Norburn’s wryly amusing meta-drama sits alongside and is infused and informed by a suite of Spanish-inspired music, performed with tremendous flair by the ensemble CarmenCo."
"In this hazy fantasia of Mérimée’s psyche, Suzanne Ahmet’s Carmen is a marvellous creation."
"Emily Andrews on flute, violin plus captivating mezzo, and David Massey and Francisco Correa on classical guitar bring both fluidity and intensity to their performance, seamlessly integrated back and forth so that there’s no sense that this concertplay could be done another way."
There Ought To Be Clowns (January 2025) on Creating Carmen at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes, January 2025
"Suzanne Ahmet’s Carmen is the heart of the production, carrying herself magnetically... Ahmet is every bit as charismatic as one would hope as Carmen, an equal concoction of daring rebellion and doomed romance."
"Three-piece CarmenCo more than accompany the play, but are a leading character, propelling the play like the bulls of Pamplona. The music is a constant auditory heartbeat that underscores Carmen’s domination and where it intertwined with drama the production finds its most compelling rhythm."
Mark Aspen Reviews (January 2025) on Creating Carmen at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes, January 2025
★★★★
"A very moving experience that captures the imagination, as well as connects the audience to the devastation caused by persecution, exile, and loss... The music is expertly created... The songs are sung exquisitely... There is a strong sense of community woven through this experience, and these stirring voices must be heard"
The Reviews Hub (May 2023) on Into the Melting Pot in Hove
★★★★
"Music collides with drama and melds into something unique, yet inclusive and true... The writing is clear, clean and accessible yet resonates deeply and for long after the play had finished"
StageTalk Magazine (February 2024) on Into the Melting Pot at Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton
"In its format and intensity, then, Into the Melting Pot is a touching and ingenious telling of a story as old as time"
Basingstoke Gazette (February 2024) on Into the Melting Pot at The Haymarket, Basingstoke
“sung with perfection that is heart-stopping”
Worthing Herald
“As part of its #HomeTour series, the London-based early music group The Telling is streaming Vision: the Imagined Testimony of Hildegard of Bingen, a film about the 12th-century mystic and composer, written by soprano Clare Norburn, directed by Nicholas Renton, and shot in St Mary Magdalene’s Church in Paddington. Actor Teresa Banham plays Hildegard, while Norburn and mezzo Ariane Prüssner are mesmerising in the music. An austerely beautiful piece about a woman whose faith gave her extraordinary strength and courage, it’s only available until this Wednesday, 26 August, but it really is wonderful, so do try and catch it."
The Guardian, Tim Ashley (Aug 2020) on Vision [online adaption]
"It was the overlap of, interaction between, and communication of the music of Hildegard — two voices and medieval harp — and her spoken word, delivered by Teresa Banham, which made the show such a unified, deep telling... It may not have been billed as a Lenten devotion, but if a moment for reflection is needed, or the desire to understand more of Hildegard is to be fulfilled, it is well worth making the time for this."
Church Times (Mar 2019) on Vision
“beautifully sung…. a really special musical experience”
Derbyshire Times (July 2018) on Vision
"a multimedia experience of light, song, music & storytelling"
The Argus (Brighton & Hove), Elizabeth Hughes on Vision
“Such exquisite singing, story-telling, stagecraft brought tears to my eyes. I’m sure heaven must sound just like this”
Twitter comment - Vision at St Paul’s Worthing, 2019
“It was one of the most moving productions I have seen in a church. The singing and lighting were celestial.”
Audience member - 2019 Vision tour
"a spellbinding piece... [The singers] were superb, processing by candlelight, their voices starkly beautiful both alone and in unison... The Telling is a superb venture."
Keith Clarke, Musical America on Vision at St John's Chapel Chichester, 2025
★★★★
"At the beginning of the evening we were promised something “magical”; and The Telling delivered thanks to the perfect blend of creative, atmospheric lighting, precise direction a strong lead performance and perfectly selected and performed music. A magical evening indeed."
Eleanor Marsh, Mark Aspen Reviews on Breaking the Rules at St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, 2025
"[Writer Clare Norburn] knows how to tell a damn good story, informed by her love and knowledge of this repertoire, putting sumptuous flesh on the dry bones of historical fact."
"The voices blend with creamy richness and a purity... I have never heard Gesualdo’s music sung so well."
"Breaking the Rules invites the audience to step into Gesualdo’s madness and experience his genius for a few hours through impeccable performances from all involved, deepening our understanding and appreciation of his music. The collaboration of musicians and actors, lighting design and venue, creates a magical experience where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."
Kirsten Flores, North West Early Music Forum on Breaking the Rules at Hallé St Peter's Manchester, 2025
“a quite glorious marriage of music and theatre”
I Spie film viewer, 2021
"What an incredible event it was last night!! It was so, so beautiful and atmospheric. It was all that I was hoping it would be and more! Such a gorgeous way to start Christmas and to feel so soothed and relaxed. The music was incredible and the storytelling simply transported me to days gone by! I truly loved it as did my friend who came too. I am already looking forward to next year's....please please have another one!!!”
Audience member - 2018 Christmas tour
“I was in the audience… and very taken by the music. Up until a week earlier I was completely unaware of The Telling’s existence. On Saturday 8th I drove my daughter to her carols rehearsal, got in the car to drive home, and turned on the radio. Saturday Live, a programme I never listen to, and I was set to turn it off when you started to sing Lullay, my child, and I was captivated by it. Spellbound, really. A quick search once home and I discovered the St. Thomas More concert and got a ticket. You were all wonderful.”
Audience member - 2018 Christmas tour
"Inclusive... non-pretentious... I really wish all 'classical' (for want of a better word) concerts were like this"
Morning Star, Attila the Stockbroker (Dec 2018) on the St. Paul's Worthing Christmas concert
★★★★★
"at least as appealing as Tennant & Sheen in the BBC’s Staged"
★★★★
"charming...already a little hooked"
Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail (Mar 2021)
★★★★
"There have been plenty of Zoom plays over this year of lockdown, but perhaps none so classy and assured as Clare Norburn’s episodic series'
"this moreish serial drama finds new terrain with excellent performances from Rachael Stirling and Alec Newman"
"the music is like a celestial pause between acts"
"the relationthip is drawn with emotional subtlety"
★★★★
“Soprano Clare Norburn and mezzo Ariane Prüssner are the crystalline singers… With two harpists sharing the accompaniment the aesthetic is sparse, suggesting an intimate domestic setting. The overall effect is aurally cleansing and the recorded sound is outstanding.”
"And, for me, the absolute favourite is the crowd-funded album The Secret Life of Carols; 800 Years of Christmas Music from The Telling, a female quartet with two singers – Clare Norburn and Ariane Prüssner – and two harpists, Jean Kelly and Kaisa Pulkkinen. It’s an unexpected delight from beginning to end, and really strongly recommended.”
Classic FM Online, David Mellor (Dec 2019)
Daily Mail, David Mellor (Dec 2019)
"An unusual success, something I wasn't expecting, and which is a great success, it's a crowd-funded album from a group of four women called The Telling..... Marvellous album.... a rather fine harp solo called Tommy Coen’s reel… I'm going to play them together to give you an idea of what joy there is on this excellent and of left field most enjoyable album.
"...there are moments when you just want something that is scaled-down for domestic listening and that is an excellent, excellent one [album].”
Classic FM Radio, David Mellor (Dec 2019)
"The Secret Life of Carols: 800 Years of Christmas Music (First Hand Records), performed by the Telling, is an atmospheric survey from across Europe, with roots in early English, Irish, German and Finnish traditions, performed by two voices, harps and drum... Imaginative and eclectic.”
The Guardian, Fiona Maddocks (Dec 2019)
"This brings together a mixture of the earliest English carols and traditional carols from across Europe, many having intertwined roots often dating back to the Middle Ages, with melodies adapted and new words written over the centuries. The word “carol” is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle dance accompanied by singers. The 16 carols heard in this program include several that draw from the Finnish, German, and Irish heritage of the performers. The performances are very good and offer a simple and quiet program—a smaller-scale way to celebrate the season than the high tech performances that have pervaded the airwaves, a most welcome alternative to the usual Christmas recordings."
American Record Guide (Nov/Dec 2020)
“This four part ensemble produces a haunting sound, harking back to medieval times, with the combination of female voices, harps and drum. This production reposits a more resolutely folk approach to the singing of carols, enthused with vitality and rhythm."
“smallscale, intimate performances of a wide range of music, most of it unfamiliar or, at any rate, not pumped out over supermarket PA systems. As I write, I’ve just been subjected to a dose of that, courtesy of a pop radio station as I waited in my podiatrist’s waiting room; listening to The Telling has been a real antidote."
★★★★ Performance | ★★★★★ Recording
“beguiling, Siren-like voices.. the fervent, florid chants of Hildegard of Bingen – so fragrant you can almost smell them…. The vocal colours of the two principal singers complement each other well: Clare Norburn’s clear, silvery, bell-like soprano just the foil for Ariane Prüssner’s resonant wine-dark tones…. There is an expressive ardour to these performances that is hard to resist.”
BBC Music Magazine, Kate Bolton-Porciatti (Mar 2019) on Gardens of Delight [CD]
"...There are some lovely moments as the medieval harp blends with the female voices in beautiful slow airs … the blended voices work beautifully in the more contemplative repertoire such as is their lovely account of the 14th-century English carol Ther is no rose... this CD provides a pleasing and effective introduction to this repertoire.”
Early Music Review (Jan 2019) on Gardens of Delight [CD]
"We start with a traditional Sephardic song, La rosa enflorese which makes for a beautifully haunting beginning and introduces us to The Telling's highly concentrated style. Finely focussed voices, with minimal vibrato, highly expressive and very concentrated with a single instrument accompanying, and, later on, no instrument at all. [...] Here we concentrate on the music, and on the text, with all three performers making something beautifully pared down.
"With moments like the pairing of Hildegard's Ave generosa and the procession from Ordo Virtutum which concludes the disc... you do wish that they could stay for a bit longer. So we must hope for a further disc!"
Planet Hugill, Robert Hugill (Jan 2019) on Gardens of Delight [CD]
“Just a quick note to say how lovely the CD is, such beautiful voices and playing”
Gardens of Delight [CD] listener
★★★★
“Vision and Unsung Heroine were concertplay films released by The Telling in 2020, the soundtracks of which are heard here. Both are austere, serene and highly evocative, telling the stories of Hildegard von Bingen and Comtessa de Dia, a 13th-century female troubadour”
"Many thanks indeed for the show, which was hugely enjoyable and a fabulous way to finish the EMF."
Em Marshall-Luck, English Music Festival
“Really fine performers imaginatively supported by an expert technical crew, and clearly an accomplished director! Oh, it was good....! I knew from the moment your voices first started that we were in safe hands…. I have had mountains of praise from members and many asked that I ensure you return to Totnes soon! I view it as one of the most special experiences amongst the 60+ concerts I have arranged.
“From the moment the lights darkened, leaving just the flickering of candles on the altar screen, a large audience sat in rapt silence listening to one of Hildegard's thrilling chants echo around the church… This was not a mere monologue, interspersed with music. The sensitive handling by director Nicholas Renton enabled a series of touching interchanges between the musicians and Hildegard, while Natalie Rowland's highly effective lighting allowed the play of coloured light to reflect Hildegard's memories and indeed her mental state. Glorious white light suffused the stage as Hildegard recalled her visions, which she herself had described as 'the living light'…"
Jill Tomalin, Totnes Early Music Series
“Wonderful performance, three incredible concerts - truly unique. Watching all three shows in the Empowered Women Trilogy in two days worked really well and made perfect sense musically.”
Rebecca Dawson, Music at Oxford
“I just wanted to tell you how wonderful I thought the show was - the singing, the script, the lighting - everything that went to make it an experience that seemed to encompass the very essence of Hildegard.”
Harland Walshaw, Lympstone Entertainments
"Thank you all very much for your splendid performance on Friday. From audience remarks afterwards, you were a hit! And it seems to me the programme hit exactly the right pitch between good fun and seasonal reflection. I think we all left with the better aspects of Christmas on our minds”
Dick Ware, Little Missenden Festival
“evoked something akin to the shared winter night ambience of six centuries ago”
Richard Amey, International Interview Concerts, Worthing
★★★★
“Playwright and producer Clare Norburn has an excellent track record with this kind of musically-led drama. She is artistic director of The Telling, a company that stages her characteristically pacy blends of songs, music and theatre...
Niall Ashdown’s unpretentious delivery as Henry Purcell grounds this fantastical fever-dream in an endearing monologue. Ashdown tells the tale of Purcell’s four dead children with affecting simplicity. But, at other times, he’s very funny. His background in improv and comedy helps him to respond to the audience with humour and humanity...
The Telling’s concert-plays are always an entertaining night out, beautifully performed by expert actors and musicians."
The Reviews Hub (May 2026) on Purcell, The Musical at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
★★★★
“What we have here essentially is a dramatised pasticcio, carefully framed by author Clare Norburn for modern audiences… Purcell is truly the gift that keeps on giving – just when you think you know all of his output further ravishing numbers are revealed, whether saucy or serious, that provoke new admiration and delight. This was clearly the experience of the audience for the evening, and is perhaps the greatest strength of the show. Moreover, Norburn’s work does a real service in showcasing music that is otherwise not much performed… All in all this was a fine tribute to the genius of Purcell that deserves a further theatrical life as an accessible introduction to aspects of his work that are still too little known.”
Plays To See (May 2026) on Purcell, The Musical at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes