REVIEW: TOAST (Richmond Theatre) ★★★
Nigel Slater‘s 2003 book Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger was converted into a stage play by Henry Filloux-Bennett in 2018 and is now halfway through a UK tour which runs until 7 December 2019 . This week it is at the wonderful Richmond Theatre (although the raised false stage set behind the proscenium arch […]
REVIEW: Dissociated (Etcetera Theatre) ★★★
One doesn’t attend performances at tiny above pub venues like the Etcetera Theatre expecting to see polished and ready for the west end shows and Dissociated is certainly no exception. However, it has a nugget of what could be a truly beautiful, courageous and successful show. Alex played by Eloise Jones is a twenty-seven year […]
REVIEW: GREAT EXPECTATIONS (Southwark Playhouse) ★★★★
Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, Great Expectations creates something fresh and energetic, entirely suitable for the young cast from the National Youth Theatre. Dickens is not shy of incorporating huge detail into his work, so Bartlett’s strength is to strip out the superfluous and focus on the key emotional drama in the […]
REVIEW: Calendar Girls the Musical (Winter Gardens, Blackpool) ★★★★
Calendar girls was originally a film and then a play written by Tim Firth, based on the real-life story of how some ladies from a Women’s Institute group in a Yorkshire village ended up taking-off their clothes for a naked but tastefully discreet photo-shoot for a calendar to raise funds for a blood cancer charity. […]
REVIEW: GROAN UPS (Vaudeville Theatre) ★★★★★
Mischief theatre are now infamous amongst the theatre scene as the creators of ‘The play that goes wrong’, ‘Comedy about a bank robbery’ and all round kings & queens of comedy. This year they have teamed up with the Vaudeville Theatre for a 1 year residency in which they will unleash 4 brand new shows […]
Stephen Schwartz’s RAGS The Musical transfers to London
Following the critically acclaimed season at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester earlier this year, Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment and Joseph Houston and William Whelton for Hope Mill Theatre are delighted to announce the transfer of their production of Stephen Schwartz’s RAGS The Musical to Park Theatre, London, for a limited season from 9 January […]
REVIEW: The Girl Who Fell (Trafalgar Studios) ★★★★
Sarah Rutherford’s new play The Girl Who Fell tackles grief and guilt with sensitivity and humour in this darkly funny production, that mixes raw emotion with laugh out loud jokes. Claire Goose is grieving mother Thea whose teenage daughter, Sam, committed suicide after a video of her hair being cut in punishment went viral. As […]
REVIEW: Motown the Musical (Sunderland Empire) ★★★★
I arrived at Sunderland Empire expecting to see a tribute concert to the many glorious songs produced on the Motown label. However I was delighted to find that it is actually the Berry Gordy story – which might not be a dynamic name for a musical but it is a very compelling tale. Gordy started […]
REVIEW: The Female Edit: Mother? (The Chapel Playhouse) ★★★★
The Female Edit: Mother? is a new show produced, directed, written, and performed by women at the Chapel Playhouse. Curated by Lucy McCabe & Deborah Wastell from The Female Edit, a creative collective formed in 2018, aiming to contribute to the conversation about gender equality through creative work. The show is a collection of short pieces […]
REVIEW: LAST ORDERS: THE HAUNTING OF THE OLD RED LION (Old Red Lion Theatre) ★★★
The Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington has been one of London’s leading fringe venues for more than seventy years, playing home to an eclectic mix of works. But in this latest entertaining (if rather uneven) production, the venue itself falls under the spotlight, along with those that have frequented the pub that has been […]