REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk (Sunderland Empire) ★★★
Fee Fi Fo Fum, I can smell something, is it fun? It’s panto time and as befits the age old tradition, Sunderland Empire have once again produced a classic show. This year’s festive frolic is Jack & The Beanstalk, and whilst the story stays true to the tried & trusted tale, the writing & the […]
REVIEW: The Little Prince (The Playground Theatre) ★★★
The second production and first Christmas show at The Playground Theatre in Ladbroke Grove is the world premiere of a new stage production of the much-loved French children’s tale The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This version has been translated by Ros and Chloe Schwartz and is directed and performed by Martin Oelbermann. Written […]
REVIEW: Janie Dee Live at the BBC ★★
Janie Dee has graced the stages of Britain for over forty years with a career as solid and shiny as the awards glistening on her mantlepiece. The actress amongst other monumental feats, has achieved the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics’ Circle Theatre Award amongst many more. As such a seasoned […]
REVIEW: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Lyceum Theatre) ★★★★★
There are few stories as treasured and revisited as that of Charles Dickens‘ ‘A Christmas Carol‘, and for the second year the London Musical Theatre Orchestra (LMTO) issue a glorious revival of a classic. First published in 1843, the captivating tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s thawing heart simply refuses to lose its relevance to and adoration […]
REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast (Kings Head Theatre) ★★★★★
This week, there have been a lot of reviews of pantomime whizzing around. Some have been applauded and some have come under criticism. Natasha Tripney scolded the New Wimbledon’s Jack and the Beanstalk for being “the kind of lazy, going-through-the-motions pantomime that thoughtlessly recycles dated material even though the world has changed.” Although I think […]
REVIEW: PINOCCHIO (National Theatre) ★★★★
Pinocchio is one of those stories that I thought I knew but then realised I really didn’t at all. I knew there was a cricket and a whale and a boy with a nose that grew every time he told a lie but all the other details were a bit fuzzy. This production is written […]
REVIEW: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (The Ambassadors Theatre) ★★★★★
For anyone who doesn’t know (and I imagine that’s a pretty small minority) The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a famous children’s book about a ravenous insect who (SPOILER ALERT) transforms into a beautiful butterfly via several items of foodstuff! This was my first trip to review a piece of theatre with my two children and it […]
REVIEW: THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE (Brockley Jack Theatre) ★★★
Joan Aiken’s classic gothic adventure story is a steampunk homage to Victorian literature set in an alternative 1830s “in an England that didn’t exist” where the country has been overrun with wolves following the opening of the Channel Tunnel. Russ Tunney’s stage version was first performed in 2010 by Southampton’s Nuffield Theatre, with several productions […]
REVIEW: Mischief Movie Night (Arts Theatre) ★★★★
Mischief Theatre has pretty much cornered the market with their very British style of comedy. With The Comedy About A Bank Robbery still thrilling audiences in the West End, The Play That Goes Wrong winning prizes on both sides of the pond and a televised version of the new A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong following […]
REVIEW: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Her Majesty’s Theatre) ★★★★★
The Phantom of the Opera is one of the worlds longest running musicals, opening in London in 1986 and still going strong today. Based on the novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux, it is inspired by real events that happened at the Paris Opera in the early nineteenth century. The Phantom of the […]