REVIEW: THE TERRIBLE INFANTS (Wilton’s Music Hall) ★★★★★
A tumbling, twirling ragtag band of storytellers bustles into Wilton’s Music Hall this autumn with The Terrible Infants, a fantastical anthology of twisted tales. A show filled to the brim with moments of sparkling irreverence and charming caricature, it is a feast of masterful puppetry, live music and beautifully crafted poetry. Spinning together seven original […]
REVIEW: LABOUR OF LOVE (Noël Coward Theatre) ★★★★★
The political comedy Labour of Love by seasoned writer-director team James Graham and Jeremy Herrin (previously widely successful with This House) has just opened at the Noël Coward Theatre. Labour MP David Lyons (Martin Freeman) and his constituency agent Jean Whittaker (Tamsin Greig) tensely follow the results of the 2017 general election in Nottinghamshire. Even though […]
REVIEW: A Nazi Comparison (Waterloo East Theatre) ★★
A Nazi Comparison is an original piece from Craft Theatre, inspired by Schlageter by Hans Johst and its expression of Nazi ideology set against current events. Craft Theatre began as a research initiative to develop actor training and developed into a rep company known for its physical and ensemble work. The show follows Clare, a […]
REVIEW: THE TOXIC AVENGER (Arts Theatre) ★★★★
Ok, what musical is a satirical comedy set in a dark, toxic dystopian world? Urinetown! Nope, it involves romance and monsters…Rocky Horror? Wrong again, okay it involves a zombie…Zombie Prom? Sure, it may sound like your typical comedy horror rock musical set in New Jersey about a geek falling in love with a blind girl […]
REVIEW: Ordinary Days (Bridewell Theatre) ★★★
Ordinary Days premiered in 2008 at London’s Finborough theatre, before moving to its rightful home off-Broadway the following year. Set in New York, it follows the intersecting lives of four characters finding and losing their way in the city that never sleeps. From hailing cabs in the rain, to getting lost in the expanse of […]
REVIEW: BIG STAGEY FRIDAY (Above The Arts) ★★★★
Big Stagey Friday kicked off last weekend at the newly refurbished Above The Arts theatre in London’s West End. Hosted by Emma Ralston and Anthony Williamson, the evening had performances from Rebecca Craven, Sooz Kempner, Evelyn Hoskins and Sister Mary McArthur. The last time I saw a show at Above The Arts (above the Arts Theatre) […]
REVIEW: THE WOMAN IN BLACK (Fortune Theatre, 2017) ★★★★
The Fortune Theatre, built in 1924 on the ashes of the Albion Pub is a suitably spooky setting for Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, now in its 29th year. It abounds with tales of ghosts; the broken hearted flower seller who appears once a year in the circle to wait for his illicit love; […]
REVIEW: SUNSET BOULEVARD (Curve Leicester) ★★★★★
Sunset Boulevard is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s tragic story of the once brilliant Norma Desmond (Ria Jones), a faded star of the silent screen, and Joe Gillis (Danny Mac), a struggling young screenwriter trying desperately to make it in tinsel town. Directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, this show is an epic triumph. Andrew Lloyd […]
REVIEW: THE ADDAMS FAMILY (Woking Theatre) ★★★
TV’s spookiest family gets their stage debut as The Addams Family at Woking Theatre. For a musical largely aimed at taking fans on a nostalgia trip through the “Adams Family” Films and TV Series, it certainly delivers. For those of us not such die-hard fans, maybe not quite the same experience was to be had. […]
REVIEW: The Band (Manchester Opera House) ★★★★★
When it was announced that Gary Barlow would launch a TV talent search to find five young men to play a fictional boy band in a new musical using the music of Take That, the first question on many lips was “Do we need another Take That Musical?”. The answer is yes. As jukebox musicals […]