REVIEW: Macbeth (St Paul’s Actors Church) ★★★★★
Blood, betrayal and black magic. There are so many versions of Shakespeare‘s ‘Scottish play’ that you’d expect them all to blend into one another. However, the vast number of themes in Macbeth enables directors to have a plethora of possibilities and productions. Opening with a skirmish and the apparitions of three other worldly creatures, Iris […]
REVIEW: The Female Gaze & Other Stories (Cockpit Theatre) ★★★★
This is the second scratch night in Rich Creative’s production of the ‘Girls on Fire’ season, with this serving of seven individual stories connected by a common theme of female physiology. This production calls into question several key questions surrounding the feminine identity, that of: the connectedness of the mind and body, the possibility of […]
REVIEW: Liza’s Back (is Broken) (Underbelly) ★★★★★
From playing the title role in Flora, the Red Menace to Roxie Hart in the Original Broadway Production of Chicago to standing in for Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria, there is no doubt that Liza Minnelli is a celebrated Broadway legend. However, apart from the above credits, her Broadway appearances are few and far between. What […]
REVIEW: THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (London Palladium) ★★★★
Full disclosure. I don’t think I’ve ever read or seen The Wind In The Willows before. I didn’t know this until I walked into the new musical version at the London Palladium this week but I realised I didn’t have a clue what the story was about. A mole goes out for a walk and […]
REVIEW: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Wyndham’s Theatre) ★★★★
Many see Billie Holiday as one of the greatest ever Jazz artists, a legend in her field. Audra McDonald, on the other hand, is a theatrical goddess, who has won more Tony awards than any other performer and so in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill you really do have a legend playing a […]
REVIEW: TREMORS (King’s Head Theatre) ★★★
Tremors is the new play from Brighton based Broken Silence Theatre. The play is written by award winning writer Tim Cook who trained at RADA and the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and directed by Paul Macauley. Tremors is the tale of Tom Crowe, rising star of the Labour Party, caught up in a scandal […]
REVIEW: DIRTY DANCING (Sunderland Empire) ★★★
I have a confession – I’m not a fan of the film version of Dirty Dancing. But this new musical version on tour is actually quite good. Vibrant, exciting and very sensual, Dirty Dancing positively simmers with sexuality and the audience in Sunderland loved it. The first act centres on 17-year-old Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman (played […]
REVIEW: Chippy & Scratch Night (The London Welsh Centre)
Chippy Lane Productions was founded by Rebecca Hammond in 2016 with the aim of championing Welsh writing outside of Wales. The first Scratch Night was held in October 2016 at the London Welsh Centre on Grays Inn Road to showcase works in progress by Welsh playwrights and was well received. Chippy & Scratch returned to […]
REVIEW: BLONDEL (Union Theatre) ★★★★
The Union Theatre goes back to medieval Britain this summer, in what Tim Rice describes as one of the most enjoyable project’s of his vast and varied career, ‘Blondel’. Telling the story of a lowly court singer’s search to write the perfect anthem whilst ‘King Richard’ (played brilliantly by Neil Moors), under whom he is […]
REVIEW: MY COUNTRY: A WORK IN PROGRESS (Theatre Royal Stratford East) ★★★
My Country: A Work in Progress is a Brexit-inspired collaboration between Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Artistic Director of the National Theatre Rufus Norris. It was conceived primarily as a listening project, in response to a referendum campaign characterised by stark divides and bitter debates. In a country that often feels like it doesn’t […]