REVIEW: BOYS WILL BE BOYS (Bush Theatre at Bush Hall) ★★★★
The Bush Theatre, currently undergoing major building work, has moved to the iconic Bush Hall to present Melissa Bubnic’s witty satire on the City and its male dominated culture. Bubnic, an Australian playwright from Melbourne, won the Write Now 3 competition at the Brockley Jack Studio with her play Emoticon. She also writes for the […]
REVIEW: BEETLES FROM THE WEST (Hope Theatre) ★★★★
One of the aims of Falling Pennies theatre company is to look at issues that are prone to falling under the radar and ‘Beetles From The West’, a well observed work from James Hartnell, certainly does that and does it well. The play involes three characters, Boyd, his girlfriend Jenny and the Doctor Henry and […]
FILM REVIEW: LUCKY STIFF ★★★
Traditionally, ‘Lucky Stiff’ is a quirky chamber piece of slapstick, absurdist musical theatre by Ahrens (book/lyrics) and Flaherty (music), the show-writing duo behind ‘Ragtime’ and ‘Seussical’ to name but two of their many collaborations. This early example of their work has now been made into a live-action film (with a small element of animation), which […]
REVIEW: CATHY COME HOME (Barbican) ★★★★
Fifty years ago, the original film Cathy Come Home was made and shown to the British public to expose the state of homelessness at the time. Needless to say, it was ground-breaking and sparked widespread concern and outrage at the services, or lack thereof, that those affected by homelessness could access. It comes as a […]
REVIEW: GET ‘EM OFF (Above The Stag) ★★★
Get ‘Em Off! is the latest offering from the UK’s only full-time LGBT Theatre, Above The Stag, in the heart of Vauxhall. A musical comedy which tells the story of the local Croydon gay bar, The Golden Canary. After bar owner Quinny announces he might have to shut up shop and sell, local punters decide […]
REVIEW: JACKIE THE MUSICAL (Empire Theatre, Sunderland)
Jackie the Musical is a wonderfully nostalgic journey into the gentler, more innocent times of the 1970’s. When I used to read my sisters copy of Jackie on a Thursday before she came home from school. This Jackie is 54, mother of a 19 year old David who wants to give up education to play […]
REVIEW: BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (Richmond Theatre)
It is difficult to adapt a novel for a film, a TV series is usually better suited to capture the richness of the writing. This is equally true for a stage adaptation and often it is better to step away from the original. Bryony Lavery attempts to do justice to Evelyn Waugh’s novel by trying […]
REVIEW: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (St Paul’s Church)
Musical, magical madness. There is no other way to describe one of Iris Theatre’s Shakespearean productions – each summer they brave all weathers to bring the bard to the people via a promenade piece. They never fail to disappoint and Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Amy Draper, is no different. Claudio and Hero fall […]
REVIEW: Eugenius! (London Palladium)
The new writing to have emerged over the last few years in the musical theatre world has often left much to be desired. Only the occasional piece has managed to make its mark among the long celebrated classics currently in the West End. While the endeavour to create an entirely original concept is of course […]
REVIEW: Sam Bailey slays Southend as Mamma Morton in CHICAGO
Chicago is the 1920’s inspired musical based on the stories of female murderes in a Chicago prison. Velma Kelly is the talk of the town after killing her sister and her boyfriend after finding them in bed together. But as with any hot news topic, the newspapers are always on the look out for a […]