REVIEW: Dinosaur Park (St James’s Theatre)
In August 2015 I was lucky enough to go to Edinburgh Fringe and see Superbolt’s Jurassic Park at the time it was on. After thoroughly enjoying it in Scotland I jumped at the chance to see Dinopark in London’s St James’s Theatre. Set in Lyme Regis Community Centre, we are greeted by the Park family […]
REVIEW: THE NUTCRACKER ON ICE (Royal Albert Hall)
Other than a pantomime there is no other piece of theatre that is so quintessentially Christmas as The Nutcracker. The Imperial Ice Stars have taken this ballet and given it a spectacular revamp with the elegance and thrills of an ice show. The majority of the cast, on top of having stunning ice skating skills […]
REVIEW: CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (West Yorkshire Playhouse)
I’m a little ashamed to say that I’d never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang until this week. So whilst going up and down the country to do the obligatory Christmas family visits, I decided to stop off in Leeds and go to the famous West Yorkshire Playhouse to check out the new production that will […]
CD REVIEW: RICHARD WOODFORD – Because of You
If you’re looking for a stagey album (that doesn’t feature Josh Groban) this Christmas, then look no further. Richard Woodford’s album ‘Because of You’ provides a wonderfully varied list of musical theatre classics as well as a few newer treats thrown in. Woodford’s voice adapts beautifully to several different musical styles, from Phantom to Saturday […]
REVIEW: ROBIN HOOD (Theatre Royal Stratford East)
I tried to explain panto to an Italian friend the other day. Her polite, bemused expression said, “Yeah, no idea. I’ll just keep smiling until you stop talking,” Men dressed as women, women as men, two people disguised as a cow, double meanings and audience participation… “Well, it’s just Commedia dell’arte, innit?” I should have […]
REVIEW: LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (Donmar Warehouse)
For much of Les Liaisons Dangereuses it feels like watching an oil painting come to life. Tom Scutt’s design is exquisite, with a grand backdrop of artwork and elaborate coving that reflects the opulent stately homes of 18th Century Paris in which the play is set. Yet it’s distressed and crumbling like the morals of […]
REVIEW: SLAVA’s SNOW SHOW (Royal Festival Hall)
This wasn’t my first trip to see Slava’s Snow Show (which has played the last five Christmas seasons in London) but I can’t say I have any more idea what it was all about the second time around either! It’s weird, whacky and endearing with clowns wandering around the stage for an hour and a […]
REVIEW: GOODNIGHT MR TOM (Duke of York’s Theatre)
In 1981, a children’s book called Goodnight Mr Tom was published and became a well loved classic amongst adults and children with its heartbreaking story of love, abuse and loss of lives during World War II. In 1998 a television adaption was made starring John Thaw which has now become a well loved Christmas classic […]
REVIEW: THE WASP (Trafalgar Studios)
The Hampstead Theatre has, for a long time, offered some exciting programs of writing both new and old, marked by regular West End transfers. A succession of recent transfers from The Hampstead Theatre Downstairs to Trafalgar Studios includes James Fritz’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s The Wasp, with the most recent announcement […]
REVIEW: PRIDE & PREJUDICE: THE PANTO (Cockpit Theatre)
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” You might say that I’m slightly obsessed with Pride and Prejudice. It’s my favourite book, I adore the BBC version and only a few weeks ago I played Jane in the play. […]