Stephen Ward
A moving and powerful musical, Stephen Ward is a sophisticated cocktail of sex, spies and politics – for adults only. Alexander Hanson is charismatic and sexy as Stephen Ward, the social climbing osteopath whose platonic love for Christine Keeler (Charlotte Spencer) still raises questions today. It is made touching and believable by Spencer, particularly, who […]
In Vogue – songs by Madonna
Playing at St James Studio until Sunday 22nd December 2013. When Michael Griffiths looks in to your eyes, over the piano (and his steaming tea pot), it is hard to not be reduced to a giggling mess. It is almost erotic and can make even an old lady like me feel 17 again. I guess […]
Slava’s Snow Show
Rating **** Reviewed by Matthew Norton Playing at the Royal Festival Hall until 6 January 2014 The auditorium inside the Royal Festival Hall was buzzing. Being a single man at a clown show, I was grateful to see a mix of kids and plenty of adults to make me feel a bit better about being […]
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Nine months on from their presentation of The Play That Goes Wrong, simply one of the funniest plays I have ever seen and a tough act to follow, the wonderful members of Mischief Theatre are back with a Christmas offering that is every bit as funny and even more inventive. This version of the panto […]
Aladdin
Rating **** Reviewed by Rosalie Carter New Wimbledon Theatre Playing until 12th January 2014 I love a spot of Panto. I love screaming “He’s behind you”. I love the ghosties and the ghoulies who interrupt a good sing song (“Well, we’ll have to do it again then won’t we? Whoops!) And most of all I […]
The Little Mermaid
Rating **** Reviewed by Sarah Day Riverside Studios, Hammersmith Playing until 12th January 2014 If you want your mermaid to be human (Edvard Collin tells a young Hans Christian Anderson struggling to find his voice), give her human traits. Make her fallible. I would add to that, don’t dress her in a shiny tail, fake […]
Buttons – Another Cinderella Story
Rating – **** Reviewed by Alex Foott Charles Court Opera Performance date – Tuesday 10th December 2013 You’d be forgiven for thinking it an odd move for an opera company to tackle pantomime. Surely, for those who are accustomed to lengthy arias dripping with melodrama, pulling off a good old-fashioned knees-up bursting with holiday cheer […]
Cinders the adult panto
Rating *** Reviewed by Michaela Clement-Hayes Star Inn, Guilford – 12th December 2013 Panto is always the same – men in drag, girls in fishnets and a lot of giggling children. Each night the innuendos get bigger, the audience gets more involved and the director stops watching. Us Brits love it! Everyone knows the story […]
Ushers: The Front of House Musical
Rating **** Reviewed by Michaela Clement-Hayes The Hope Theatre Performance date: 10th December 2013 Running until: I’ve never worked as an Usher but I know a few friends who grace various London theatres with their presence, so I was curious to see how their story would be told. Five minutes in and I’d been inadvertently […]
The Upstanding Member
Rating **** Reviewed by Michaela Clement-Hayes Old Red Lion Theatre Performance date 6th December 2013 When I first read the title of this production, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Was it a political piece trying to be clever, or was it a cringe-a-minute innuendo-filled one? Happily, it is neither of these things and […]