REVIEW: WHERE IS PETER RABBIT (Theatre Royal Haymarket) ★★★★
Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated her delightful cautionary tales between 1901 and 1918 and their publication by Frederick Warne has created multiple generations of fans for the charming little books. The Old Laundry Theatre developed this stage version in 2016 bringing it to the West End in 2018 and it now returns for a season […]
REVIEW: The Falcon’s Malteser (The Vaults) ★★★
New Old Friends Theatre Company are developing a distinctive style of theatre, based on taking well known titles (or genres) and creating fast paced parodies of the style and story. After the recent touring success of “Crimes on the Nile”, this latest production at London’s Vaults is The Falcon’s Malteser. The format is the same. […]
REVIEW: HIVE CITY LEGACY (The Roundhouse) ★★★★
A powerful piece of performance art that packs a punch! The Australian creative collective Briefs Factory bill themselves as “manufacturers and distributors of evocative, irreverent, political punk performance”. For the last few years the men of the Briefs Factory have brought their incredible burlesque cabaret show to the Spiegel Tent at Underbelly. Last year, the […]
REVIEW: Hair the Musical (Milton Keynes Theatre) ★★
Having censored theatre seems pretty archaic, lending itself to a time when Shakespeare was scripting his masterpieces and plague was decimating cities. And yet, just 50 years ago plays were still subject to strict rules and regulations. Enter Hair. First performed in London the day after the Theatres Act 1843 was abolished, it aimed to […]
REVIEW: EQQUS (Trafalgar Studios) ★★★★★
Eqqus, made famous by starring Daniel Radcliffe in 2008 opened to a full house of big theatre names last Monday at Trafalgar Studios. The play itself follows the diagnosis of a boy who has committed a crime against horses in a nearby stable. Peter Shaffer, the writer, covers lots of issues that arise in modern […]
REVIEW: The Night of the Iguana (Noel Coward Theatre) ★★★★
James McDonald has revived a rarely performed Tennessee Williams play and thrown at it an impressive cast and stunning set. The result certainly makes the best of the material and whilst this play is not seen as one of Williams’ classics, there is still much to enjoy. Drawn from Williams’ own experience of being holed-up […]
REVIEW: MEGA (Tristan Bates Theatre) ★★★
Alex Milne has written, directed and stars in this smart one act comedy about identity and loneliness in an age when everyone has to have a story. Three women, Angela (Kirsty King), a Princess, Tabatha (Casey Bird), a witch and Brandy (Alex Milne), a popstar, start by telling their stories to the audience. They are […]
REVIEW: Man Down (Tristan Bates Theatre) ★★★★
The difficult issues of male mental health and sexual assault are tackled in a sensitive and emotionally hard-hitting new play by writer and director Jack Hart. Hart’s first play in the West End has been supported through crowdfunding but has brought together a good cast and makes the best use of the small space at […]
REVIEW: HOLLYWOOD PROMS (Lytham Festival) ★★★★
The Lytham Festival celebrated ten years last week with a five day festival featuring headline acts The Human League, Stereophinics, Rod Stewart, Kylie Minogue and Hollywood Proms with Sheridan Smith and Michael Ball. We went along for the last two nights and specifically for the musical theatre feast that closed the festival. Sheridan Smith wowed the […]
REVIEW: Lea Salonga (Nottingham Royal Concert Hall) ★★★★★
Nottingham audiences were treated to a night with Lea Salonga at Royal Concert Hall this week. Lighting up Broadway and West End stages for thirty years, Lea Salonga is also the voice of many childhoods, having put her name to the likes of Disney’s Mulan (Fa Mulan) and Aladdin (Princess Jasmine). She also starred in the […]