REVIEW: The Grand Expedition (Gingerline) ★★★★★
The Grand Expedition is an immersive dining experience cooked up by ‘Gingerline’, who describe themselves as a ‘group of food and drink enthusiasts whose goal is to create the ultimate dining experience’. As an eating enthusiast, I was very excited to see what they had dreamt up. Having been texted at 4pm with the ‘top […]
REVIEW: BEFORE 30 (Waterloo East Theatre) ★★★★★
Chris, a 29-year-old Deliveroo driver, laments the years that he has spent feeling misguided and unfocused. We meet this character aged 29, and as he blows the candles out on his cake, he sets himself a 12-month challenge: to get his shit together before the big 3-0. But what does this actually entail? What does […]
REVIEW: WOMAN! PILOT! PIRATE? (Vaults Festival) ★★★
Starting its short run this week, Woman! Pilot! Pirate? is a quaint look at Emmy (Grace Lyons Hudson), a dreamer, who finds out that her hero, pilot Amelia Earhart, has been missing for 81 years following a plane crash. Although her life puts some obstacles in the way, Emmy looks for ways to rescue her […]
REVIEW: Life is a Dream (Curve Leicester) ★★★
Rambert’s latest contemporary dance piece, Life is a Dream, visits Curve this week. Based on the play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca and choreographed by Olivier Award winning Kim Brandstrup, Life is a Dream tells the story of a director who has nodded off to sleep who dreams vivid images from the rehearsal as […]
REVIEW: The Remains of the Day (Royal & Derngate) ★★★★★
It’s not often that you witness a play that grips you before it starts. But a dark stage with imposing windows flooded with rain, piques interest immediately. Classic stories like Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day are often told countless times; the good ones never grow old. As butler Stevens reflects on his life, […]
REVIEW: The Mirror Crack’d (Salisbury Playhouse) ★★★★
When thinking of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, a prim, elderly spinster with a love of interfering immediately springs to mind. Far be it from me to criticise a crime fiction genius, but in some ways, Marple has always seemed to me a little one-dimensional – something that this production of The Mirror Crack’d goes some […]
REVIEW: ABIGAIL’S PARTY (New Victoria Theatre) ★★★★
Stage and TV star Jodie Prenger, Coronation Street and Emmerdale’s Vicky Binns and Daniel Casey, best known as DS Gavin Troy in Midsomer Murders, lead the cast in this comedy 1970s classic now playing at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. Beverly and husband Laurence are throwing a party for their neighbours, Tony and Angela. Joining […]
REVIEW: ROCK OF AGES (New Wimbledon Theatre) ★★★
Global smash Rock Of Ages has had wonderful success since its first production in Los Angeles in 2005. The 80’s glam metal jukebox musical features songs from bands including Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Europe among others, set to an 80’s love story of new girl in town […]
REVIEW: Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar Warehouse) ★★★
Peter Strickland’s 2012 film Berberian Sound Studio, was a masterpiece of tension and psychological drama firmly based in the Italian genre of giallo, that is marked by sex, violence, mystery and horror. Now it has been conceived for the stage by Joel Horwood and Tom Scutt. But sadly, it doesn’t come close to the film […]
REVIEW: Avenue Q (Royal & Derngate) ★★★★
We all love the muppets (admit it – you think Kermit is sexy), but puppets in general were always considered a bit childish. In recent years more and more stage shows have been using puppetry to portray concepts and surreal elements of a story. Avenue Q cuts through this attitude and thrusts puppets and humans […]