REVIEW: KINKY BOOTS (Adelphi Theatre) ★★★★
Kinky Boots is celebrating its third birthday at London’s Adelphi, and what a celebration – resplendent with enough high-kicks, slut-drops and stilettos for everyone. This is the musical I was always vaguely in the business of getting around to seeing, but never quite prioritising. Yes, it looked brashly fun and glittery, but like a high-camp […]
REVIEW: Sh!t-Faced Showtime: Oliver With A Twist (Leicester Square Theatre) ★★★★★
There’s always something delicious about adding a modern twist to a classic; the success of Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare over the past few years has proven that mixing “dost thou cometh” with “yeah mate I’m not gonna lie” works brilliantly well. Born of the same creators, Sh!t-Faced Showtime has reached the stage, this time with a spin […]
REVIEW: Going Places (King’s Head Theatre) ★★★
Going Places is a short play written, directed and performed by Jane Ryan and Billie Collinson that looks at the roles women play in the workplace and their attempts to escape their reality. Helen (Collinson) and Claire (Ryan) work together in an office surrounded by computers, papers, shredders and printers. It’s not clear what they […]
REVIEW: The Lovely Bones (Royal & Derngate) ★★★★
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. It’s late and your child isn’t home… you call the police and wait. And then you get the news you’ve been dreading… Alice Seybold’s The Lovely Bones is a book that stays with you. As a child I was always warned of the dangers of strangers, but in this story […]
REVIEW: Swan Lake (London Coliseum) ★★★★
Swan Lake is one of the most beloved tragedies in the ballet. Love, jealousy, betrayal and magic are all brought together to bring beautiful but dramatic scenes that evoke a sense of an ‘other world’ full of enchantments and spells. Tchaikovsky’s score provides its own type of music that bewitches the audience who watch, spellbound […]
REVIEW: The Play That Goes Wrong (Curve) ★★★★
It’s quite rare that I venture into a production totally blind with no idea what I am letting myself in for, but this was very much the case with The Play That Goes Wrong. I vaguely knew that scenery falls down at some point and that it’s a ‘what it says on the tin’ production, […]
REVIEW: Hobson’s Choice (Jack Studio Theatre) ★★★
Harold Brighouse’s Manchester School classic comedy about class and gender is given a new spin at the Jack Theatre by director Matthew Townshend. The setting has moved from 1880 to 1958 embracing Rock’n’Roll but remains firmly rooted in working class Salford. Successful shoe shop owner Henry Hobson (John D Collins) is a pillar of the […]
REVIEW: SIX (ARTS Theatre) ★★★★
It would be very easy to describe ‘Six’ as an all-female Hamilton, and in many ways you can. However, there are alternative suggestions I’d come up with – an all-female Avengers, the rivals of Little Mix perhaps, or else an electro-pop hour long version of the Cell Block Tango. ‘Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived.’ […]
REVIEW: Eugenius (The Other Palace) ★★★
The programme for Eugenius includes a review by Alun Hood of Whats On Stage, which references The Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, telling us that cult musicals can be about the strangest things. Herein lies the problem with Eugenius, cult musicals are not prescribed by the creators, […]
REVIEW: Black Cat Bohemia (Underbelly Festival) ★★★★
The self proclaimed cabaret trailblazers of Black Cat Bohemia are taking up residence in the Spiegeltent at the Underbelly Festival on the Southbank. Offering a “wild night at the circus” with “new high skills” featuring “world-class acrobats, aerialistes, fire-breathers and other gloriously talented reprobates.” The show promises much and just about manages to deliver. Laura […]