Nicky Lambert, Author at North West End UK

Blue Man Group: Bluevolution World Tour – The Lowry

3Oct

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

North West

Blue Man Group: Bluevolution World Tour – The Lowry

Blue Man Group are a long established (since 1987) group of performers with their own unique brand of entertainment, the main feature of which is their phenomenal drumming. They always appear as a trio and are completely silent, in that they do not speak a word throughout the whole performance. Their current world tour, “Bluevolution” features a female drummer who provides them with excellent support but also gets her moment in the spotlight. I have seen Blue Man Group on the television and I wasn’t really sure how they could make their act stretch to a full ninety minute show (there is no interval) but they have crafted a wonderful evening’s entertainment, full of fun and joy and I was so sorry when it came to an end. The Blue Men mingled with the audience before the ...

West Side Story – New Mills Arts Theatre

7Sep

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

North West

West Side Story – New Mills Arts Theatre

West Side Story, that much loved classic, was powerfully brought to life tonight by Bowden Theatre Works at New Mills Art Theatre. This is a youth theatre production which packs a mighty punch. From the first finger click of the Prologue to the final heart rending scene, the show had the audience in the palm of its hand, with powerful singing and outstanding choreography. The swagger of the Jets kickstarted the first half and with the simple yet effective use of scaffolding as the set, we were transported to the edgy backstreets of Manhattan. The full menace and threat of the confrontation between the two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, was conveyed with no room for doubt of the fierce hatred between them. There was striking use of the lighting: hi...

Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear – Online

22Oct

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

REVIEWS

Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear – Online

Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel. This production by Blackeyed Theatre is a world premiere, written and directed by Nick Lane, currently touring the UK and there is also a streamed version available until 22nd January 2023. This review is of the streamed version. Blackeyed Theatre was created in 2004 and I saw their 2016 version of Frankenstein which I thought was a masterpiece. They set the bar high with that one in my opinion! I am not familiar with the story of “The Valley of Fear” so this was new to me. We see two stories running parallel to each other – one in “present day” (1895) and one told in flashback from twenty years earlier. This part is set in the Pennsylvanian Vermissa Valley. It is clear that they a...

8Dec

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

REVIEWS

Cinderella – UK Cinemas

In 2020, in response to the closure of theatres due to the pandemic, Peter Duncan (former Blue Peter presenter and legendary pantomime Dame) decided to produce Jack & The Beanstalk in his own garden to be streamed online as Christmas entertainment for families. It was so popular that it achieved cinema release. This year he has followed it up with “Cinderella” and I have to say, it surpassed my expectations. The pantomime is filmed in a house (Hardup Mansion), garden and surrounding woodland and also on location at a lavish stately home type property. It took a little getting used to at first as an outdoor pantomime is unusual, plus it was filmed in the summer, but I soon got used to that and enjoyed the different settings and imaginative way it was staged. The house was a per...

Nightmares – London Horror Festival Online

28Oct

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

REVIEWS

Nightmares – London Horror Festival Online

Produced by Shock Horror Theatre and written and directed by and also starring Joseph Helsing, “Nightmares” is a one man show, described as a horror musical about a man plagued by nightmares. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a nightmare to watch. I try very hard to find positives in every show I review but I simply cannot find anything good to say about this. The character is in a cellar, sleeping on a quilt (which Helsing kept slipping on and falling over). He has repetitive nightmares. In one corner there is a skeleton. There are also two other bodies. We eventually glean – over a very long hour – that he has killed his wife and his brother because they were having an affair. Helsing’s acting is over the top, cringeworthy and unconvincing, as is the dialogue. There are long...

The Day the Devil Came to Tea – Edinburgh Fringe

24Aug

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

Scotland

The Day the Devil Came to Tea – Edinburgh Fringe

Presented by Mermaids, ‘The Day the Devil Came to Tea’ (written by Charles Vivian) is a clever play with just enough darkness to be chilling but well balanced with an occasional light touch of humour. Three flatmates are in the aftermath of bereavement as the fourth flatmate, Phil, died two months ago. His death has triggered changes in each person’s life. One day, the Devil arrives, ingratiates himself into their flat and demands an Earl Grey with five sugars. He announces that by the time he has finished his drink, one of the three will be coming with him....and if they can’t decide which one, he will make the decision. (Rather an extreme version of the parachute debate!) Sarah (Molly Luckhurst), Tanya (Isabella Zeff) and Caroline (Catriona Ferguson) are initially adamant that n...

The Complications of Being Ernest – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

20Aug

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

Scotland

The Complications of Being Ernest – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Take a famous Oscar Wilde play, throw in some actors with personal problems, questionable acting ability and over-large egos, perform the whole thing via Zoom and what do you have? An absolutely hilarious hour of entertainment written by Kieron Rees and brought to you by The Unknown Theatre Company. The entire play is done live via Zoom and you watch it via Zoom but with your own camera turned off and the sound muted. We join the actors a few minutes before the play starts and unbeknown to them, we have all been let in out of the Zoom waiting room so we see and hear all their issues with each other. Jen and Ren (Vicky Davies and Michelle Kay) are scrapping over Ben (Harri Herniman) and Shaun, the Director (David Millard) is a man on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Rebecca (Kimber...

Dark Spirits, Black Humour – Edinburgh Fringe

19Aug

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

Scotland

Dark Spirits, Black Humour – Edinburgh Fringe

Billed as “a love letter to haunted stages, story-soaked speakeasies and the other strange places and lengths we go to find community”, ‘Dark Spirits, Black Humour’ is a one man show presented by InHouse Theatre and Assembly. The platform is Zoom so he can see us and we can all see each other. The setting is a low lit, atmospheric cocktail bar with our barman, played by Mark Jude Sullivan. He’s very personable and immediately likable. He spends some time mixing a (very strong) cocktail and speaking about the ingredients. He then encourages us all to share something or someone we would wish to commemorate from the past year and most of us do this, myself included. He offers condolences to those of us who wish to commemorate a lost loved one. He then goes on to tell a story from his li...

17Aug

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

Scotland

The Clones – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

“The Clones” are Lloydie James Lloyd and Liam Webber. They take an audience suggestion and weave a whole play around it, totally improvised and on the spot. With no set (except two chairs) and no idea of what the audience are going to suggest, this is the stuff of nightmares as far as I’m concerned, and I do think you must have to be some kind of masochist to want to perform improvised theatre. Tonight’s audience suggestion for the location was the International Space Station. I had assumed there would be other requested suggestions as to a vague storyline, characters etc but it was just the location. It took a little while to get going and there were a few long(ish) stretches of silence to start with, and I felt they struggled initially to get it off the ground. However, the pers...

A Live Stream with Dad’s Army – Fane Productions

1Aug

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

REVIEWS

A Live Stream with Dad’s Army – Fane Productions

Anyone of a certain age will be familiar with the much loved characters of Perry and Croft’s television series “Dad’s Army”. You’re probably humming “who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler” while reading this. David Benson and Jack Lane brought the entire cast of Dad’s Army to life tonight working from original radio scripts but transferred to stage. Although originally billed as three episodes, there were two episodes played out tonight: “When You’ve Got To Go” and “Never Too Old” (which was the final episode of Dad’s Army). The whole feel of the war years and the Home Guard was evoked from the very beginning, with an air raid siren and then snippets of famous wartime speeches from Chamberlain and Churchill before the familiar theme tune commenced. I was a bit unsure at firs...