REVIEWS Archives - North West End UK

The Burns Project – Royal Lyceum Theatre

7Jul

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Burns Project – Royal Lyceum Theatre

There can be few figures in Scottish history as difficult to bring to the stage as Robert Burns. Poet, radical, celebrity, serial womaniser and national icon, he remains a figure whose mythology is almost as powerful as the man himself. The Burns Project, now returning to the Royal Lyceum following a successful Fringe run and subsequent touring, sets itself the ambitious task of stripping away that mythology to present Burns as a complex human being. It succeeds in many respects, but ultimately falls short where it matters most. Presented in the intimate surroundings of the Lyceum's Henry Irving Room, the audience gathers around a large dining table while Burns moves through the space, his life unfolding chronologically from humble beginnings to his premature death. Live music, performe...

7Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Operation Mincemeat – Hull New Theatre

Hull New Theatre-goers are used to having their bags searched upon entering the venue, but on Monday evening, my sister, Chrissy, who accompanied me to the theatre to watch Operation Mincemeat, a new musical, was scanned with a metal detector by a kindly security person. We wondered if this was part of the production - one that involved espionage, skullduggery, death and deceit, where a metal detector might be of some use. But, no, dear reader, my sis was scanned for real. It was a prelude to new security measures coming to public buildings mainly because of the Manchester Arena attack in 2017 (or so it was explained to us). Anything that keeps us safe on our beautiful planet is OK with me. Right, back to the show. The award-winning Operation Mincemeat (from the book, music and ly...

7Jul

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

The Divine Move – King’s Arms

Arthur and Augustus Blackwood (played by Joseph Dawson, and Ole Francis respectively), heirs to a vast fortune, meet at their family estate to spend the summer with the Prescott sisters and friends (played by Katie Jordan-Linton, Mia Shaw, and Polly Graves). What begins as breezy upper-class comedy of manners soon becomes something more agonising, as the death of the Blackwoods’ father turns the family’s expectations on their head. Both brothers are denied the futures they crave; Arthur is pressganged into service as the new head of the family, and Augustus is downgraded and forced to give up the woman he loves. Waiting in the wings is Cora (played by Emma O’Malley), a guest of the Prescott sisters with her own agenda. The Divine Move is a well-produced and acted play that skips alo...

7Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Baby Brain – Salford Arts Centre

Tonight’s show may have a minimal set – just a chair and a table inside our setting of a mother and baby unit – but that is where the restraint ends. Co-written and directed by Tim Clague and Danny Stack, with input from BAFTA award-winning actor Kimberley Nixon, who stars in the show, this one-hour, one-woman play confronts postpartum mental illness with a fearlessness that is both admirable and, at times, very unsettling. Inspired in part by Nixon’s own experiences, the production tackles postpartum psychosis, postnatal OCD, and depression with unflinching honesty. The show comes with a list of understandable trigger warnings for the heavy-duty topics of suicidal ideation, infant death, and severe postnatal mental illness, and rightly so. We meet Cassie, a wannabe stand-up comedian...

4Jul

By Stewart Who?No Comments

North West

Minogueus Sanctus – Crazy Coqs

The excellent 3-part Kylie documentary, currently on Netflix highlighted a sometimes vulnerable, seemingly authentic woman with a sense of humour and winning humility. She’s weathered major personal struggles, with her health and love life, all exacerbated by her celebrity status. The media interest in the movement of Minogue hasn’t waned since the mid ‘80s. Thanks to PWL’s ‘hit factory’, Kylie Minogue became a pop phenomenon on the back of her fame as TV soap actress. She was always a gay icon but cutting edge queens were digging acid house in ’88 and Kylie was the antithesis of the freewheeling rave scene. The Netflix doc shocked younger audiences with its focus on the widespread critical responses to her work. It was mean, misogynist and relentless. Kylie wasn’t cool. She had a c...

Sestercentennial – The Bread & Roses Theatre

4Jul

By Savitha VenugopalNo Comments

London

Sestercentennial – The Bread & Roses Theatre

The United States of America is celebrating its 250th birthday and Hamza Beshara, a Bangladeshi American, is throwing a party for his closest friends. They have been mates since their school days and Hamza thinks of himself as one of the boys, but do they think the same? Hamza has never questioned it, until now. Written, directed, and performed by Arif Silverman, the play observes USA’s sestercentennial by questioning its current politics. In particular, the situation of immigrants and non-white communities. “I was born here, I am American,” Hamza stresses. But he also sees that life is different for him as compared to his white friends. His parents had moved West in search of a better life, and Hamza knows he would struggle if he had to live in Bangladesh. To him, it is bu...

Flight: One Man’s Journey – The Squad House, Bredbury

4Jul

By Helen JonesNo Comments

North West

Flight: One Man’s Journey – The Squad House, Bredbury

Flight: One Man’s Journey is a one act, one man show performing at The Squad House in Bredbury as part of Greater Manchester Fringe. It is the story of Maneek, a boy raised initially in a village, surrounded by people he knows and dreams of tigers. Despite his fear of the beasts, he is happy. When his strict policeman father moves them to a city, his life changes. His mother has an affair, and his father throws them both out. He and his mother end up in the slums. However, he plans and manages his escape by gaining a visa to study abroad. It’s not smooth going. Through his life Maneek experiences hardships and struggles with a sense of cultural displacement, but he survives, marries a girl from his home country and ends up working and settling happily in...

4Jul

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Matilda – Birmingham Hippodrome

“There’s a newt in my knickers!” It’s hard to believe “Matilda” has been conjuring its magic in the UK for nearly fifteen years beginning back before Covid, before Brexit in 2011. It’s even harder to believe this well-versed critic, whose bottom has dinted hundreds of stalls seats at hundreds of shows, has resolutely failed to see it. Mea culpa. How can you ever forgive me, but tonight I make amends by treating my eyes and ears to their very first viewing. I may not have seen this Matilda, but I have seen a Matilda. Here’s a little known factoid for Tilly fans. An earlier musical version c.1992 toured the country playing number one dates without hitting the West End to great acclaim but rummage the internet and you’ll little mention as it’s upstaged by its younger, shinier sister. This ...

4Jul

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

-320° F – Sadler’s Wells Theatre

This is not a show I am going to be able to fully describe here. Across almost two and a half hours, Hideki Noda’s show was a mad, brilliant and strange whirlwind of ideas and images. Roughly, the story begins in the present day with a search for angel bones, which may hold the key to human desires. The main scientist Professor Kyuri thinks they will unlock humanity's secrets, the warring pharmaceutical sponsors, a brother and sister pair, are interested in their market value. The fight over finding and exploiting them centres around the character ‘Help’, because he happens to have an angel bone in his right arm, which allows him to detect other angel bones and use them to unlock the full power of his brain, connecting himself to past memories. As I said, this is not a straightforward p...

2Jul

By Kevin EcclestonNo Comments

North West

Strawberry Jack – Floral Pavilion

As a part of the Paradise Heights series Strawberry Jack comes to the Floral Pavilion, New Brighton 28th June. Written and directed by Joe O’Byrne, Strawberry Jack is one of those shows that grabs you by the collar from the first moment and refuses to let go. Joe O’Byrne’s Paradise Heights universe has always thrived on grit, heart, and a touch of the supernatural, but this one digs even deeper. It’s a bruised, beautifully bleak character study that feels as raw as a scraped knuckle and as tender as the moment after the fight, when the adrenaline fades and the truth starts to sting. At the centre is Jack Grundy — “Strawberry Jack” to the locals who once whispered his name with a mix of fear and admiration. Once the War Horse of Paradise Heights, Jack was a wild child who grew int...