REVIEWS Archives - Page 10 of 574

5Mar

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Our Town – Rose Theatre

Michael Sheen is the Artistic Director of Welsh National Theatre, and this is their inaugural production, co-produced by Rose Theatre themselves. Sheen has put his money where his mouth is, funding WNT himself. They begin with an American classic, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. While this may not sound innately Welsh - the tale of a quintessential American town - it is said that Dylan Thomas was familiar with both Wilder and his play when he wrote Under Milk Wood. So, we take ourselves to Grover’s Corners, a small town with a Welsh accent somewhere, well let’s just say somewhere. The Stage Manager guides the audience through the story, introduces us to a number of the inhabitants and we jump back and forward in time to follow their trials and tribulations. Sheen himself plays the Sta...

5Mar

By Kevin EcclestonNo Comments

North West

War of the Worlds – Liverpool Playhouse

At Liverpool Playhouse, War of the Worlds is not presented as a conventional science-fiction spectacle. Instead, the innovative theatre company imitating the Dog transforms The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells into a striking exploration of storytelling itself. The result is a production that feels urgent, intelligent and technically daring. From the outset, the audience is made aware that they are watching a story being constructed. The stage resembles a film studio as much as a theatrical set: cameras are visible, miniature buildings sit on tables, and projected backdrops loom across large screens. Rather than hiding the mechanics, the company places them centre stage. This transparency becomes one of the production’s greatest strengths. As scenes of invasion and destruction unfold, w...

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Drama Studio, Sheffield

5Mar

By Nathan DunnNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Drama Studio, Sheffield

The Company brought Oscar Wilde’s philosophical gothic great ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ to Sheffield’s Drama Studio this week, and audiences lucky to attend are in for an impressive, arresting night of theatre. This particular adaptation was born from the brain of George Shore, who co-directs this piece with Mark Todd. Shore’s script is refined and full of wry humour. In many cases the world-building is contingent upon the script, and here Shore exercises expressive vernacular with all the appropriate didactic bombast of Wilde’s upper-class late Victorian realm. I really enjoyed Shore’s reliance on subtext in dissecting the narrative, leaving an air of mystique surrounding the picture and the terms of Dorian’s negotiation with it. It’s a pointed, concise text that Shore has crafte...

5Mar

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Double Indemnity – Richmond Theatre

Double Indemnity is a thrilling stage adaptation that dives deep into the darker side of human nature, exploring how lust, greed, and temptation can drive even the most ordinary people toward murder. The play captures the essence of classic noir storytelling, asking the audience to consider just how far someone might go when love and money become intertwined. The story follows insurance broker Walter Huff, played by Ciarán Owens, whose seemingly routine job takes a dangerous turn when he meets Phyllis Nirdlinger, the wife of one of his clients. Phyllis, portrayed by the wonderful Mischa Barton, quickly draws Walter into an illicit affair. What begins as flirtation soon escalates into something far more sinister, as the two begin plotting the murder of Phyllis’s husband in order to claim...

5Mar

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Broken Glass – Young Vic

Unlike Arthur Miller’s heralded classics, Broken Glass is not a play that turns up on the syllabus or tests the skills of the nation’s amateur dramatic societies. As one of Miller’s later plays (1994), it’s not the best example of his genius. It’s a complex oddity that mixes history, symbolism and the challenges of identity into an itchy and overly ambitious psychodrama. The play was first performed in Connecticut in June 1994 and had its UK premiere in August of the same year at the Lyttelton Theatre. It bagged the 1995 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and was nominated for a 1994 Tony. The play has an undeniable history of mixed reviews, but this particular production drew curious anticipation thanks to the presence of director Jordan Fein. Young Vic scored a coup by getting F...

Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts – Festival Theatre

5Mar

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts – Festival Theatre

With the first stage appearance of the famed detective, Inspector Morse - House of Ghosts is an original story inspired by Colin Dexter’s well-known character, this time penned by Alma Cullen and directed by Anthony Banks. A murder mystery staged live, this show intends to keep audiences thrown with red herrings and guessing the culprit until the last minute. In this new story, set in 1987, Rebecca (Eliza Tealer), dies suddenly during a performance of Hamlet. Thankfully for her, and the play’s plot, Inspector Morse (Tom Chambers) just so happens to be in the audience and quickly launches an investigation. What at first seems like a standard murder case quickly becomes a story of secret and deceit spanning Morse’s own life 25 years ago. Assisted by DS Lewis (Tachia Newall), Morse is left...

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile – Grand Opera House York

4Mar

By Phoebe Olivia Sian HobsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile – Grand Opera House York

Oooooh la la, what a magnificent performance! J’adore Lucy Bailey’s portrayal of Agatha Christie’s renowned murder mystery ‘Death on the Nile’, a truly nail biting and explosive narrative well told, by none other than Hercule Poirot himself (Mark Hadfield). The famous who done it on stage, lived up to its beloved reputation and more, despite the familiarity of the story the anticipation and action still swallow you whole, slowly and then all at once, the same way that the moon encapsulates that last bit of sunlight at sunset. Lucy Bailey’s take, stays both quintessentially Agatha Christie and humble, unravelling the murder case but at the same time humouring the audience with the obviousness of the plot. Mark Hadfield playing Monsieur Poirot fascinated the audience in fi...

Legally Blonde The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

4Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Legally Blonde The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ took Sheffield Theatres’ stage by storm. An absolute tour de force, it is a hilarious, dazzling night of entertainment for all. Amber Davies stars as Elle Wood, the chihuahua wielding, pink-wearing, fashion-obsessive sorority queen who embarks on an adventure in pursuit of status and legitimacy (or what her ex-boyfriend Warner refers to as ‘seriousness’). Davies is remarkably adept in the role, possessing great comedic sensibility and offering a very precise and focussed portrayal of the unlikely, unlucky-in-love law student. She is excellently matched by George Crawford’s Emmett who provided an equally as pointed and complete performance. Adam Cooper’s Callahan is formidably authoritative and delightfully antagonistic. Jocasta Almgill’s Brooke is refreshin...

Jeffery Bernard is Unwell – Coach & Horses

4Mar

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Jeffery Bernard is Unwell – Coach & Horses

The tempting novelty inherent to this production of Jeffery Bernard is Unwell by Keith Waterhouse, is the fact it’s staged in Soho’s Coach & Horses pub on Dean St. This iconic boozer was once a magnet for bohemian artists, day drinkers and creative ‘characters’ such as the journalist Jeffery Bernard who worked for The Spectator. Bernard’s column, popular throughout the 1970s, was titled Low Life and described by Jonathan Meades as a “suicide note in weekly instalments.” Bernard was still alive when this play first hit the West End in 1989, and the production proved a hugely successful vehicle for Peter O’Toole in the leading role. The show returned a year later to the Old Vic, where it enjoyed a sell-out run and was filmed in front of a live audience. It’s hard to imagine a theatre ...

4Mar

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Fairytales ’26 – Traverse Theatre

IDS Theatre take us back to the dark roots of storytelling, in this work-in-progress sharing of three intersecting short plays. Each play is staged as a monologue, with one actor playing multiple roles. Cleo, My Little Baby tells the story of the “perfect woman”, an AI robot created to comply with men’s desires without asking for anything in return. Cleo escapes from Darren, a bullying creep who calls her mummy in bed, and sets out to discover her origins. My heart broke for Cleo, played with vivacious humanity by Samuela Noumtchuet. Personally, I am rooting for the robot uprising sequel. In The Ginger Girl, we meet Mark (Kieran Lee-Hamilton), a young washing machine repairman and committed misogynist. Mark is chronically online, finding community through the so-called “manospher...