REVIEWS Archives - Page 13 of 623

19Aug

By Abigail PendleburyNo Comments

North West

Mean Girls – Winter Gardens Blackpool

Mean Girls the Musical is a sensational, high-energy production that delivers everything you could hope for in a modern day musical, with its sharp humour, outstanding performances and visual style, it radiates energy from start to finish, creating a relatable story that audiences can connect with. This is a show that feels both fresh and faithful to the original story, and the Winter Gardens provides the perfect backdrop for such a vibrant, fast‑paced production it’s rare to see a production that balances comedy, heart and contemporary storytelling so seamlessly, but this one achieves it with style. One of the standout strengths of this production is the cast, who bring enormous personality and precision to every moment. Vivian Panka commands the stage as Regina George with a remarkabl...

Jeeves and Wooster: Stiff Upper Lip – Actors’ Church

19Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Jeeves and Wooster: Stiff Upper Lip – Actors’ Church

Is it possible to take a P G Wodehouse novel featuring his iconic characters and bring it to the stage with the silliness and farce turned up to eleven? Apparently, it is, if Oliver Stockley's adaptation of "Jeeves and Wooster in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" is anything to go by. Stockley also directs the troupe of four performers in a show so fast-paced and full of laughs that it's a sheer delight to watch. The four players, Shaun Mendum (Wooster), Scott Slocombe (Jeeves/Sir Watkyn Bassett), Chioma Uma (Emerald/Rev Pinker), and Lowenna Morgelyn (Gussie Fink-Nottle/Madeline Bassett/Aunt Dahlia) romp through the story, shifting effortlessly between personas, playing instruments, and singing, all with perfect comic timing. The plot is a riot of misplaced relationships, a possibly curs...

19Aug

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

corto.alto – The Hub

corto.alto was easily one of my top acts at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. I’ve listened to Liam Shortall’s work for a while, but this was my first time seeing corto.alto live, and it was a seriously good introduction to the project in its live form. Shortall is the creative force behind corto.alto, with the live lineup changing around him. For this performance, he was joined by Mateusz Sobieski on saxophone, Fergus McCreadie on keys, James Mackay on guitar and Graham Costello on drums. The chemistry between the five was one of the best things about the set. They were constantly exchanging looks and cues, which became almost as interesting to watch as the playing itself. The set was only around an hour and fifteen minutes, but it was packed. There was a lot of room for...

Tap Out! (Or I’ll Hit You Again) – Gilded Balloon Patter House

19Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Tap Out! (Or I’ll Hit You Again) – Gilded Balloon Patter House

The stage is adorned with a punchbag which gives you a clue as soon as you enter. Now, just to make things clear, this is not a play about boxing, but it is used during the play – the play is so much more! Written by Conor Dye, the play follows a man (Matt Ackermann) who at the beginning of the play is handcuffed to a hospital bed, and it is the playwright’s job to write his story. And, what a story it is! Tired of his everyday existence, and getting gradually more and more frustrated, man (as I am going to call him) decides that he is going to take out his frustration on anyone who annoys him, which is just about everyone! As he picks his targets, he stumbles upon a homeless man who he conducts a quick moral evaluation on before he decides punch him, b...

Witches Corner – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

19Aug

By Christina SchmidtNo Comments

Scotland

Witches Corner – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

Walking into the space to see Witches Corner, the audience is welcomed with a soft song being performed as they settle into their seats, perfectly setting up the tone of the show. Blending the stories of real women convicted as witches with modern women’s struggles, Eilidh Smith’s play is a lesson in Scottish history and a feminist rallying cry packaged into a 50 minute music theatre production. Stepping into the accused women’s shoes, it is incredible how contemporary their pleas for justice sound even though we like to tell ourselves that the world has changed since the witch hunts. And unfortunately the men’s points of view for convincing these witches isn’t unfamiliar either. Similar points of view can easily be found on the manosphere side of TikTok. But it makes sense. After a...

Love’s Labour’s Found – Greenside Riddles Court

18Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Love’s Labour’s Found – Greenside Riddles Court

To avoid being fired, modern poetry lecturers Jackie and Kate tell their employers they discovered a long-lost play by William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Found. The lie quickly spirals out of control when they’re invited to perform the “new” work at the 45th Shakespearean History International Teaching Conference (notice the acronym) the next day, aided and thwarter by a collection of zany characters such as one of their mothers, an actor, their boss and the dean, who is called Dean. Written and performed by members of the Newcastle University Theatre Society, the ensuing farce has its moments but unfortunately lacks the internal reality to properly build from. To properly spiral, one must have a centre to start from (or finish with), and Love's Labour's Found, which chose its tit...

The Palestinian Circus: Step and a Half – Underbelly Circus Hub

18Aug

By Ella BeckleyNo Comments

Scotland

The Palestinian Circus: Step and a Half – Underbelly Circus Hub

Palestinian Circus artists are taking Edinburgh Fringe by storm with their awe-inspiring, heart wrenching show ‘Step and a Half’. 'Joy is an act of resistance’. These words are voiced over the Lafayette in a moment of stillness and echo throughout the show, this sentiment is at the heart of the Palestinian Circus. As a non-profit organisation, they spread connection and hope across Palestine through performance art and community outreach programmes. The group have persevered through unthinkable challenges to reach the stage they are on today, and their resilience seeps into every moment of contagiously unfiltered joy. Before the show begins the crew skip, dance and sprin...

With The Possible Exception of Abraham Lincoln –Greenside @ George Street

18Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

With The Possible Exception of Abraham Lincoln –Greenside @ George Street

2026 – we are experiencing a change in the world order. The United States of America were always thought of as the good guys, joining with their allies to promote democracy, and fighting against regimes who bring terror to our shores. In 2016, Donald J Trump won the election to be President of the US, and it would be fair to say that the thought that he would become President was unexpected. Most people laughed it off as being absurd, but here we are in 2026, two years into his second Presidency, and the absurd is now the world’s normal. The idea for the play came to writer David Chocron from the lips of Donald Trump himself. During his battle to win a second term in 2020, at a press conference Trump said, ‘I’ve done more for Black Americans than anybody, wit...

Lorna Rose Treen: Now that’s What I Call Characters – Pleasance Courtyard

18Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Lorna Rose Treen: Now that’s What I Call Characters – Pleasance Courtyard

I have reviewed Lorna Rose Treen a few times over the years, through Skin Pigeon and 24 Hour Diner People, so Now That’s What I Call Characters presents something of a dilemma. This is essentially Treen’s greatest hits album, and I already own most of the records. All the favourites are here. The man with guns for hands, the extraordinarily long-armed trucker, the spy and femme fatale, and the Girl Guide proudly displaying the special badge she earned for killing Bin Laden, her terrorist assassination badge, naturally. I particularly enjoy the girl with braces, who keeps popping up throughout the evening. Treen herself remains immensely likeable. Her comedy has always had a bumbling, stumbling quality. Lines occasionally trip over themselves, characters threat...

Dracula: Lucy’s Dream – Pleasance at EICC

18Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Dracula: Lucy’s Dream – Pleasance at EICC

Dracula: Lucy’s Dream is certainly different. As I approach the 50-show mark at this year’s Fringe, I have seen nothing quite like this unusual, wordless proposition from Plexus Polaire. It is highly visual theatre, driven by a tremendous score of evocative, purposeful music that carries you along. But does it ultimately carry you anywhere? That is perhaps the difficulty with wordless theatre. Getting from A to B while signalling precisely what is happening along the way requires absolute visual clarity. At its best, Lucy’s Dream is mesmerising, hypnotic and genuinely dreamlike, with human performers and puppets inhabiting an increasingly uncertain world. At other times, it becomes repetitive. There is, it has to be said, quite a lot of Lucy lying on a bed. The ...