REVIEWS Archives - Page 130 of 409

Cirque: The Greatest Show – Floral Pavilion

12Sep

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Cirque: The Greatest Show – Floral Pavilion

Music, magic, mime and a variety of daring acts. Cirque blasts you through them all in this melange of talent. Definitely one the kids will enjoy, there are playground giggles and mystifying moments. It is a fun, feelgood escape. Offering a night like no other, Cirque draws you in to a chaotic world where musical theatre meets circus spectacle. Where else can you experience hits from showstopping musicals, see thrilling feats of daring and become engrossed in the life of a lonely but lively mime artist (Christian Lee)? The show opens with Lee entering a competition for a glorious technicolour TV - where winning it becomes a truly transformative experience. Getting to grips with his new technicolour television, we accompany Lee on a journey through a variety of talents. From hand b...

Keepers of the Light – The Studio, Edinburgh

12Sep

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Keepers of the Light – The Studio, Edinburgh

Written and directed by Izzy Gray this tells the intriguing true story of three lighthouse keepers who disappeared without trace from the Flannan Isle Lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides in 1900. When the boat bringing the relief keepers arrives at the rock eleven days later, the light is out, the clocks have stopped and there is no sign of any of the men. The captain of the relief boat searches in vain, growing ever more disturbed by the eerie emptiness. There is a single oilskin coat left hanging in the mess, seeming to indicate that one of the men left in a hurry. What catastrophe could have happened to cause all three keepers to vanish? A freak wave? Or something more sinister? Today there are no lighthouse keepers, all ...

12Sep

By Jennifer LaishleyNo Comments

London

Sing-easy – Leicester Square

Sing-easy is the bar that musical theatre fans have been waiting for and now on Fridays and Saturdays Sing-easy will host musical theatre lates with a DJ till 3am! Sing-easy is an intimate piano bar within The Piano Works in Leicester Square. Throughout the night the pianist takes song requests, and the waitresses take turns stepping up to sing. The set list is strictly musicals! The nature of this kind of show does mean that the quality of music will depend on the taste of your fellow audience members. Luckily, we were spoilt with a wide range of musicals from different eras. The standard of performance is really high all of the singers are working professionals, and we were really blown away by the singing. A particular highlight was Take Me or Leave from Rent me sung by Eleano...

10Sep

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Oklahomo – The Old Joint Stock Theatre

“Oklahomo” is an endearingly ramshackled, delightful kitsch and joyously indulgent piece of … what? Well, that’s the question. Is it a revue? Is it cabaret? Is it drag? Is it slapstick? Is it art? Let’s settle for post-modern Dadaist agit-prop performance piece with knock gags. I’m sure I’ll think of a better description later in the review. The Old Joint Stock Theatre, now under the confident management of James Edge, is a gem in the heart of the second city - small, compact, bijou. Climbing the stairs is like sneaking away to your own secret playroom away from the grown-ups and that, in essence, is what tonight felt like. Maybe a hundred people, joyfully crammed into a hot room with many a-fan fluttering would usually be my idea of hell, but this was a crowd clearly out to enjoy itsel...

Loose Women Live – Opera House Manchester

10Sep

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

Loose Women Live – Opera House Manchester

The strobes lights were in full force, the show tunes loud with everyone dancing, and four Loose Women kept us entertained for a Friday night of ‘Loose Women Live’. Swapping the TV screen for the stage, we were invited to join their panel and be part of an unfiltered show. Loose Women being the iconic day time show that it is, exploring issues ranging from the serious and sad, to the funny and downright risqué, has been on our screens for almost 25 years. In this time we have grown to love certain Loose Women and welcome them in to our hearts from our screens, listening to their problems and anecdotes, relating and laughing along the way. And this familiarity offers a sense of comfort – the audience are wanting a good time, unified by a love for these ladies and their chatter, and the Loos...

A Portrait of William Roscoe – The Athenaeum

10Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

A Portrait of William Roscoe – The Athenaeum

The latest production from ArtsGroupie CIC, penned and performed by John Maguire, celebrates William Roscoe, a renowned writer and one of England’s first abolitionists. Using an array of theatrical techniques including puppetry, physicality and traditional storytelling, Roscoe is literally taken out of his portrait and brought to life in the very building he helped to found over two hundred years ago. Born in 1755, as the son of an innkeeper Roscoe was of humble stock but with the benefit of education, he was to become a man of learning, able to explore his interests and advocate for a number of causes close to his heart including establishing the original Liverpool Botanic Garden in 1802. A social activist throughout his life, Roscoe became an MP in Liverpool where, in spite of much lo...

10Sep

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Strategic Love Play – Soho Theatre

Dating in this day and age seems to be getting harder and harder, what with less natural ‘bumping into someone’ and more organised ‘meet ups’ with your fingers crossed that a spark lights and then you can finally relax because you’re back on track. ‘Him’ and ‘Her’ (Archie Backhouse and Letty Thomas) find themselves in a pub with two pints and both completely willing to make it work. But it doesn’t, she makes it difficult admitting that she’s unlovable and all she asks is for him to not lie. He, confused then of course lies and says ‘you’re great’ but I think I’m going to leave. Somehow she convinces him to stay. The next hour takes us through a whole evening of deep, truthful conversation ending with a contract of what ‘this’ is. They agree to be like those old couples holding hands, compl...

8Sep

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Birthright – Finborough Theatre

Continuing their re-discovery season, Finborough Theatre presents Birthright by T. C. Murray. Written in 1910 and staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin that same year, it was a huge success. Set around the same time in rural Ireland, a farming family comes to conflict over the different ways the two sons are being drawn in their own lives. Shane, the second son, has an innate talent for farm work, often finding solutions to farm challenges more swiftly than his father, Bat. Yet, despite this, the farm and its birthright were never destined to be his. He has arranged to emigrate to America. On this particular evening, we find ourselves at the family table, where a freshly delivered trunk rests, symbolising the second son's future far away – a "spare," borrowing a phrase from recent UK te...

8Sep

By Carole BaldockNo Comments

North West

Cuckoo – Everyman Theatre

Familiarity breeds contempt and seeing the whole of this household glued to their phones is exasperating to say the least. They appear to be trapped in the mobile world, excuse the dichotomy, with every aspect covered: news flashes; online buying and selling; videos, posts, messages. It feels as if there's more ping than dialogue sometimes. Set in a slightly shabby, old-fashioned house in Birkenhead; a bit parochial but like everywhere else, places are closing down, there's a gig economy and all sorts going on in schools, the increasing vice of violence, and the influence of the would be virtuous. We learn all this through the Greek Chorus of Doreen's two daughters, didactic Sarah in particular. The division between the cosy interior and the scary outside world (and let's face it, has i...

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Musical – Hull New Theatre

8Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Musical – Hull New Theatre

Hull city centre was illuminated with the regal colour purple on Thursday evening, in honour of the king of chocolatiers, Mr Willie Wonka, who, along with an amazing cast, crew and orchestra, brought Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory: The Musical, to life on the Hull New Theatre stage. We theatregoers also got the royal treatment by walking on a plush purple carpet into the venue, itself decorated with purple and gold balloons. What a magnificent start to the autumn season. The story centres around a young lad called Charlie Bucket, who lives with his two sets of bedridden grandparents and his mother in a shack. Charlie (Haydn Court - definitely a future stage star) spends his spare time sifting through the local rubbish site looking for trinkets he can give to his...