REVIEWS Archives - Page 166 of 549

Bonnie & Clyde – Knutsford Little Theatre

15Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Bonnie & Clyde – Knutsford Little Theatre

Tonight was my first visit to both Knutsford Little Theatre and Together For Theatre Productions to witness their latest offering Bonnie & Clyde. This is a musical rarely performed by amateur societies as it is tough to stage with the story moving so fast from one location to another and the underscore not allowing much wriggle room. The story of Bonnie & Clyde needs little explanation, bad boy meets good girl, and good girl turns bad due to the blindness of love. It doesn’t end well for our lead actors as is highlighted at the very start of the show. Together For Theatre have had no issues attracting a stellar cast to perform this gem of a musical which should be performed so much more. The score is stunning, the story compelling, everything points to a West End an...

14Aug

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Farm Hall – Theatre Royal Haymarket

"The world is ugly; the work is beautiful." Farm Hall is an extraordinary production directed by Stephen Unwin in the beautiful historical Theatre Royal Haymarket. The show explores morality and historical events, focusing on the physicists detained at Farm Hall in Cambridgeshire just after World War II. The play opens with all six cast members introducing themselves as they find themselves held at a stately home in Cambridgeshire. The set is minimal, depicting a single room where the men pass their time by chatting, playing games, and enjoying music. In the first act, we see them struggling to fill the long hours with little to do. The arrival of a new piano, for example, provides a brief moment of excitement and distraction. The first act is brisk and fast-paced, filled with di...

Agatha Christie’s The Rats – theSpace on the Mile

14Aug

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Agatha Christie’s The Rats – theSpace on the Mile

Performed by Hart Players, from Fleet in Hampshire, The Rats is one of a trilogy of less familiar Agatha Christie plays known as the Rule of Three. Each play stands alone, but has links between the characters, which become apparent when all three are performed as a single production. At a little over 30 minutes long, The Rats is the shortest in the trilogy. Described as “a dark and chilling tale”, this production didn’t quite seem to know where to pitch the style, hovering somewhere between playing it straight and playing for laughs. Either would have worked, but as it was this play neither thrilled nor amused. Sandra (Helen Tyson) arrives at an apartment, allegedly the home of the Torrences, to which she’s been invited to a party.&nbs...

The Sun, the Mountain, and Me – Underbelly, Cowgate

14Aug

By Gill LewisNo Comments

Scotland

The Sun, the Mountain, and Me – Underbelly, Cowgate

The disclosures of an artist who finds himself spiraling into the darkness, can he find a way of pulling himself out of the path of the big black beast which is running up behind him. First performed as an audio piece during the pandemic, this is a beautifully constructed piece of storytelling which explores the fragility of mental health through the use of art and literature. Bedivere Arts present this solo show written and performed by Jack Fairey who has a warm and captivating energy throughout the piece. His commitment and motivation behind each character and their movement enriches the storytelling, and the imagination of the audience. Struggling artist Arthur, tries to find solace and inspiration in the teachings of Greek mythology, with Icarus who flies too close...

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show – Pleasance Courtyard

14Aug

By Gill LewisNo Comments

Scotland

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show – Pleasance Courtyard

The sweet smell of fresh, warm croissants, strawberries and a hot beverage is the perfect way to start a day at the Fringe. Bite-Size is back with another light and entertaining sketch show which will have you laughing as you tuck in to your pastry. Celebrating their 16th year on the Fringe, Bite-Size Plays have partnered up with The Pleasance to serve up their three-rotating menus, and there is plenty of ridiculousness to choose from. Menu 2 is a mixed bag of comedies and mini dramas. There are plenty of laughs and witty one liners with lashings of absurdity and silliness. Stand out sketches include, ‘Criminal Behavior’, a bumbling armed robbery, and ‘Jitters,’ where we meet the company ‘Think Twice’, trying to keep the divorce rates down by checking brides are not having second...

Lash: A Pulsating New Play About Going Out Out! – Pleasance Courtyard

14Aug

By Gill LewisNo Comments

Scotland

Lash: A Pulsating New Play About Going Out Out! – Pleasance Courtyard

Boost your adrenaline and immerse yourself in this part gig, part theatrical experience, which proves to be a treat to the senses. This is storytelling that stirs up memories of long, booze-soaked late-night club shenanigans and regretful drug fueled streams of consciousness. There’s nothing more exhilarating than getting ready to go ‘out out’ on the town after a long, boring, mundane day at work. With the night threatening to go one way, or the other, with the line between reality, drugs, and booze blurring the vision threatening all of the senses, concepts which this unapologetic production thrives on. Written and directed by Phillip Stokes the dark and dingy cobbled Bunker One is the perfect setting for this claustrophobic, loud and noisy piece. We’re hitting the town, big st...

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins – Pleasance Courtyard

14Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins – Pleasance Courtyard

Returning to the Fringe with his third solo show, comedian and clown Garry Starr attempts to perform every Penguin Classic novel in the space of an hour, to save literature from extinction. This seems like a bold claim; however, this is a man who has previously performed every style of theatre and all of Greek mythology and managed to make both incredibly funny. This year he has even branched out into children's theatre, albeit with an underlying narrative about mental health. Starr arrives onstage naked, save for a top hat, a dinner jacket, an Elizabethan ruff and a pair of flippers. He builds an instant rapport with the audience, riding the waves of laughter before gently encouraging some participation. There is a great deal of skill involved in his crowd work, never ridiculing an...

Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-sort – Greenside @ Riddles Court

14Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-sort – Greenside @ Riddles Court

Written and performed by Jan Carey, Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-sort sees Marion Scott present a biography of her relationship with Ivor Gurney by means of their letters to each other and the music of Gurney. Carey masterfully swings between the voices of both Scott and Gurney, giving us a sense of the eccentric personality of Gurney, and the wistful nature of Scott as she reflects on the pair’s friendship. Despite being Carey’s first piece of writing, this play is a true, heartfelt representation of what theatre should be. The audience are taken on a journey of reminiscence that leaves us with both a hollowness and fullness that only an exceptional show can conjure. With humour and sadness, we are given a glimpse into a beautiful relationship and the themes tha...

The Grill (Jokes about ovens) – The King’s Arms

14Aug

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Grill (Jokes about ovens) – The King’s Arms

In the small studio theatre above a Manchester pub, the pressure is on. Two chefs, drafted into a prison kitchen due to a staff strike to cook the Death Row inmates’ final meals. Welcome to The Grill where the stakes are high and the steaks are non-existent, our soon-to-be-deceased favouring garden salads and soup instead before they depart this plane of existence. Directed by Adam Cachia, our two chefs Tom and Wally filet and flambé their way through a blackly funny script that explores everything from class wars, culinary memories and how to fleece a Tesco meal deal. There are some spicy one liners, lovely wordplay, and great blocking of the two main actors that builds in some enjoyable physicality. There are a few fluffed lines here and there but both cope marvellously with the...

Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

14Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

Created with Elizabeth I writer/scholar, Doctor Carole Levin and starring Tammy Meneghini as the titular queen, this show invites you into a private evening audience with Queen Elizabeth I. Near the end of her reign, she reflects upon its major events and the people she was closest to, told through "her own words", from documented letters, speeches, passages from her own hand, though these are very much augmented by others' words, including letters from Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Ambassador, and multiple speeches from the plays of William Shakespeare. This makes sense in the context of the creation of the piece, ie to accompany a visiting exhibit of Shakespeare's First Folio to the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder, though it might lead the casual viewer to...