REVIEWS Archives - Page 176 of 545

The Merry Wives of Windsor – Shakespeare North Playhouse

2Aug

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Merry Wives of Windsor – Shakespeare North Playhouse

If Shakespeare chose a modern company to perform his work then it would undoubtedly be The Pantaloons; I’m equally sure he would be thrilled with director Steve Purcell’s adaptation of a play that had The Pantaloons stamped all over it when it was first written. Roguish knight Falstaff (Alex Rivers) is down on his luck and reliant on the good will of the Host (William Ross-Fawcett) of his local tavern to keep him in good spirits of any kind! When he informs servants Nym (Jodie Micciche) and Pistol (Andrew Armfield) that he intends to seduce Mistress Ford (Micciche) and Mistress Page (Armfield) they refuse to deliver his letters, so he throws them out. When the letters eventually arrive via Mistress Quigley (Micciche) the two ladies laugh over their similarity and decide to get their rev...

Police Cops in Space – Underbelly Festival

2Aug

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Police Cops in Space – Underbelly Festival

With multiple sell-out Fringe runs and an acclaimed full-scale musical under their belts, it’s safe to say that comedy group Police Cops (made up of Zachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson and Tom Roe) have had a busy few years. Not ones to take their feet off the pedal, the trio are back at Underbelly Festival in Cavendish Square this summer, with the return of their 2017 sci-fi send-up Police Cops in Space. We meet galaxy-dwelling Sammy Johnson, the son of the late Jimmy Johnson — the so-called ‘Best Damn Police Cop Ever’ — who becomes embroiled in a cosmic caper after the Australian humanoid who killed his father returns for his revenge (and to destroy the universe, obviously). Parodying the likes of Blade Runner, Star Wars and The Terminator, Police Cops in Space picks apart the genre’...

In the Lady Garden – Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker One

2Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

In the Lady Garden – Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker One

Pairing homely references to Yorkshire puddings with anecdotes about sex toys, Babs Horton's new comedy monologue provides an hour of gentle feminist fun Main character Alice is 69, an age that seems not entirely accidental given the subject matter, and says that "I know a lot about sex - mainly theory". She's been married to Keith for years, after being expelled from convent school much to her mother's disgust. We meet Alice in a prison cell, created simply by director Deborah Edgington using wooden blocks to represent a bench and a toilet. This promising set up digresses into a series of funny and touching reminiscences, mostly seguing into each other like the thoughts of a distracted mind Julia Faulkner as Alice is an engaging performer, vocally confident and in command of the...

1 Cent Comedy presents: Black Widows – Laughing Horse

2Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

1 Cent Comedy presents: Black Widows – Laughing Horse

Black Widows is a comedy show that is not afraid to explore the darker areas of comedy, the stuff that not all comedians would dare to joke about. With a line-up of female only comedians without a filter in a very small room, straight men must enter at their own peril. Leading the show is our host Moni Zhang who is joined by an ever-changing line up of female comedians. Moni herself is the perfect comedic host: to the point, charming and with a good no nonsense attitude. Her jokes are fast, direct and she’s very good at singling out her prey without making them too uncomfortable. Her support for her fellow artists shines through which really helps the space to feel less like a group of strangers stuffed into a karaoke room and more like a group of friends sharing a laugh together. ...

Much Ado About Nothing – St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

2Aug

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Much Ado About Nothing – St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, Liverpool

It’s almost thirty years since Dan Meigh got Off The Ground Theatre, well, up and running, and there is much to be excited about with this production of one of Shakespeare’s funniest pieces, full of delightful word play and it is often wondered whether it is the missing Love’s Labour’s Won, the latter half of a comic double bill with Love’s Labour Lost. In post-war Messina, the home of Leonato (Ben Currie) with daughter Hero (Sarah Elise France) and cousin Beatrice (Kathy McGurk) ever present, Prince Don Pedro (Phil Rayner) leads the returning soldiers which include his illegitimate brother Don John (Chloe Hughes), Claudio (Tyler Clark), and Benedick (Connor Wray), and it is with some inevitability that Claudio is drawn to Hero as much as Benedick and Beatrice are apparently not. But th...

Son of a Bitch – Summerhall Demonstration Room

1Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Son of a Bitch – Summerhall Demonstration Room

Billed as a show about maternal ambivalence, Anna Morris’ debut play is an honest and sympathetic portrait of a woman on the edge. Morris plays Marnie, a yoga teacher who goes viral for a ten second video clip of an air rage incident where she calls her four year old son Charlie a “cunt”. Her husband says she’s probably a bad parent, other mums ostracise her at the school gates, and she is roundly condemned by strangers from across the globe. However, in a cleverly written script full of twists and turns, we learn that there is more to the story than meets the eye. In this solo show Morris plays a wide variety of characters with considerable skill, switching from an eccentric flatmate to a slightly hapless father with small changes of accent and body language. These different ...

FLIGHT – Pleasance Dome, Potterrow Plaza, Container 1

1Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

FLIGHT – Pleasance Dome, Potterrow Plaza, Container 1

Ever wanted to sit in a shipping container and play plane passenger in the dark? Well now you can, but you may find this experience to be all the more terrifying than what you’d expect. Not only are you in the dark left with your own imagination, but you are also facing a whole new sensory experience through sound and sensory effects. This is one plane ride that you may need to remind yourself is not real or else face your worst fears and pray that you land safely. I was surprised to find that despite the experience taking place almost entirely in the dark the setting is completely believable as a plane. You step into a big white container, but on the inside, you find a full plane interior completely with windows, rows of actual plane seats and safety brochures. A small screen displays ...

Crispr! The Musical – Roman Eagle Lodge, Edinburgh

1Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Crispr! The Musical – Roman Eagle Lodge, Edinburgh

And so it begins, the 78th Edinburgh Festival Fringe! The ethos of the Fringe, which dates back to 1947, dictates that anyone can take part, with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them, and (of course!) pockets deep enough to afford it! So here, first up, a musical about gene editing technology! Haha!, well this is perfect for Edinburgh! The EdFringe programme blurb provides a description of the show - Two struggling genetics researchers are determined to create the world’s first super-soybean, but a rival lab will stop at nothing to defeat them. Featuring original songs, dance, action-packed battles and shocking twists, Crispr! the Musical is a high-energy romp……..Duane Stanford and Lina Zikas, portray three pairs of characters whose stories converge into a climactic battl...

Buckets of Blood: Fairy Tales Not For Kids – Pleasance Courtyard, The Green

1Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Buckets of Blood: Fairy Tales Not For Kids – Pleasance Courtyard, The Green

We have all heard the Disney versions of the fairy tales, the ones where the princess marries the prince, they live happily ever after and absolutely no one has to cut their alkalies off or dance in hot iron shoes. The original stories are not as well known and much more gruesome, after all not everyone can have a happy ending. Eden Storyteller takes us on a mythical journey through the original Grimm’s fairy tales that inspired the much more publicized ones, or more accurately the original fairy tales that inspired the Gimm’s stories. . Expect blood, cannibalism (in abundance), child abuse and well deserved stories of revenge. Eden is a natural performer and storyteller; he exudes charisma and charm. The venue is intimate which suites the show well, with Eden commanding the space wh...

‘Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam’ – C Arts (studio), Edinburgh

1Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

‘Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam’ – C Arts (studio), Edinburgh

This engrossing one man show tells the story of Jimmy Vandenburgh, a decorated marine who finds it difficult to come to terms with life after his military service in Vietnam War, and is swayed for a while by Trump. Like many veterans, Jimmy still bears the mental scars of the War. “I died once in Vietnam, and once every day since then,” he tells us. Although it’s nearly fifty years since the USA had to admit defeat and pull out of Vietnam, America itself - like Jimmy - is still scarred by that conflict in which nearly 60,000 Americans died - a huge total, though dwarfed by more than a million Vietnamese deaths (half of them civilians). During the 1960s and 1970s, while the Vietnam War raged, America was more divided than perhaps at any time since the Civil War. But the USA is just...