REVIEWS Archives - Page 18 of 453

14Feb

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Sweet Revenge – Rainhill Village Hall

Sophie Brogan has selected a real cracker for her directorial debut which plays to the strengths of both the company and their venue with an almost full house for opening night. Francis Durbridge is one of Britain’s most popular crime novelists and playwrights, and while it was his last play, Sweet Revenge is considered to be his best. Dr Ross Marquand (Rick Young) has it all: a high-flying career as a cardiac consultant, a wonderful home, and a beautiful wife, Fay (Alison Mawdsley) as well as the respect of medical colleague Sam Kennedy (George Lowe), businessman Bill Yorke (Tom Nevitt), and assistant Judy Hilton (Liz Munro). In spite of the immediate support of her brother Alan (Peter Cliffe) and close friend Marian (Angela Vose), Fay is not a happy woman, more so since she met...

14Feb

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

More Life – The Royal Court

More Life is an exceptional and bold production, taking an ambitious and complex story and realising it expertly on stage. The play takes us inside the research lab of Edius, who are trying to upload the consciousness of dead people back into new, robotic bodies. After many failed attempts, Bridget is uploaded, and the promising signs she displays lead Victor (Marc Elliott) into a spiralling obsession with making her ‘work’, no matter her suffering and despite the objections of his lab assistant, Mike (Lewis Mackinnon). This torment leads Bridget (Alison Halstead) to break free of her captivity, running to the only place she can, the house of her former husband, Harry (Tim McMullan), and his wife Davina (Helen Schlesinger). Through this, the play explores the ethics of this search for ‘...

14Feb

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

Ordinary Madness – Riverside Studios

“There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out, but I pour whiskey on him and inhale cigarette smoke.” Bukowski’s famous poem opens Ordinary Madness, the latest literature-based production from international ensemble company Art Theatre London. Cleverly staged into a series of sleek vignettes, the production attempts to stitch together Bukowski’s short stories and poems, but something crucial fails to connect. Bukowski’s world is dirty, grim, and visceral — his words make you taste the cigarette smoke, smell the sweat, and inhale the sensual perversion of our human condition. Here, under Anya Viller’s direction, the show too often feels like a sleek Drama Center showcase of its best and brightest: too safe, too clean, too polished. The young, dynamic cast struggles to capture ...

Escaped Alone & What If If Only – Royal Exchange

13Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Escaped Alone & What If If Only – Royal Exchange

Caryl Churchill has been feted amongst the theatrical fraternity for over half a century. Through her associations with The Royal Court and Joint Stock companies and their exploration of feminist themes and sexual identity, she was in the vanguard of gender politics, her style of writing and staging drawing comparisons with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. My exposure to her work has been limited to a production of ‘The Skriker’ at this theatre for the Manchester International Festival a decade ago, so I was keen to delve deeper into her worldview with this presentation of two of her later works as a double bill. Photo: Johan Persson Helmed by Sarah Frankcom, who, as the acclaimed former Artistic Director of this theatre, knows the opportunities and pitfalls of directing in this uni...

Boys From The Blackstuff – Richmond Theatre

13Feb

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Boys From The Blackstuff – Richmond Theatre

James Graham is one of the most celebrated playwrights working in the UK today, and Boys From The Blackstuff is one of the newest jewels in his crown. Starting off at Liverpool’s Royal Court in 2023 before transferring to the National Theatre and the Garrick Theatre last year, Boys From The Blackstuff is now embarking on a UK tour to treat more audiences across the country to its masterful blend of brilliant writing, heartbreaking characters, and deeply evocative depiction of 1980’s Liverpool. Based on Alan Bleasdale’s era-defining BBC drama of the same name, Boys From The Blackstuff weaves together the stories of five men: Dixie (Mark Womack), Chrissie (George Caple), Loggo (Jurell Carter), Yosser (Jay Johnson), and George (Ged Mckenna). As we watch them navigate life in a city plunged...

13Feb

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Hold On To Your Butts – The Lowry

Some theatre shows can be appreciated by being described. Others, on the other hand, just need to be experienced. Hold On To Your Butts is a prime example of the latter. On paper, a screen to stage adaptation of the dinosaur classic Jurassic Park shouldn’t work. Not without a big animatronics budget, the latest in visual effects and a host of instruments to recreate that iconic John Williams score. As the name suggests, the Recent Cutbacks ensemble have none of that. However, this is a joyous, silly and, surprisingly, accurate retelling of Spielberg’s masterpiece. The trio of performers on stage rely on physical theatre, the bare minimum of creatively used props and sound effects. They create magic. Anyone with an aversion to lo-fi storytelling might well be concerned to take t...

Mary and the Hyenas – Hull Truck Theatre

13Feb

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Mary and the Hyenas – Hull Truck Theatre

Wednesday evening saw me heading to the theatre for the second time in a week, to review the life story of a woman who, to my great shame, I had never heard of before. Mary Wollstonecraft is her name, and six super talented performers brought her story to life at the Hull Truck Theatre, when it hosted Mary and the Hyenas. The crowds flocked in for this world premiere, written by Hull playwright Maureen Lennon with original music by singer-songwriter Billy Nomates. Born in London, in 1759, Mary’s childhood was spent in the market town of Beverley, a short distance from Hull, in East Yorkshire, after her family moved there in 1768. The show starts at the end of her life, in 1797, as she is giving birth to her second daughter, Mary (who went on to find fame writing Frankenstein). ...

Queen Extravaganza – Edinburgh Playhouse

12Feb

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Queen Extravaganza – Edinburgh Playhouse

If you love Queen… scratch that, if you like Queen just a bit… don’t miss this. A sell-out crowd was clearly up for it but the first ‘act’ began with a peculiar, muddy version of ‘We Will Rock You’, the band in dull, pub-band regulation black and as the following two tracks travelled past the chief positive was that the sound clicked sharply into place. Though hang on, that vocal pirouette Gareth Taylor dropped at the end of ‘Somebody To Love’ was a bit special, wasn’t it? Then came ‘Under Pressure’, a lump in the throat reflecting that this was written before mental health was a thing; we all had stuff going on, it just wasn’t ok to talk about it. Except that David, Freddie and the band did, producing an epic four-minute pop song that resonates more heavily every single year si...

12Feb

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Screen Test – Seven Dials Playhouse

Bebe Cave’s one-woman show The Screen Test is a bonkers, non-stop romp offering a vivid glimpse into the tragicomedic life of fictional Betsy Bittersly—a neurotic, self-absorbed actress struggling to make her mark in 1930s-40s Hollywood. In a desperate bid for stardom, Betsy bends over backwards to meet every soul-crushing demand of a man-dominated, consumer-obsessed industry, even rebranding herself (from Betsy Bittersly to the cocktail-sounding Betsy Bitters) in an effort to be instantly palatable. Writer and performer Bebe Cave takes us on a wild ride from her very first screen test to her final one. Over the course of an hour, the ever-delusional Betsy encounters — and entertains, with a big, unflinching smile — every variety of perv and power player the industry has to offer. H...

12Feb

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Ghost Stories – Sheffield Lyceum

Psychological Horror with a twist! Tension… Suspense…Atmosphere… Imagination… Unsettling to say the least! Ghost Stories the theatrical experience has recently been made into a film but still remains something unique in its ‘here and now’ form on the stage. This One Act production was written 15 years ago by Jeremy Dyson (Co-writer of the much acclaimed League of Gentlemen) and Award winning Actor/Director Andy Nyman and has played in eight different far flung countries and now Ghost Stories is once again currently touring the UK. Reviewers of Ghost Stories are asked not to divulge the plot or secrets of the show, and I will certainly adhere to that. Thus, Ghost Stories remains a rare thing; in a world of information technology; a modern experience you have to see ‘spoiler free’. ...