REVIEWS Archives - Page 2 of 569

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical – Leeds Grand Theatre

20Mar

By Phoebe Olivia Sian HobsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical – Leeds Grand Theatre

This show is more than good for the soul, an explosive and powerful performance was put on display last night at Leeds grand theatre, and we have Elle Ma-Kinga N’zuzi to thank for it. Completely engulfing her role as Tina/Anna Mae from her voice, accent, style, right down to her on stage presence and iconic dance moves. She had every member of the audience under her spell, thinking that they were truly in the presence of Tina herself. Photo: Johan Persson Picture this glitter, tassels, bright lights, a live band, backing dancers and an upbeat audience, a vibrant and infectious atmosphere combined with Tina turner’s number one hits. This is what it looks like on the surface, but executive producers Tina Turner herself and Erwin Bach work hard to demonstrate Anna Mae’s life on a deeper...

A Play, a Pie, and a Pint: The Swansong – Traverse Theatre

20Mar

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

A Play, a Pie, and a Pint: The Swansong – Traverse Theatre

In a continuation of this year’s Spring season of A Play, A Pie, And A Pint, The Swansong made its way to The Traverse theatre this week. This is a musical play that sees a young woman on the brink (Lydia played by Julia Murray) take to her local duck pond with a plan to end her life. As she washes her sorrows away with a bottle of gin, she finds company in an unlikely companion - a beautiful swan (Paul McArthur). The Swan tells her he has the power to end her life as soon as she snaps her fingers and truly means it. Hesitant to let her go ahead with her plan, The Swan takes Lydia on one last night of adventure, and on this night, Lydia seems to regain the hope she had lost. Set against the beautiful compositions of Finn Parker, we are taken along to piano bars, ...

20Mar

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

YENTL – Marylebone Theatre

Yentl is synonymous with the 1983 musical featuring Barbara Streisand which told the story of a Jewish girl seeking an education, decides to disguise herself as a boy and enters an orthodox school where she falls in love with Avigdor her classmate. All is going well until Avigdor’s fiancée falls in love with Yentl. This matrix of deceit, lies and romance is crystallised in Abrahams, Hearst and Klas writingandproduction of Yentl. This play forms part of the Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s centenary celebration and their “commitment to sharing the richness of Yiddish language and Jewish culture”. Straight from the Sidney Opera House to its premier in London. There are no surprises that this play’s hybrid dialogue is English and Yiddish which is aided by projected readable subtitles on the se...

20Mar

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Welcome to Pemfort – Soho Theatre

The titular Pemfort we’re welcomed to in Sarah Power’s new play is a castle – or, arguably, a fort – nestled in a sleepy village that’s home to a host of quirky characters. The 90-minute comedy-drama zeros in on Pemfort’s quiet gift shop, in which the absence of regular customers allows the staff to focus on a new venture: Pemfort’s first ‘living history’ event. The gift shop (brought to life exquisitely by Alys Whitehead’s vivid yet lived-in set design) is run by Uma (Debra Gillett), a dreamy and motherly figure with a penchant for calling her younger staff members “poppet” or “chicken”. The rest of her team initially comprises adventurous Ria (Lydia Larson) and strait-laced Glenn (Ali Hadji-Heshmati), who is especially passionate about ensuring the upcoming event is as historically ac...

20Mar

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

My Name is Rachel Corrie – 53two

It is really quite rare that you get to see a truly great work of art. This was such a stunning, mesmerising, heart-and-gut-wrenching piece of work that it left the audience collectively speechless as they tried to process what they had just witnessed. Unfortunately, there is no avoiding the subject matter of the play, which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly the treatment by Israel of Gaza. The action of this drama takes place in 2003, twenty-plus years before the current carnage, and it centres around one remarkable young lady. Rachel Corrie was a real person who decided in her early twenties to go to Rafah in Gaza in order to protest against the policies of the US government and its support for the actions of the Israeli army in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip....

Good News! It’s Been Destroyed – The Beaten Track, Sheffield

19Mar

By Nathan DunnNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Good News! It’s Been Destroyed – The Beaten Track, Sheffield

Bróccán Tyzack-Carlin’s latest live stand-up project has taken its first steps in the capital and Manchester before finding its way to Sheffield, where I was fortunate to catch it. ‘Good News! It’s Been Destroyed’ is a full-length stand-up comedy show that orbits around the hopelessness of current affairs, allowing ourselves to be angry and use the energy of that anger to laugh. It takes on serious topics but is never too serious to be misinterpreted as a reductive polemic. That said, it is full of comical diatribes and carefully crafted anecdotes that will leave your face worn from laughter. Tyzack-Carlin makes our lives easier. He goes by ‘Brogan’, as opposed to the Irish pronunciation and spelling of his name (which he likes to remind us has never caused him any difficulty in his...

19Mar

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Spitfire Girls – Buxton Opera House

The Second World War is ongoing, and its reality is inescapable. With so many of the able men fighting on the front lines, where does the war effort find its manpower? As we are well aware, it was woman power that kept many industries operational for many years. In Spitfire Girls we meet Bett (played by the writer, Katherine Senior) and Dotty (Hannah Morrison), two women who defied the obligations expected of them by family and society and learned to fly. This play explores their relationship, their identity, and their growth as women and as pilots throughout the war and beyond. Senior and Morrison are authentic in their interactions with one another and with the others they encounter throughout the story. In particular, Morrison’s portrayal of a woman finding her freedom in the ...

19Mar

By Charlotte MansfieldNo Comments

London

Panacea – Riverside Studios

Professor Gus Jamieson (Will Batty) is a man with Autism Spectrum Disorder and an idea for how to save humanity. His cure for infectious diseases will prevent another pandemic, provided he can get approval for the initial stages of lab trials. Written as a collaboration between microbiologist Andrew Singer and theatre-maker Christina James, this one act play explores how science and ethics interact to have real-world consequences. Opening with a Greek chorus that leaves us in no doubt how the play is going to go, we follow Gus as he navigates work, romance and his ASD in his desire to eradicate disease. Egged on by an enthusiastic student (Nina Fidderman), Gus becomes caught between the more cautious advice of those closest to him and his confidence in his own scientific abilities. ...

Come Together: The Lennon & McCartney Songbook – Liverpool’s Royal Court

19Mar

By Bethany EastonNo Comments

North West

Come Together: The Lennon & McCartney Songbook – Liverpool’s Royal Court

One of the most well-known groups in history, the Beatles, have offered a range of musical delights that are still loved and relished today and are celebrated currently at the Royal Court. This show, for many Beatles fans, is a bit of a dream come true as we were never gifted with a retrospective Lennon & McCartney reunion concert. But through the magic of Come Together: The Lennon & McCartney Songbook, we get a heartfelt and expertly delivered window in what that could have looked like. The songbook and songwriting duo are bought to life by Tom Connor (Paul McCartney) and Mark Newnham (John Lennon) undertaking a range of Beatles songs and stories detailing and celebrating the groups history. Connor and Newnham portray Lennon and McCartney well bouncing quips off each other and ...

The Choir of Man – New Wimbledon Theatre

19Mar

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

The Choir of Man – New Wimbledon Theatre

The ‘Jungle’ Choir of Man is on its UK tour, and it started with a blast, setting Wimbledon theatre alight with enthusiasm, superb vocal arrangement and energy. This show born out of the Edinburgh fringe made its home at the Arts Theatre London. Now it’s coming to Towns across the country. Set in a pub, audience members are welcomed to the stage for pre-show drinks from the bar and here the message is clear, this is all about ‘community’. Centered around a group of nine men each with their own characteristics and inner conflicts, they take you on an immersive journey of their lives through song. Narrated beautifully by the character ‘Poet’ Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi, he introduces the characters, and very occasionally it was difficult to hear him, possibly due to the sound at the beginning...