REVIEWS Archives - Page 2 of 629

Suzi Ruffell: The Juggle – Assembly Roxy

28Sep

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Suzi Ruffell: The Juggle – Assembly Roxy

The colonnaded Lower Hall of Assembly Roxy is an impressive architectural space, marching ionic columns and barrel vaulted roofs, but perhaps not the ideal home for comedy. Plastic chairs sit on a flat floor facing a relatively low stage, making sightlines less than perfect and comfort something of a challenge over a 90-minute show. Add some troublesome microphone issues, particularly during the first half, and the evening does not get off to the most auspicious start. Thankfully, Suzi Ruffell herself is something of a breath of fresh air. There is an engagingly vaudevillian quality to Ruffell. She talks about Tipping the Velvet being something of a touchstone during her teenage years, and I certainly see a little of that dandyish, music-hall swagger in her. She is also a su...

28Sep

By Amanda HodgsonNo Comments

North West

Mrs Dalloway – HOME Mcr

Fans of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Mrs Dalloway will be intrigued to follow the new adaptation of the story, written and directed by Jen Heyes and starring Kit Green in multiple roles. The play does not follow the conventional rules of drama, offered as more of a commentary on the story of Mrs Dalloway and how the characters relate to modern life than a straightforward performance. Green frequently breaks character and the fourth wall to engage with the audience and comment on the relevance of Virginia Woolf to aspects of modernity such as mental health, technological change and socioeconomic uncertainty. If this all sounds like heavy-going, the truth is that these breaks in the story are the highlights of the production, offering funny and upbeat respites in the official narrat...

27Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

FLOP! – Wilton’s Music Hall

A musical can close early, lose money and still leave behind a song worth hearing. That is the appealing idea behind FLOP!, Arthur Hull’s cabaret devoted to songs from musicals that failed to find an audience, and at Wilton’s Music Hall, his London debut, he makes a convincing case for giving each of them another chance. Hull is an engaging tour guide through this collection of theatrical misfires. He introduces each show with a clear sense of its story and fate, giving the songs enough context to stand on their own, with narration that is lively without overwhelming the music. His selection of songs feels carefully curated, with each offering a fresh reason to be curious about work that might otherwise have been forgotten. His singing is the evening’s greatest strength. He...

27Sep

By Prateek SonnyNo Comments

London

F*ck You Claire – Etcetera Theatre

F*ck You Claire is an ambitious one-act play written and performed by Rosie Hollingworth. It follows Penelope, a woman in her mid-twenties, as she battles her inner demons. It is a story that many younger people can empathise with, and older audiences can sympathise with. Tackling the pressures of being an adult alongside society’s expectations and judgements, the play effectively captures her struggle to cope under the weight of everyday life. The set design transforms the stage into Penelope’s cluttered, chaotic bedroom. The use of audio effects, music and lighting complements the disorder of her mind. Together with some literal personifications, they convey the hyperactivity, anxiety and pressure that gradually overwhelm her. The script is funny and sharp. The overall producti...

Causa: The Trial of the Illegal Potato – Lower Marsh Arts Club

27Sep

By Charlotte MansfieldNo Comments

London

Causa: The Trial of the Illegal Potato – Lower Marsh Arts Club

A small basement room in Waterloo, with bare brick walls and a simple lighting rig was the venue for Causa: The Trial of the Illegal Potato, one of the many shows in this year's Lambeth Fringe Festival. The first hint that this show wasn't going to be a tightly put-together piece came as the audience waited outside as the start time came and went with no information on what was happening. Starting nearly twenty minutes late wasn't an auspicious opening. Juana, a Peruvian woman living in London, gets homesick for Causa, a traditional potato dish. When she realises that the yellow potatoes she needs to make it aren't available in the UK, she tracks down someone who can get her a seed potato so that she can grow her own, precipitating an ecological disaster. Described as an 'absurdi...

27Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

North West

BULL – HOME Mcr

Imagine if David Brent busted a few moves and communicated in British Sign Language (BSL) then you get a sense of what BULL was all about. Like Mamet’s masterpiece Glengarry Glen Ross this was on one level a play about toxic office politics, but also a perceptive examination of power, and more importantly which of the characters had it. What sets BULL apart is that the cast communicate in BSL throughout with hearing members of the audience relying on captions above the stage. I’d seen a few works at Leeds Playhouse where BSL had been partially integrated but Deafinitely Theatre as the first deaf led company had gone much further as the hearing amongst us found ourselves where people with hearing issues routinely find themselves in theatre land. As director Paula Garfield no...

Achy Breaky Bride – Theatre Royal, St Helens

27Sep

By Kevin EcclestonNo Comments

North West

Achy Breaky Bride – Theatre Royal, St Helens

‘A wedding, a bridal shop and a whole lot of country-pop fun.’ Forget the traditional wedding bells — Achy Breaky Bride brings guitars, sequins, family drama and plenty of chaos to the Theatre Royal St Helens in a lively comedy that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Starring Merseyside favourite Leanne Campbell as Jolene, alongside X Factor star David Heath, Rachel Wood, Conor Barrie and Liverpool drag queen Sania Pain, the production brings together a colourful cast who clearly relish the opportunity to have some fun. Set inside a bridal shop in St Helens, the story follows the increasingly complicated events surrounding a bride-to-be as wedding plans begin to go spectacularly off course. Throw in family tensions, romance, misunderstandings and a generous helping of musi...

24Sep

By Rebecca CaseyNo Comments

North West

We Will Rock You – Winstanley College

Tonight was my first time at Winstanley College and my first time seeing a production by Orrell Musical & Dramatic Society (OMADS). The company was set up in 1967. I have seen the Westend production of We Will Rock You but working it out it must be 20 years ago. We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical Featuring over 20 hit songs by the British rock band Queen formed in the 70s. Story and script by Ben Elton a comedian and writer. Set in a post-apocalyptic future it tells the tale of a world where music and individuality is banned. At the core of the story, the principal cast, Emily Reacher as Scaramouche and Jerome Antony Pargetor as Galileo. Pargetor was the epitome of a triple threat musical theatre performer, his dancing was strong, the vocals flawless. As a pair these too...

24Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Present Laughter – Richmond Theatre

There is something wonderfully appropriate about a comedy concerned with theatrical excess being given a production that barely seems willing to sit still. Lindsay Posner’s ‘Present Laughter’ arrives at Richmond Theatre with energy to spare, giving Noël Coward’s comedy a confident contemporary shake-up without losing the delicious absurdity at its heart. At the centre is Tracy-Ann Oberman as Geri Essendine, a celebrated actress whose success has brought her everything except the possibility of being left alone. Her home is less a sanctuary than a human traffic junction, with friends, employees, admirers, lovers and unwanted visitors passing through while Geri attempts to maintain control over a spectacularly crowded life. The production’s most significant departure from Coward’s orig...

24Sep

By Annette NuttallNo Comments

West Midlands

Twelve Angry Men – Birmingham Rep

Based on the 1957 Academy Award Nominated film of the same name, this production visits Birmingham as part of a National Tour following previous West End success. Following a three-day murder trial, the jury are sent to consider their verdict. Locked in a room, these 12 men from wildly different backgrounds have the difficult task of considering the evidence to convict or acquit the accused. In a State where the death penalty is the mandatory sentence for the crime committed, the decision weighs hard on one man’s mind. Keen to discuss the case and not jump to the ‘obvious’ answer he raises the question of reasonable doubt, the debate begins, and tensions rise. From the moment the lights go up on the jurors in the court room to the end when the final verdict is reached you are transpo...