REVIEWS Archives - Page 232 of 548

The Full Monty – Opera House, Manchester

15Feb

By Grace AnnabelNo Comments

North West

The Full Monty – Opera House, Manchester

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of watching the comedic triumph ‘The Full Monty’ at the Manchester Opera House. Our director (Michael Gyngell), the show’s designer (Jasmine Swan) and the producer (David Pugh) has immense shoes to fill, and certainly did not disappoint. Being incredibly familiar with the show, and having watched it previously in an amateur capacity, I was very much looking forward to this brand new adaptation, featuring some well-known faces. The musical is cleverly adapted from the late 90’s British film of the same name, six unemployed Northern steelworkers, all low on cash, decide to present a strip act, for one night only, their local conservative club after seeing their wives' enthusiasm for a touring company of Chippendales. Danny Hatchard played the prot...

The Addams Family Live in Concert – London Palladium

14Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

The Addams Family Live in Concert – London Palladium

Act normal. Wear a black dress or pinstripe suit. Paint your face and snap along. At the London Palladium it’s Halloween in February. Copious amounts of fog billow forth from the palatial stage and the theatre is bathed in purple light as audiences amble in, many dressed for the special occasion and already buzzing with excitement. The orchestra, unlike the assembled spirits of the dead, remains unseen but makes its presence known in a vigorous overture playing jauntily under conductor Andrew Hilton, and is energetically reinforced by a skilled ensemble dancing in choreography by Alistair David. Consistently visually interesting even as the plot stretches itself thin and tired jokes leave audiences groaning, this rendition of a mid-tier musical is nonetheless entertaining and well perfo...

14Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Bluebeard – HOME, Manchester

Lighter nights and the promise of Spring is in the air as I sit in Tony Wilson Place outside HOME, Manchester’s gorgeous arts venue, which is finally delivering on its promise of new and interesting devised work as well as the best in challenging theatre from the UK and beyond. ‘Bluebeard’, the new offering from Wise Children, the company formed by Emma Rice in 2018, certainly falls into the latter category and offers an evening of music, magic and bizarre humour with a hard-hitting message wrapped in sumptuous theatrical style. We are led into this world by Mother Superior (Katy Owen), resplendent in the eponymous beard of the title, relating the cautionary tale of Treasure (Patrycja Kujawska) and her two daughters Trouble (Stephanie Hockley) and Lucky (Robyn Sinclair) as they become i...

Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – The Lowry

14Feb

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – The Lowry

The 90s were famous for a lot of things such as Britpop, Cool Brittania and the Teletubbies and casting an acerbic eye on the news at that time was an award-winning sitcom ready to take a satirical swipe at the great and the good of the day. Recorded close to transmission the gags were bang up to date and like Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You, it was must see TV for satire junkies. Aside from its topicality the show had a great bunch of misfit characters who were, like in any great sitcom, trapped together, in this case in a news station. It had a bumbling editor, George (Jeff Rawle), a womanising gambling addict, Dave (Neil Pearson), the attention seeking Damien (Stephen Tompkinson), perfectionist Helen (Ingrid Lacey) and the sociopathic Joy (Susannah Doyle). It was a workpla...

The Tiger Who Came to Tea – Liverpool Playhouse

14Feb

By Codie WrightNo Comments

North West

The Tiger Who Came to Tea – Liverpool Playhouse

The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Judith Kerr’s classic tale of, well, a tiger who came tea, has been a bedtime classic for over 50 years. It was adapted by David Wood into a stage show, which is celebrating 12 years and several Olivier Award nominations. That said, (and I might be in the minority here), I just didn’t gel with this performance. I took my two sons, 5 and 2, to see this show, and I think we were a real spectrum of reviews between us. At one end, my 2-year-old, who joined in with such enthusiasm I’m tempted to ask for a cut of the profit. Although he seemed to enjoy the show, I have seen him more rapt in other shows (including Kerr’s Mog, the Forgetful Cat just last year) so it certainly wasn’t his favourite. My eldest son sat in the middle of the road. Very much a “meh” revie...

When You Pass Over My Tomb – Arcola Theatre

14Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

When You Pass Over My Tomb – Arcola Theatre

Finger-licking, or rather phalanx licking, good, When You Pass Over My Tomb by Sergio Blanco and adapted and directed by Daniel Goldman, is laden with content warnings (for assisted suicide, mentions of necrophilia, mental health, and blasphemous language) but where it might be expected to sink under the weight of its unwieldy themes, instead sails through increasingly murky waters with ease. Photo: Alex Brenner Neither linearly nor exclusively following the story of playwright Sergio Blanco himself as his fictionalized counterpart prepares to undergo assisted suicide and engages in flirtation with the convicted necrophiliac he plans to donate the majority of his body to, this three-hand play dips its toes into many different stories and traditions, including funerals, children’s gam...

13Feb

By Manda ElizabethNo Comments

North West

Shrek The Musical – Liverpool Empire

Once upon a time, in a land far far away... or just down the M62 in Liverpool depending on your postcode. Shrek The Musical landed in The Empire Theatre just in time for half term. Boasting a cast of International and West end stars, Shrek is certainly not one to miss out on this week. Opening with strong choreography and vocals from the ensemble in “Story of My Life” this was certainly a settle into your seat's moment as you begin to see the story unfold. Shrek, who is played by Anthony Lawrence has a big job on his hands which is to confront Farquaad (played by James Gillan) and reclaim his swamp, unbeknownst to him that he is on a far bigger path of defeating a dragon and claiming the princess from her tower. Light work? Or so he thought before he met his noble stead... A personal...

13Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Ruins – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Part of Edinburgh’s Manipulate Festival 2024, Ruinsis a multi-media dance performance involving three humans, locked within a video cube, who represent the last of the human race, kept alive by machines. Created by Megahertz, a visual theatre company and relying on wordless, highly expressive, beautiful movement from Philip Alexander McDonald, Rita Hu and Suzi Cunningham, the performance is set against an extraordinary soundscape by Cucina Povera and Jamie Grier. The fourth star of this show is the video cube itself, which is extraordinary. Projections from three different directions onto a gauzelike material on a thin metal frame creates the impression of semi-solid walls surrounding the figures and hologram-like images seem to float unhindered within the cube. The effect is mesmeri...

[Un]lovable A Scratch Night Performance – St Augustines, George IV Bridge

13Feb

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

[Un]lovable A Scratch Night Performance – St Augustines, George IV Bridge

[Un]lovable A Scratch Night Performance by Not so Nice! Theatre company is one hundred percent loveable. Each of the five scratch theatre pieces were deftly crafted: the writing was thoughtful and witty; set design simple yet apt; costumes spot on; lighting simple and the quality of acting perfectly matched the rigor of the black box. Performed in the basement of St Augustine’s, this young company is brimming with talent and has a keen following. Not subject to the delays and restrictions of bidding for a grant, Not So Nice! are free to play and create collaboratively and with vigor. Each of the five vignettes on love and the rejection of love were equally as entertaining and thought-provoking. The evening began with It’s Always a Sad Song by Will Evans. In this exploration of wants ...

13Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Ragnarok – Traverse Theatre

Part of Edinburgh’s Manipulate Festival 2024, Ragnarokis a hugely entertaining, massively ambitious and highly technical show, an international co-production between Edinburgh based, Tortoise In A Nutshell, and Nordland Visual Theatre of Norway. The show which has over 1100 cue lines, to give an idea of its scale, combines hundreds of mini stick-like figures living within a mini set and captured in real time with the use of the latest technology in micro cinema, combined with live music and live video projection to create an alternative universe in front of our eyes. Here the great wolf rattles its chains, and the world snake sleeps lightly, wrapping its tail covetously around the globe. If the great wolf escapes, it will eat the sun and the moon and infect the world with pestilence and di...