REVIEWS Archives - Page 278 of 418

The Allesley Silas – Belgrade Theatre Coventry

27Jul

By Annette NuttallNo Comments

West Midlands

The Allesley Silas – Belgrade Theatre Coventry

Originally performed in a circus marquee in Allesley as part of the Coventry City of Culture 2021, The Allesley Silas has a short run at the Belgrade Theatre. This production is a version of the George Eliot’s novel Silas Marner. It plays heavily on the local connection, the setting of Raveloe is actually Allesley and the Rainbow pub features many times in the story. Continuing the local feel, the play was devised by a production team that has connections to the area. It features professional actors alongside local community performers. Silas Marner lives in Raveloe, mixing as little as possible with the locals. This raises questions as to why and what he does. When he is robbed people’s opinions start to change. Everything is turned around even more for Marner when an orphan come...

25Jul

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Taking Up Space – Twenty Twenty Two

New queer writing has the potential to be pioneering, invigorating: something that challenges conventions and introduces an attention-grabbing LGBT+ narrative to a wider audience. This wearisome offering from The Empathy Club instead decides to go down the well-trodden path of perpetually unhappy gays. ‘Taking Up Space’ follows university students Jasreena (India Erlam), Saffy (Megan Webber) and Gia (Sarah Hutchinson) as they navigate the varying relationships between each other. A dry script littered with all the tropes and cliches queer storytelling has been plagued by for decades attempts to tackle far too many issues at once, resulting in a surface-level toe-dipping into the story’s deep themes from sexuality to depression to marriages of convenience. Dialogue is clunky- all c...

24Jul

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

The Gunpowder Plot – Tower Hill Vaults

“Remember, remember the 5th of November” The Gunpowder Plot is a new, innovative and immersive experience set in the heart of tourist London. The experience takes place in the Tower Vaults, at the UNESCO World Heritage Tower of London. At once, you feel immersed in history as the vaults under Tower Hill are famous for where much of the prelude to the Gunpowder Plot took place. As an immersive experience, there was huge anticipation before the show started and a tense atmosphere. The introduction by one of the cast members provided much excitement, giving a background to the lead up to the Gunpowder Plot and to life in London in 1605. The show’s concept is for the audience to live history, instead of watching it. This is not an ordinary format for a show, and for the majority of th...

A Spoonful of Julie – The King’s Arms, Salford

24Jul

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

A Spoonful of Julie – The King’s Arms, Salford

Some shows need no explanation. The title does all the work. A Spoonful of Julie delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Morsels of goodness from the life and career of one of the greatest actors and singers of all time: Dame Julie Andrews. Opera singer Nicola Mills is the brave soul stepping into Andrews’ shoes. She’s accompanied on her whistle-stop tour of classics by musical director George Strickland on keyboard. Andrews’ repertoire is littered with collaborations with extraordinary lyricists and composers. From the Sherman Brothers and Lerner & Loewe to Sandy Wilson and Rodgers & Hammerstein. Yet their music was taken to another level courtesy of the voice of the young woman from Surrey. Mills can certainly belt out the operatic highs but her performance lacks some of ...

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

24Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Kitty Wilkinson is the only female statue in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall, and she is brought to life by Samantha Alton to take us back to 1830’s Liverpool in a captivating one-woman show that tells an against all odds story of how a working-class Irish migrant girl, whose life was laden with poverty, loss, and hardship, fought the cholera epidemic and became a community champion. Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden provides the perfect backdrop for this intricate tale from celebrated local writer John Maguire which, told with humour and kindness, brings Kitty’s story centre stage under the direction of Margaret Connell as we are immersed in the world of a true heroine of the North. White sheets draping the open set provide the perfect backdrop for the narra...

The Liver Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

23Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Liver Bird – Shakespeare North Playhouse

What if the Liver Bird really did exist? Charlie J (Tom Browning) has heard all about Liverpool’s famous Birds from his Grandma’s (Samantha Alton) stories but are they real? Has anybody seen one fly? When things start to get difficult at school and just when he needs it most, Charlie is visited by a very special creature… Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden is well and truly brought alive by this enchanting modern-day fairy-tale from writer John Maguire, adapted here for stage by Jessica Mae Buxton of The Bookworm Players and directed by Margaret Connell. Using the simplest of sets, our two talented actors bring all of their skills to the fore through mesmerising performances with mime and puppetry added in for good measure. There is a high level of interact...

23Jul

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Alice – The Empty Space

Alice is a new play written by Tara Anegada inspired by Lewis Caroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ directed by Zoe Smith which was performed in Salford’s Empty Space Theatre as a part of Greater Manchester’s Fringe season of 2022. The script highlights the pressures females face to sexualise themselves to produce their personal art through how they physically look and act in order to conform in how society dictates to so many of our today’s youth. Anegada Theatre company is based in the East Midlands who state that they strive to make art that is diverse and will spark conversation, through adaptations that reframe traditional literature. This production is a fabulous showcase of their ethos and drive as it certainly does spark a conversation and is exquisitely written by Aneg...

It’s Not Rocket Science – The Empty Space

23Jul

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

It’s Not Rocket Science – The Empty Space

Letter for Letter Theatre presented ‘It’s Not Rocket Science’ at The Empty Space Theatre in Salford during our Greater Manchester Fringe season. The cast of three Alice Connolly (Eve), Stef White (Dad and other male roles) and Helen Knudsen (Mum and multi female roles) tell the story through eight chapters of Eve Jackson the author of book titled ‘It’s Not Rocket Science’ which depicts a women’s journey into a male dominated career. The journey starts with Eve’s desire and motivation to be involved with Space and rocket ships from early childhood believing she belonged in the stars, different from other girls in her school she clearly excels in physics and goes on to attend University to study aerospace. In a male populated world of aerospace, she soon encounters prejudice against he...

101 Dalmatians – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

23Jul

By Robert BartleyNo Comments

London

101 Dalmatians – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Loosely based on the 1956 classic tale by Dodie Smith, ‘101 Dalmatians’ see Dominic and Danielle literally bumping into each other and falling in love while out walking their dotty dogs Pongo and Perdi. Local influencer Cruella DeVil thinks the dogs would look great in her upcoming photoshoot, but during the shoot, the dogs severe dislike of Cruella causes one of them to bite her. She attacks the dogs with a stick, and her retaliation is caught on social media, going viral within minutes. Cruella quickly swears revenge on the dogs, and plots to dognap the spotted pooches and make herself a coat that no-one will ever forget. It’s a timeless story that audiences already knows, but does the Regent’s Park production have legs, or is it more of a dog’s dinner? Visually, the show ...

22Jul

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Mosquito – Seven Dials Playhouse

The role of the ‘other woman’ in popular culture over the years has tended to sit at either end of a spectrum. Typically speaking she is either sexy, fearless, bordering on cold-hearted, a temptress, or she is meek, downtrodden, obsessed with a man who she knows will never leave his wife for her and suffering from low-self-esteem. Lemy (Aoife Boyle) is very much in the latter camp. When we first meet her and her love interest James (Seamus Dillane) we quickly establish that they are – or were – having an affair, and that James has now tired of Lemy and is returning to his wife and baby. James is cold – polishing off his Pret lunch while he ends his affair to enable him to get straight back to the office – while Lemy is clearly anxious and unsure, swinging from begging James to stay to s...