REVIEWS Archives - Page 30 of 555

1Oct

By Savitha VenugopalNo Comments

London

Foreign Girl – Bread & Roses Theatre

Ana is the foreign girl, a Belarusian living in the UK, attempting to get herself the Global Talent visa in the field of theatre. On realising that mere song and dance isn’t going to be enough, she calls her agent for help in deciding on what kind of professional theatre piece could make her eligible. They go through options – Marina Abramovic (too abstract), Chekhov (but he’s been cancelled), Shakespeare (Lady Macbeth with a Belarusian twist could work) – until they hit the right one. An autobiography. Written and performed by Anastasiya Ador and directed by Rachel D’Souza, this hour-long performance takes us through Ana’s life as she tries to set down roots in the West. Her attempts to assimilate are experiences that would resonate with many an immigrant, from mispronounced names ...

Sam Dodgshon Tries to Hold Your Attention for One Hour – Club Silly

1Oct

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Sam Dodgshon Tries to Hold Your Attention for One Hour – Club Silly

Being a standup comedian already requires a certain level of bravery. In his latest comedy special at Lambeth Fringe, Sam Dodgshon takes this vulnerability to new extremes by giving the audience control over what happens in the show. The concept is simple but smart. We’re presented with a PowerPoint that resembles a flowchart, with slides prompting the audience to choose between various options that influence the direction of the show. These options range from the straightforward (“Can I speak?”) to the absurd (should he go to hell via purgatory), and each pathway ends the same: we’re asked if we’d like to “play again”. With the assistance of an on-stage technician who operates the laptop and encourages the audience to shout out our answers, Dodgshon throws his all into the piece...

1Oct

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

One Man, Two Guvnors – Daneside Theatre

The Congleton Players’ first production of the 2025/26 season opened last night and it’s the hilarious One Man, Two Guvnors, directed by Louise Colohan, delivering a gloriously chaotic and endlessly entertaining evening at the theatre. Richard Bean’s modern adaptation of Carlo Goldini’s The Servant of Two Masters has been delighting audiences for years, but in the hands of the spirited Congleton Players company, it feels fresher and funnier than ever. Packed with more slapstick, silliness, and audience interaction, this is a show that thrives on its joyful energy and leaves you grinning from start to finish. At the heart of the production is Francis Henshall, played by Simeon Green, whose performance is nothing short of outstanding. Green delivers the perfect mix of cheekiness and ch...

13 Going on 30 The Musical – Opera House

1Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

13 Going on 30 The Musical – Opera House

Once more Manchester’s Opera House hosted another World Premiere last night in the latest show where Manchester gets it first! 13 Going on 30 is adapted from the 2004 romantic comedy about Jenna Rink, a 13-year-old girl who wishes to skip her awkward teenage years and be “thirty, flirty, and thriving.” After making her wish, she wakes up as her 30-year-old self, a successful magazine editor. At first thrilled, Jenna soon realizes adult life isn’t as perfect as she imagined—especially when she’s drifted from her childhood best friend, Matt. From the first beat of music until the last, the energy on stage was infectious with the younger part of the company shining bright, and by tonight’s showing confirming the future of musical theatre performers is in the safest of hands. Amelia M...

30Sep

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Girls on Fire– The Golden Goose Theatre

Girls on Fire tells the fascinating, terrifying, and inspiring true story of three extremely brave young women. Hannie Schaft, Freddie Oversteegen, and Truus Oversteegen were Dutch resistance fighters during WW2, who put their lives at risk as spies and assassins, killing Nazis and Nazi sympathisers. The cast of three each give solid performances. Emma Graveling plays Truus with a serious, fretful demeanour that occasionally gives way to touching warmth and humour. Ellie Grace’s Hannie is both playful and intelligent, with plenty of optimism and resolve. Lily Sitzia’s Freddie transforms from a naïve child to a cold, pragmatic killer. Each performance is distinct, and the interplay between the three actors is engaging. The script does a good job of selling the friendship between t...

30Sep

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

choke me – Hen & Chickens

choke me – written and performed by Alexandra Montalbano – is a new one-woman reinterpretation of Punishment without Revenge by Lope de Vega. The plot follows Cas as she navigates the bizarre love triangle that she finds herself in. Trapped in a loveless marriage with her older, boring, cheating husband, she starts having an affair of her own with her husband’s son – her stepson. The plot jumps around, as Cas – in relaying the story to the audience – forgets things and has to go back and explain past events in order to bring the audience up to speed. As such, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the audience engaged, although moment to moment it can sometimes be hard to work out where a scene is leading and what it’s purpose in the plot is. The play leans more towards comedy...

30Sep

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

2:22 A Ghost Story – Regent Theatre

Danny Robins’ 2:22 A Ghost Story is a contemporary stage thriller built around one simple question: do ghosts exist? The story follows Jenny (Stacey Dooley), a new mother who becomes convinced that something unsettling happens in her home at exactly 2:22am. Her husband Sam (Kevin Clifton) is an outspoken sceptic, quick to dismiss her fears as irrational. Determined to prove her point, Jenny insists they stay awake with friends Lauren (Shvorne Marks) and Ben (Grant Kilburn) to see what occurs when the clock strikes. The staging sets the tone well: a stylish yet slightly oppressive kitchen-living area in a renovated London house, with French windows opening onto a garden glimpsed only when a motion-activated light clicks on. A digital clock is constantly visible, counting down the minu...

Bleak Expectations – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

30Sep

By Dan GrimesNo Comments

North West

Bleak Expectations – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

My son, Sam, and I were thrilled to have been invited to the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse to spend an evening watching this hugely entertaining and funny play. Full disclosure, I was a big fan of the original Radio 4 series that inspired this stage adaptation, so my hopes were set high. There is something quintessentially British about the combination of the surrealist, gag-filled scripts from writer Mark Evans and their gentle parodying of all things Victorian that just invokes a knitted tea cosy and a plate of hot, buttered crumpets. How to describe the plot of Bleak Expectations? Basically, take every Dickensian Sunday night telly adaptation you’ve ever seen, pop them all in a blender, add a liberal splash of absolute nonsense and, hey presto! Roughly speaking the story follows the h...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Golden Goose Theatre

29Sep

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Golden Goose Theatre

For the Lambeth Fringe, The New Rep Theatre tears through Richard Pepper’s adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in just 90 minutes. Focusing on the four lovers as they get twisted up by the fairies in the forest, while also bringing in the mechanicals, the actors in a play within a play - rehearsing in the forest and caught up in the fairies playing around. There’s a lot of fourth wall breaking, asides to the audience and some very modern moments, New Rep have certainly gone all out for the comedy to - mostly - success but a few moments land awkwardly and feel tacked on, pulling us out of the world rather than deeper into it. A sharper edit or simply more restraint would have helped here. Jack Gogarty’s Bottom works well but has a naive earnestness despite his se...

29Sep

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Punch – Apollo Theatre

“Inspired by the true story Punch” this production at the Apollo Theatre features a small but impressive cast of six and production team credited for bringing this life story to the West End stage. The staging is set to resemble a dark place for a conclave, on the steps, the bridge and on stage which enabled an astonishing style of creative movement, as the actors moved freely and smoothly from character to character, to scene change in synchronised motion. Credit to Leanne Pinder the movement was so emotionally moving aligning with the tragedy and empathy, which I’m sure was felt very strongly by the audience, just WOW. Scenes with strobe and flashing lights, the play has references to violence, death, alcohol and substance misuse. What strikes you in the opening scenes of th...