REVIEWS Archives - Page 346 of 549

10Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Top Girls – Liverpool Everyman

It is forty years since Caryl Churchill’s play first hit the stage and with this anniversary production, director Suba Das has been allowed artistic licence to relocate some of the action from Suffolk to Liverpool 8. Marlene (Tala Gouveia) is at the top of her game as the new Managing Director of Top Girls Employment Agency in the glitz and glamour of 1980s London, with a stylised and surreal opening sequence seeing her host an extraordinary dinner party, assisted by a waitress (Kaila Sharples), to celebrate her achievements with five legendary women, some real, some imagined: Isabella Bird (Elizabeth Twells); Lady Nijo (Nadia Anim); Dull Gret (Sky Frances) of Brueghel fame; Pope Joan (Lauren Lane); and Griselda (Ailsa Joy) straight out of Chaucer, to draw upon their old world experienc...

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty – Liverpool Empire

8Mar

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty – Liverpool Empire

Thanks to years of experience in dance and choreography (and with an MBE to boot), you know any production with an affiliation to Matthew Bourne will pack a punch. And Sleeping Beauty is no exception. This show was expertly performed by New Adventures, a multi-award-winning UK dance-theatre group, who have become synonymous in the world of dance for storytelling with a unique theatrical twist. Sleeping Beauty – now in its 10th year – was the fastest-selling production in New Adventures’ history, and it’s easy to see why. Described as “a gothic love story”, Sleeping Beauty clearly has many an inspiration across film, TV and literature. The main inspiration for the story is less Disney and much more original folklore, as the story weaves narrative strands from different iterations of t...

The Comedy of Errors (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

8Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Comedy of Errors (more or less) – Shakespeare North Playhouse

A Shakespearean comedy set around two rival states and two sets of mismatched twins is brought back to life with its central theme of mistaken identity compounded by deliberate theatrical chaos and a cacophony of musical numbers from the 1980’s in this co-production from Shakespeare North and Stephen Joseph Theatre. An actor, Antipholus (David Kirkbride) arrives in a Yorkshire coastal town with his sidekick Dromio (Oliver Mawdsley) to perform his one man show, but there’s no audience as everyone has booked for a talent show across town starring the twin brother he’s never met, and whose sidekick is also named Dromio. The twin brother owes money but has promised his wife, Adriana (Alyce Liburd) a gold chain. With the Prescot brother falling for Adriana’s unmarried sister, Luciana (Ida...

8Mar

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Mumsy – Hull Truck Theatre

The end of Hull Truck Theatre’s 50th anniversary year is being celebrated with a comedy drama, set in the city and written by homegrown talent, Lydia Marchant. Mumsy tells the story of an unplanned pregnancy which causes friction between mum-to-be Sophie (Jessica Jolleys), her mum Rachel (Nicola Stephenson) and Rachel’s mum Linda (Sue Kelvin). The well-written script of this world-premiere production was delivered so realistically and naturally by all three on stage on Tuesday night that, at times, you could hear a pin drop in the fullish theatre. Even before “curtain up” I couldn’t take my eyes off the impressive stage setting of a huge tower block, its many windows, open and shut, plus individual window lights flashing on and off - just like a real tower block would be. It’s ...

Too Much World At Once – HOME, Manchester

7Mar

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Too Much World At Once – HOME, Manchester

In many ways, Noble is a totally normal 15-year-old boy: his Dad works away, he fights with his Mum about pretty much everything and his close relationship with his sister is in pieces as she has moved across the world to study the future of various bird species. Totally normal – until one day he feels the world pressing in, too much to handle… and he becomes a bird. Able to fly, to be free, to reach his sister, to escape from the family and the home that are crumbling around him. This great new play from Billie Collins is produced by stalwart supporters of new writing, the Box of Tricks theatre company. It cleverly uses the breakdown of the family environment as a metaphor for the breakdown of our ecosystem, making a strong point: “we did see this coming,” but without bashing you round...

The Bodyguard: The Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

7Mar

By Gonzalo SentanaNo Comments

London

The Bodyguard: The Musical – New Wimbledon Theatre

If you have ever wondered what it would be to be one of those people in the crowd in a concert in a movie, wonder no more: this show's got you covered. On fire and starting with a bang. Under the incredible direction of Thea Sharrock, The Bodyguard the Musical invites us to enjoy more than two hours in this jukebox musical where the audience goes through many of Whitney Houston's music hits, intertwined with the story of the namesake movie in which it's inspired. With a rock-solid main cast, every single one of them performing to their strengths, Sharrock seizes every opportunity available to thrill us. The show has one blow of effect after another. Melody Thornton, in her role as Rachel Marron, pays a great homage to the memory of the late Houston, with impressive versions of the si...

Strictly Ballroom the Musical – Hull New Theatre

7Mar

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Strictly Ballroom the Musical – Hull New Theatre

Kevin Clifton aka "Kevin from Grimsby" got a huge cheer from theatregoers in an almost capacity Hull New Theatre, on Monday night, as he stepped on to the stage when Strictly Ballroom the Musical came to town. Never having seen even one episode of Strictly Come Dancing, the TV show in which Kevin performed and excelled, I had no idea what to expect. But I was more than pleasantly surprised. For starters, the stage setting was so cleverly designed, changing before our brains (well, mine) registered the difference. All around were what seemed like upright, sprung willow floorboards, arching over at the top with lights, in a palm-tree fashion. Sections opened and closed throughout the night, creating totally different vistas. The screen backdrop also changed from indoor scenes to out...

6Mar

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Drowning – 53Two

After a successful tour in 2020, Dare To Know Theatre’s one-man, one-act show Drowning is back on the road. The debut play by writer and performer Jake Talbot garnered positive reviews on its first outing and this time around the show is taking in larger venues - like 53Two in Manchester. It’s even paying a visit to the nation’s capital. Any fears the team may have bitten off more than they can chew are soon assuaged. This is an accomplished piece of work, performed comfortably by an actor who knows the emotional and humorous beats of his tightly written script inside out. A black stage, empty aside from a square white box, is plunged into darkness. The haunting melodies of The Lathums’ Struggle fades away and a spotlight illuminates Josh. The 16-year-old is lying peacefully, sile...

6Mar

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

My Dead – Barons Court Theatre

From growing up in Washington state, to her flat in South Ealing, Carolyn Hartvigsen has traversed the continents but the story she tells is of her ancestors, and the distance between her and them. Walking onto the stage in wonder, Hartvigsen reels us in, with heightened intimacy in the old pub basement space of the theatre. She whips out a small tree, with photos of her family members attached to the leaves with herself as the tree trunk. She shares a carefully and truthfully woven patchwork of her personal life, her ancestors’ stories, and her reactions to them and how they help her reflect on her circumstances. With an unerring fear of death, she seeks understanding from her dead family, and how they lived. As she discovers that one of her great grandfathers was polygamous and...

6Mar

By Marita MatarNo Comments

London

Rat King – Vault Festival

For about an hour or so, I was shaken by a journey of strong feelings being part of an immersed setting depicting an encounter one could relate to from different perspectives. Rat Kingwritten by Bram Davidovich, directed by Mark Hilton and played by Georgina Tack (Kelly) and Jacob Wayne-O’Neill (Jacko) presents the story of a girl, Kelly, clearly from better-off family who meet Jacko -which sounds as ghetto- a man ingrained in his condition of homelessness as she was running away from home. They soon start developing a bond that goes into an uncommon story notably in uncomforting ways; the girl’s persistence to ‘fix’ Jacko and drag him into arts as well as Jacko’s obsession with her. I was amazed by the actor’s performance and the staging of the piece. Choosing to set the audience...