REVIEWS Archives - Page 355 of 415

Twelfth Night – Liverpool Theatre Festival

13Sep

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Twelfth Night – Liverpool Theatre Festival

The Boaty Theatre Company’s Twelfth Night is a pirate themed version of Shakespeare’s classic comedy of unrequited love and mistaken identities. Live music, physical comedy and a reinterpretation of the use of gender in the play, make this an original and fun performance which is suitable for the whole family. The set features a barrel table and bar stools, giving this version of Illyria a feeling of Nassau during the reign of the pirates, and this version of the play features its very own Pirate Queen, Captain Orsina. The Captain is deeply in love with Countess Oliva, who is grieving for her father and brother while trying to maintain order on the island with the help of her overseer, Malvolia. In the meantime, a violent storm shipwrecks twins, Viola and Sebastian, each of whom assumes...

13Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Memory of Water – Hampstead Theatre

English playwright Shelagh Stephenson’s comedy returns to the Hampstead Theatre, where it was first staged in 1996, in a new revival directed by Alice Hamilton. The play deals with themes of grief and remembrance told through conversations between three sisters (and their partners) in the aftermath of their aged mother Vi’s death. Between managing the arrangements for the funeral and coming to terms with the reality of their mother’s demise, the sisters, namely Teresa, Catherine and Mary, begin to unpack incidents and conversations from the past. These “fleeting” strolls down memory lane are neither pleasant nor particularly therapeutic, for their confronted by personal demons and shared resentments they’ve held on to for far too long. The tension between them is characterized by the dysfu...

School of Rock the Musical – Hull New Theatre

13Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

School of Rock the Musical – Hull New Theatre

There are a dozen good reasons to go and see School of Rock the Musical - the 12 super-talented children, stars every one. Actually, make that a baker’s dozen - the 13th good reason is an adult, who was the most childish of them all. Hull’s New Theatre welcomed audiences back for the first time since Covid hit, and it was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End smash hit making its first UK and Ireland tour of the venue that had theatregoers rushing back in their droves. Based on the 2003 movie of the same name, the story centres around Dewey Finn (an energetic Jake Sharp, the man-child I mentioned above), who, desperate for rent money, takes his best friend’s identity to gain a teaching post at a prestigious prep school. Dewey - known at school as Ned Schneebly - causes havoc from the ...

13Sep

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

West Midlands

Rock of Ages – Alexandra Theatre

Part rock gig, part romp down memory lane, the new tour of Rock of Ages has landed, ready to make the UK ‘feel the noize’ and indulge in some heavy metal headbanging. Tonight, we’ve been transported from the centre of Birmingham to the heart of Los Angeles, the Sunset Strip. We meet the regulars of the Bourbon Bar; an insalubrious rock joint being faced with extinction as a villainous German duo look to demolish and develop the gritty Strip into a gleaming European vision of modernity. Underneath this shadow we meet barback Drew who is instantly smitten with the wholesome new girl in town Sherrie, and the show follows their budding ‘will they, won’t they’ relationship as they navigate the standard fare of missed opportunities and misunderstandings as well as their attempts to make it...

13Sep

By Julia PanovaNo Comments

North West

Lydia – Greater Manchester Fringe

She’s capable, skilled, eloquent. Without a doubt Lydia will go places in life. In that case why does she never reach her destination? ‘Lydia’ is an auditory gem in which we hear us our protagonist growing up solely through the voices around her. On paper everything seems like it will work out, her family has high aspirations, and she has the skills to accomplish it all. However, as her life steadily journeys downhill, we realise that some things do not stand the test of time and soon will become forgotten. The entire world the audience perceives is built up with soundscapes, voice acting and special effects. This leaves us entirely immersed through every segment and trial faced. I must commend the sound designer Raimundas Paulauskas for the gritty, unnerving, surreal atmosphere c...

12Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Duration – Omnibus Theatre

“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger” The printed program for Bruce Graham’s The Duration carries this simple yet moving quote by the Buddha that foreshadows what’s in store at the Omnibus Theatre that evening. Set in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States, Graham’s play explores the legacy of the devastating incident through the lens of a family trying to come to terms with their loss and anger. The show commemorates the 20th anniversary of the incident, at a time when there has been a resurgence in interest in the geopolitical scenario of Afghanistan. With the Taliban overthrowing the elected government last month, there is a renewed criticism of the US government’s reaction in the years that followed the bombing, tracing...

12Sep

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Bouncers – Rainhill Village Hall

Rainhill Musical Theatre Company return to the stage with a bang and a bounce with their production of John Godber’s classic 1977 play covering an evening working the doors of a nightclub for four bored doormen and their likely clientele: four young beer swilling lads hoping to get lucky, and four excitable teenage girls out for a bit of dancing, drinking, and whatever the eye might fancy, including visits to hairdressers in its build-up and fast-food vendors in the climactic come down. Other than the excellent writing, what makes this such a clever piece of theatre is that all the roles throughout are portrayed by four bouncers – Lucky Eric (Paul Robinson), Les (Ben Evans-Clarke), Judd (K. Ellis), and Ralph (Aidan Maj) – who, with the simplest of sets, the minimum of props, and no cost...

Opera Beneath the Stars – Liverpool Theatre Festival

12Sep

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Opera Beneath the Stars – Liverpool Theatre Festival

The Liverpool based company Absolute Opera presented this night of glorious and mesmerising operatic classics at The Royal Court Theatre Studio. Originally the gala concert was going to take place in the Bombed Out Church but due to adverse weather conditions and with just 3 hours’ notice, the venue was changed to the Royal Court Studio. All credit to the production team headed by Bill Elms that they managed to get this magnificent show back on track with very little time to spare. The show featured the talents of Tenor Roy Locke (Opera Australia and also creative director for Absolute Opera), Mezzo Soprano Lilly Papaioannou (Glyndebourne) and Soprano Leigh Rhianon Coggins (Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company). They were accompanied on piano by the excellent Danish musician Per Nei...

8Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Woman in Black – Fortune Theatre

Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s best-selling novel returns to the West End with a special reopening at the Fortune Theatre. For director Robin Herford, the project was inspired by an innate urge to mount grandiose artistic output using scarce resources, an endeavour which led him to approach his friend, the late Stephen Malattrat, to adapt Hill’s story with a dozen odd characters into a brisk two-hander play. The show premiered in 1987 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough and transferred to London a year later, playing at the Lyric Theatre, Strand, the Playhouse and finally moved to the Fortune, where it’s been on for over thirty years. Whereas the original plot of the novel focuses on the everyday happenings and conversations in a small English town haunted by a...

8Sep

By Hazel BumbyNo Comments

North West

Magic Goes Wrong – Empire Theatre

Firstly, I must say how nice it was to be back in a theatre and the Empire is one of my personal favourites. The staff are always so helpful and friendly. Having watched the first two plays by this creative team, and being happy with a bit of magic, I was very much looking forward to this play. However, unfortunately I felt this fell quite flat in comparison to The Play That Goes Wrong and The Bank Robbery That Goes Wrong. The set was simple but effective with some fabulous lighting which ‘went wrong’ a few times throughout the evening and this was accompanied with excellent sound effects. There were no actual hiccups with sound and lighting throughout the show which is testament to a cracking technical crew. Well done to all involved with this. There was only one song in the e...