REVIEWS Archives - Page 37 of 548

22Aug

By Al CarrettaNo Comments

Scotland

Lost Paws – theSpaceUK @ Surgeon’s Hall

Arlan taunts his cat Jefferbelle with a cucumber and a cellphone. Jeffers is quite the star on Tik-Tok and just one more video of his cuteness will satisfy Arlan’s lust for social media likes. He pets him, tickles him and generally adores him; he is after all his best friend. The scene switches. Shira plays the accordion and reads to her feline friend, Iris but ‘Rissy’ is a different beast; she’s a house cat. Iris is an athletic female. She cartwheels, leaps and bounces through the stage proving herself to be adept at all things physical. Jeffers is a little less robust but infinitely more streetwise. Except, Arlan doesn’t understand the poor creature is lactose intolerant. He can happily lap up milk to amuse his owner, but he can’t control the effects. It should now be obvious that...

As You Like It: A Radical Retelling – Church Hill Theatre

22Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

As You Like It: A Radical Retelling – Church Hill Theatre

Crow’s Theatre presents the Scottish premiere of the aptly named As You Like It: A Radical Retelling at the Edinburgh International Festival; written by Indigenous Canadian playwright Cliff Cardinal, this is a work that is confrontational, provocative and polarising in the most spectacular way. This piece highlights the marginalisation and injustices the Indigenous people have faced and still face today. Demanding our attention, we are forced to interrogate the authenticity, intentionality, and effects of our allyship - the pointed delivery is shocking and bold, but completely imperative to the message of the show. The audience is largely involved with a great usage of direct address - the lead performer often stopped the show to chastise audience members for being...

Who Else Did Sam Hill Kill? – The Courtyard Theatre

22Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Who Else Did Sam Hill Kill? – The Courtyard Theatre

Who is Sam Hill? He is the guy that everyone puts upon, feeds his Aunt’s cat, covers other work-mate’s shifts at work without being asked if he minds – he is single, and he is invisible! How easy would it be to blame a murder on him when he never raises his voice in protest, a perfect scapegoat! This farce dreamed up by Christian McKeon, is a mad-cap hour of fast paced theatre, which is fun, silly, and cleverly conceived. The plot has Sam Hill (Raphael Kris) working at Costello’s, when his Aunt Sal (Bylli Gomez) requires him to visit her flat to feed her cat, but when Sam arrives Sal is dead, allegedly by a self-imposed shot to the head, but how easy is it to shoot yourself from behind? As further people in Sam’s life are killed, all eyes turn to Sam, b...

Missed Connections – theSpace @ Niddry St

22Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Missed Connections – theSpace @ Niddry St

Inspired by the rich musical style of the Appalachian mountains, Los Angeles Theatre Initiative presents Missed Connections, a newly written musical by Rachel Arianna and Eric Powers of Northwestern University. Missed Connections opens in 1997 on the last night at the Southside Bar after its owner Maggie (Camryn Helgeland) receives a notice of foreclosure. With one night left to celebrate and nothing left to lose, we see the townsfolk come together with old loves, first dates, family and friends to lay everything out on the table. With cast members on stage playing guitar and bass, there is a real folk feel to the musical reminiscent of the likes of Hadestown - Eric Powers’ composition is lilting and bright - I need a cast recording! The brunt of the story sp...

Please don’t fall in love with me (it’s really not sexy when that happens) – Hen & Chickens Theatre

22Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

London

Please don’t fall in love with me (it’s really not sexy when that happens) – Hen & Chickens Theatre

Brought to the Camden Fringe by Pinklepause Productions, Please don’t fall in love with me (it’s really not sexy when that happens) is an entertaining comedy that dives into the world of 2007 London’s most famous knicker shop: Knickers Forever. We follow the AGENT, played by the show’s writer Mollie Blue, as she takes us on a roller-coaster of creepy customers, charming clientele, and the constant craziness that comes with her chosen territory. Blue is charming in the role, the perfect host for a show which aims to be ‘silly, shocking, and ever so sexy’. At times, I found her performance a tad over-blown, but this, it turned out, was entirely intentional. We’ll get to that later. Poppy-Anne Taplin plays the AGENT’S hapless but lovable colleague BIMBO. Despite not being given much em...

Royal Pigeon Mail – theSpaceUK @ Surgeon’s Hall

22Aug

By Al CarrettaNo Comments

Scotland

Royal Pigeon Mail – theSpaceUK @ Surgeon’s Hall

Soon to be 22-year-old Kit is a clerk in a post office. She might be busy with administrative tasks and phone calls, but this is no ordinary office. This is the hub of the pigeon postal service at Dovecoat Parva. There’s a reminder board telling her to ‘Keep Coo…’ - the village debate on the future of the service is 10 days away and from here the avian jokes pile up thick and fast. Royal Pigeon Mail is student theatre in its purest form. It’s naive, wholly accessible and has a beautifully playful tone. Likeable characters and witty use of puns make it a universal and easily relatable watch with the added bonus; it’s really funny and doesn’t try hard to be so. Kit is the impartial referee in the office. Timid and softly spoken, she is a perfect foil to her colleagues and does her ...

22Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Provocateur – The Hope Theatre

Welcome to the world of Letitia Delish (Tish Weinman), a mistress who will certainly put you in your place, and you will love it! But, under the veil of the dominatrix, lies a person who is exploring their gender identity, using the whip as a tool of the trade, and the persona of Letitia Delish to earn money. Written and performed by Tish Weinman, this play aims to strip back the layers of the character Letitia, to find out why she was needed, not just by the men who visit her, but why was she needed by her creator? Supported by her co-performer Alex Chorley, we follow Letitia on her journey of how she became involved in the sex industry. Letitia’s first experience is with a man whose sex-life with his girlfriend is boring, and he wished to explore a part of himself th...

22Aug

By Al CarrettaNo Comments

Scotland

Yellow – theSpaceUK @ Surgeon’s Hall

Some shows are born great, some shows achieve greatness, and some shows have greatness thrust upon them. Ponder the classic quote then ask yourself if you’re a fan of Coldplay? Do you know their classic song, Yellow? Not to say it’s overused but if not, you’re going to know it by the end of this show. There’s a yellow tie, a yellow clipboard, some yellow tracksuit trousers and potentially more other yellow objects that I missed buried away in the corner of the theatre and practically watching this show from the wings. Yellow is a snapshot of office life in ‘Hathaways’ law firm. Various characters populate the environment. We’re lectured on moralistic principles and told tales of the fraudsters they defend. All of the performers work competently and efficiently with each other. The e...

22Aug

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

A Manchester Anthem – Riverside Studios

A Manchester Anthem opens with Tommy (Tom Claxton) having it large to the 1990 dance classic ‘Anthem’ by N-Joi. He’s in underpants, dancing with the unhinged enthusiasm of a person who has no idea that anybody might be watching. It’s unsexy slapstick, totally relatable and introduces us to a character who’s about to take the audience on a one-man, one-hour trip into a messy night out in Manchester. When N-Joi released Anthem, I was at university in Liverpool and that summer, lived in a crazy rave squat in Hulme, Manchester. If you Google ‘Anthem by N-Joi Quadrant Park’ there’s a one-minute clip of the tune being dropped at the legendary Merseyside club. I was a regular at ‘The Quaddie’ and a loved-up devotee to the Hacienda too, but this show isn’t a misty-eyed flashback to ‘90s Madches...

Moulin Rouge! The Musical – Palace Theatre

22Aug

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Moulin Rouge! The Musical – Palace Theatre

Step inside Manchester’s Palace Theatre this month and you are no longer in the North West of England - you are transported straight into the beating heart of Montmartre. For its UK tour, Moulin Rouge! The Musical has transformed the venue into a lush Parisian nightspot; its boxes crowned with the glittering red windmill and a striking blue elephant symbolising Satine’s dressing room. Even before the first note is sung, the effect is spellbinding, and the theatre itself is part of the spectacle. Directed by Alex Timbers with a book by John Logan, the musical reimagines Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film for the stage. At its core lies the romance between Christian (Josh Rose), a wide-eyed, penniless songwriter, and Satine (Verity Thompson), the glamorous star of the Moulin Rouge. Christian dreams...