REVIEWS Archives - Page 374 of 548

<strong>Strange Tale – Shakespeare North Playhouse</strong>

3Nov

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Strange Tale – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Continuing with the opening season at Shakespeare North Playhouse, this tale explores the link between the 16th century poet and playwright to the Merseyside town of Prescot, in a fun, imaginative and engaging way. The production team “Imaginarium” is aptly named and as an award-winning ensemble, took us effortlessly and with enviable talent, through their “Strange Tale” of worm holes, eccentric lords, brassy landladies, besotted girls and tattooed thugs, to their adored town Prescot were somehow the bard had appeared. The Cockpit Theatre was a very fitting place to share with us the tale of how the bard transported from Stratford upon Avon in Tudor times to this pub in the centre of the Liverpudlian town. The links to the original Prescot Playhouse (where now stands a barber shop) w...

<strong>Spike – King’s Theatre, Glasgow</strong>

3Nov

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Spike – King’s Theatre, Glasgow

Spike is Spike Milligan, and this play gives us a glimpse into the man's life through his creation and run of the Goon Show, a now often forgotten (and now often politically incorrect) 1950s radio comedy show which mostly lives on today, as the announcer concludes the show pointing out, through the people it has influenced. These include The Beatles (most notably their films, Christmas records to their fans and the B-side to Let It Be, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number), Monty Python (for whom Milligan cameoed in their film Life of Brian), Eddie Izzard, Douglas Adams, and many more. Though its other chief claim to fame is as an early notable leading role for Peter Sellers, who would later star in the Pink Panther series, amongst other things. But this play, produced by Karl Sydow, Tr...

<strong>The Drought – Old Red Lion Theatre</strong>

3Nov

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

The Drought – Old Red Lion Theatre

Nina Ates's The Drought is showing at the Old Red Lion theatre. The 600-year-old pub hosts the 40-year-old intimate theatre setting. The theatre is renowned for its off-west end theatre staging challenging and ambitious work that transfers to the west end and off-broadway. The drought is arresting in its use of light, sound and acting. Marooned in an imaginary time and place where the sea has vanished, the three men battle lack of sleep, food and desperation. The set has drapes of a sail of a boat. The wind's relentless sound on the wood sends a cold tickle down one's spine. The play unfolds bit by bit the circumstances of this lone Captain and Stewart, who seem to be grasping at the last straws of survival. The outsider, the whaler, arrives asking for refuge. He breaks the ritual...

<strong>The Sound of Music – Rotherham Civic Theatre</strong>

2Nov

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Sound of Music – Rotherham Civic Theatre

The Sound of Music - based on the true story of the von Trapp family and taken from Maria von Trapp’s memoir, ‘The Story of the Trapp Family Singers’ has wowed audiences and critics alike since its Broadway debut in 1959. With their last collaboration of music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and the book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, the musical is a timeless classic. After winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical, it was adapted into an award-winning film in 1961 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. This romantic and unforgettable musical takes place in Austria as a time of impending war. Lively novitiate Maria, how has clear cut plans to become a nun even though she has trouble following the rules of the abbey. Wisely, Maria is sent by M...

Saturday Night Fever – Edinburgh Playhouse

2Nov

By Louise BalaguerNo Comments

Scotland

Saturday Night Fever – Edinburgh Playhouse

Adapted from the acclaimed 1977 film of the same title, ‘Saturday Night Fever’ is a show that, regardless of whether you are familiar with the original film or not, will hit you with an urge to dance as soon as you hear the Bee Gees soundtrack, an absolute delight for the ears all the way through. Greeting its audience with a very satisfying opening, sounds of electric guitars echoing loudly as the music smoothly morphs into ‘Stayin’ Alive’, our three Bee Gees singers (Aj Jenks, Drew Ferry and Oliver Thompson, nailing every single one of the songs) are ready to go, a full cast on stage dancing energetically to the classic hit, disco balls turning the theatre into a giant discothèque. Our hero in this colourful Bee Gees infused landscape is Tony Manero, interpreted by Jack Wilcox, a y...

2Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Disney’s The Lion King – Palace Theatre

There was a palpable sense of excitement in Manchester last night as the crowds made their way down Oxford Road to watch 'The Lion King' start its mammoth run at the venerable old Palace Theatre. Some in the audience have been waiting over two years, the original booking falling victim to the pandemic back in 2020, indeed such was the demand for tickets (over 200,000 sold for the initial weeks of performance), that the run has been further extended to the middle of March next year. I saw this production on its last visit to Manchester in 2012 and will admit to being slightly underwhelmed on that occasion, so I was interested to see if this time round it would live up to the hype. Should you be spending your hard earned money in the company of Simba and Pumba in the Pride Lands, rather t...

1Nov

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Commitments – Hull New Theatre

I spent Hallowe’en in Dublin, Ireland - not literally, I was at the Hull New Theatre on Monday evening watching The Commitments, a story set in the Emerald Isle. The production, part of a nine-month UK and Ireland tour, had me hooked from the opening scene of a disparate bunch of pub regulars, in the run-up to Christmas. Based on the 1991 film of the same name, it tells of local working-class music-lover Jimmy (James Killeen) who persuades a number of his compatriots to form a band with him. Amazed to be asked, they all agree; three girl singers and a very experienced trumpeter, Joey the Lips (Stuart Reid), also sign up. Deco (Ian McIntosh) is equally amazed to be asked to be the lead singer, only having sung in public on a drunken night out, which he had no recollection of. Wh...

1Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

The Shawshank Redemption – The Lowry

The 1994 screen version of 'The Shawshank Redemption' consistently tops the IMDB rankings as their most popular movie of all time, but this tale of Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongly convicted of killing his wife was a slow burner on its initial release, only achieving the preeminence it now enjoys in cinematic history over the ensuing thirty years. A similar glacial timeframe forms the backdrop to the story, being set over a two decades in the hellish surroundings of Shawshank prison in Maine and following Dufresne through his suffering and eventual vindication; a story of hope and a triumph of positivity under the most trying of circumstances. The film, based on the 1982 novella by Stephen King has become so pervasive in modern culture, that there will have been few attending the caverno...

Jasmin Vardimon Company: ALiCE – Sadlers Wells

31Oct

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Jasmin Vardimon Company: ALiCE – Sadlers Wells

Jasmin Vardimon Company's modern retelling of 'Alice' is arresting, illuminating and inspiring. As you settle into the auditorium, there is a clock turning, and you notice the countdown to the start of the performance. Then it dawns on you to observe closely that it's a group of super flexible dancers telling the time with their bodies. With this stopping of time, as we wait for the time the show begins, we are grasped by the captivating 3rd Movement of Vivaldi's Summer. A rendition that evokes goosebumps. That is Jasmin Vardimon's choreography for you, beauty in the details, on-point music, arresting images and thought-provoking choreography. 'Allice in Wonderland, a classic, has been an inspiration for so many movies, theatre, sketches and dance ballets. This production literall...

31Oct

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Doing Whodunnit – Hope Street Theatre

The souvenir programme should have been the first clue of how tonight’s proceedings were going to go. Stretched headshot pictures and typos hint at the lack of finesse that has undone what could have been an excellent concept for a parody of the classic ‘Whodunnit’. Developed from what was a very well-received online piece during lockdown, tonight’s show from the Northern Comedy Theatre is based around the premise of a world-weary acting troupe whose schtick of putting on murder mysteries for corporate teams and parties is starting to test everyone’s patience, especially when 28 of the expected 30 punters from a local conservatory installation firm have failed to show for the latest outing. Soon a genuine murder occurs and anyone and everyone is a suspect. Unfortunately, the transiti...