REVIEWS Archives - Page 421 of 549

10Jun

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Find Me – Hope Street Theatre

Based on the true story of Verity Taylor, a young woman with undiagnosed autism, and the family attempting to understand and support her in a system that could not cope with her challenging behaviour, one could be forgiven for thinking this powerful play by Olwen Wymark is a modern commentary on a system in crisis, failing those who need it most. Not the case, I’m afraid. Written in 1976, Find Me depicts a family struggling to cope as they are failed and misunderstood by educators, medical staff, Social Services and the Crown Prosecution Service, the result being the conviction of a 20-year-old woman, institutionalized since the age of 11 years and 5 months, and admitted to a Psychiatric unit at Broadmoor, unable to be released without the express agreement of the Home Secretary. Her crime...

10Jun

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

On Air – Traverse Theatre

"On Air" mixes classic Fairy-tale characters and stories with modern sensibilities and need for "content". It evolved from small improvisations based around fairy tale characters in unusual settings, which were subsequently structured and developed by director Bradley Lewis Cannon. It is presumably from this latter stage we get the wraparound story involving a group of high-schoolers (an out-of-his-depth director played by Christie Gill, an ambitious Runner played by Emma Makin, and the genial sound-man Peter played by Jamie Duffin) trying to make a fake show as an audition piece for a TV channel together with its host, Kerry Minger (Finlay Gilzean). Within this structure we get three individual pieces, two of them involving tabloid talk shows around Sleeping Beauty (Layla Crombie-Su...

The Girl on the Train – Upstairs at The Gatehouse

10Jun

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

The Girl on the Train – Upstairs at The Gatehouse

Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Able’s stage adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ hugely successful novel The Girl on the Train has been given a revamp in this new production, following its tour and West End debut in 2019. Directed by Joseph Hodges, the story focuses on Rachel Watson (Katie Ray), a struggling alcoholic that has lost her job and her husband Tom (Tom Gordon) who has moved on with his new partner Anna (Tori Hargreaves) and their baby. Rachel travels on the train to London every day, as it stops, she has a perfect view of the house where she lived with her ex-husband as well as the couple two doors down. As Rachel watches neighbours Megan (Chrystine Symone) and Scott (Scott Hipwell), she enviously imagines what life could be like for this couple she doesn’t know. When Megan suddenly goe...

Anything Goes – Palace Theatre, Manchester

9Jun

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Anything Goes – Palace Theatre, Manchester

Manchester is basking in theatrical bliss right now. We’ve just bid farewell to Beauty and the Beast and are getting ready to welcome the Lion King back to the city later in the year, but before that the SS American has docked in the city with a stellar cast proving that literally Anything Goes. Originally opening on Broadway in 1934 the show has gone through many re inventions, the last being the 2021 revival which played in London’s Barbican Theatre and mirrors this UK tour before it returns to the Barbican this summer. Cole Porter sure knows how to pen a tune with some of his most famous songs featuring in this 2 and a half spectacle. For those not familiar with the plot, the story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowa...

9Jun

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Dreamers – Omnibus Theatre

Papergang theatre are presenting their stories on the Hong Kong Protests in 2019 through an interactive, high-energy piece in which the audience are listening upon different retellings of loss, courage and hope for better future. Still to this day, members of the community live in fear of being caught out, aware that someone may always be listening. It is a form of protest that this group decided to put on this piece and share it with an audience who mostly have moved on from this event, who much like myself had no idea the devastating affects it had on the community. Upon arrival they ask you to participate with the piece using the app Telegram which is incorporated into the piece as it was a vital form of communication during the protests. Once in a group chat, you can decide how acti...

Laurel & Hardy – Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

9Jun

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Laurel & Hardy – Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

Knowledge of our two protagonists – for those of us who had a TV back in the late 60’s/early 70’s - extended to a pair of bumbling incompetents consistently at odds with even the most mundane of situations. Funny, comic, slapstick, every grade of mirth was covered, be it driving a car or attempting some interior decoration, the wince-inducing violence happily hilarious and incidental. In our lofty 9-year-old estimation Tom & Jerry cartoons (the proper ones!) owed a huge debt to Stan and Ollie. But this production delved behind the Saturday morning entertainment, an insight into the lives of Oliver Norvell Hardy and Arthur Stanley Jefferson, successes in their own right prior to becoming the duo the globe knows so well. The austere, bleached (even the pies were bluey-grey) concrete b...

9Jun

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

Me and My Girl – Storyhouse Chester

Chester Operatic Society are celebrating their centenary this year and they have brought the classic that is Me and My Girl to the Storyhouse, Chester. Me and My Girl follows the story of Bill Snibson, a Cockney from Lambeth, found to be the long-lost Earl of Hareford. This is a type of rags to riches story as the family try to change Snibson to become the type of Earl that is stated in the previous Earl’s will, but as Snibson does not want to give up his ‘Girl,’ Sally Smith, will he be able to convince the family that he is right to person to inherit the title and Estate of Earl of Hareford or will he leave it all behind and return to Lambeth and his girl? Artistic direction and Choreography provided by Rob Stevens with assistance from Laura Morris and Musical Direction from Wendy D...

Sunshine on Leith – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

9Jun

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Sunshine on Leith – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

Just before closing for renovations, the iconic King’s theatre is lifting its curtain to David Shrusbsole’s latest version of Sunshine on Leith, an essential musical by Scottish playwright Stephen Greenhorn which was first performed in 2007 and subsequently adapted to the big screen in 2013. Directed by the harmonious tandem of Elizabeth Newman & Ben Occhipinti, this time it is the well established Pitlochry Festival Theatre in collaboration with Capital Theatre to bring this renovated version of the play to the Scottish capital. In essence, Sunshine on Leith is an open love letter to Edinburgh. By using memorable songs from the Proclaimers-Scotland’s most beloved twins-it manages to tell a universal story of belonging and finding your place in the world. In Newman’s words: “[Sun...

8Jun

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

No Particular Order – Theatre 503

Directed by Joshua Roche, we are shown a fascinating insight of a near future world in which those in charge although not present in this telling, decide the fate of the community they speak for which result in war, environmental damage and protesting. This take place over a long period of time although told in short episodic chapters with 4 actors (Jules Chan, Pandora Colin, Pía Laborde-Noguez, Daniel York Loh) taking a new role in each scene and tell the stories of those willing to give up everything for the causes they believe in and remind us they are just like us, not ‘heroic or remarkable’ but people fighting for sustainability of community. We are transported through lifetimes watching the after effects of believing in our leaders, the damage of glorifying one person and that allows...

8Jun

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

The Vicar of Dibley – Gladstone Theatre

The Vicar of Dibley is a beloved sitcom and Bebington Dramatic Society’s production is an affectionate interpretation which shows a good deal of respect to the show’s original cast and crew. Well performed and sweetly funny throughout, this entertaining piece of theatre, directed by Betty Oliver, has a warm and cosy atmosphere. The play opens with a fun and awkward welcoming announcement from the title vicar, Geraldine (Jane Wing) and the infamous Alice Tinker (Jenny Dewhirst). As Alice fumbles her lines, Geraldine predictably takes over, before the village of Dibley comes to life at a Parish Council meeting chaired by David Horton (David Oliver). The longstanding vicar of the village, Reverend Pottle, has died, and the Council are discussing his replacement. When Geraldine arrives howe...