REVIEWS Archives - Page 470 of 549

9 to 5 The Musical – The Alexandra, Birmingham

17Nov

By Annette NuttallNo Comments

West Midlands

9 to 5 The Musical – The Alexandra, Birmingham

After an enforced break, this feel-good musical takes to the road again, stopping off in Birmingham for a week. Based on the 1980s film of the same name and of course, the iconic song, this show tells the tale of three woman (Doralee, Violet and Judy) with office jobs, struggling to get noticed in a man’s world. Their boss, Franklin Hart Jnr, has views that (hopefully) are outdated in the workplace today. Can the ladies get him to take them seriously? Being set in the 1980s, everything is of the era. The costumes, hair and make-up instantly transport you right back, as does the pared down set. Clever use of projection does the leg work for the scene setting allowing for a few well placed furniture items to create the location. The set changes create a choreographed musical interlude ...

17Nov

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Elf The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

What a wonderful way to start the festive season, with more cheese than you would see on any Cheeseboard at Christmas! Elf - The Musical is based on the original film Elf written by David Berenbaum, staring Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf. The musical version does include a few changes from the film script, but its essence and Christmas spirit is very much alive. However, I did miss the snowball fight in the park though! (One of my favourite scenes). If anyone is unfamiliar with the storyline, we follow the story of Buddy, who is brought up in Christmastown by Santa and his elves. After crawling into Santa’s sack as a baby, Buddy is mistakenly transported to the North Pole. We join the story as it becomes evident that Buddy has a few ‘special’ qualities that set him aside from the rest of...

Eric & Ern – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

17Nov

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Eric & Ern – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

It was difficult to suppress a chuckle simply taking in the set. That sofa, for those of us of a certain vintage, the telephone (Daddy, what were they for in the olden days?) and… The Bed! With no sign of a kitchen one feared – correctly as it turned out – that this would be free of pop-up toast routines. Of Des O’Connor mentions, famous catchphrases and legendary sketches it was not. Never mind how ‘of its era’ it was (20 million+ viewers for the Christmas Specials in 1977 and 1978), this production underlined how enduring the scripts have proved. As has - faithfully captured by Jonty Stephens (Eric) and Ian Ashpitel (Ern) - the stagecraft, timing and theatricality necessary to execute them. In less safe hands a quip about watching a three-foot high person swallow a four-foot sword might ...

17Nov

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

Dial M For Murder – The Lowry

The Lowry Theatre’s production of “Dial M For Murder” is probably one of the best pieces of theatre I have seen in a long, long time. Having no prior knowledge of the storyline – past the intriguing title and the vaguest of recollections of a film made in 1954 by the king of suspense, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock – I came into the Lowry Theatre on a cold Monday night not knowing what to expect... but nothing prepared me for the theatrical brilliance that awaited me. The set was simple – one single set, designed to replicate art deco living room-cum-kitchen in London’s trendy Maida Vale that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a 1960s edition of House and Home Magazine. But even in its simplicity, the set was wonderfully dynamic. It was functional, believable, and helped set the scene of mid...

17Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Me, Myself and Micha – Leeds Playhouse

When Brazilian dancer and choreographer Ana Silverio realised she was pregnant she began to make detailed notes to make a piece out of her nine month journey. Silverio who had worked across Europe initially thought this was going to be performed by three dancers after presenting an initial 10 minute work in progress during a scratch session as part of the Playhouse’s Furnace Festival she realised it was a solo show. Furnace is the engine room that supports new and more established artists like Silverio with space to create new work, as well allowing them to tap into the Playhouse’s vast reservoir of creative and technical expertise. Usually for Furnace which was cancelled last year due to the virus this is staged as a fully realised forty-minute piece that begins with a beauti...

17Nov

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Lost Origin – Hoxton Docks

Cards on the table: I am a huge fan of immersive theatre. So, when I saw immersive pioneers Factory 42 had teamed up with Almeida Theatre and Sky to create ‘Lost Origin’, I was sold. The mission? In groups of six, participants turn undercover investigators as part of Wing 7 to crack an illegal dark web marketplace. The location of the experience in Hoxton Docks sets the scene. It’s a rundown building on the fringes of East London’s trendy nightlife. Greeted by special ops, you and your group are briefed on the mission and then taken off by Marsha, a crack coder with a slightly unstable personality. The experience fuses technology, performance and incredible set design in a 60-minute journey which sees you immerse yourself in solving the mystery. The different room themes are am...

A Streetcar Named Desire – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

16Nov

By Angela KellyNo Comments

North West

A Streetcar Named Desire – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

First performed on Broadway in 1947, Tennessee Williams ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is a tragedy that highlights the inequalities of society in post war America. The play particularly shares the negative effects experienced by women during this time. Associated by many as one of the most significant of all American plays, it is certainly a brave step that the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse have undertaken in performing this epic tale. For those unfamiliar with the story, the play relays the story of Blanche Dubois (Kathryn Worthington) who arrives in New Orleans from Laurel, Mississippi having been given “a leave of absence” from her teaching role. She moves into her sister Stella’s apartment (Fiona Primrose) in the unbearable heat of New Orleans that she shares with Stella’s husband, the ...

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – Charing Cross Theatre

16Nov

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – Charing Cross Theatre

In rural Pennsylvania, Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia live a quiet life of Chekhovian ennui and bitterness, after having cared for their parents in the family home. Their bickering is interspersed with hankering after a better, more fulfilled life and thoughts of what might have been. Into this pit of despair and coffee comes their hand-grenade of a sister, Masha, an escapee from the countryside who fled to the bright lights of Hollywood, achieving a degree of fame and fortune, and revelling in her perceived superiority. The three siblings seem destined to live out the lives of their namesakes, throwing in references to The Cherry Orchard (not really an orchard) and The Seagull (here a wild turkey), with misery and calamity foretold by Cassandra, their psychic and Voodoo-loving cleaner...

13Nov

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Sessions – Soho Theatre

In a small upstairs theatre, we meet a man- Tunde and he’s about to turn 30. We are welcomed in by him in the small corners of his room, filled with cardboard boxes and an atmosphere consumed with music. We begin as he begins his first therapy session which he thought right to attend so he can start going to the gym again, wanting to look good for his upcoming birthday. However, through the excessive laughter and narration of his running thoughts during these sessions, we hear and see him break down into something a lot more fragile. Within this time, we watch Tunde bounce back and forth through stability and never-ending deep waters, learning a lot more about what he has lost in avoiding the most vulnerable parts of himself. Ifeyinwa Frederick (the writer) has an incredible ability to ...

Persephone – Oxford Playhouse Livestream

13Nov

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

REVIEWS

Persephone – Oxford Playhouse Livestream

Oxford University students present their production ‘Persephone’ on the main stage at Oxford Playhouse, in what is the first production by their production company Jazz Hands Productions since the Playhouse re-opened. The mythical Greek tale of Persephone (Bethan Draycott), daughter of Demeter (Maddie Hall) (the goddess of harvest and fertility), and Zeus (Lorcan Cudlip-Cook). Persephone is an innocent young woman who loves nothing more than wandering through the woods and enjoying the natural world. On one of these walks, she is taken by Hades (Peter Todd), ‘God of the Underworld’, as he has fallen in love with her beauty and wants her to live with him as ‘Queen of the Underworld’. Demeter is heartbroken at Persephone’s disappearance; she had hidden her daughter away to kee...