REVIEWS Archives - Page 7 of 427

4Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Come From Away – The Lowry

Come From Away, is uplifting and heartwarming and now playing at The Lowry in Salford, the show takes audiences on a remarkable journey through the emotional and transformative events surrounding 9/11. Set in the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland, the show tells the true story of how the residents opened their hearts and homes to 7,000 stranded airline passengers and crew after their flights were grounded due to the terrorist attacks. From the moment the show begins, the energy is infectious. The ensemble cast, which is central to the musical’s success, effortlessly shifts between multiple characters, portraying both the bewildered passengers and the compassionate townspeople. The seamless transitions highlight the remarkable storytelling of Come From Away, where each cast mem...

A Very Naughty Christmas – Southwark Playhouse

4Dec

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

A Very Naughty Christmas – Southwark Playhouse

The ‘naughty set’ has arrived, fresh onto the London theatre scene from down under ready to shake up Christmas. Hold on to your hats as there are not many clothes featured in this Australian production, billed as a comedy concert for strictly adult members only. This one and half hours contains skits, dancing and burlesque whilst showcasing a musical feast of popular music to traditional Christmas tunes spiced up, reworded in a way you have never heard before or may never hear again. It’s rogue it’s risqué with tantalising moments of indulgence which hits the funny bone and very suited the mood and ambience of ‘A Very Naughty Christmas’ indeed, ‘Santa Loves You Less Because You’re poor’ ‘Jingle ball’s’ maybe not one to sing out loud; yes you get the idea. Photo: Mark Senior There are...

4Dec

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Borrowers – Hull Truck Theatre

I loved watching The Borrowers when it aired on TV in 1992, and can well remember many of the antics of the Clock family, aka The Borrowers. Fast forward to today and the teeny family - mum Homily, dad Pod and daughter Arrietty - are still teeny and still just as entertaining. Hull Truck Theatre has the Clocks gracing its stage until early January 2025, and Tuesday night’s performance proved that size doesn’t matter where talent is involved. Of course, the Clock actors - Bea Clancy as Arrietty, Deb Pugh as Homily and Marc Akinfolarin as Pod - are all normal size, so in parts were shown as tiny puppets. Our first glimpse of the family’s underfloor home showed everyday items they had “borrowed”, including a matchbox used as a double bed by mum and dad. It’s Christmas in the ea...

4Dec

By Manda ElizabethNo Comments

North West

Here You Come Again – Liverpool Empire

Dolly Parton’s hits such as “9-5" and “Islands in the stream” grace the stage of Liverpool’s Empire Theatre this week for a wacky and wonderful comedy take on a diehard fan's troublesome times, and the dreams that see him through “when reality and fantasy intertwine” - as Paul Wills (set & costume designer) says. This is “Here you come again”. Immediately the story begins and we meet Kevin Rutter played by Steven Webb, in his attic kitted out in shrine for Dolly. He takes us back to Covid-19 pandemic times… very controversial I thought given the elapsed time and a somewhat dare we say distant memory, but the political humour as the story went on was a real trust the process and something that I felt worked to a high degree. Kevin is a struggling comic awaiting his break, and albeit ...

3Dec

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Expendable – The Royal Court

Emteaz Hussain's ‘Expendable’ bravely tackles the harrowing realities of fear, misogyny, and the fractures within communities targeted by media and public hysteria. Inspired by the devastating fallout from child-grooming scandals in the North of England, the play presents a gripping exploration of these themes through the lens of one British-Pakistani family. The story unfolds entirely within the intimate confines of a kitchen-diner, meticulously designed by Natasha Jenkins. The set is more than a backdrop, it’s a character in itself, immersing the audience in domestic chaos with its scents of chopped onions, cooking pizza and antiseptic, and the hum of boiling kettles. Immersing the audience on both sensory and emotional level, this setting reinforces the play’s focus on a very pri...

1Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Treasure Island – The Lyceum, Edinburgh

The Lyceum Christmas show has landed! And in the tradition of Lyceum Christmas shows passed it (thankfully!) takes a wide berth around the ‘panto’ genre and serves up its own idiosyncratic recipe; take a classic tale, give it an Edinburgh flavour, a sprinkling of humour, a seasonal twist, a large dollop of live music and action, and serve it firmly tongue -in-cheek and aimed squarely at the family market. For the most part, Treasure Island, adapted by Orkney based writer, Duncan McLean, achieves its objectives, and the production is hilarious, fast-paced and always wonderfully musical. In a clever plot twist, we start our tale in a rest home for reformed pirates, no beards, no swashbuckling and absolutely no treasure hunts… Awwww! But old habits are hard to break, timbers req...

Woman | Women – Shakespeare North Playhouse

1Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Woman | Women – Shakespeare North Playhouse

Produced, directed, performed, and choreographed by Dr Rowena Gander, Woman I Women is a physical and comedic show that takes an ironic deep dive into the typically fast-paced nature of lesbian relationships, coming out of the other side with a more philosophical whole that encourages its audience to contemplate the meaning of relationships and oneself within and without one. Whilst its focus is on lesbian relationships, this powerful, empowering, and informative work resonates on a number of levels. Less is more and Gander’s approach to physical theatre demonstrates how you can do a lot with a little as a basic rectangular cuboid frame serves as a metaphoric clothes horse that brings two into one as well as the boxing ring for some playful fighting through to the rougher breaking u...

Jack and the Beanstalk: What A Whopper! – Charing Cross Theatre

1Dec

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Jack and the Beanstalk: What A Whopper! – Charing Cross Theatre

For those who think pantomime is merely a children’s festive pastime, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk: What a Whopper!’ gleefully shatters all expectations with its unapologetically adult spin on the classic theatre genre. Written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper and directed by Andrew Beckett, this production isn’t just sprinkled with innuendo, it’s flooded in wickedly clever humour and deliciously naughty smut, which keeps the audience roaring with laughter throughout. Photo: Steve Gregson From the moment the curtains rise it is clear that this is not your typical Christmas show. The plot, centered on Jack Trott’s (Keanu Adolphus Johnson) quest for something “truly giant”. Jack is poor, gay, and very horny, living 10 miles from the nearest Grindr user in the quaint Yorkshire Village of U...

Be More Chill – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

1Dec

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Be More Chill – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

SUPAS’ production of ‘Be More Chill’ demonstrates there is a strong future in the next generation of creatives, with the only question being left asked of them is to try and emulate more faith in their own abilities and a slightly enhanced focus to get them to the next level. Alice Bell’s direction of Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz’s text, based on Ned Vizzini’s novel, is good. Transitions tend to avoid interrupting the action and there is a strong sense of narrative peaks and troughs successfully struck upon. Although Daniel Brown’s set design is easy on the eye with its simple-but-effective approach, the play is proxemically stagnant and there is no great use of the abundance of depth and height there is to utilise. Bell tidies this up nicely, however, with some great texturing of scenes us...

29Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Spend Spend Spend – Royal Exchange

Viv Nicholson is a pretty obscure name in British popular culture nowadays, perhaps the odd fan of 80’s indie darlings The Smiths would recognise her as the brassy blonde staring out aggressively from the front cover of ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, her real claim to fame having been gradually consigned to the dustbin of history. However, back in 1964, when she and her husband Keith won £152,319 (the equivalent of £4.3 million today) on the football pools, she could reasonable lay claim to have been as famous in the UK as The Beatles or Harold Wilson. This festive season, The Royal Exchange have mounted a joyous revival of ‘Spend Spend Spend’ the 1998 musical by the late Steve Brown and Justin Greene, exploring Viv’s rise, fall and redemption, and in a cracking return to...