REVIEWS Archives - Page 96 of 409

6Feb

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

L’Amour Du Risque – Manipulate Festival

In this show by Compagnie Bakélite, a man (show creator Olivier Rannou) is served dinner by a collection of automatised vacuum cleaners piloted off-stage by Morien Nolot. Covered in small tables equipped with everything you need for a meal, including romantic music, tablecloths, a candle and a surplus of spoons, these vacuum actors roam around the lined stage with a mixture of robotic awkwardness and occasional personality, bumping into some objects and ignoring others in their mechanical pursuit of simple functionality. The result is a comedic and hypnotic mix of Jacques Tati and a Pixar short. We watch as these vacuum cleaners struggle with their restaurant jobs, sometimes cleverly, sometimes not, and sometimes both, under Rannou's constant but mostly non-judgemental gaze. As the cust...

6Feb

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The House – Traverse Theatre

The House is a fantastic little puppet world centered on the Warehouse Family Funeral Home. This particular cremation business is burning the midnight oil to please a manipulative, greedy woman. It is chillingly superb. The set is clever, revealing room upon room where unspeakable deeds are carried out. On her deathbed, the undertaker, Mrs Esperanza, changes her will which does not please some. And so begins the shenanigans of hidden identities, lost souls and nonsensical goings on with open and closing doors offering just one more opportunity for farcical fun. This magnificently bizarre horror story made me smile from ear to ear. It’s surreal, funny and enticing. Sofie Krog and her talented partner, David Faraco, clearly love their jobs and, as a result, they are master crafts...

Something About George – Floral Pavilion

5Feb

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Something About George – Floral Pavilion

Taylor delivers in his own passionate style… he sings with warmth and commitment. Anything with a flavour of The Beatles will go down well on Merseyside and tonight’s full house was very appreciative of this new musical tour from Something About Productions (Bill Elms, Jon Fellowes and Gary Edward Jones). Starting their story of the ‘quiet’ Beatle from the split of the Fab Four, this five-piece band perform twenty of George’s catalogue, some more well known than others and also include a couple from the Traveling Wilburys. After the hits the audience erupted with claps and cheers, some of the lesser-known tracks fell away to polite applause. The rendition of Something was memorable, and surely is, as we are told, considered one of the greatest love songs. Leadin...

5Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Plinth – Traverse Theatre

Part of Edinburgh’s Manipulate Festival 2024, Plinth is created and performed by Glasgow-based, Al Seed. A darkly intense, wordless portrayal of human conflict, and a timely reminder that actions speak louder than words. A show that comes with a warning, that it contains loud music/sounds, flashing lights and smoke effects, and rightly so. At times this was certainly in the ‘uncomfortable’ zone. But then again, you could argue that the depiction of war should be uncomfortable. Reminiscent of one of my favourite shows from last year, As Far As Impossible (Lyceum), which questioned why some medics continually return to conflict zones, Plinth asks some similarly unanswerable wordless questions about the inevitability of conflict and the human thirst for ascendancy. Seed’s unquestion...

5Feb

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Sus – Hope Street Theatre

Barrie Keeffe’s play Sus exploring the deep-set systemic racism within the Metropolitan Police and society at large premiered over forty years ago yet with the resignation of Commissioner Cressida Dick less than two years ago following her failure to deal with misogyny and racism in the force, this powerful play still resonates. Whilst set on the eve of Thatcher’s landslide election victory in 1979, there are obvious and relevant parallels to Brexit’s ‘taking our country back’ that are reinforced by current-day statistics that tell us that black people are still nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white contemporaries. Unemployed father of three, Delroy (Rikki Dallas), has been brought in for interrogation by two police officers, Wilby (David J Williamson) a...

5Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

The Handmaid’s Tale – London Coliseum

How well do you remember the beginning of the end? Make sure to do your homework before attending this production of The Handmaid’s Tale where the London Coliseum transforms into the venue of a future-set historical conference where a stunning and severe white-pantsuited Professor Piexoto (Juliet Stevenson) directly addresses audience members in her introduction to the overtaped cassettes which comprise the narrative bulk of The Handmaid’s Tale. Eliciting a few laughs in her pithy introduction but primarily conveying static gravitas and the restrained sensitivity of an academic among peers, Stevenson commands the stage at the opera’s bookends. However, her forceful presence is at times an unfortunate distraction as she every so often, ever so covertly interrupts the action to change the ta...

2Feb

By Zara OdetundeNo Comments

London

Bury Me – Riverside Studios

Bury Me is billed as a one act comedic drama which has been put on at the Riverside Studios as a part of their Bitesize Festival, a theatre festival meant to platform and uplift new and emerging theatre talent. This story was told in two timelines. The timeline in which Nadia is trying to track down her brother Noah’s body to be able to hold his funeral and the timeline in which Noah and his family are preparing for him to undergo a surgery to treat his cancer. Being able to get to know the person that these characters lost was a great choice, so we can imagine the extent of Nadia’s pain more and more throughout the play. The highlight of this show was the exploration of the strength of the sibling bond. Explored by Gillian Konko and Peter Todd through their characters Nadia and Noah...

2Feb

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Stimmicanto – Barons Court Theatre

Do you keep more than five pictures of Paul Rudd on your laptop? Have you ever tried and failed to make small talk with your own brain? Do you find yourself giggling at peculiar street names on a regular basis? If so, consider this your sign to check out Stimmicanto, an hour of offbeat comedy full of surprises. The show, conceived and performed by comedian Paggy Gacheva, densely packs a wide-ranging slew of information into its 60-minute run time. Audiences are guided gently through its many transitions between topics, but their frequency and lack of clear directional focus prevent viewers from settling into consistent enjoyment, and the absence of an overall theme in the work at times makes it difficult to follow. The joy, or “encanto” Gacheva finds in performance is evident and...

Our Day Out – Castle Hill School, Stockport

1Feb

By David S ClarkeNo Comments

North West

Our Day Out – Castle Hill School, Stockport

As NK Theatre Arts do not currently have access to their home venue at the Romiley Forum, this production was staged at the hall at Castle Hill School. This meant that instead of their usual capacity of close on 300 seats, there was an audience of only about 50 people, but those that did attend were treated to an excellent interpretation of Willy Russell’s comedy about a group of Liverpool’s underprivileged children on a day out from their normal classes exploring the countryside of North Wales. The director described this production as an “Informal Show”, which is perhaps doing it a bit of an injustice as everything about it was done in an extremely professional manner. The date of the production has changed a number of times which necessitated a number of changes in the cast, but thes...

Giovanni, Let Me Entertain You – Floral Pavilion

1Feb

By Emma LambeNo Comments

North West

Giovanni, Let Me Entertain You – Floral Pavilion

Strictly Theatre Co. presents a fun filled evening with quite possibly Strictly's favourite professional dancer, well certainly mine, Giovanni Pernice! This show proves how he is an all-round entertainer, he is not only a highly talented dancer, but showman and surprisingly a singer too. He charms us with his cheekiness and multiple times showing love for being centre stage by asking the spotlight to be moved etc. This is all done in a charming way and is very likeable in the process. He is joined by a cast of professional dancers and West End performers and a 2-man band. Most noticeably his fellow Strictly Dancer Lauren Oakley, who wowed us just as much. The live music was the icing on the cake, as their vocals brought the roof down. Giovanni draws us in with his cheeky swag, earnin...