Tuesday, March 19

South East

My Fair Lady – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

My Fair Lady – Frinton Summer Theatre

The big tent on the Greensward is a big thing for Frinton Summer Theatre. Marking the finale run of the theatrical season, Clive Brill (Producer & Artistic Director) usually selects a big show where the creative juices can really run wild in the central stage, and the live band can rip out the scores with abandon. ‘My Fair Lady’ is the 2023 big top production, a musical theatre piece by Lerner and Loewe. The story follows Eliza Doolittle (Jennifer Louise Jones) a flower girl in Covent Garden as she learns how to become a lady under the guidance of Henry Higgins (Alan Cox). It’s an interesting way into the class question for one’s accent can affect one’s position in life and this exploration through Higgins’ education of Eliza and her slum dialect can be seen as she transforms not o...
Don’t Dress for Dinner – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

Don’t Dress for Dinner – Frinton Summer Theatre

In these dark times we desperately need to laugh and laugh you will at ‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much or so hard or felt my laughter was getting in the way of the actor’s next line – which I was eager not to miss on account of the hilarity at stake. The storyline, in brief, goes as follows: a wife is going to visit her mother and her husband is going to take advantage of his wife’s absence by inviting his mistress over for the weekend. His friend who’d been his best man at the wedding then calls and the husband invites him to join, thinking he would make a perfect alibi. As it turns out when the wife discovers the husband’s friend is coming to stay, she cancels her visit to her mother because – as it turns out – she’s having an affair with hi...
Bette & Joan – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

Bette & Joan – Frinton Summer Theatre

It’s likely even if you’ve never seen any of their movies, you’ve heard of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Such is the reputation of these Hollywood stars, that all these decades on from their most famous movies, their names are synonymous with the legendary times of that golden era. It was also a time when egos were big, pay cheques were big, and the arguments of epic proportions. Anton Burge has honed in on the feud between the pair, showcasing their lives, personalities and short-comings laid bare for the audience to see. Thrust together to make a movie when both are at the tail-end of their ailing careers makes for a novel platform to explore the starlet’s battle. The production is set in Joan and Bette’s dressing rooms, which face each other, mirror-style. It is an unusually...
Folk – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

Folk – Frinton Summer Theatre

At first glance, ‘Folk’ is a charming, uplifting play with plenty of folk music that will have you smiling and maybe even tapping a toe, but beneath the sweet Somerset lilt, is a dark story. Set in 1903 in the Somerset Levels we meet two sisters, Louie Hooper (Hannah Traylen) and Lucy White (Gemma Sutton) who have just buried their mother. Life is hard. The machines are coming and they cannot sew gloves fast enough to keep their heads above water. The work songs passed down from their mother keep them working, the melodies express their love for the local environment and appreciation of nature. Enter Cecil Sharp (William Oxborrow), a wannabe English composer from London. He wants to collect local folk songs to preserve them for history – and for the national good. He convinces Louie...
Barefoot in the Park – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

Barefoot in the Park – Frinton Summer Theatre

When you’re in a long-term relationship it’s sometimes hard to remember why you’re with the other person. Luckily for Corrie and Paul Bratter they’re newly-weds – 6 days married and full to the brim with love for each other and life. Corrie (Olivia Bernstone) is an optimistic happy wife. Carefree and always wanting to look on the bright side of life, she’s the perfect antidote to her more uptight and anxious new husband Paul (Jamie Treacher). Over the course of four days, we watch as the twosome learn to live together and navigate the mundanities of life from their top floor apartment. Corrie’s mother, Ethel Banks (Olivia Carruthers), and their upstairs neighbour, Victor Velasco (Nathan Osgood), provide enough skits to make this period comedy work. ‘Barefoot in the Park’ is about wa...
The King’s Speech – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

The King’s Speech – Frinton Summer Theatre

Most people will know ‘The King’s Speech’ as the Oscar winning film with Colin Firth, but the writer David Seidler, originally came up with the idea as a play. As a boy, Seidler himself suffered from a stammer, and the fact King George VI also suffered a speech impediment was a source of huge creative interest. The story is mainly set in the 1930s as King George V comes to the end of his reign and his eldest son abdicates to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. Bertie (Duncan Wilkins) is thrust into the position of being crowned King George VI. The challenge being, Bertie, was rather hoping for a quieter royal life, and his debilitating stammer leaves him open to the charge of not being suitable to rule as a King. Set against the backdrop of mounting political tensions in Europ...
Warhol: Bullet Karma – Brighton Fringe Online
South East

Warhol: Bullet Karma – Brighton Fringe Online

Warhol: Bullet Karma, written and performed by Garry Roost and directed by Kenneth Hadley, is a one man show, exploring the life of Andy Warhol and Valerie Solanas’ attempt on his life. Covering his experience with art, obsession with fame and relationship with his mother, this is an original biographical drama, examining the life of an icon. Roost’s research into Warhol’s life and his passion for his subject is very clear. This is an enthusiastic piece of theatre by someone who appreciates the different aspects of the Warhol, celebrating the creativity and world-changing aspects of his life, while not shying away from his insecurities and the things he did which hurt the people around him. There are elements of the piece which are tragically relevant to today’s world, such as Warho...
Audrey’s Art Club – Brighton Fringe Online
South East

Audrey’s Art Club – Brighton Fringe Online

Audrey’s Art Club, from Lita Doolan Productions, is a multi-media collection of snippets from the life of Audrey (Lita Doolan) and her relationship with Violet. Written and performed by Doolan, this original piece of theatre is a love story and also explores themes of isolation, loss and the often desperate need to be wanted. The piece opens with a close up of a black and white Tarot Moon card, followed by several images of urban decay. Poetry is recited by Doolan as a voiceover and the poignant verse with themes of longing alludes to the sadness at the core of Audrey’s romance with Violet. We see the city streets from Audrey’s point of view, as she walks about town. We then hear her side of a phone call about a job she is applying for. Doolan makes Audrey’s eagerness to get the job...
The Importance of Being Earnest – Cambridge Arts Theatre
South East

The Importance of Being Earnest – Cambridge Arts Theatre

The challenge of Oscar Wilde is not in the words but ensuring the performance does them justice. There were no such fears with director Denzel Westley-Sanderson’s laugh-out loud production which delights from the off. As butler Lane (Valentine Hanson) prepares tea at the London home of dandy Algernon Moncrief (Abiola Owokoniran), the delicately balanced glasses cleverly hint at the challenges to come when his friend John Worthing (Justice Ritchie) arrives, explaining that when he tires of life in the country looking after his teenage ward, he escapes to enjoy the high life of the city under the guise of seeing his wayward brother, ‘Ernest’. Algernon, in turn, regales him with his exploits of escaping the city in reverse fashion. Algernon’s aunt, Lady Bracknell (Daniel Jacob), arrives w...
Jesus Christ Superstar – Frinton Summer Theatre
South East

Jesus Christ Superstar – Frinton Summer Theatre

It’s astonishing to think Jesus Christ Superstar first hit the stage 50 years ago when you watch Clive Brill’s reimagining of this iconic rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Packed to the gills with creative ingenuity this is a show worthy of any London stage and to find it in a tent in Frinton-on-Sea is mind-blowing. Opening with Jesus being portrayed as a vain cult-leader, Tim Rogers is the role to perfection with his handsome looks and aloof swagger. Enter Judas (Hugh Maynard) who’s set to bring Jesus down by betraying him to Caiaphas (Jad Habchi). Unfortunately for Jesus, despite the deep love and care from Mary (Rebecca Birch), and his followers, Judas in a delicate kiss, betrays Jesus to his enemies and seals his death with his lips. Despite being a small theatre, ...