Yorkshire & Humber Archives - Page 30 of 33

29Sep

By Chris HanlonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Waitress – Sheffield Lyceum

Theatre is back and Theatre is booming! It is always a privilege to be at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield and the excitement was tangible as we awaited curtain up. And what a night it was as Waitress served us a huge slice of incredible pie! Embarking on its first ever UK tour, Waitress is proving to be one of the best new Broadway and West End exports of recent years! I have to say, it was superb from start to finish! The packed Lyceum house were treated to an absolute spectacle filled with laughter and tears in equal measure! Lucie Jones of X-Factor and Eurovision fame was stunning in the role of ‘Jenna’ - the Waitress who despite leading a far from perfect life at home, manages to keep her customers coming back for another piece of her famous pie! Her acting was strong, but it was h...

29Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Passagers – Hull New Theatre

This is going to be the shortest review I’ve ever written. Here goes: O.M.G! Well, as this is a UK premiere, my reviewer conscience won’t let me stop at just three letters, so I’ll carry on. On a rainy Tuesday night in Hull, a packed house marvelled at the antics of eight super-talented performers, male and female, who go by the name of The 7 Fingers. A short glitch at curtain up meant we were sitting looking at a dark stage for a couple of minutes, but things were soon rectified and from then on it was breathtaking action all the way. The theme of train journeys ran throughout - departures, arrivals and everything else associated with rail travel. Here, I must mention the amazing background scenes and atmospheric lighting and music that accompanied every movement on stage. ...

22Sep

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Midnight Bell – Sheffield Lyceum

It has been said that no other English author has written so accurately about sexual infatuation, embarrassment and self-illusion as Patrick Hamilton, a riveting dissector of English life up to and including the War. Hamilton’s novels are the perfect stimulus for master storyteller Matthew Bourne’s new work ‘The Midnight Bell’, which explores the transfixing tales of Soho’s bleak, darker side. A nocturnal event that follows the story of the frequenters of the 1930’s public house in Fitzroyd Square. The characters are taken from Hamilton’s various literary works including 20,000 Streets Under the Sky; Hangover Street and the works Gas Light and Rope; which were successfully made into film. The characters are thrown together in one time and place with a few added new ‘Hamiltonian’ feeling...

15Sep

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Heathers the Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

Based on the 1989 Cult film of the same name written by Daniel Walters, Heathers the Musical with its shocking moments makes you question if the story in today’s society, isn’t as unfortunately, subversive or extreme as it once was. The musical being a camp, comedic tribute to the film it has also gained the same cult following, with numerous chequered school skirts in the audience as proof. Book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence o’Keefe and directed by Andy Fickman, the plot races you through a ride of nonstop twists and turns and doesn’t give you time to catch your breath. The toxic Westerberg High School hierarchy where the Heathers (the ‘It’ girls) rule, dictate and manipulate, keep their own kind of order and the rest of the school live in awe and fear of them. The Heathe...

15Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Waitress – Leeds Grand

One of the glories of musical theatre is no subject will ever be too offbeat to become a hit. Who would have thought a show about an obscure American revolutionary who raps would be a worldwide sensation, and the same applies to Waitress which appears to be about making desserts in a diner. Of course, the fact that waitress Jenna is a whizz with sugar and whipped cream with their outlandish titles like ‘my eggs betrayed me’ is just a metaphor for her messed up life in an abusive marriage to Earl, and thwarted dreams of her own shop selling delicious pies. Luckily, she finds a new family and support network in her classic American diner with fellow waitresses Becky who is caring for her sick husband, and daffy Dawn who has never been on a date. Jenna falls pregnant bringing her int...

14Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Peaceophobia – Oastler Market Car Park

When feminist Carol Hanisch observed that ‘the personal is political’ she could have looking into the distant future and seeing this powerful piece about the experiences of three British Pakistani men in a Britain increasingly at war with itself. One of the more depressing aspects of recent British theatre is its seeming reluctance to produce work that speaks truth to power, but that is not a charge that can be levelled at Bradford’s Common Wealth who were set up to do just that. Peaceophobia has its roots in local activism when Speakers Corner – who offer a safe space for local Asian women – ran a car meet with Bradford Modified Club to challenge Islamophobia after racist leaflets were shoved through doors. Tonight, we are huddled in a draughty soon to be demolished multi-story c...

School of Rock the Musical – Hull New Theatre

13Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

School of Rock the Musical – Hull New Theatre

There are a dozen good reasons to go and see School of Rock the Musical - the 12 super-talented children, stars every one. Actually, make that a baker’s dozen - the 13th good reason is an adult, who was the most childish of them all. Hull’s New Theatre welcomed audiences back for the first time since Covid hit, and it was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End smash hit making its first UK and Ireland tour of the venue that had theatregoers rushing back in their droves. Based on the 2003 movie of the same name, the story centres around Dewey Finn (an energetic Jake Sharp, the man-child I mentioned above), who, desperate for rent money, takes his best friend’s identity to gain a teaching post at a prestigious prep school. Dewey - known at school as Ned Schneebly - causes havoc from the ...

8Sep

By Tracy RyanNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Groan Ups – Sheffield Lyceum

After meeting at Drama school 13 years ago the in suppressible Mischief Theatre members have continued to have us rolling in the aisles with their next instalment Groan Ups. Following on from the successful West End located The Play that goes Wrong, and the Penn and Teller collaboration Magic Goes Wrong; the seasonal Peter Pan Goes Wrong and the standalone The Comedy about a Bank Robbery, the work ethic of Mischief is admirable. Groan Ups takes a slightly different persona to the former being more an observational comedy and does not rely on physical comedy as it’s lynch. It has real moments of nostalgic pathos as it follows the lives of five friends at three intervals in their lives from primary school to the obligatory school reunion. All taking place within a classroom the set reduce...

7Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Looking Good Dead – Leeds Grand Theatre

When crime authors like Ian Rankin and Val McDermid sell squillions of books it seems odd producers insist on sending out creaky old stage versions of novels written in the middle of the last century. So, thank God for Peter James who is another of those crime superstars - selling 21 million books of his Roy Grace novels worldwide - who has worked out there is an appetite for stage versions featuring the troubled south coast detective. This time Grace is investigating a couple of bizarre murders that seem to be linked to the suburban Bryce family. It all starts when Father Tom brings home a memory stick he says he found on a train, which proves to contain something gruesome that puts his wife Kellie and teenage son Max in danger, and it’s up to Grace to solve it. James acts as pr...

3Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dangerous Liaisons – Leeds Playhouse

Sexual power, cruelty and deceit. There surely can’t be a better mix for a ballet, and Northern Ballet’s artistic director David Nixon’s dynamic choreography makes the most of the antics of two French aristocratic sociopaths playing games with people’s minds and bodies because they can. This is Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ timeless tale of upper class amorality as the cunning Marquise de Mertueil sets her sparring partner Vicomte de Valmont the task to seduce the godly Madame de Tiourvel just for sport. But Valmont’s head is turned by de Tourvel with deadly results. Unlike some of their sumptuous productions Northern have gone for a stark stage with minimal period furniture that allows the eye to focus on Nixon’s sensitive and emotional choreography which manfully resists going ove...