Yorkshire & Humber Archives - Page 5 of 37

Little Shop of Horrors – Sheffield Crucible

13Dec

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Little Shop of Horrors – Sheffield Crucible

With a sassy evening of satirical splendour, Howard Ashman (Book and Lyric) and Alan Menken's (Music) dark yet comic musical Little Shop of Horrors hit the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Directed by Amy Hodge, designed by Georgia Lowe and choreography by Jade Hackett, the audience are transported back to 1960's Skid Row and into the hapless interior of Mushnik Florists. Amongst the decaying plants we meet the proprietor Mushnik himself and his assistants Audrey and Seymour. With the help of the omnipresent and sparkling singing of the narrative trio - The Ronettes, we follow Seymour's meteoric rise to fortune and fame after he stumbles upon a new genus of plant, but this one has a carnivorous appetite and a mission of world domination! Photo: Manuel Harlan With new Musical orchestratio...

Amelie – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

12Dec

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Amelie – University of Sheffield Drama Studio

Amelie is a light, layered romantic comedy that interrogates love, loneliness, purpose and progress - and this production by the young cohort of the University of Sheffield was a strong presentation of the famous French work. Alfie Cowgill and Katie Weller’s direction was resolute - an adept understanding of space and dimensions, engaging vignettes and consistent emotional narrative evoked by this ensemble cast. Charlie Harmer and Tessa Chan’s musical direction was equally as well touched, although these driving orchestrations did not always interplay well with each other with some disjointed and missed cues. Some transitions were handled excellently, and the world was well crafted for this. This demonstration of theatrical intellect was fleeting, which is a shame as there was cl...

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Bradford Alhambra

12Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Bradford Alhambra

Next year Bradford becomes the UK City of Culture so what better way to prepare for that momentous year then joining local legend Billy Pearce for his 24th panto. Pinocchio is a new show for both this theatre and panto giant Crossroads, so it makes sense to launch it with Billy leading a strong company and getting the audience revved up from the moment he came on. Billy may be in his seventh decade, but he retains an infectious energy, and razor sharp comic timing honed by his years slogging round the club circuit. He’s also the king of the fart gag, much to the delight of the young kids laughing their heads off alongside their loved ones. He’s equally at home with the corny gags that are so central to a satisfying panto experience, and the smutty asides that go over the heads of...

11Dec

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Snow White – Sheffield Lyceum

Sheffield Lyceum’s pantomime ‘Snow White’ proves once again that this art form is going nowhere and is truly generational fun. It is expectedly raucous, fun, well spirited, cheeky and great family entertainment for all. Damian Williams, yet again, is excellent in his role as Nurse Nellie, and as he seemingly does every year reaffirms himself as panto royalty. His charismatic performance, witty off-cuff asides, facial contortions and vocal bombasticity palette this colourful world aptly. Likewise, there were some joyful and committed performances from The Seven, with Hassan Taj as Loopy a particular delight. Catherine Tyldesley was a sound choice for the evil Queen of this fairytale land, who possesses the appropriately scathing voice and demeanour, and notably one of the most incredu...

7Dec

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

A Corpse For Christmas – Bilton Theatre

As Storm Darragh raged outside on Friday night, the cosy little Bilton Theatre, in Bilton, near Hull, began to fill up with theatregoers eager to find out who’d “dunnit” in Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society’s production of A Corpse For Christmas. Billed as a “thriller with a touch of comedy”, all the action takes place in the front room of Philip and Alison Winter, and their daughter Naomi. There’s nothing posh about the Winter’s home - a comfy, but worn, beige three-piece suite, a fireplace, coffee table and some pictures on the wall. A Christmas tree stands in the corner waiting to be decorated by Alison, who usually doesn’t like anyone else interfering with what she considers her territory. Other decorations hang over the back of the sofa, waiting for Naomi to drape them over...

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...

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...

The Rocky Horror Show – Sheffield Lyceum

28Nov

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Rocky Horror Show – Sheffield Lyceum

The Rocky Horror show proves to be the culturally significant powerhouse it was destined to be following its initial ventures in the 1970’s. This production excels in revelry, debauchery, humour and liberation. Jason Donovan’s Frank N Furter is gorgeously eccentric, and though his animation seems slightly stifled and awkward (surprisingly Donovan doesn’t seem completely comfortable in heels), there is still a good fluidity and playful poise that, matched which is excellent stage presence, ultimately makes him very watchable. Connor Carson’s Brad and Lauren Chia’s Janet are excellent caricatures who’s stiff cliche is a perfect match for the unbridled chaos that surrounds them. They allow themselves to be engulfed, and by proxy we are swallowed by the raucous flamboyance. They are precise...

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Leeds Playhouse

28Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Leeds Playhouse

Christmas is a magical time for most of us so a story that begins with a mysterious wardrobe that transports four traumatised children into another world should be the perfect festive treat. Leeds Playhouse have over the last decade offered a series of spectacular festive shows, and this is their second go at this C.S. Lewis classic so beloved of generations of children as goodies and baddies battle it out in a strange world. Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan Pevensie are evacuated from war torn London to Scotland where they discover a wardrobe that is a portal into a magical land called Narnia, ruled by the wicked White Witch Jadis where it’s permanently winter. The human children are the key to freeing Narnia’s motley collection of talking animals, who yearn to hear the roar of the myt...

26Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Hairspray – Bradford Alhambra

Hairspray is one of those rare musicals that can happily combine big, breezy show tunes with a clear political message, but still easily fill big theatres like this. It’s 1962, Tracy Turnblad is a plus size teenager with an enormous beehive living in racially segregated Baltimore, who has a dream of becoming a star of the Corny Collins TV dance show despite limited talent, which certainly feels familiar in our reality TV obsessed world. Along the way Tracy who is mocked by the 'cool' white teens finds she has much in common with her black friends, and leads an assault on Corny’s show to try and unite the races through the medium of song and dance. Hairspray was the creation of transgressive cult filmmaker John Waters who brought together a gang of misfits in his home city to cre...