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The Ballad of Johnny & June – Leeds Grand Theatre

16Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Ballad of Johnny & June – Leeds Grand Theatre

The Man in Black. Very few artists are instantly identified by a simple description, but country legend Johnny Cash was one of that select group. Given the quality of his back catalogue The Man in Black was probably long overdue for a jukebox musical, so it came as no surprise that Jersey Boys director Des McAnuff was behind this show. Like that smash hit, this was a warts and all tale of Johnny’s rock and roll lifestyle where his substance abuse masks the pain of losing his beloved brother, and his tempestuous marriage to country royalty June Carter. It’s all narrated onstage by their son John Carter Cash who noted that like all fairytales there was both light and plenty of darkness as Johnny and June battled their own demons. Whilst we didn’t really learn anything new abou...

16Sep

By Phil MeikleNo Comments

London

Man to Man – The Royal Court

Casting call: Oscar-winning Hollywood actress required for an 85-minute solo performance. Costume and make-up: predominantly a string vest, bright red Y-fronts and boots. Yellow stains under the armpits, white paint encrusted across the face and body, and a requirement to guzzle beer and be showered in it. Let's be honest, there's only really one Oscar-winning actress with the nerve to take on this role eight times a week. Enter the genre-defying Tilda Swinton. Returning to the stage for the first time in nearly 40 years, Swinton revisits the role of Ella/Max, a woman who assumes the identity of her deceased husband, a crane operator, by wearing his clothes in order to survive the Nazi regime. Man to Man explores gender fluidity, conformity and grief, but Ella is denied the opportuni...

16Sep

By Stephanie WiswallNo Comments

North West

Barnum – Liverpool Empire

Step right up, step right up and prepare to be entertained, because Barnum has arrived at the Liverpool Empire! Based on the life of the legendary American showman P. T. Barnum, this bright, colourful musical takes audiences through the highs and lows of the man who famously built an entertainment empire on ambition, imagination and the promise of giving audiences “something they’ve never seen before”. At the centre of this production is Matt Rawle who plays the one and only P. T. Barnum. Rawle brings an infectious charisma and an almost childlike enthusiasm for each of his next big ideas. He is the man with the gift of the gab. There is plenty of humour in his portrayal, but contrastingly we get to see more of an edge to Barnum, a willingness to use others for his own gain, to ma...

16Sep

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Cluedo – The Brindley

Taking on Cluedo in a studio space is an ambitious undertaking. With its frantic action, mounting body count and seemingly endless rooms, it’s a play that demands slick movement both on and off stage. Under Ria Green’s direction, Centenary Theatre Company rises enthusiastically to the challenge, delivering an evening packed with physical comedy, familiar characters and plenty of hilarity. Most people will be familiar with the premise - six strangers gather in a grand manor to meet the mysterious Mr Boddy and attend what quickly becomes a deadly dinner party. Sandy Rustin’s adaptation of the 1985 screenplay by Johnathan Lynn relocates the action to England, with our decidedly dodgy collection of suspects drawn from Westminster rather than Washington. Wisely, the cast resist simp...

The Seven Deadly Sins and The Human Voice – Charing Cross Theatre

14Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Seven Deadly Sins and The Human Voice – Charing Cross Theatre

I am not an opera regular, so I arrived at this double bill with a certain curiosity about what it might feel like to encounter two works from very different European traditions, Germany and France, almost a century after they were written. This contemporary staging by Alejandro Bonatto offers an accessible entry point, presenting Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins alongside Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice. Synopsis: In The Seven Deadly Sins, Anna travels through American cities in pursuit of enough money to build a house, negotiating the expectations of her family and the moral compromises required to survive. The Human Voice follows Elle through a single telephone conversation with a former lover, as an attempt at connection gradually exposes emot...

14Sep

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

On Your Bike Baffo – Lyric Hammersmith

Baffo! Baffo! Baffo! You’ll be chanting and cheering, oohing and ahing, laughing, crying, and crying from laughing from the moment you enter his playing space. Baffo’s Band, performed with an air of erudition and easy going charm by Tom Penn, also writer of the show’s music, plays from the house opening until every last child has departed and in the time between gracefully weathers unending assaults by watergun, hair dryer, and tire. Baffo himself, devised and directed by Oliver Harrison but performed for this tour by consummate clown Dru Cripps, is the rare children’s performer whose comfort with the audience puts everyone at ease. Children are included in every step of the performance and treated with infinite patience by both performers who give participants ample opportunitie...

14Sep

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Night City – Southwark Playhouse

There’s no doubt that working conditions and employee power have slowly eroded in the past few decades. Secure jobs that are well paid and fulfilling are dwindling like ice caps. Decent employment options are likely to die out with the generation that once enjoyed them. Everyone ditched mini cab firms and black Hackney cabs for the cheap convenience of Uber, which is no longer the budget option it once was. Now, there are few alternatives to Uber, which seems to have a monopoly on the market and appears to be taking advantage of both drivers and customers. In the States, working as an app-based delivery driver is considered one of the deadliest occupations. A landmark report by the advocacy group Gig Workers Rising documented at least 80 app-based workers were murdered on the job betwee...

14Sep

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Fire Fire – Arcola Theatre

John Webber’s Fire Fire brings Paige, a middle-class queer climate activist of Nigerian heritage, and Eddie, a white retired oil worker, together at a country park in Essex. Their opposing positions on climate protest repeatedly bring them into conflict, until they recognise a shared struggle to be heard and decide to take drastic action together. There is something genuinely fiery about Fire Fire. Over its 80-minute runtime, the production sustains an extraordinary sense of urgency, not simply through the writing but through the physical and vocal energy of Gabrielle Brooks and Chris Simmons. Conversations arrive at a blistering pace, with exchanges that feel as though they have been waiting to happen. The intensity is felt in the bodies of the two performers as much as in the words th...

The Mirror Crack’d – The Mill at Sonning

14Sep

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

The Mirror Crack’d – The Mill at Sonning

A murder mystery by Agatha Christie welcomes Miss Marple played by the wonderful Liza Goddard to The Mill at Sonning. The Mirror Crack'd is everything you want it to be; a murder mystery with moments of suspense and wit. This village is coming to terms with a Murder at Gossington Hall the home of a Hollywood Movie star Marina Gregg and everyone is a suspect! or are they? Fans of Agatha Christie and Miss Marple will enjoy it, and new audiences will experience a night of pleasure at the plot twists and turns of this murder mystery. Rachel Wagstaff’s adaptation has breathed new life into this classic work of Agatha Christie; a refresh whilst staying true to the blueprint of the original. The scenes changes are slick as the characters ebb and flow from Miss Marple’s Living room, the film st...

11Sep

By Carole BaldockNo Comments

North West

Julia’s Song – Epstein Theatre

A setting of white picket fences (?) backed by a row of seemingly terraced houses (?) - in posh Woolton, and Julia breezes in like a breath of fresh air. And she deserves a tribute; my companion compared her with Dolly Parton. Julia too was talented, intelligent, ambitious and free-spirited; vivid, beautiful and vibrantly dressed, but with a mass of red curls. Alison Crawford, in many ways, is the epitome of John’s mother. And in many ways, she would have been described as no better than she ought to be. More accurately, sadly, she never had the chance to better her life; given a break, you could imagine she may well have almost been the next best thing since… The Beatles. Unfortunately, this biography, although accurate (writer and director, Sylvia Hall, was custodian at the childhood hom...