Latest Articles - Page 224 of 645

10Apr

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Dinner is served in Congleton

Rehearsals are coming to a close in Congleton this week at Trinity Amateur Operatic Society before the cast and crew of The Addams Family move into the Daneside Theatre ahead of opening night on the 23rd April. Running until 27th April at 7:30pm with a 2pm matinee on the 27th. Everyone’s favourite kooky family are taking to the stage in this spectacular musical comedy from the writers of multi award-winning hit musical Jersey Boys, with music and lyrics by Tony Award nominated Andrew Lippa. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, is all grown up and has a shocking secret that only Gomez knows. She’s fallen in love with a sweet young man from a respectable family. With his cherished Morticia in the dark will Gomez manage to keep his daughter’s secret until the two familie...

New Vic Theatre to stage The Three Musketeers as their Christmas show

10Apr

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

New Vic Theatre to stage The Three Musketeers as their Christmas show

Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre will stage a brand-new version of the Alexandre Dumas classic The Three Musketeers as their Christmas 2024 show. Arguably Dumas’ best-known tale, The Three Musketeers was one of over 250 novels penned by the French writer, and the story of brave French swordsmen fighting for justice has been loved by generations of readers since it was published in 1844. It’s a stirring story about friendship, social mobility and courage remaining one of the greatest adventure stories ever told as d’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and the mysterious Milady de Winter try to do what is right. There have been numerous translations, adaptations and abridgements of the novel from the Douglas Fairbanks silent film through several BBC series to Hollywood ...

10Apr

By Klervi GavetNo Comments

London

The Retreat – White Bear Theatre

From the writer & creator of “Peep Show” & “Fresh Meat” comes a disappointing, often predictable farce on spirituality, mental health and the pressure of modern living. Monk-in-the-making Luke (Jed McLoughlin) escaped London’s City life and painful events to find inner peace at a spiritual retreat in the Scottish Highlands. His coke and sex addict of a brother, Tony (Harry Harding), comes to bring him down from his Gaelic cloud and back into carnal reality. Ensues an endless series of easy plot revelations, which sadly turns the play into a classic, yet unimaginative topping improv exercise of “Yes and…” There is little to no subtext here, nor emotional reality to hold on to. The somewhat intimate, confessional moments feel unearned. The childish blaming game gets old fast...

10Apr

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Bouncers – Octagon Theatre

Since its debut at the 1977 Edinburgh Festival, Bouncers has enjoyed countless revivals and tours. To a first-time viewer, though, this iteration of the classic, northern nightclub comedy suggests that last orders were called a long while ago. An interchangeable quartet of mostly-like-minded bouncers work the doors of Mr Cinders: their interactions and observations are interspersed with the activities of different sets of partygoers, from celebrating girls to pseudo-alpha males. Under the direction of Jane Thornton, the piece promptly establishes exactly who its target audience is, as the doormen proudly declare that, in their pocket of the 1980s, “nothing is woke”. The uttering of this tiresome phrase lays the foundation for the humour that is to follow: fat jokes, gay jokes, women ...

10Apr

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

Kill Thy Neighbour – Theatr Clwyd

Opening their spring season of shows, we are introduced to their first made by Theatr Clwyd production of the year, Lucie Lovatt’s Kill Thy Neighbour. As the developmental work continues in the main building we are back in the Mix, and this is the biggest set we have seen in this space. The set takes over the full stage and completely transports you into the main house of the piece. I found it interesting how The Mix loses a lot of itself in this show, with the impressive set taking over it, meaning the use of all the usual lights and effects are unable to be used. The Mix is a great space for the time being, but I personally find it quite uncomfortable for lengthy periods of sitting, with the seats being quite close together and hard. Also, external noise unfortunately can be heard at ...

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – Leeds Grand Theatre

10Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – Leeds Grand Theatre

It is scarcely believable, but once upon a time British TV viewers had the choice of only four terrestrial channels, and Drop The Dead Donkey was an early hit for Channel 4. It was set in the dysfunctional newsroom of satellite channel Globelink, and its unique selling point was it was recorded just before broadcast so writers Andy Hamilton and Andy Jenkin could slip in some topical gags amongst the mayhem. For anyone like me who has worked in a TV newsroom it was an unsettlingly accurate portrayal of the damaged flotsam and jetsam who wash up there, with egos running rampant as monstrous presenters smile away onscreen before turning their ire onto the troops. That meant I was a massive fan at the time when you had to be sat in front of your gogglebox to catch your favourite programm...

10Apr

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Cluedo2 – Hull New Theatre

When a publicity blurb for a theatre production informs us we will “laugh ’til they die`”, it’s bound to pique the interest of theatregoers. Those four words certainly got my attention, and I looked forward to watching Cluedo2 at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday night. But would I laugh ’til they die? As we waited for curtain up we could admire the stage setting of a huge Cluedo board, at an angle, with the shape of the multi-windowed Graveny Manor in front. A few minutes after 7.30pm the action started with the home’s owner, rock star Rick Black, inviting selected guests to listen to his latest album. The married Rick (Liam Horrigan), he of the afro hair and dazzling white teeth (well, it is the swinging sixties), is a bundle of energy. You simply can’t ignore him. His wi...

The Rug of Identity – King’s Arms, Salford

9Apr

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

The Rug of Identity – King’s Arms, Salford

The origins of tonight’s play, a revival of a 40year old tale, by Jill Fleming, came from her time with the women’s theatre troupe, Hard Corps, whose aim at the time was described by website Unfinished Histories as ‘to perform lesbian soap operas at the London Palladium, overthrow the patriarchy and put tampons on the NHS’. In a time when moral panic around AIDS was at its peak, Fleming and other member’s works didn’t follow any expectations of handwringing apologies for queer characters being the way they were, instead creating anarchic, in-your-face plays where the delivery of familiar theatrical tropes came from characters who just happened to inhabit every colour of the LGBTQ+ rainbow and took tremendous pride in doing so. Best efforts aside though, works soon faded into obscurit...

Acclaimed Hillsborough Drama Returns To Liverpool This Week

9Apr

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Acclaimed Hillsborough Drama Returns To Liverpool This Week

A powerful play which explores the ongoing impact of Hillsborough on those who survived the disaster is returning to Liverpool this week in a new full-length production. 97+ is written and directed by Tom Cain and co-produced by Tom Cain Theatre and Bill Elms Productions, in collaboration with the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance. The theatrical drama, which in a shorter version previously won acclaim at Liverpool Theatre Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe, is being premiered at the Liverpool Olympia for one night only on Friday 12th April, just ahead of the 35th anniversary of the football disaster which claimed the lives of 97 Liverpool fans. Set in 2012, Hillsborough survivors John and Steve – now middle-aged men - are each still dealing with the trauma they suffered as b...

9Apr

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

The Mousetrap – The Lowry

The Mousetrap’s 70th Anniversary Tour has arrived at The Lowry Theatre in Salford. ‘The Mousetrap’ is the longest running play in the world which first opened in London’s West End in 1952 and ran continuously until March 2020. After closing its doors for a short break due to the Covid-19 pandemic it reopened in May 2021. Being the longest running play in the world it is hard to bring anything new and insightful to a review of this timeless classic, even after 70 years (and counting) the play performs to packed audiences and The Lowry was no exception as the auditorium was full of Agatha Christie enthusiasts. I must be honest that I had not seen ‘The Mousetrap’ before and didn’t know the story but its one of those plays that everyone seems to have heard of and knows it’s a murder myst...