Latest Articles - Page 232 of 645

17Mar

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Hide and Seek – Park Theatre

Touching on issues like identity, peer pressure, friendship and the negative impact social media culture is having on young people, Hide and Seek doesn’t feel like entirely untrodden territory. Written by Italian playwright Tobia Rossi and translated and directed here by Carlotta Brentan, Hide and Seek charts the course of an unlikely friendship formed by two boys, Gio (Louis Scarpa) and Mirko (Nico Cetrulo) under quite bizarre circumstances. Bullied and belittled by his classmates, Gio retreats to a cave to escape after leaving a final mark on social media. Mirko finds him, and the two bond over their shared role in sensationalising Gio’s disappearance to feed the ensuing media circus, resorting to some fairly drastic measures to twist the story and stay relevant. As their friendship b...

14Mar

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Harry Clarke – Ambassadors Theatre

A rose by any other name… still has its thorns. It’s what we love about our favourite conmen, Anna Delvey, Elizabeth Holmes, Remington Steele… They’re beautiful but also terribly cringe inducing. We love to hate them but can’t quite bring ourselves to look down on them, so powerful is their allure. Maybe it’s the accent, each one unique and bizarrely captivating, all the more for its inauthenticity. Harry Clarke’s is immaculate, as is Philip Brugglestein’s. In fact, all of the characters Billy Crudup speaks on behalf of over Harry Clarke’s 80-minute runtime are perfectly articulated, under the supervision of vocal coach, Deborah Lapidus. The stage cousin of Matt Damon’s Talented Mr. Ripley, Crudup’s Philip Brugglestein / Harry Clarke is no less charming for being 30 years his film fellow’s...

A Song for Ella Grey – Liverpool Playhouse

14Mar

By Coral MourantNo Comments

North West

A Song for Ella Grey – Liverpool Playhouse

Greek myths have had many reimagining’s as their moral narratives and fantastical characters will always intrigue an audience. Based on the novel by David Almond, this adaptation takes the old cautionary tale of Orpheus and Eurydice and places us in modern day Northumbria. A group of sixth formers recall the story of their friend’s untimely death, a tale that conjures up grief, longing and fears of fleeting youth. The whooshing sounds of the ocean and ethereal drapes of cloth adorn the stage, where the actors tell us of Ella Grey. This five strong cast take us from Bamburgh beach to the depths of hell, remembering their dear friend and her demise. Elusive Orpheus appears in the waters and captivates the youngsters with his music and otherworldliness. Using shadows of silhouette with ...

The Wizard Of Oz – New Wimbledon Theatre

14Mar

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

The Wizard Of Oz – New Wimbledon Theatre

This classic tale is reimagined with an inventive and modern take on The Wizard of Oz as we know it. With a talented and enthusiastic cast, comedic and heartfelt moments, this production is an enjoyable watch for all ages. Projections are used extensively which is seemingly becoming the norm for a tour production, and we are launched into Dorothy’s world in Kansas quite abruptly with a somewhat dominating video. While the scene was indeed set, this dynamic video established the tone for much of the staging throughout the production. Despite some extensive and inventive set pieces, the large screen at the back of the stage is used primarily to distinguish scenes and at times this choice feels unnecessary and lazy, particularly as the cast performances are entirely believable. While st...

14Mar

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Gingerline – The Grand Expedition

Immersive dining trailblazers Gingerline have returned to London with their show The Grand Expedition. The culinary journey started off as a secret project in Tottenham back in 2019 before travelling the world, visiting cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Seoul. The Grand Expedition is back, bigger and better than before with a full-scale re-imagining of the original story. The team takes you on an edible journey that transports you around the globe with five courses of delicious dishes, telling a story while appealing to your senses with colourful sights, sounds and tastes. As we queued up outside the secret location, the crowd was a mix of Gingerline superfans donning aeronaut-inspired costumes and immersive dining newbies. After we entered the venue, winded and ducked ...

A Most Pressing Issue – New Wimbledon Theatre

14Mar

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

A Most Pressing Issue – New Wimbledon Theatre

If you imagine a prison, it probably doesn’t strike you as a place teeming with comic potential. Add in the fact that the prison is on fire, and you’re probably visualising a very dark segment on the News at Ten rather than a comedy. But somehow, Tim Harris manages to turn this rather bleak scenario into a very funny 60-minute show in A Most Pressing Issue, playing this week at Studio at New Wimbledon Theatre. At the centre of this caper is Penton (Harris), the prison’s arrogant and sleazy warden who is desperately on the pull, and his nice-but-dim assistant Orly (Matt Williams, who also collaborated on the script). As the pair plan out how they can woo women — while also dealing with the minor inconvenience of the prison somehow catching fire — the two actors show off their brill...

14Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Blue Beard – The Lyceum, Edinburgh

In the early 1400s, a French nobleman, Gilles de Rais, was found guilty of kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering children. He got away with his heinous crimes for longer than he should due to high birth rate and fear, amongst the lower classes, of retribution, should they speak up. This true story became the legend of Blue Beard and the children he murdered morphed into a series of murdered wives, whose mutilated bodies Blue Beard hid in the cellar. The fairy tale explores and warns of the perpetual fear, always in society, of abuse and cruelty forced upon the innocent and the weak. Emma Rice has reworked this famous Bartók opera into a modern-day musical, balancing fresh, boozy, party-loving female confidence against the scales of ongoing malevolence towards specific, known, w...

13Mar

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Macbeth (an undoing) – The Rose Theatre

She didn’t know what she was headed for, and when she found out what she was headed for, it was too late. Macbeths come undone. Playwright and director Zinnie Harris’s new and old work, Macbeth (an undoing) sets out to prove that what is done can in fact be undone rather than merely redone. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is arguably overdone, especially at the moment. From Ralph Fiennes to David Tennant, powerful male actors can’t take their grubby hands off it. Audiences too never seem to tire of it. It’s an enduring story, full of sound and fury, and rife with juicy monologues for actors to sink their fangs into. The juiciness of the plot even translates well into foreign adaptations and lubricates applications to very specific historical metaphors. However much of its adaptive appeal rests on wh...

Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit – Theatr Clwyd

13Mar

By Coral MourantNo Comments

North West

Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit – Theatr Clwyd

All aboard the murderous train for a fast paced, laugh a minute ride! Amateur detectives, this is your time to shine and find the culprit. With this production, the company of Pinch Punch has managed to add more fun to the “murder mystery” trope, with a slick and silly show for all the family. The detective leads the audience through a tale of murder, mayhem and… whatever you want it to be! That’s the fun of this show, it is totally dependent on the audience’s input. Whether it be choosing a character’s occupation, the train destination, or who the tragic victim may be, it’s all up to you. The actors boast that they have never (and will never again) perform this show, and they take on whatever the crowd comes up with. Even the characters themselves were forged from snippets of audience ...

Ghost The Musical embarks on new UK tour

13Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Ghost The Musical embarks on new UK tour

Bill Kenwright Ltd is delighted to announce the triumphant return to the stage of the worldwide sensation Ghost the Musical, opening on 22nd August 2024 before embarking on a major national tour across the UK. Written by multi Brit Award winner Dave Stewart and Grammy award winning Glen Ballard, with a script by Bruce Joel Rubin based on his OSCAR winning screenplay, Ghost the Musical brings all the romance and magic of the classic story to life on stage. “Walking back to their apartment late one night, a tragic encounter sees Sam murdered leaving his girlfriend Molly alone, in despair and utterly lost. With the help of a phony storefront psychic, Sam, trapped between this world and the next, tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving her from grave danger...” Ghost has...