Latest Articles - Page 3 of 660

24Feb

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Blink – King’s Head Theatre

Phil Porter’s Blink at King’s Head Theatre is a darkly funny and tender meditation on loneliness, voyeurism and the ways in which we connect in today's modern world. Sophie’s father has died, leaving her spiralling, falling back in on herself and showing all the signs of mental health issues. Jonah has run away from the religious commune he was raised in after finding a bag of thousands of pounds his mother left him after she died. Through a series of small coincidences, Jonah unknowingly rents the flat below Sophie. Not knowing Jonah at all, Sophie sends him a baby monitor, a screen hooked up to a camera in her flat and he starts to watch here in small doses and quickly moves to constant viewing. Despite their closeness, just a floor apart, their actual paths never cross. Jonah takes t...

24Feb

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Head. Heart. Hand. – Traverse Theatre

Stef Smith is an uncompromising writer. Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University has some history. What might a collision between the two produce? Commissioned to mark ‘150 years of hope, action and education’ it’s performed by a cast of the university’s acting and performance students, bookended by crises; the poverty and hunger that inspired its founding in 1875 and the cuts to and erosion of the education sector that started in the 1970’s, persisting to the present day. It’s almost as if, following the 60’s, someone felt education might pose a threat. The story alighted upon two other milestones in the institution’s journey, the wartime contributions of the students (many spent time in London looking after bomb repair workers dealing with the effects of Hitler’s 1944 rocket offensiv...

The Story of Peer Gynt: An Evening with Kåre Conradi – The Coronet Theatre

24Feb

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

The Story of Peer Gynt: An Evening with Kåre Conradi – The Coronet Theatre

The Story of Peer Gynt is part lecture, part show and altogether brilliant. On a stage that is almost entirely bare, save a single chair turned away from the audience, Kåre Conradi welcomes us. He begins to tell us a bit about Ibsen, about Peer Gynt and about the Norwegian award named after him. In the space of just over an hour, he promises he will take us through the story. He does this by switching between a description of the plot in the manner of an engaged lecturer and sudden moments of dramatisation, where – with a surprising ease – he takes on the emotions, ambitions and character of Peer. Most of these moments he gives to us in English. Occasionally, he slips into the original Norwegian, though never without giving those of us who can’t speak it a clear sense of what he is sayi...

24Feb

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Bird Grove – Hampstead Theatre

The great and the good were out in force for Bird Grove at Hampstead Theatre. Alison Steadman, Tasmin Grieg, Aneka Rice, Twiggy, Ian Hislop, Stephen Mangan and Joely Richardson, all in one room!? There was a buzz in the air for Alexi Kay Campbell’s return to writing for the stage. His glittering CV positions him as one the UK’s most celebrated authors. As an actor, Campbell worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, and Oxford Stage Company. His first play, The Pride, premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2008 and was awarded the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement, The Critic’s Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and The John Whiting Award for Best New Play. After a run of critically acclaimed productions, Campbell wrote the feature fil...

Priscilla Queen of the Desert – Palace Theatre

24Feb

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

North West

Priscilla Queen of the Desert – Palace Theatre

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert first frolicked onto the big screen back in 1994, bringing a queer tale of friendship, drag and disco to audiences around the world. With a sequel on the way, what better time to board the lavender bus and relive this musical road trip all over again? Sydney-based drag queen Tick/Mitzi (Kevin Clifton) agrees to perform at his estranged wife’s resort on the other side of the country. Recruiting fellow performers Bernadette (Adele Anderson) and Felicia (Nick Hayes), the trio take a journey through the Outback, stumbling upon a host of beguiling folk along the way. The three leads typify the queens and their distinctive personalities: Clifton offers a level-headed yet anxious Mitzi, Anderson charms while calling the shots as Bernadette, a...

The Mirror Crack’d – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

24Feb

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

The Mirror Crack’d – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and Directed by Mike Shaw, The Mirror Crack’d graced the stage at the beautiful Altrincham Garrick Playhouse. Opening night played to an almost full auditorium, a testament to the theatre’s enduring reputation for quality productions. Under the assured direction of Mike Shaw, and in Rachel Wagstaff’s faithful and fluid adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, The Mirror Crack’d proved to be an absorbing and richly layered evening of classic mystery. Set in the village of St Mary Mead, the drama begins with the arrival of glamorous Hollywood actress Marina Gregg, who has purchased Gossington Hall. To mark the occasion, she hosts an elegant evening of cocktails, inviting the local community into her glittering world. During the party, a guest suddenly collapses af...

The Tiger Who Came To Tea – Sheffield Lyceum

20Feb

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Tiger Who Came To Tea – Sheffield Lyceum

Tea that hits the perfect spot! The Sheffield Lyceum Theatre welcomed a full house of young theatre goer’s to The Tiger Who Came To Tea. Expertly created and adapted by David Wood with Emma Clayton as Associate Director and Choreographer. The set design by Susie Caulcutt gave the visiting Sheffield tea party guests an open stage showing the detailed kitchen of the house. With an initial welcome by Aaron Andrews as Daddy/ Postman/Milkman and Tiger, Jenanne Redman as Mummy and Eleanor Meredith as Sophie, the audience are encouraged to interact with the characters, and this is maintained throughout the 55-minute performance. With Musical arrangers by Peter Ponzen and musical direction by like Cotton, this musical production is aimed at an audience of ages 3+. I took along my 8-year-old Gra...

20Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Shenoah Allen – Soho Theatre

A therapist created a warning for Allen, ‘you have an unnamed dread’. He has been running from his endless tragedies growing up in his family’s unusual commune style living so Allen found humour in all that made him, himself. The show runs at 60 minutes with a mix of story telling and improv. Unfortunately, the momentum feels delayed and structured too loosely to feel completely free to let yourself go in the piece. Allen arrives on stage with a few fun punches to kick us off, a warm up to the dark material we may explore tonight but as we move through his deep family history, we feel lost by who the characters in his life really were. With no suitable introductions and niche impressions, we have a fairly blank impression on who these people are and therefore no reason to relate. ...

20Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Road – Royal Exchange

2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Exchange Theatre, an occasion celebrated with a season of productions entitled 'A Homecoming', welcoming artistic alumni back to direct and perform in the Levitt Bernstein-designed "spaceship" nestled within the Victorian splendour of the old Exchange building. New Artistic Director Selina Cartmell launches the programme in strong style with a revival of Jim Cartwright's seminal 'Road', boasting a star-studded cast, astonishing design, and an unfortunate modern relevance forty years after its premiere. When the Royal Court Theatre first staged Road in 1986, Margaret Thatcher was at the height of her power and British society was beginning to see the effects of her political credo. While some prospered in this new "Gordon Gekko...

The Wizard of Oz – Northwich Memorial Court

20Feb

By Dan GrimesNo Comments

North West

The Wizard of Oz – Northwich Memorial Court

In recent years, and thanks largely to the popularity of its spin-off cousin Wicked, it feels like the whole world has contracted Oz-mania. So, I was very much looking forward to this trip to Northwich to revisit the original tale. I also have fond memories of playing the cowardly lion in my final year at high school approximately one hundred thousand years ago. I can’t believe there is a person in the Western Hemisphere who needs the story setting out for them but briefly The Wizard of Oz tells how young Dorothy Gale (Sidney Causer) and her little dog Toto (Jess Hazel) is swept from her farm in Kansas to a magical faraway place – the land of Oz. Guided by Good Witch Glinda (Amy Rattenbury) and tormented by the Wicked Witch of the West (Laura Slater-Hatton) Dorothy follows the Yel...