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Purple Snowflakes and Tittywanks – Royal Court

4Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Purple Snowflakes and Tittywanks – Royal Court

This a revolutionary piece that follows a young woman from Ireland to London with the suffocating pressures of a nation devout to their beliefs and their religion. How this manifests is in the bodies of young people who cover their sexual frustrations, eating disorders, depression and anxieties. This slightly nonsensical piece is high energy, a thought a minute as she revisits her later years in school with the complication of discovery and in how unlocking knowledge can be just as limiting as you may have felt before. Photo: Luca Truffarelli Written and performed by Sarah Hanly, awarded with the 2019 Pinter Commission and one of Royal Court’s Long Form Writer’s Group- she has written a piece that speaks to a nation in recovery. It is powerful, funny and dark as we uncover the truth ...

4Feb

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Hamlet – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

The first production of Hamlet in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in the Shakespeare's Globe was an event to look forward to. The intimate candle lit wooden interior of the playhouse provided the opportunity for a very different feel to what is probably the best play the Bard ever wrote. What a disappointment it turned out to be. It started well enough, the initial scene on the battlements with the ghost was in complete darkness and when the candles were lit for the subsequent scene the characters were dressed in more or less traditional Elizabethan costumes; the stage was bare apart from one or two chairs and a large circular well in the middle. There were a few inconsistencies: Horatio, sported a modern university type scarf and a single musician sat on stage...

4Feb

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

Flashdance – Grange Theatre

After months of hard work and a 3 month delay due to Covid restrictions, Zodiac Musical Theatre have managed to bring the North-West premier of Flashdance the Musical to sold out audiences at the Grange Theatre in Hartford. Flashdance the Musical is adapted from the 1983 Paramount Pictures musical film which follows the story of Alex, an 18-year-old welder by day and ‘flashdancer’ by night, and her dreams of attending a prestigious Dance Academy. Director and Choreographer, Jessica Martin, had her work cut out to bring together this marathon of a show and she did it so well with a sharp vision and brilliant choreography, very fitting with the era, magnificent work. Craig Price as Musical Director has once again worked his magic to assist the cast in delivering killer vocals and tight...

Constellations – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

2Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Constellations – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

The idea of a multiverse of alternate realities, each offering slightly different versions of our existence has become a very familiar trope in film and theatre. The Marvel Studios blockbuster superhero capers are the most successful recent iteration of this oeuvre, but classic movies (It's a Wonderful Life, A Matter of Life and Death), comedies (Back to the Future, Groundhog Day) and less auspicious examples (I'm looking at you 'Sliding Doors'), all play with the idea of how small decisions in life can change outcomes in a big way. In 2012, writer Nick Payne took the premise of a chance meeting of a Beekeeper and a String Theory scientist at a barbecue and created 'Constellations' for the Royal Court Theatre. Weaving a fantastical tale of 'if', 'but' and 'maybe' which is both hilarious...

April in Paris – Birkenhead Little Theatre

2Feb

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

April in Paris – Birkenhead Little Theatre

Imagine winning a prize that whisks you away from the humdrum of life and the everyday. The kind of prize that offers excitement, opportunity and escapism with a bit of romance thrown in. That’s exactly what happens to lead characters Bet and Al in April in Paris. Entrenched in the monotony of existence, we join them as they inadvertently expand their horizons thanks to Bet winning in a ‘Romantics Breaks’ competition. Bet enters them for ‘a new life’. Al was sure she wouldn’t win. John Godber’s short observational play is layered with juxtapositions the audience can identify with - humour and depression, love and loathing, hope and pessimism – making the show a thought-provoking watch. With bags packed and contrasting enthusiasm, Bet and Al head to Paris for their first experience ab...

2Feb

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

REVIEWS

Riot Act – Stream Theatre

Celebrating LGBTQ+ History month, Stream Theatre shares this eloquent and powerful one-man performance based on three verbatim interviews from three people who have been a part of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Alexis Gregory gives a superlative performance throughout and his script is sensitive, raw, witty, and sometimes full of rage. Gregory carefully complied his three interviews into one continuous layered monologue and in so doing formed a remarkable commentary on queer activism through the years. If this all sounds quite serious and leaning towards political debate, have no fear, Gregory holds your attention throughout, and his characterisation is superb. This is such a warm and exuberant show that I challenge anyone not to admire and love. Each person has a story to tell, a...

The Hound of the Baskervilles – The Lowry

2Feb

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

The Hound of the Baskervilles – The Lowry

Arthur Conan-Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories lend themselves to comedy because they are often quite fantastical. Over the years many a comedian has used the brilliant detective and his sidekick, Dr Watson, in order to get a laugh. The characters are so recognisable all you need is a meerschaum pipe and a deerstalker hat and everyone knows who you are. This production of Hound of the Baskervilles, a faintly ridiculous tale in itself when you break it down, was really entertaining and great fun to watch. It was performed with great verve, energy and pace by three very talented comic performers who played all the parts. A perfect pick-me-up on a cold night in Salford. Photographer: Pamela Raith If you go to see this play expecting a serious dramatisation of the Conan-Doyle classic, t...

Pilot Theatre’s Esther Richardson talks their new production The Bone Sparrow

1Feb

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Pilot Theatre’s Esther Richardson talks their new production The Bone Sparrow

Pilot Theatre has adapted Zana Fraillon’s The Bone Sparrow for a timely national tour telling the tale of a Rohingya refugee boy Subhi who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre in Australia. Pilot Theatre’s Artistic Director Esther Richardson will direct an adaption by Shakthi Shakthidharan, who is an award-winning Australian writer, producer, composer and director for screen and stage of Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. In a world dominated by Zoom calls this cross continental production has also been developed in association with Australian Theatre for Young People. Closer to home it has had support of Bradford’s SBC Theatre, a group of creative professionals and artists who are committed to making work with, about and for those seeking sanctuary in the UK a...

1Feb

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Waitress – Hull New Theatre

It’s a good job I didn’t watch Waitress on an empty stomach; I would have been tempted to storm the stage to eat the props - the props being delicious-looking pies. Real or imitation, I don’t know, but by the yummy looks of them I wouldn’t have cared. The dreamy confections took centre stage at the Hull New Theatre on Monday evening, as the pie-themed musical disarmed the tastebuds of everyone in the packed auditorium. Most of the action takes place in Joe’s Pie Diner, a popular eatery in small-town Indiana, America. A staff of four - three waitresses, Jenna (Chelsea Halfpenny), Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins) and Becky (Sandra Marvin), and chef and manager Cal (Christopher D Hunt) - keep the diner ticking over nicely. Jenna is the expert pie-maker. Married to the controlling and self...

1Feb

By Max EdenNo Comments

North West

The Play What I Wrote – The Lowry

Morecombe & Wise are without doubt a British institution, with their Christmas specials drawing in over 20 million viewers in their day; delivering shows packed with laughter and jokes a plenty. To write a stage production on them must be a daunting task, but one which writers; Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben have excelled at in this new play; The Play What I Wrote. With a cast of just three (well actually four but we’ll get to that), this isn’t a biographical piece about the famous duo, far from it. This is original, but yet still just as dynamic and very very funny! The story follows two performers; Dennis played by Dennis Herdman & Thom played by Thom Tuck. Dennis wants to do a play about the famous duo for the potential money, whilst Thom aspires to write serio...