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28Apr

By Scot CunninghamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Cells – Metta Theatre

Produced entirely during lockdown, Metta Theatre brings seven-part episodic musical Cells to the small screen, with all donations supporting the recovery of the Royal & Derngate Northampton, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. The piece follows the reserved chemistry fresher JoJo (Lem Knights) and outgoing university lab technician Neil (Clive Rowe), two strangers contemplating the next chapters in their lives as their paths look set to cross. P Burton-Morgan’s script lacks originality and only provides a surface-level insight into the pair’s social struggles in the thirty-minute run time. Some of the narrative’s happenings are contrived to the point of being completely unrealistic: the function of a soiled napkin sends the plot spinning into rid...

Jeeves And Wooster in Perfect Nonsense to Return to Mark 14Oth Anniversary of P.G. Wodehouse

28Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Jeeves And Wooster in Perfect Nonsense to Return to Mark 14Oth Anniversary of P.G. Wodehouse

The Barn Theatre in Cirencester and The Theatre Chipping Norton have announced that they will be remounting their 2020 production of the Goodale Brothers’ Olivier Award-winning comedy Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense to mark the 140th anniversary of o the author P.G. Wodehouse’s birth. In this joyous reimagining of the classic P.G. Wodehouse characters, three actors hurl themselves from role to role as they race to tell the story of Bertie’s own farcical adventures. Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense was created by the Goodale Brothers, adapted primarily from P.G. Wodehouse’s The Code of the Woosters. The show, which premiered at Richmond Theatre in 2013 with the lead roles being played by Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen, before transferring to the Duke of York’s Theat...

Manchester musical theatre fans in for a treat

27Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Manchester musical theatre fans in for a treat

Theatre fans are promised a journey from London’s West End to New York’s Broadway when hit-packed production Theatreland comes to the DriveINSIDE Trafford Centre Theatre on Saturday, May 22nd. Show producer Adam Curtis says that the audience will be treated to a musical theatre journey beginning in the Emerald City with songs from the smash-hit musical Wicked. “Before you know it, you’ll find yourself in Swinging Sixties Baltimore with Hairspray,” he says. “Our amazing cast of singers and dancers will have you captivated from start to finish. “Watch the magic of Phantom of the Opera, clap your hands and stamp your feet to We Will Rock You and cheer as Baby is lifted in Dirty Dancing.” With hits from The Jersey Boys, Six, Grease, Mary Poppins, The Dream Girls and Dear E...

Full Cast Announced For Shaw Shorts at Orange Tree Theatre

27Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Full Cast Announced For Shaw Shorts at Orange Tree Theatre

Orange Tree Theatre today announce the full casts for Shaw Shorts: How He Lied to Her Husband and Overruled – a double bill of Bernard Shaw’s short plays directed by Artistic Director Paul Miller. Miller directs Joe Bolland (Henry Apjohn), Jordan Mifsúd (Teddy Bompas), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Aurora Bompas) in How He Lied to Her Husband; and Alex Bhat (Gregory Lunn), Jordan Mifsúd (Sibthorpe Juno), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Mrs Lunn) and Hara Yannas (Mrs Juno) in Overruled. The production opens on 26th May, with previews from 22nd May, and runs until 26th June. It will be streamed live via OT On Screen on 3rd and 4th June. In How He Lied to Her Husband, Aurora is concerned about what has happened to the poems written for her by her admirer, the impetuous Henry, and fears they may get into t...

One actor, one spectator: new micro-plays will tour London in a Covid-secure pop-up venue

27Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

One actor, one spectator: new micro-plays will tour London in a Covid-secure pop-up venue

Presented in a specially designed Covid-secure pop-up venue, We Are Kilter’s Theatre For Two is a series of personal, interactive meetings between actor and audience member. The four newly commissioned micro-plays are written by some of the most exciting up-and-coming talent, Tabby Lamb, Macadie Amoroso, Ryan Lane, and Gabriella Leon, and celebrate the absurdity of human connection. After a year of being stuck, unexpectedly stranded in isolation, isn’t it time to meet someone new? Step inside and meet four eccentric characters who are desperate for company and comradeship – whether that’s sharing a cuppa, a daydream or a waxworm. These micro-plays will plunge the audience into a funny, surprising and sometimes peculiar experience. Each semi-improvised play will engage the audience in th...

27Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

WICKED – The Musical Phenomenon Returns

Wicked, the West End and Broadway musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, will return to London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre later this year, with performances resuming on Wednesday 15th September 2021. Tickets for this booking period, which runs through to Sunday 22nd May 2022, go on sale at 10am on Monday 17th May 2021. Wicked will play a Tuesday-Sunday performance schedule, with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Visit www.WickedTheMusical.co.uk for all information. Wicked will mark its 15th anniversary at the Apollo Victoria Theatre later in the year and will host a celebratory performance on Tuesday 28th September 2021. The music and lyrics in Wicked are by the legendary composer Stephen Schwartz (whose enduringly popular musical ...

Scottish legend John Byrne is back with new radio play Tennis Elbow

26Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Scottish legend John Byrne is back with new radio play Tennis Elbow

In 1977 the hottest ticket at the Edinburgh Festival was comedy drama Writer’s Cramp by new Scottish writer John Byrne and the three-hander went on to be a hit in London. It was the riotous tale of Frances Seneca McDade, who is being remembered by the Nitshill Writing Circle, and they seem oblivious that despite his public school swagger their mentor ended up being an utter mediocrity in all his many artistic endeavours. Now Bryne has returned to Paisley for a new radio play, Tennis Elbow, as the writing group gather once again to remember the life of McDade’s estranged wife Pamela played by Kirsty Stuart. “Tennis Elbow is the life story of a writer and artist as she makes her way through life and all of the characters that she meets on the way, the struggles that she has,” says K...

26Apr

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Winter’s Tale – RSC Online

According to the Washington Post President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his four years in office. At the time of writing this review the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of acting dishonestly in a number of different scandals. Shakespeare knew that those in charge are not always honest and truthful. In this play he examines the consequences when an all-powerful man fails to act with honour. The shadow of Henry VIII and his treatment of Elizabeth I’s mother Anne Boleyn hangs over the drama. The play is all about honesty, integrity, honour and trust. It is at base a moral fable where purity is rewarded and sin is punished. King Leontes, a jealous tyrant believes his pregnant wife Hermione is having an affair with his boyhood friend, the king...

Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt returns to the West End August 2021

26Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt returns to the West End August 2021

Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, directed by Patrick Marber and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, will return to Wyndham’s Theatre for a 12-week run from 7 August – 30 October 2021. Casting will be announced shortly. Patrons whose bookings were affected by the Government’s previous directives will be contacted from Friday 23 April 2021 regarding their current bookings with public booking opening at 10am on Friday 30 April 2021. Sonia Friedman said: “I am deeply relieved that after a year of immense loss and struggle for so many, including the unthinkable shutdown of our theatre industry, to announce the new dates for the return of Tom’s astonishing play to the West End. Leopoldstadt is a passionate drama of enduring love and familial bonds that asks us to bear witness to our...

I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical – King’s Head Theatre

26Apr

By Coral MourantNo Comments

REVIEWS

I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical – King’s Head Theatre

A stage, four performers and a pianist is all it takes to put on this witty love letter to the stage. This clever parody piece pokes fun at the musical theatre art form, with just the right number of big notes and jazz hands. The show consists of stand-alone songs, some duets and small inputs from the performers to keep it moving along. The first song parodies traditional opening numbers of popular shows, with slick choreography (also by the director, Chris Whittaker) and complex four-part harmonies. Alexander S. Bermange’s writing is brilliantly satirical and an absolute treat for musical theatre fans. The writing does not shy away from the ridiculousness of the genre either. It takes multiple digs at the dramatics involved, and has whole songs dedicated to divas and unworthy star c...