Giles Thomas Archives - North West End UK

12Dec

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Kenrex – The Other Palace

A true crime story of a still unsolved crime in small town America, KENREX blends genres, true crime, western, music into something far, far greater than the sum of its parts. What begins as an almost true crime podcast style reconstruction of a murder turns into a study of how a small community shapes its own mythology, and how fear, loyalty and silence can outlast the truth. After acclaimed runs in Sheffield and Southwark Playhouse, this transfer to The Other Palace just confirms how brilliant KENREX is. Ken Rex McElroy was a violent bully who terrorised the small town of Skidmore, Missouri, for years. With no sheriff and no police within an hour's drive, the law was never able to stop him. A snake-oil lawyer (with a brilliant introduction that almost adds musical as a genre to ...

2Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The House Party – Leeds Playhouse

Miss Julie is one of the great totems of naturalistic writing and that gives Laura Lomas full licence to update August Stringberg’s text from a Swedish mansion to an upscale London apartment as a raucous house party goes off the rails Lomas also makes the main protagonists mismatched eighteen-year-olds as hidden passions and enmities between the trio are slowly exposed over an intense 90 minutes told straight through. Despite the update Lomas does keep to the key principles of naturalism by making the whole scenarios realistic, the characters are most definitely flesh and blood with all the flaws that brings, and they are informed by their heredity and environment. Our Julie is an entitled, but damaged, posh kid who is throwing a boozy eighteen birthday party to spite her absent rich...

The Boy at the Back of the Class – Sheffield Lyceum

6Mar

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Boy at the Back of the Class – Sheffield Lyceum

Sheffield Lyceum opened its doors and its generational spanning heart to the adaptation of Onjali Q. Rauf’s well known and much loved book A Boy at the Back of the Class. Adapter Nick Ahad’s does not disappoint in his stage version, retaining all the wit, the power of a collective sense of humanity and the eternal hope we all deserve to experience. Monique Touko as Director strives to paint a desired world stating, ‘May this play push for further actions of kindness, promote equality and depict a world where people are seen as people’. Aimed at children, teachers and parents alike this production is a full, dynamic and impactful theatrical experience bringing the characters and their story to life. The set and costume design by Lily Arnold creates the backdrop of a school setting with P...

Romeo & Juliet – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

24Jun

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Romeo & Juliet – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

On a wonderfully sunny evening, the weather gods behaved themselves, and we were treated to one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays. Postponed from last year’s season, director Kimberley Sykes’ version has been eagerly anticipated, with its new viewpoint on this popular play, we ask – did this re-assessment pay off? The set designed by Naomi Dawson, with its backdrop of trees, helps to soften the harsh set of scaffolding, rocks, and earth. Earth is one of Sykes’ themes and can be seen as a symbol of nurturing growth, but earth also throws its arms around death which is a major part of the plotline. When Sykes re-read the play, she was struck by a reference to an earthquake that had happened in Verona eleven years earlier. At the time of the earthquake, the Nurse (E...