Hannah Brown Archives - North West End UK

The economics of modern theatre production are currently on full display at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, with their festive offering of ‘A Christmas Carol’ beginning its run for a mammoth eight weeks. This is a decision that may bear fruit at the box office but does little to enhance the artistic merit of this normally excellent producing house, staging a show that is threadbare and tonally inconsistent, leaving me with little of the Christmas cheer I hoped to find. In keeping with the Scrooge like nature of this review I won’t waste my word count on an explanation of the plot of Dicken’s most famous novella; the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge (David Burrell) over the course of one Christmas Eve is one of the most enduring stories in literature and has been used on countless occasions...

The pre-show stage setting greeting theatregoers at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday evening, must rank as the oddest. It was a line of washing, and I wondered what that could possibly have to do with the production - Greatest Days, the official Take That Musical. But it’s often the little things that make an impact - and this line of washing was actually blowing in the wind. A clever touch of realism. And that simple prop came to highlight the mundanity of one of the surviving characters. I say “surviving” as there is a fatality, but my lips are sealed as to who pops their clogs. It’s 1993, and five 16-year-old schoolgirls are fans of boy band Take That who are enjoying their first UK number 1 hit, Pray. The five - Rachel (Olivia Hallett), Debbie (Mary Moore), Heather (Kitty...

Tag: Hannah Brown

A Christmas Carol – Octagon Theatre

Greatest Days – Hull New Theatre