Saturday, October 3

Tag: Phil Dean

Cluedo – The Brindley
North West

Cluedo – The Brindley

Taking on Cluedo in a studio space is an ambitious undertaking. With its frantic action, mounting body count and seemingly endless rooms, it’s a play that demands slick movement both on and off stage. Under Ria Green’s direction, Centenary Theatre Company rises enthusiastically to the challenge, delivering an evening packed with physical comedy, familiar characters and plenty of hilarity. Most people will be familiar with the premise - six strangers gather in a grand manor to meet the mysterious Mr Boddy and attend what quickly becomes a deadly dinner party. Sandy Rustin’s adaptation of the 1985 screenplay by Johnathan Lynn relocates the action to England, with our decidedly dodgy collection of suspects drawn from Westminster rather than Washington. Wisely, the cast resist simp...
The Girl on the Train – The Brindley Theatre
North West

The Girl on the Train – The Brindley Theatre

Wow. As someone who went into this show not having seen the film or read the book (I read a book called A Girl on A Train, which I didn’t realise until weeks later was not the bestselling novel by Paula Hawkins that everyone else had read), I had no idea what to expect, and I left the theatre feeling utterly blown away! Directed by Clare Littlemore, the show follows Rachel Watson, a well-meaning woman with an alcohol problem (side note: I felt a little uncomfortable at some of the audience’s reactions to Rachel’s drinking. It’s clear that she has an issue with drinking, but there was a lot of laughing in the audience which felt a bit misplaced. Occasionally it felt as though lines were delivered deliberately to evoke a laugh, but other times it was clear that this was not the time, so t...