Theatre Review Archives - North West End UK

Love’s Labour’s Found – Greenside Riddles Court

18Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Love’s Labour’s Found – Greenside Riddles Court

To avoid being fired, modern poetry lecturers Jackie and Kate tell their employers they discovered a long-lost play by William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Found. The lie quickly spirals out of control when they’re invited to perform the “new” work at the 45th Shakespearean History International Teaching Conference (notice the acronym) the next day, aided and thwarter by a collection of zany characters such as one of their mothers, an actor, their boss and the dean, who is called Dean. Written and performed by members of the Newcastle University Theatre Society, the ensuing farce has its moments but unfortunately lacks the internal reality to properly build from. To properly spiral, one must have a centre to start from (or finish with), and Love's Labour's Found, which chose its tit...

I F*cked You In My Spaceship – King’s Arms

There may be barely a spaceship in sight in Louis Emmitt-Stern’s sharply witty Queer comedy-drama, but there’s certainly plenty of sex, relationships and increasingly blurred boundaries. Played in the round with no conventional set or props, the Kings Arms’ studio is transformed with a simple overhead rig of paper-lantern ‘planets’, star garlands and one solitary paper rocket. Bathed in pink and purple light as the strains of 2001: A Space Odyssey’s opening theme echoes around the room; we first eavesdrop on the romantic machinations of couple Leo (Ciarán Lockwood) and Dan (Ben Bradfield). As an attempt at alien role-play is hilariously undermined by asthma, we have our tone set for a play that places awkward, authentic conversations inside decidedly offbeat scenarios. In parallel, w...

Bat Out of Hell – Regent Theatre, Stoke

The streets around stoke were graced with a huge roaring sound as the pavements were lined with Harley Davidson’s and excited musical theatre fans alike in honour of the Meatloaf inspired musical Bat out of Hell speeding on to the Regent theatre stage. Having grown up with a father who loved Meatloaf’s iconic music I knew the power of the songs I was about to hear but I didn’t know the extent of just what an electrifying show I’d let myself in for. The auditorium on entrance was hazy and dystopian setting an eery ambience of what was to come. The set upon entrance was striking. Gloomy but engaging. The show used a mix of traditional and virtual set which really added to the futuristic tones in the show. I must compliment the lighting in the show too it was unbelievable some ...