Latest Reviews

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Review
★★★★
Pete Shaw
Online & Broadcast
26th Feb, 2021

Lucian begat Goethe begat Dukas begat Disney begat Richard Hough and Ben Morales Frost; for this new musical by the latter writing duo has history.

Good Grief

Review
★★★★
Pete Shaw
Online & Broadcast
12th Feb, 2021

Kicking off at the end of a particularly boozy and pizza-fuelled wake, then time-skipping over the months of post-funeral aftermath, Good Grief charts the stuttering relationship o…

Readymade Cabaret 2.0

The first rule about a Dada performance is that you don’t start one with the history of Dada.

Ingénue: Deanna Durbin, Judy Garland and the Golden Age of Hollywood

A simple premise lays the foundation for Melanie Gall to recount the story of two of Hollywood’s brightest golden age stars, Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland: a New York Times jour…

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life

What do tomatoes, banjos and a recovering executive have in common? Keith Alessi, who used to consume excessive amounts of tomatoes and had 52 banjos in his closet, but couldn’t …

An Intervention

It is a complete delight to watch these two actors practice their craft.

Every Time A Bell Rings

The phrase "Every Time a Bell Rings" is well known and resonates especially at Christmas time: straight away we expect a link to the classic It’s a Wonderful Life, and …

Little Gift

M6 Theatre Company have put together a heartwarming show filled with the Christmas spirit, with some truly charming use of puppetry, storytelling and stage magic It is exactly the …

The Secret Theatre

Where is the glitter and magic, our annual Christmas treat, without the Sugar Plum Fairy or the Snow Queen? With theatre doors closed during these sad times, Scottish Ballet have c…

A Christmas Carol

Review
★★★★★
Elanor Parker
Brighton
The Spire
17th Dec, 2020

When I first heard that TrueStory Theatre would be back with a one man production of A Christmas Carol I felt in parts excited and uneasy.

Sasha Regan's All Male The Pirates of Penzance

The works of WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan are jewels in the English theatrical treasury and I, generally, have scant patience (no pun intended) with 'reimaginings'.

The Snow Queen

What is magic, really? Is it an evil enchantress who can freeze a person in ice? Is it a crow who can talk? Or is it seeing dozens of little faces light up with joy? The Snow Queen…

Hansel and Gretel? (A Postmodern Pantomime)

Outdoor theatre? In December? Yes, it’s happening! Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) have launched their first ever Christmas programme with a bang as Hansel and Gretel? A Postmod…

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Working with a tight script from Stuart Crowther and some inspired direction from Stephen Smith, Threedumb Theatre have created a wonderfully atmospheric version of The Strange Cas…

Séance

It’s Halloween evening at the Brighton Open Air Theatre and what better time for a séance? Even if it has to be a socially distance séance – there’s no hand holding or grou…

Howerd's End

Review
★★★
Kate Copstick
UK Regional & Tours
Golden Goose Theatre / The Old Joint Stock Pub
1st Nov, 2020

A lot of love has gone into this imagined duet between Frankie Howerd and his lover Dennis Heymer.

The Geek Shall Inherit...

Hattie Snooks has staged an existential crisis, and somehow humour and song only enhanced this portrait.

Furlough She Better Don't

Clap Back Club have done it again! The feminist performance troupe, that started off as a choir, never fail to bring harsh truths to a laughing audience through parody and song.

SpaceXPat

SpaceXPat explores the motivation and aftermath of an astronaut expat called Pat deciding to stay permanently on the International Space Station (spot that pun in the title).

My Boy Danny

It’s worth noting first off that My Boy Danny was never originally intended to appear as an MP3 available for streaming on YouTube, with that compromise being a happy result of l…

Iain Dale: All Talk with Gyles Brandreth

Iain Dale’s Wednesday broadcast featured Gyles Brandreth’s mellifluously plummy tones navigating his way from pornography to Maureen Lipman, from dad jokes to serial killers, a…

Frills in Lockdown

I knew it! This is what the Scottish lassies have been up to during lockdown.

I Am Gavrilo Princip

“I lit the spark that burned the world down”, declares Oliver Yellop’s Gavrilo Princip, before a dying trumpet slide suggests the spark may have been, in fact, rather more of…

Iain Dale: All Talk with Alastair Campbell

It shouldn’t be controversial to assume that one’s ability to enjoy this particular interchange may well rest ultimately on personal politics and the level of individual anger …

Lest We Forget By Charlotte Green & Rasheka Christie-Carter

Lying not too far beneath the CV19 surface of 2020 lie a series of news events that seem to epitomise our times.

Five Lock Down

Conceived, written and acted by Timothy Quinlan, this short film features some of the better acting on offer at the Fringe, and like so many others, is inspired by the strange real…

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE* *But Just The Deaths (and the gory bits too)

This jaunty little potter through the more gruesome elements of Shakespeare’s works really ‘gets’ the tone needed for this strange 2020 hybrid of live theatre / film / desper…

Lady M

In Nia Williams’ upcoming new musical, Lady Macbeth is a creepy life coach who takes advantage of the collective incapacity of lockdown to bring her own particular brand of… we…

Countdown to Clowntown:

When Covid-19 is up, the economy down and Brexit looming around the corner, you need clown therapy.

Vampire's Ball Ultimate Halloween Party

Brad Tassell and Steve Goodie describe themselves as a pair who have been ‘all-around nutty goofballs for more than 30 years’; and it shows.

Haunted

Review
★★
Rebecca Vines
Online & Broadcast
Thespace
15th Aug, 2020

The chaos of a house move.

Lockdown Drag-out

It’s either a mid-conversation pick-up or a recording error that opens Jane Martin’s monologue, Lockdown Drag-Out, in which she appears as the plummy and plumpy Audrey Stanton …

Short Film Night

Closing the first day of [email protected] on Monday 11th of August was an online short film screening and Q&A with Phil Spencer, available to watch online in full.

The Plague Thing

If you’ve been feasting on BBC iPlayer during lockdown and enjoying the delights of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, it’s worth taking six minutes out of your social isolation t…

Boom Room

The Boom Room is a sweet little radio play that captures the ennui and idiosyncratic Englishness of lockdown – cleaning out spice racks, a sudden urge to plant potatoes – and p…

Too bored to stay in, too scared to go out!

The 72-year-old cabaret performer Nigel Osner knows a thing or two about ageing and self-isolating during the pandemic.

Smoking Gun

A dodgy MP, a new and potentially dangerous drug and a mysterious whistle-blower.

The Tell-Tale Heart

The lockdown goes on and theatre will likely not return anytime soon.

Live From The Phoenix Flat

Review
★★★★★
Pete Shaw
West End
The Phoenix Arts Club Facebook Live Page
21st Mar, 2020

Tonight I figured out how to beam a Facebook video to my TV so I could watch – amongst other things – a burlesque performer do a striptease on a unicycle.

Smashing

Annabelszki took to the stage to give a thought provoking, challenging and uplifting insight into the role of women and feminism from a lesbian point of view.

Shoe Lady

Viv (Katherine Parkinson) has lost her shoe on her London commute.

The Seven Streams of the River Ota

In 1996, Robert Lepage's initial production of The Seven Streams was far from critic-pleasing.

Lady Wank (And Other Fairytales For Adults)

Marketed as a comedic, feminist fairytale mashup, the concept of Lady Wank (And Other Fairytales For Adults) offered much potential.

The Maydays: Confessions!

Another riotous performance from the Maydays! Proving that they really are the masters of improvisation, Maydays’ latest outing, Confessions had a packed-out Komedia in stitches.

Ask Me Anything

Review
★★★
Elanor Parker
Brighton
The Old Market
12th Mar, 2020

It’s embarrassing recalling your teenager years, isn’t it? Awkward crushes, cringe-worthy fashion choices and dramatic mood swings; most of us are very happy to leave those yea…

Mrs Puntila And Her Man Matti

Mrs Puntila and her Man Matti is that relatively rare thing for the Royal Lyceum Theatre—a star vehicle, rather than an ensemble production, that happens to have two audience fav…

Witch Hunt

If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a BIG surprise.

Life And Death Of A Journalist

Jingan Young is a fascinating writer to follow, as her play Life and Death of a Journalist explores the hardships of journalism amid political turbulence and cultural difference.

W*nk Buddies

“It’s about us—together,” explain Jake Jarratt and Cameron Sharp, in their new play in which two drama students – straight “Jake”, gay “Cameron” – end up trying…

Pride Plays

Edinburgh’s Traverse has long-championed new drama—indeed, the venue’s self-description is the simple goal of being “Scotland’s new writing theatre”.

Matt Hoss: Here Comes Your Man

Matt Hoss is a man on a mission.

The Visit

Though we aren’t given the choice that may be implied by the inclusion of the subtitle in The Visit or The Old Lady Who Comes to Call, it is a play that uses juxtaposition as it …

Antigone, Interrupted

Experimental, inventive and hugely daring, Antigone, Interrupted is Sophocles re-imagined, the first production by Joan Clevillé since becoming Artistic Director of Sc…

Zog

An enchanting stage show based on the 2010 book by Julia Donaldson, Zog follows a young dragon of the same name who only wants one thing: a gold star.

Upstart Crow

The Gielgud Theatre hosts Ben Elton's stage version of his acclaimed TV show, Upstart Crow.

Talk

Set in 1854 in the criminal wing of Bethlem Hospital for the Insane and being about the birth of psychotherapy, you would be forgiven for assuming this play will be heavy going.

Professional Breakup Artist

Annabelszki brought an uplifting and insightful fusion of storytelling, comedy and poetry to her show Professional Breakup Artist to highlight the various stages of love, da…

Lou Sanders: Say Hello To Your New Step-Mummy

Fresh from a slot on James Corden’s Late Late Show, Lou Sanders breezes into Brighton to blow away the grubby taint of the coronavirus—and your dad.

Songs of Innocence

Part of the Six Plays One Day event at Tristan Bates, Songs of Innocence really stands out from the crowd.

Am I Happy Yet?

Written and performed by Jack Hesketh and directed by Coral Tarran, Is Trying Enough? starts with a young man bouncing out of bed to the upbeat sounds of Mr Blue Sky by ELO.

Noodles For Breakfast

When Kate (Robyn Lovell) starts her new job working in a charity call centre for breast cancer care, her newfound workmate and desk-share partner Garry's (Matthew Bromwich) rel…

My Fern Flower

According to an ancient myth, the fern flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the summer solstice, and those who are fortunate enough to find it are granted earthly fort…

Is Trying Enough?

Families come in all shapes and sizes.

Darling, It’s Not About You

Love is never easy.

Little Boxes

Actor Joann Condon from BBC'S Little Britain fame is fed up with being put into a box.

NUMB

NUMB, by Timothy Cobeanu, has an unusual start.

Over My Dad's Body

Since I last saw Simon David on stage in his 2018 Edinburgh Fringe debut, Virgin, much has happened in his personal life.

Luzia - Cirque du Soleil

Every year the Royal Albert Hall plays host to Cirque du Soleil, whose cast of exceptional performers come from across the globe.

Roots

We’ve reached the end of the decade and entered the ‘20s again.

Super Sunday

Watching Super Sunday makes you think you really ought to get the gym more.

A Kind of People

One party gone wrong and a constellation of friends, family, and sacrosanct values falls apart.

Three Sisters

Welcome to The Republic of Biafra, 1967.

Scottish Ballet: The Snow Queen

A wintry tale of fire and ice where selfless love wins, The Snow Queen, choreographed by Christopher Hampson, is a dangerous journey encountering bandits and snow creatures.

Stick Man

It’s a Thursday afternoon, and I’m sat comfortably in the stalls of Brighton Theatre Royal amongst an absolute army of five-year-olds.

A Little Space

Review
★★★
Monica Yell
Brighton
The Old Market
11th Dec, 2019

Watching A Little Space made me think of Marmite.

Midnight Movie

In Midnight Movie, Eve Leigh presents a universe of bedrooms where disabled people are unable to sleep due to the pain of having a body which is, right now, ‘glitching’.

My Brilliant Friend

The challenge in attempting to adapt Elena Ferrante's 10 million-selling quadrilogy, The Neapolitan Novels lies not in finding the time to read through the 1,600 pages of sourc…

Robin Hood

Panto season is upon us (Oh Yes it is!) and Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch have repackaged the classic tale of Robin Hood and bought it to the stage in a wonderful way.

Wind of Heaven

There is something wonderfully seasonal about Wind of Heaven at the Finborough Theatre.

Oor Wullie

Review
★★★★
Paul F Cockburn
Scotland
Multiple Venues
3rd Dec, 2019

Many Scots first experience of comics is likely to be two series published by Dundee-based D C Thomson in their long-running newspaper, The Sunday Post.

An Edinburgh Christmas Carol

Full of good cheer, fun and jokes, carols under falling snow, spooky ghosts and glitter, what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than go to An Edinburgh Christmas Carol, D…

Sleeping Beauty

The predictably brilliant writer/director/dame Andrew Pollard returns to Greenwich Theatre again for another triumphant Panto season, marking the 50th anniversary of the theatre’…

No Place Like Home

Connor is on a night out and ready to be open about his sexuality.

Rage, but Hope

Streatham Space Project helped its audience ask questions of themselves during the debut performance of Rage, But Hope.

A Letter to a Friend in Gaza

A long table stretches across the expansive floor of the Coronet.

The House of The Spirits / La Casa de Los Espíritus

The mission of the Cervantes Theatre “to showcase the best Spanish and Latin American plays in London” is strikingly realised in its closing play of the 2019 season that featur…

The Haunted Ballroom

Billed as a Halloween cabaret extravaganza, The Haunted Ballroom was a loose mix of disco style party and cabaret acts from renowned London based performers Black Cat Cabaret, who …