Theatre reviews for you, by you. If you would like to review for us,
please contact us including a short review of what you have seen recently.

Writer: Owen McCafferty Director: Jonathan Humphreys Reviewer: John Roberts This production was first seen at the Arcola Theatre in March of this year, and has now become the first show for the theatre to get a west end transfer, and does this show deserve such a transfer? You bet! Mojo Mickybo written by Owen McCafferty tells the story of two boys growing up in Belfast during the summer of 1970 blissfully unaware of the troubles of the sectarian violence that is going on around them, instead they opt for some adolescent fun of playing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Rolling down hills and trying to avoid attacks from local bullies “Gank the Wank” and “Fuck Face.” McCafferty has written a play that has very dark undertones, whilst still giving the audience plenty to laugh at. Director Jonathan Humphries who is only 22 should be congratulated, this is a play that has real pace, pathos and humour; it is so tight, that to squeeze in anymore energy and emotion you would have to use some serious lubrication! Martin Brody is a likable Mojo, full of young teenage naivety and sensitivity, Brody just needs to make more of a difference vocally between the 7 or so characters that he plays throughout the piece, at times they seemed to merge into one, but never the less this is a little picky for what otherwise is a fantastic performance, but it is Benjamin Davies (Mickybo) who is the real ‘Tour-de-Force’ of this piece. It is easy to see why Davies won the Olivier Award for best new comer in 2001. Davies’ stage presence is electrifying; he demands the audience attention with his perfect comic timing and physicalisation, he could have had the audience eating out of his hands. Mark Friend’s set lends itself [...]

Director:Gary Griffen Conductors: Richard Hickox and Simon Lee Reviewer: Jeffrey Mayhew As frothy entertainment goes Kismet has a lot going for it. Whilst this 1953 musical hasn’t the conscience of Showboat, say, or the intellectual weight of a piece like West Side Story there is plenty therein to please most West End aficionados. The original play by Edward Knoblock is solid, and a great success itself from 1911 onwards. The exquisitely lyrical music of Borodin has been plundered with some tact and discretion by Robert Wright and George Forrest and the lyrics are no sillier than is par for this style of course. The “oriental” kitsch is, at best, a wonderful opportunity for designer campery. So a good night could be had by all. Sadly this was scarcely the case for me at the Coliseum, and I am first in the queue when it comes to good hearted, simple and entertaining nights out. This was in no way the fault (or responsibility) of the performers. These were uniformly a joy. The gravitas of the older men was a real treat – superb characterisation and dark velvety tones from Donald Maxwell’s Omar and Graeme Danby’s Wazir. Michael Ball as the shifty Jack the Lad poet drove the shaky plot onwards with extraordinary verve and energy and his Frankie Laine bravura powered over fine orchestral playing under Richard Hickox. Sarah Tynan and Alfie Boe were classic juvenile leads, attractive, sweet voiced and utterly engaging. Touches of louche humour and decorous decadence were added by Julian Curry and Faith Prince as the master brigand and the wife of wives to the Wazir. Much decent Carry On meets Gilbert & Sullivan business with nubile slave girls, well toned slave boys and mock hideous cruelties that never actually transpire. The chorus singing throughout enough to [...]

Writer: Marie Jones Director: Natalie Wilson Reviewer: Greg Kelly The first thing to point out in this review is that I am a 22-year-old bloke going see a play about the trials and tribulations of being a middle age woman. Not mention one of the main issues in the play being ‘The Dreaded Change,’ The Menopause! I really didn’t know what I was letting myself in for. However, when watching the play I aimed to look at this piece objectively. (If that’s at all possible!) Women On The Verge is a three handed comedy piece. Nice & simple! Susie Baxter plays Anna (Lovable character obsessed with Daniel O’Donnell), Kate Layden plays Vera (hard faced, cynical woman & bitterly unhappy not to have found love) and finally Thomas K Lappin plays Fergal (Daniel O’donnell parody), amongst other characters. The Set design was simple and put to good use. Each of the cast members performance was strong in it’s own right. Although Kate Layden at times stutterd over her lines & Susie Baxter had a tendency to over-act. Women On The Verge is a comedy drama and it lived up to that. It was funny in parts, with some very good one-liners. (Which frequently came from Anna & Vera). Their relationship and friendship on stage was strong. There was clear chemistry between the two characters. The first appearance of Fergal was subtle and precise. As the play develops we began to see more and more of this pivotal character. The main problem with the first Act and indeed the second Act was the use of music within the piece. In no shape or form before watching the piece was I given the clue that it was a musical. In Act 1 Kate Laydens character breaks out into song. It was almost comical [...]

Writer: William Mastrosimone Director: Noah Lee Margetts Reviewer: John Roberts Cat’s Paw is set in Washington DC, within the disused warehouse and secret base of Eco Warrior group Earth Now. 5 weeks since they kidnapped local man David Darling (Kenneth Jay), Earth Now’s rebel leader Victor (Noah Lee Margetts) needs more attention for his campaign to stop people polluting the countries fresh water supply, so with the help of Cathy (Jessica Knight) a fellow member of Earth Now they kidnap one of Washington’s finest news reporters (Kosha Engler) to come and help their cause by interviewing them. Cat’s Paw has been performed in America regularly since it was first written by Award winning writer William Mastrosimone in 1984 and reworked in 1996 and it is this version that gets its UK Premiere and is perfect for the intimate surroundings that the Kings Head provides bringing the audience right into the middle of the hostage situation; you can’t help feeling part of the ordeal from the very moment you step into the auditorium until the show reaches its climatic ending ninety minutes later. Cat’s Paw is a political play that at its core makes us look at the way we treat the earth and the people that are part of its design. Noah Lee Margetts who also directs, plays Victor who demands the stage with his strong presence and demeanour, Kenneth Jay’s David Darling is played with a warmth that we as an audience instantly sympathise with but it’s the female cast who provide the real talent. Kosha Engler held the political fort together as TV Journalist Jessica, Engler’s performance was tight with a real thought of character, the pace of her lengthy dialogues were executed with nearperfection. but it was Jessica Knight as Cathy who provided the show with a [...]

Writer:  Allan Katz, Erick Frandsen, Michael Garin, Robert Hipkens and Paula Lockheart Director: Mark Babych Reviewer: Stephanie Rowe I went along to watch this performance not really knowing what to expect, I was told it was a musical set in a bar in 1941 Singapore and was expecting something along the lines of Miss Saigon. Upon entering the theatre I saw the stage was set for a type of Cabaret evening with a bar set up in the corner, It was a very average type bar with a swing band fronted by Rose of Rangoon, a very forgetful thou mysterious femme fatale. Things liven up when a customer is killed under suspicious circumstances and the police chief is more interested in what he was carrying than who murdered him and why. Before the show started the cast came out early and started to put the audience at ease and in the mood by playing Jazz before the show began. The show turned out to be excellent and nothing like I had imagined, it was a comedy with each character telling their story through the songs, in the style of Jazz and the Blues, I have to admit, even though I am not particularly a fan of this genre of music, I found myself tapping my foot and singing along to the reprises.. The set and costumes by Richard Foxton were very in keeping with the times and were simple yet effective. The lighting was superb, but the sound quality did vary during the performance and at times when Rose was singing, you had to strain to hear her voice over the other cast members. Each cast member of the company also played a musical instrument, a form which is becoming more and more popular in Rep theatre nowadays, and it [...]

Writer: Shoji Kokami Director: Shoji Kokami Reviewer: Mark Valencia A tragi-comic three-hander about mental illness… minimal white décor… we’ve been here before, surely? Certainly somewhere very like it; but, new as it is to British audiences, Shoji Kokami’s play actually predates Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange by several years. Sadly, though, Trance is not in the same league as that subtle and mercurial play. Kokami himself directs this English language début of a serpentine tale that has proved enduringly popular in his native Japan since its 1993 premiere. He is a director who knows his craft: the pace and vigour of his productions are exemplary, and he is well served by a trio of actors all of whom brings idiosyncratic qualities to their roles. This is canny casting for a play that deals above all with three isolated and fractured personalities, each of whom is trying in vain to reach out to the other two. The sense of disconnection is intensified by differences in acting styles. As Masa, apparently the most damaged of the characters, Stephen Darcy gives an appropriately edgy but downbeat performance around which the other two whirl in fevered counterpoint. Meredith MacNeill imbues the role of Reiko, Masa’s long-term friend and short-term doctor, with a gallery of entertaining vocal tics and facial twitches that come perilously close to scenery-chewing. She gets away with it, despite the intimate scale of the Bush space, because her technical skill is so great and her stage presence consistently sympathetic. Overacting of an altogether more flamboyant kind is required of Rhashan Stone’s Sanzo, alias “Sylvia Stallone”, drag artist. For most of the play Stone flounces fruitily and spouts every camp cliché in the book. This showy gay caricature is Trance’s Achilles’ heel, though, because when it comes to screaming queens with a heart of [...]

Writer: Amanda Whittington Compser: Grant Olding Director: Nikolai Foster Choreographer: Zoobin Surty Reviewer: Lyndsey Holmes Yorkshire is about to host the International Indian film Academy Awards, and Bollywood Jane, which is part of the fringe festival for this event, is the perfect show to get you in the mood! Bollywood jane tells the story of a girl who flees her home with her mother and lands in Bradford, where she meets Dini who sweeps her up into a world of Bollywood fantasy.The writer, Amanda Whittington, has created a moving play, with very real charaters and a gritty northern storyline, but credit should go to young director Nikolai Foster who has managed to seamlessly blend the action with huge bollywood dance numbers. Not an easy task with a twenty strong community chorus! The chorus, some of whom have never danced or acted before, are transformed into a bollywood company thanks to the training and choreography of Zoobin Surty. They mastered the bollywood moves and danced passionately, with each and everyone of them thoroughly deserving their place on the stage. As each bollywood scene is meant to be a dream or fantasy of title character Jane, using a community chorus worked brilliantly, these are real people Jane could have seen on the streets of bradford and it is convincing that the close community around her are whisked into her dreams as she becomes a Bollywood star! A special mention should go to Nichola Burley who plays Jane. She dances beautifully as she weaves through the chorus and plays out her own bollywood love scene. Bollywood Jane marks Nicholas professional stage debut but this performance is sure to secure her a brilliant theatre career. Her acting was phenominal. She managed to captivate the audience and take them through a rollercoaster of emotions, having [...]

Writer: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart & George Oppenheimer Director: Martin Connor Choreographer: Bill Deamer Reviewer: Linda Hutton A rare opportunity presents itself for musical comedy lovers to see a new adaptation of Rodgers and Hart’s Babes in Arms at the Chichester Festival Theatre. This latest version is based on the original script, which was a big success on Broadway, and on George Oppenheimer’s 1959 adaptation. The original score is also used as the basis for the first-rate new orchestrations. Originally written in 1937 it follows a predictably cheesy story line about a group of young people who try and put on their own show in The Old Barn, next to the Cane Theatre in Cape Cod. The 1939 classic movie version with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney is remembered for the line ‘Let’s put a show on, right here in the barn!’ This gives a lovely link to the current production with Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, taking the leading role of Mrs Phyllis Owen. The exceptionally talented cast created many unforgettable moments with Billie (Donna Steele) giving outstanding performances of ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ and ‘My Funny Valentine’ and alongside Val (Mark McGee) in ‘Where or When’. Baby Rose Owen (Sophia Ragavelas) cartwheeled her way into our hearts with her cringing portrayal of a young starlet brought in to save the day in a smalltown show. Choreographer Martin Connor is to be congratulated on the tremendous dance routines especially the tap routine of the talented trio of Irving (Ashley Day), Ted (Darren J Fawthrop) and Peter (Charles Ruhrmund), which drew the loudest and most sustained applause from the audience during the entire show. The simple yet effective set lent itself to the seamless scene changes and faultless lighting. The cast were skilfully directed by Martin Connor making [...]