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.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: by Peter Denyer & Eric Potts New Wimbledon Theatre : 11th Dec-20th Jan -08 Directed by Peter Denyer Choreography by Gerry ZuccarelloReview by Francesca Elliott Not usually a fan of the dreaded pantomime, I was told to take my cynical hat off, stop being so miserable and get down to The New Wimbledon Theatre’s production of Snow White. As expected it was heaving with excitable children and I battled through the crowds, mentally preparing myself for the cheesy, glittering onslaught that was surely coming my way. Sure enough, Ross ‘on gangs’ Kemp himself strutted out, and gave a surprisingly entertaining performance as the wicked Queen’s evil henchman. He minced and swaggered round the stage like there was no tomorrow, upstaged only by Rae Baker, as the glamorous, blood thirsty Queen who showed more then enough leg to keep the dads in the audience happy. Bobby Davro was a pantomime natural as the court jester, and injected some much needed energy into scenes with Snow White (Aimie Atkinson) and Prince Charming, who gave disappointingly dull performances. But maybe that’s the curse of the pantomime goodie, forever overshadowed by the far more entertaining baddies. The real stars of the show however were the seven real life dwarfs, led by Harry Potter star Warwick Davis, who tried in vain to keep his motley crew in order. The scenes in the sparkling mines were some of the best in the show and put some real magic into the performance. The singing was OK and there were some talented dancers who could have been made more of.The children seemed pleased thou …

Dick Whittington Lowry Theatre – Dec 7th – 6th JanDirected by Paul MillsReviewed by The McNamara Family Men dressed as women, audience participation, a plethora of corny jokes and oddly chosen pop songs awkwardly shoehorned into a paper thin plot – it can only be the great British tradition that is pantomime. That said, when panto is done well all of these factors are not only forgiven but accepted and cherished. And Dick Whittington at The Lowry Theatre in Salford was well done indeed. The cast included known celebrities such as one-hit wonder Chesney Hawkes (and yes, he did manage to get his song in the production), Darren Day and Emmerdale’s Frazer Hines alongside slightly lesser known names. However, in this instance the so called stars did not outshine their lower-billed colleagues. In fact, the performances by John Bishop as Captain Cuttle (albeit reminiscent of Bez from the Happy Mondays on one of his less coherent days) and Jamie Greer as Sarah the Cook with strong Little Britain influences were quite often outstanding. The stage sets were glitzy and lavish and well designed and even included an impressive, moving sailing ship large enough to hold several cast members. The performance was punctuated throughout by a good mix of jokes, many of which worked on two levels giving the adults as well as the children something to laugh about. By far the best received comedy moment of the night was a pastiche of the current Marks and Spencer’s TV adverts, where the audience’s applause started before the sketch was even half way through. Darren Day as King Rat reverted to his earlier career as an impressionist and inserted many well executed comedy impressions. Chesney Hawkes seemed a little …

Writer: Jimmy Perry & David Croft Director: James Robert Carson Reviewer: Mal Wallace For those of you wanting something a little different this Christmas, ‘Dad’s Army’ at the Lowry is the ideal alternative to the usual array of fairytale plays, pantomimes and Dickens inspired musicals. The show succeeds on every level offering die hard fans a satisfying nostalgic trip down memory lane, whilst also catering for the uninitiated to this classic television sitcom. Billed as ‘the lost episodes’, the show unites three rare episodes with one enduringly popular one, originally transmitted in 1969, and it’s astonishing that the scripts written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft are, after all these years, still found to be slick, sharp and incredibly funny. Particularly comical is the final episode, ‘The Deadly Attachment’ which, as an ensemble piece of theatre, borders on farcical genius. The cast are uniformly excellent and pay a respectful homage to the classic characterisations whilst never crossing the fine boundary into caricature. Special mention must, however, be given to Kern Falconer who, as Private Frazer, nearly steals the show with his wicked remarks and outrageous facial expressions. Also strong is the supporting cast who play a variety of roles showing what a diverse and talented group of actors this production can boast. Director James Robert Carson makes full use of the simple but effective set by Nancy Surman, which provides the perfect backing to this character led show. This ensures that there is never any confusion over where the setting is for each scene. Some shrewd lighting designs attributable to Bob Bustance serve to enhance this clarity and credit to Glen Hadley who, as Sound Designer, makes appropriate use of the famous theme song and other incidental music. Continuing into January, Dad’s Army looks set to be a well deserved [...]

Writer: Peter Denyer Reviewer: Diane Higgins The smooth tones of Nigel Havers’ disembodied voice heralded the start of the Tuesday evening performance of Cinderella with an entreaty for us to behave and not be naughty, and we would enjoy a magical evening. But as parents and children were in equal parts making a hell of a noise, it mostly fell on deaf ears. A flash and a bang announced the fairy godmother – Lynette McMorrough, with a startling blue wig and she set the scene. The curtain rose on the villagers with Cinderella in the vocal lead in a very loud pop-style number which soon drowned out the audience. Lucy Newton was a good Cinderella with a strong voice. Baron Hardup, Nigel Havers’, made his first entrance to great applause which he obviously relished. His performance went downhill after this with his jokes falling very flat and aside to Buttons that he didn’t write it did not make us laugh any louder. Maybe the intention was to play it this way, if so he was very unconvincing and he looked like a fish out of water. He was the weakest performer of the cast. The character who really made this panto work was Buttons, played by Paul Zerdin, with his little puppet Sam he got the audience working and responding and kept it going with exactly the right mix of topical asides for the adults and interaction with the children. Prince Charming (George Wood) and Dandini (Simon Lipkin) worked well together, giving a strong and humorous performance. Su Douglas was a convincing wicked stepmother and elicited deafening boos. The ugly sisters Griselda (Ian Good) and Mona (John Barr) were just too ugly and playedwithout any subtlety. The ‘Ba-boom’ smutty joke bit was overdone with a lot of hitching up of [...]

Writer: George Stiles & Anthony Drewe Director: Steven Dexter Musical arrangements: Sarah Travis Musical Staging: Sam Spencer-Lane Reviewer: Damian Sandys I have a confession to make…I’ve loved this show for a long time, ever since I saw Julia McKenzie’s magnificent production at the National Theatre in 2000; a production that secured the Olivier for Best New Musical over The Lion King. Therefore, in theory, half the battle had already been won with this review already. But familiarity with a piece brings new dangers, particularly when it is something that brought so much enjoyment originally. It is a sad truth but almost always the second production has to work extra hard to impress, in order to avoid the inevitable comparisons, however subconscious they may be. Theoretically. Yet The Watermill’s sparkling new production was so close to perfection that I was offered no choice but to transcend all thoughts of previous incarnations. Within seconds of the glorious “A Poultry Tale” it was quickly established that this was going to be an evening of fun, energy and skill, combined into one. Stiles and Drewe’s show is a beautiful piece of theatre. It is so carefully constructed, filled with every animal pun you could possibly imagine, and some cracking one-liners. It follows the classic story of The Ugly Duckling: duckling hatches, discovers he is “different” from everyone else, ends up on the run from a sleazy cat, and finds himself travelling through a squadron of geese, a domesticated partnership, a Tommy Cooper-style Bullfrog and a beautiful swan, leading to his own transformation and a reunion with his family. Under a lesser duo, the result would have been a simplistic children’s show. With these two at the helm, pure theatrical magic is created. The animals are not all furry and cuddly, but rather dressed as [...]

Writer: Tim Firth Director: Matthew Lloyd Reviewer: Stephanie Rowe The Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse Theatre’s have struck gold this Christmas with two stunning productions, and it was the playhouse’s offering with which I had the delight of reviewing. The Flint Street Nativity is back for the second year running after its sell out run in 2006. This production takes on the device of adults playing kids and other shows that have used this such as Blood Brothers and Blue Remembered Hills have been great theatrical successes, and this production is no different. As a mother of two now fully grown children and also a nan I have spent so many mornings sat in a school hall at Christmas watching, wincing and enjoying what the children have to offer with their Nativity. Sitting in the auditorium of the playhouse watching this production was like going back in a time machine, not only remembering what my children had done but what I had done when I was in nativity plays as a child myself, I saw so many of the children who I had been at school with re created before my very eyes. The cast were sublime and each took the role of playing a child very seriously which only added to the humour of Tim Firths first class script. It’s hard to pin point any actor that stood out as there really wasn’t a weak performance but Neil Caple’s Joseph being struck down with stage fright really was enchanting as was Gavin Kaufman’s musical direction of the Carols. Matthew Lloyd’s fantastic direction makes sure that this show is pacey and the laughs keep coming, and this is helped along the way by Robin Dons classroom set, it’s clear to see why this designer has recently won the critics circle designer [...]

Writer: C S Lewis Dramatised by Adrian Mitchell Composer: Shaun Davey Director: Ian Brown Reviewer: Karen Naylor The programme states that the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the West Yorkshire Playhouse is a revival of the original production first presented in 2004, but the performance that boasts a new cast, a new musical director, new arrangements for the songs and a completely different orchestration, was fresh and excelled from the very beginning. When the audience first sees Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy about to depart by train for their evacuation to the country, dressed in perfect period costumes this, coupled with the war images projected upon moon-like spheres and on the inside of two open packing crates, creates an immediate immersion into the British war era. Joseph Pitcher as Peter and Laura Pitt-Pulford as Susan, are perfectly cast as the sensible older siblings. Unfortunately, Joseph tripped on the first step early on in the performance, taking off the front of an upper step and the skin of his knee at the same time but continued without a pause. Stefan Butler, as a believably sulky Edmund and Amy Brown’s thoroughly innocent and child-like Lucy, both turn in a captivating performance throughout- Lucy was particularly haunting when she sings outside the wardrobe after Edmund denounces her as a liar. The set design was effective and worked extremely well. The moving stairs and tiny offset cave of Mr Tumnus were outstanding, as was the over-large, ethereal white-coated entrance to Narnia – when Lucy first enters Narnia and stands next to the lamppost and it begins to snow, it was particularly entrancing. It was, however, disappointing to lose the iconic image of the lamppost after this first appearance and not glimpse it again until right at the end when the adult Peter, [...]

Writer:  JM Barrie Music: Simon Slater Lyrics: JM Barrie & Patrick Sandford Director: Patrick Sandford Reviewer: Becky Middleton Peter Pan at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton is a lively adaptation of the popular children’s classic novel. The production was professionally and impressively staged on a modest financial budget, but not a penny was spared on ensuring that the show was a magical experience for youngsters and adults alike. The well-loved characters were brought alive by a sterling cast who demonstrated boundless energy and enthusiasm, as well as excellent audience interaction. Both Peter Pan, (James Daley) and Wendy (Dana Ferguson) were captivating and memorable as the young protagonists. Daley leapt about the stage, relishing his role as the boy who never grew up, and with a sprinkling of fairy dust and a few happy thoughts, Wendy, Michael and John Darling followed closely behind. True to form, the predominantly youthful audience booed and cheered in all the right places, expertly encouraged by David Rubin in his captivating double guise as both a mischievous Mr Darling and the treacherous Captain Hook. Hook was of course stalked throughout by a giant ticking crocodile. Cue shouts of ‘it’s behind you’ until he was eventually swallowed up. Audience participation was paramount, so much so that giant super soakers were produced in the second half to drench surprised onlookers with jets of water. Two bewildered young girls from the audience aged seven and three, were brought onto the stage to participate in the action as a pirate; learning dance moves and words to graduate from pirate school, encouraged by the brilliant Bristolian Smee played by Andy Spiegel. ‘The Smee Special’ dance, which involved a precarious wiggling of the hips and shoulders to an upbeat tune, was a highlight of the pirate comedy ensemble, which also consisted of Starkey, [...]