*

Archive for January, 2010

Vampires Rock – Darlington Civic Theatre

Writer/Director: Steve Steinman Reviewer: Ian Cain The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ Take the greatest rock anthems of all time, mix with the star quality of punk legend Toyah Willcox and add a story about vampires lurking in the New York of the near future and you have all the elements of Steve Steinman’s ‘Vampires Rock’. The year is 2030, [...]

Read On →

Absent Friends – Oldham Coliseum Theatre

Writer: Alan Ayckbourn Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Ruth Lovett The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ Absent Friends takes place one ordinary afternoon in 1974 when a group of friends get together for tea to catch up with an old friend who has returned to the area having left three years previously and having recently lost his fiancée who drowned. The [...]

Read On →

Cell (Re:Play 2010) – Library Theatre, Manchester

Writer: Aillis Ni Ryan Director: Paula Simms Reviewer:Katherine Kirwin The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★½ Cell is an intense and disturbing look into a day of a bright but disturbed young Irishman who is living as a recluse in his bedroom in his parent’s house, with an imaginary alter-ego questioning each of his decisions. He has not left his bedroom [...]

Read On →

Care Takers (Re:Play 2010) – Library Theatre, Manchester

Writer/Director: Billy Cowan Music: Jamie Summers Reviewer: Katherine Kirwin The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆ Truant Company are a company which focus upon creating new theatrical work which examines the world from the perspective of queer identity and sub-culture. Care Takers was performed at The Lowry, The Oldham Coliseum and The Unity in Liverpool as part of homotopia and was [...]

Read On →

Bouncers – Leicester Square Theatre, London

Writer: John Godber Director: Antony Law Reviewer: Agnes Frimston The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆ John Godber’s comedy was voted one of the greatest plays of the 20th century in a National Theatre poll, so I felt rather ashamed yesterday rocking up to the theatre and having never even heard of it. The rest of the audience didn’t appear to [...]

Read On →

Calendar Girls – Chichester Festival Theatre

Writer: Tim Firth Director: Psyche Stott Reviewer: Howard Holdsworth The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★½ The story of Calendar Girls is familiar to most of the nation over the age of 21, but this production managed to bring vitality and freshness to all aspects of the play, whilst pulling the emotions of the audience across the wide open spaces of [...]

Read On →

Progress – The Union Theatre, London

Writer: Doug Lucie Director: Stephen Glover Reviewer: Honour Bayes The Public Reviews Rating: ★★☆☆☆ A fearlessly sharp look at the battle of both the sexes and morality within a bourgeoisie middle-class semi-detached environment, Doug Lucie’s caustically funny Progress is nothing if not cutting. With withering precision Lucie sets up and knocks down each of his boorish characters until they [...]

Read On →

Chinese State Circus: Mulan – Lowry Theatre, Salford

Artistic Director: Phillip Gardey Adaption by: Tony Wilkie-Millar & Tian Run Min Original Music by: Mr Wu Jia Ji & Ms. Zhang Hongtao Reviewer: Poppy Helm The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ Rarely have I been so excited before a performance – a trip to the circus obviously brings out the child in me; a little ironic considering the surprisingly [...]

Read On →