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Archive for March, 2010

Warnings – St Pancras Church Crypt, London

Text: Montague Rhodes James Director: Nick Blackburn Reviewer: Honour Bayes The Public Reviews Rating: ★★☆☆☆ St Pancras Church Crypt is an inherently spooky location. Cold stone archways and small dark nooks and crannies are filled with crumbling tombs and dusty head stones. It is definitely a place that should be seen at least once in your life. But not [...]

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Haunted – Theatre Royal, Brighton

Writer: Edna O’Brien Director: Braham Murray Reviewer: Stephanie Walls The Public Reviews Rating: ★★½☆☆ Having read the reviews of Edna O’Brien’s most recent play whilst it was premiering in Manchester I was looking forward to settling down to watch this apparent gem a little closer to home in The Brighton Theatre Royal. As Niall Buggy began to reminisce as [...]

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The Promise – The Orange Tree Theatre

Writer: Ben Brown Director: Alan Strachan Reviewer: Honour Bayes The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ The Promise is a traditional feast of a play that thoughtfully explores the comparatively little known Balfour Declaration. In the grand studies and drawing rooms of the educated turn of the century middle class and the wood paneled cabinet rooms of parliament, we see the [...]

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Handful of Henna – The Customs House, South Shields

Writer: Rani Moorthy Director: Karen Simpson Reviewer: Ian Cain The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆ For the first time since she was a girl, Saheeda (Bharti Patel) is returning to her family village for a wedding. She takes along her protesting teenage daughter Nasreen (Rochi Rampal), who is intensely annoyed at being away from her friends in England. For Nasreen, [...]

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Whistle Down the Wind – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Jim Steinman Book: Patricia Knop, Gale Edwards & Andrew Lloyd Webber Reviewer: Jim Nicholson The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆ Director Bill Kenwright appears to have transformed the original 1998 high octane, ‘in your face’, full on impact rocking monster of a musical into a pipe and slippers affair. Even the rawness of the kids [...]

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Swan Lake – Lowry Theatre, Salford

Music: Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky Director/Choreographer: Matthew Bourne Reviewer: John Roberts The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★★ For over 15 years Matthew Bourne’s sensational production of Swan Lake has been wowing theatre and dance lovers the world over and tonight at the Lowry Theatre was no different, bringing the 2000 strong audience spontaneously to their feet in rapturous applause. Taking Tchaikovsky’s [...]

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