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Archive for the 'Drama' Category

Bette and Joan – Belgrade Theatre, Coventry

Writer: Anton Burge Director: Bill Alexander Reviewer: Selwyn Knight The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ Two ageing Hollywood stars have been feuding for thirty years. Although they have some similarities in their backgrounds and lives, their philosophies towards life and Hollywood couldn’t be more different. One, Bette Davis, sees herself as a serious actress, willing to do whatever is necessary [...]

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Circles – Various Venues, London

Writer: Beverly Andrews Director: Vik Sivalingam Music: Lyra Laura Veroli Reviewer: Samuel Hopkins The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆   Circles is a site specific interactive piece of theatre exploring ideas of empathy; each night the audience is transported to four very contrasting worlds to watch the stories of four central characters unfold, all to be concluded on the [...]

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Titus Andronicus – Etcetera Theatre, London

Writer: William Shakespeare Director/Producer: Zoé Ford Reviewer: Lucy Thackray The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★½☆   Titus Andronicus, one of Shakespeare’s earliest and most violent plays, could be described as his first stab at tragedy (pun intended). With rape, mutilation, murder and cannibalism galore, it’s no Much Ado, and is rarely performed due to the physical violence scripted in, and [...]

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Babel – Caledonian Park, London

Producers: WildWorks, Battersea Arts Centre, World Stages London Reviewer: Benjamin Vivian-Jones The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★½☆   The story of Babel is set deep within many traditions and religions. The tower and city appear in the Book of Genesis, the direct architectural result of the world’s inhabitants – “in the beginning the people was one”. This etiology accounts for [...]

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The Beekeeper – Waterloo East, London

Writer: Michael Ashton Director: Adrian McDougall Reviewer: Theo Cowan The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆   Michael Ashton’s The Beekeeper explores the unusual relationship built between Monowitz prisoner Menachem Stressler (Eliot Giuralarocca) and Commandant Richard Baer (Robert Harding). Protagonist Stressler is Monowitz’s allocated beekeeper, supplying honey for the Nazi officers. Seen by his peers as a collaborator, he is [...]

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Pandora’s Box – Arcola Theatre Tent, Dalston

Writer/ Producer: Ade Solanke Director: Ola Animashawun Reviewer: Louise Thompson The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★★   I have approximately 500 words in which I can review this play and all I want to write is ‘absolutely brilliant’ 250 times. However, I will give a little bit more information and tell you why I think this deserves a five [...]

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Norfolk And Norwich Festival: The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart – Norwich University College of the Arts

Writer: David Greig Director: Wils Wilson Reviewer: Lu Greer The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆   The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is very much a show of two parts – with the show before the interval being the story of Prudencia, a young woman from Edinburgh, who on one fateful night ventures out of a slightly mad country [...]

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Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks – The Public, West Bromwich

Writers: Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon Director: Brian Mitchell Reviewer: Selwyn Knight The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ The Foundry Group describes itself as a band of writers and performers committed to producing affordable, popular, intelligent touring shows with a broad appeal. This is certainly the case with this offering, which premiered at the 2011 Brighton Fringe where it deservedly [...]

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