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Writer: Kenneth Graham Adaptor: Alan Bennett Music: Jeremy Sams Director: Chris Horner Reviewer: Dave Cunningham The Public Reviews Rating: The Library Theatre offers welcome relief from pantos in the festive season with a graceful and moving adaptation of a well-loved tale. Kenneth Graham’s classic story is so well known that it surely does not need a summary. He [...]

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Christopher Luscombe Reviewer: Stephanie Walls The Public Reviews Rating: The Madness of George III feels like a history lesson and an acting master class rolled into one. Bennett’s detailed historical account of the George III’s well documented illness combined with David Haig’s exceptional performance certainly gives the audience plenty to think about. Originally staged [...]

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: David Thacker Reviewer: Rebecca Mickler The Public Reviews Rating: First staged in 1973 and with Alec Guinness playing the protagonist; Habeas Corpus was one of Alan Bennett’s earlier stage plays. Sold as a farcical plot at its premise, you soon learn that all is not quite what it seems. The play is set in [...]

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Christopher Luscombe Reviewer: Glen Pearce The Public Reviews Rating: Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown declares Shakespeare’s Henry IV. However, it’s the Bard’s King Lear that provides redemption for the troubled head of King George III in Alan Bennett’s historical epic. It is now 20 years since the play was first staged [...]

There’s nothing like real life for a bit of inspiration and this week’s theatre choices all have their basis in true stories. From historical figures to famous monarchs to pillars of culture, real people are placed centre stage in our top picks for the next seven days. Picks by Catherine Love 1) THE MADNESS OF [...]

Writer: Alan Bennett Company: Hull Truck Theatre Company Director: Sarah Esdaile Reviewer: Audrey Pointer The Public Reviews Rating: The Lady in the Van is based on playwright Alan Bennett’s real experience of having the eccentric and enigmatic Miss Shepherd park up her dilapidated live-in van in the garden of his Camden town property and stay for fifteen years. [...]

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Sarah Esdaile Reviewer: Carol Evans The Public Reviews Rating: She was a true eccentric, irascible, demanding and manipulative. She smelt of urine (and much worse), so why would anyone want her living in a decrepit Bedford van in their front garden? Why indeed? And in Hull Truck’s production of The Lady in the [...]

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Sarah Esdaile Reviewer: Steve Burbridge The Public Reviews Rating: ‘The Lady in the Van’ tells the true-ish story of a bag lady who drove her battered old Bedford van into the garden of playwright Alan Bennett with the intention of parking there for three months, but who ended up staying for fifteen years. It’s [...]