THEGAYUK

Category: Theatre

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Musik: The Billie Trix Story

    THEATRE REVIEW | Musik: The Billie Trix Story

    Artsbitching

    By

    Fraulein Sasha Selavie

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    DIVA OF MASS DISTRACTION

    ©The Other Richard

    By Jonathan Harvey and Pet Shop Boys

    When was Billie Trix – the fictional Diva of Divine Degradation – first unleashed in public? Why, 9/11/01 of course, the purrfect date of birth for a one-woman assault on all known taste! How could I possibly forget? Furiously pumped by the blistering, raw nasal ecstasy of prime, Cordon Bleu coke, I had no idea that evening’s Closer to Heaven press night – Billie’s media premiere – would soon expose me to the sizzling incandescence of the then-unknown and uncrowned Queen of Cunt Rock!

    Was I up for it? Oh Christ, yes – I’d just spent an outrageously erotic, Rocky Horror night with my then-partner, and utterly fucked from drugs, sexual excess and a huge plate of restorative pasta, I crashed comatose for hours. Bad move – I woke to 71 missed voice messages screeching World War Three was game on, was happening, the World Trade Centre and Pentagon both savaged by kamikaze terrorists.

    An ultimate wake-up call? For sure – nothing grabs your attention faster than indiscriminate, random slaughter in globally-famous landmarks! Still, press nights wait for no-one – neither queen nor transdiva – so Billie Trix’s first, ferocious draft scorched our spectacularly heightened senses with a contact high worthy of Dietrich screwing Madonna!

    Sure, public decorum cancelled the scheduled after-party, but not the impromptu shag-a-thon spontaneously erupting at the Shadow Lounge, all blatant public sex and delirium; Frankly, there’s nothing like terrorist death-threats to kick-start libidos and make Viagra instantly redundant!

    So, can lightning strike twice? Never doubt it! Even in Closer To Heaven, Billie’s role screamed out for total exposure – the more warts, pudenda and used condoms the better – and, with Musik, authored by Jonathan Harvey and sound-tracked by the Pet Shop Boys, Billie finally has a solo showcase capable of killing her talent-free rivals on sight!

    Musik, authored by Jonathan Harvey and sound-tracked by the Pet Shop Boys, Billie finally has a solo showcase capable of killing her talent-free rivals on sight!

    Billie’s back-story? Simple – she’s an every day, utterly amoral, drug-fucked hedonist, like all unrepentant media whores; hello Michael Jackson and my darling, Catholic Pope, allegedly shockingly high on snorted Saints’ ashes! But while lazy – and unimaginative – critics cite Marianne Faithfull as Billie’s role model par excellence, she’s arguably far closer in spirit to Wendy O.Williams, deranged frontwoman of hardcore punk band the Plasmatics. And Wendy’s finest, must-read media moment? Nothing less than attempting suicide trying to hammer a kitchen knife through her sternum!

    Okay, maybe Billie’s not quite that extreme, but as played by the uber-Botticellian Frances Barber reprising her iconic role, Billie instantly electrifies every susceptible cock in sight! And an appropriate air of depravity is set by the Velvet Underground’s ‘Sister Ray’, fiercely chugging away pre-show in the auditorium. Pin-sharp perfect mood music, it’s a 17(!)-minute epic of smacked-up, tranny junkies projectile puking all over their appalled johns, as they come en masse in showers of rancid spunk!

    Arguably, ‘Sister Ray’ is Billie’s signature song as much as Dietrich’s ‘Falling in Love Again’, and sets our expectations sky-high. We’re not disappointed; Heart-stoppingly offensive, Billie takes no prisoners, dead, alive or in between, like a glorious, fetish-culture Joan Rivers on Crystal Meth! And gay author Jonathan Harvey pulls no punches, ramping the Amy Winehouse Bible of Pure Excess to scarcely believable, Trailer Trash on Steroids tastelessness!

    Structured as a flashback memoir of Billie’s fantastically view-worthy highs – and lows – the only downside of Musik, ironically, is the Pet Shop Boys’ dreary, pompous and hollow synth-pop, and the six, stunningly banal songs – absolute masterpieces of vacuity – that punctuate the show. Cringingly, Warhol’s feted by this lyrical messterpiece; ‘Soup…won’t let you droop’, after which my mind – and pen – refused to transcribe the subsequent drivel.

    Still – thank my Holy, Bleeding Jesus – there’s still Barber’s ferociously meaty, dramatic attack to relish. Briefly, Billie name-checks the famous – and infamous – she’s shared genitalia, and, more interestingly, repartee with, from Jackson Pollack, Trump to Prince Harry, and it’s here the one-liners come thick, fast and awesomely offensive.

    A word of warning; dump any snowflake bigotry – and faux-sensitivity – right NOW; Jonathan Harvey’s wit is brutally eloquent. So, are you firmly strapped in? Then we’ll take a ride on the All About Eve ghost-train…“Trump’s penis?’ Billie hisses, ‘it’s shaped like a walnut whip!”, and that Lou Reed compared her clitoris to a perfect, triple bass clef’.

    On a roll now, she screams she’s “such a perfectionist – I produce at least ONE note a week!’. But occasionally, even Billie needs Autotune; ‘Your voice would sound this rough if you’d sucked as many lying cocks as I have!’. Still, she’s a model of sobriety – “I haven’t touched smack since my first rehearsal this morning!’ but even so, Billie simply can’t stand Madonna; ‘That plagiarising Bitch! She copies everything!’ Now. that insult takes ferocious balls, with Madge literally playing London’s Palladium just streets away!

    More hot, feisty and fearless than tranny hookers shagging football thugs, Francis Barber’s Billie Trix is simply a revelation in Musik. Think Killing Eve’s Villanelle with added singing chops and utterly insouciant, jaded attitude, and you have diva Bille Trix, the absolute, Reigning Queen of killer, kitsch cabaret! So why waste time streaming porn or Game of Thrones? The real Dragon Queen – Billie Trix – is gloriously spreading her wings right now in Soho!

    Book tickets now To March 1st. Leicester Square Theatre 0207-734-222.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Time & Tide London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Time & Tide London

    ★★★★★ | Time & Tide, Park Theatre, London

    ‘Time & Tide’ is a tale of love in the most unexpected places.

    Nemo (Josh Barrow) works at a diner but has bigger ambitions in life. He wants to move to the big city of London, to be in theatre, and to get out of his nothing town of Cromer. This is much to the dismay of his boss at the diner May (Wendy Nottingham), who encourages him to stay in their small town. But Nemo’s friend Daz (Elliot Liburd) is secretly in love with him, but of course, Daz is not going to blatantly come out and say it, though he says he just recently broker up with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, May has an admirer in Ken (Paul Easton), the bread delivery man who also is hesitant to come out and say how he really feels. But May has some other sort of secret intentions, and it’s not for Ken. So what is her secret? And will Daz finally tell Nemo how he really feels? It’s unrequited love, love that may or may not be reciprocal, in Time & Tide.

    Good performances, and the lovely diner set, in the cosy small room of the Park Theatre, make this production, its premiere, one to watch. Liburd is a natural on stage, but it’s Nottingham who is memorable as the woman who has run the diner for decades, and who is considering selling up and moving away. Nottingham is just fantastic.

    Time and Tide wait for no man or woman.

    Find out more and book tickets here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – National Tour

    THEATRE REVIEW | Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – National Tour

    Jamie is 16 and is not like his friends at school. His best friend wants to be a doctor, but he wants to be a drag queen. Raised by his mum in a single-parent family on one of Sheffield’s tougher estates, Jamie finds himself, and his alter ego, Mimi Me, with the help of fading drag queen, Hugo, and with the support of his ever doting mother and her best friend. But Jamie’s difficult relationship with his dad dents Jamie’s confidence; and the school aren’t particularly enthused about the big question on everyone’s lips – namely, whether Jamie will go to the school prom, or whether Mimi Me will.

    The West End smash is venturing out on a national tour, and starting its 20 venue run at its spiritual home of Sheffield Theatres. For a touring production, the presentation of the show is spot on, with a simple but versatile set and a slick and polished look and feel, as it heads out with a broadly fresh cast.

    Leyton Williams (Bad Education) reprises his West End role as Jamie, and whilst his vocals were not the strongest, his portrayal of Jamie was deliciously delightful. Amy Ellen Richardson absolutely nails her two show-stopping numbers as Margaret, Jamie’s mother; and George Sampson (Britain’s Got Talent) is impressive as Dean, the school bully. But it was Shane Richie who proved to be the biggest surprise of the night, balancing a measured performance as Hugo with a flamboyant turn as Loco Chanelle, his drag alter ego.

    The strength of the show lies not just in the performances, but in the excellent writing and the superb score. Beautifully blending comedy and emotion, the story is one which easily balances the comedy with genuine feeling. ‘He’s My Boy‘ is nothing short of a torch song, and the more tender moments between Jamie and his Mother nestle beautifully in the feel-good warmth of the sharp script. But there is also tremendous pop bubble-gum fun to be had with many of the musical numbers, and the choreography, characterisations and ensemble cast bring both the stage and the characters to life.

    The show doesn’t re-tread the usual ground with someone struggling with their sexuality, nor about seeking acceptance from their peers. Jamie is out, proud and everyone in his life loves him, which provides a refreshing change to coming of age stories such as these. The struggle is with Jamie’s self-image and his self-belief; and of the impact of his absent and rejecting father; and is very much a story about what makes a family rather than focusing on the acceptance or otherwise of Jamie’s sexuality.

    The new touring production for 2020 brings with it a vivacious burst of energy and the show remains as utterly joyful and triumphant as ever. I laughed, I cried and I cheered on multiple occasions over the show’s duration, and if you’ve not been able to catch the show in the West End, then the national tour is bringing Jamie to a theatre near you. Move aside, Blood Brothers, there’s a new standing ovation musical in town.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Persona

    THEATRE REVIEW | Persona

    INSISTENCE IS FUTILE!

    -By-

    Fraulein Sasha Selavie

    Rating: 2 out of 5.

    As Star Trek’s Borg Queen, Alice Krige was instantly, shockingly unearthly, an stunning visual heart-attack, as unlikely as an 8-foot drag queen twerking on crack! An arguable career highlight, the role propelled Krige into the media stratosphere, paving the way for an acclaimed, deeply nuanced run in Spooks.

    Profundity Murdered By Pedestrian Pedants! 

    Effortlessly cutting the actorial mustard, her every, hugely conflicted moment a master-class in killer drama, Krige proved an absolute dramatic revelation on screen.

    So – pardon our French – WTF happened to Krige’s live acting chops? In the beautifully refurbished Riverside Studios opening production, Persona, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergmans’ masterly and forensic dissection of identity, she’s an inaudible as a de-miked Madonna futilely gyrating on stage.

    How come? Was she somehow under the assumption that film-craft projection – where the slightest whisper is captured by multiple, ultra-sensitive boom mics – would be adequate for a packed space with severely raked seats, with all those packed bodies relentlessly soak up the sound?

    Poor, poor Alice – how badly mistaken can an actress be? And – to be fair – she’s hardly helped by those steep raked bench seats. Ever cursed the sea of bobbing heads blocking your sight-line at a badly-planned venue? Welcome to a Grade-A theatrical nightmare!

    And – unbelievably – the production choices descend from poor to atrocious.

    Bergman’s movie, briefly, is intensely focused on the deepening, psychic symbiosis between Sister Alma, a female nurse, and the inexplicably mute, traumatised actress –Elisabet – she’s caring for in a remote, isolated clinic.

    Never easy viewing and exceptionally demanding cinema, Bergman’s script is dense, tortuous, gnomic and elliptical, hardly the stuff of unintentional comedy. So it doesn’t help when – as a result of an inexplicable creative choice – director Paul Schoolman doubles up as an utterly superfluous, onstage narrator to what’s best staged as an intense two-hander. What on earth does adding a dreary, flatly inexpressive voice-over detailing Bergman’s creative process and thoughts on filming Persona add to a show where the principles – Krige and Nobuhle Mngcwengi’s mute actress Elizabet -are crouching invisible and inaudible on a visually obstructed stage?

    Which opens another, hugely contentious issue – colour-blind casting, which, normally, should be comprehensively embraced across the board. Here, however, Bergman’s crucial point is that the nurse and actress, initially almost physically identical, fuse even more deeply into an almost symbiotic psyche. So it’s especially jarring – and dramatically incoherent – to have an ice-pale Krige paired with Nobuhle Mngcwengi, a visually contrasting woman of colour, justly acclaimed as a singer/songwriter, but with a puzzlingly insubstantial acting CV.

    So, are there any redeeming aspects of this production? Mercifully, yes. Stepping into Riverside’s pristine, aesthetically barren main studio – less artistically inspired than Trump’s bright orange, mad clown make-up – my oestrogen-choked genitals suddenly leapt with faux-orgasmic joy. And the source of my bliss? William Close’s lusciously imposing Earth Harp, all taut, shining copper cables studded with lights and sensors, invitingly strung high above us from the stage to the studio’s rear wall.

    The effect? Gorgeously intimidating, like willingly entering a dominatrix’s hi-tech torture chamber, or feeling like human mice at the imminent mercy of a gigantic cheese-wire.

    Ever heard of Laurie Anderson? She’s an avant-garde electronica musician, who pioneered tactile instruments, surfaces sensitive to sensor gloves that instantly release sounds. Hugely bolstered by digital reverb, the resulting music is a physically exhilarating, deep bass throb in our helplessly receptive flesh.

    It’s an über-kinky, utterly cutting-edge cyber-fetishism, an ideal prop for an S&M, transhumanist orgy.

    And Earth Harp player William Close – all close-cropped, spiky silver hair and killer beard – plays his heart out like a swashbuckling, psychic pirate, unpredictably hi-jacking our sympathies as the score’s sonorous, body-shaking chords demand. If this production’s insistence on low-key whispering and restricted visibility is a misguided attempt at projecting emotional intimacy, William Close’s bravura swagger makes his startling soundscapes anything but futile!

    Persona adapted from the Ingmar Bergman movie at the Riverside Studios to February 23rd. 0208-237-1000

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Muzik, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Muzik, London

    ★★★★★ | Muzik, Leicester Square Theatre, London

    It takes someone with a lot of talent, energy, charisma and pizzaz to keep you mesmerised, enthralled, entertained and laughing non-stop in a one hour show. Frances Barber does just this playing Billie Trix in the show ‘Muzik.’

    Barber is, in a word, brilliant in her one woman show where she recounts the life, and acting as, Billie Trix, who was an icon, rock star, screen goddess, and drug addict.

    In a show written by Jonathan Harvey and with songs by the Pet Shop Boys, Barber (Trix) tells of her life when she belonged to the Warhol crew (there is a funny joke about a gun and Valerie Solanas – the woman who shot Warhol), to her time in Paris, and how her and her mother never saw eye to eye. The jokes are fast and furious and hilarious. Barber keeps the momentum going singing the hilarious songs about anything and nothing. No stone is left unturned when she, truth or not, recounts the time when she was Donald Trumps lover and how she could’ve been the princess to Prince Harry.

    This one hour show is jam packed with her stories; Madonna is in disguise in the audience, and her agent, also in the audience, is happily eating away. If you get a chance go see this show. I knew nothing about Trix, and Barber until now – Barber made me laugh until I cried.

    MUSIK
    Written by Jonathan Harvey
    & Pet Shop Boys

    Leicester Square Theatre
    6 Leicester Place
    London WC2H 7BX

    Wednesday 5 February – Sunday 1 March

    Tues-Thurs £22.50, £34.50 & Premiums £42.50
    Fri-Sat £22.50, £42.50 & Premiums £49.50
    Sun £22.50, £37.50 & Premiums £45.00
    These prices are inclusive of all booking fees and theatre levy

    Ticket Booking Line
    0207 7342222

    www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

    THEATRE REVIEW | Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

    Everybody's Talking About Jamie London review

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    Jamie is advised, by his career’s teacher that the best option for him, is to pursue a career as a forklift driver. Foolishly, despite the possibility of being surrounded by a plethora of fit warehousemen, Jamie opts for the more humdrum life of a drag artist!

    He then decides, with some prompting from his best girl-friend Pritti, to attend the end of school prom in a dress. A slinky white number more akin to Wimbledon than a prom but hey, it’s a drag themed musical, so bitching’s my prerogative.

    While shopping for a prom dress, he’s persuaded by Hugo, the shop owner and a retired drag veteran, to perform at the Legs Eleven cabaret show, in Sheffield, yes I said Sheffield, not Berlin in the ’30s but Sheffield! Despite last-minute anxieties, his performance is a success and well met by all his classmates. Thus giving momentum to his dreams of a Martina Navratilova prom night.

    However, throughout all this, he had an erroneous belief that his dad had been holding a torch for him. A belief urinated upon from on high, when on a surprise visit to his dad, it becomes apparent that Jamie’s mum had been sending birthday and Xmas gifts addressed as his dads. With devastating effect, his dad tells Jamie, he never supported him or sent any gifts, quite the reverse, that Jamie had always been an embarrassment which is why he abandoned his mum to start a new family.

    -Exit stage left: A very distraught Jamie.
    -Que: More heart-wrenching tunes.
    -Exit handbags: Copious amounts of tissues.

    Through the course of the show, one grows proud of the protagonist’s ability to grow a tough skin in the face of adversity, particularly from the main antagonists, his homophobic dad and fellow schoolboy Dean, who adds racism to the smouldering pot of jealousy and hatred. All controversial topics which were deftly and eloquently handled by Jamie and his fellow classmates.

    The audience roared with approval when Jamie delivered a bitch slapping, Kung Fu kiss to his would-be assailant, Dean, during one such attack, which sent him packing with his tail between his legs.

    The show culminates with a feel-good finish. Our princess does go to the ball and it all ends with a sprinkling of fairy dust and happy thoughts.

    The talented kids in the show bring intense levels of energy and high octane dance routines whilst the senior members of the troop keep it grounded with solid acting performances, to a great storyline that bravely tackles all sorts of current and controversial issues in a positive manner. A clever use of set and stomping songs all contributed to the deserved awards this musical has won.

    Noah Thomas who plays Jamie, is a master of the eight-inch high stiletto strut and snuggles naturally into character, whilst other mentions must go to Mellisa Jacques (mum Margaret) who gives a memorable and lung-bursting rendition of “He’s my boy” and audience favourite, Hiba Elchikhe who plays Jamies best friend and her performance of “It means beautiful”.

    Already booked to see it again!

    Most of the original cast have taken the show on tour, so do make the effort to catch it when it visits your town!

    Five Stars from me!

    Book tickets to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie here

  • Theatre Review | Peter Pan Goes Wrong – National Tour

    Theatre Review | Peter Pan Goes Wrong – National Tour

    ★★★ | Peter Pan Goes Wrong – Sheffield Theatres

    The cast of Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are back, with a disaster filled version of Peter Pan. Somewhere between the scenery collapsing, the technical hitches, backstage fallouts and some unrequited love between cast members, the troupe try to desperately to keep the show on the rails as chaos increasingly takes over, Peter Pan stops thinking happy thoughts and the crocodile becomes the star of the show.

    Mischief Theatre returns following on from The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery with two hours of laughter-inducing slapstick humour as the fictional cast try desperately to get through the performance. With slick precision and perfect comic timing, the cast plough through a barrage of jokes with a broad scattergun approach to the humour, as some jokes hit the mark, some miss completely and with another gag always rapidly following the last. 

    There were certainly plenty of smiles, chuckles and belly laughs to be had throughout the show’s duration, although the last ten minutes did descend more into silliness than comedy, but this didn’t detract from the feel-good factor the show produces. Cast member Oliver Stenton steals most of the scenes he touches; whilst Tom Babbage captures the hearts of the audience as the hapless Max.

    If you have seen Mischief Theatre before, then you will know exactly what to expect and you won’t be disappointed as they continue with their trademark humour. If you’ve not, then Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a great introduction to them with an enjoyable, silly and easily entertaining show. 

    Peter Pan Goes Wrong is at Sheffield Theatres until 1st February 2020 before continuing on its national tour.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Four Play, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Four Play, London

    ★★★★| Four Play, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    The seven (and a half) year itch rears its ugly head for one gay couple in the new play ‘Four Play’.

    Now playing at the Above the Stag theatre until February 22, 2020 – Rafe (Ashley Byam) and Pete (Keeran Blessie) have been together for most of their adult lives, and unfortunately have not had much experience with anyone else. Yet they feel like their sexual relationship is starting to become mundane, lacking a bit of spark. So they enlist their frIend Michael (Declan Spaine) to spice things up. They then agree a deal among them: Michael will have sex with them separately, while Michael is not allowed to tell his boyfriend Andrew (Marc Mackinnon). But Michael does tell Andrew, and while he and Michael did have an open relationship, Andrew wonders out loud why the couple chose Michael over him.

    Meanwhile, Rafe and Pete are enjoying the friends with benefits with Michael, but is temporary gratification going to save their dulling relationship? And what will become of Michael and Andrew’s relationship now that Andrew knows what is going on behind his back? 

    Through sharp dialogue (Jake Brunger), good acting and good directing (Matthew Iliffe), and with an excellent set (a kitchen complete with a Madonna magnet on the refrigerator), Four Play is game, set, love and match.

    And at 85 minutes, it’s a winner.

    Book tickets here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Sex/Crime, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Sex/Crime, London

    ★★★ | Sex/Crime, Soho Theatre, London

    There’s a sex crime taking place in Soho – it’s ‘Sex/Crime’ the dark comic queer thriller.

    Now playing until Feb. 1st, 2020 at the Soho Theatre, ‘Sex/Crime’ had its birth at the Glory bar in Dalston – a venue where shows such as this one are produced. Sex/Crime is a play that explores sex, violence, role-play, fear, drugs, but unfortunately not nudity, as both leads are sexy as hell.

    It’s not one to take too seriously, though the dialogue might suggest you do. Jonny Woo and writer Alexis Gregory take us on a ride where man A (Gregory) and man B (Woo) recreate a killing of a famous gay serial killer – for pleasure – and a price, but at what price. Both actors work their damn hardest to entertain, and scare us, as they decide the boundaries of their game – a game that goes a bit too far, all packed into a generous one hour show.

    Playing at the Soho Theatre (in the upstairs theatre) gives the show a bit of legitimacy, but it’s still low-brow theatre mostly meant for a small stage of a gay bar. But you can’t knock the energy and sexual chemistry of Gregory and especially sexy daddy Woo – they both alone are the price of admission.

    https://sohotheatre.com/shows/sex-crime/

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Sunset Limited, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | The Sunset Limited, London

    ★★★ | The Sunset Limited, Boulevard Theatre, London

    A middle-aged white male attempts to get on The Sunset Limited but is stopped by a middle-aged black man.

    What is The Sunset Limited? It’s the name of a new play that has just opened at Soho’s fantastic Boulevard Theatre, and it’s also a euphemism for committing suicide.

    The white man (English Actor Jasper Britton), is on his daily commute (as described by the actors) when, instead of wanting to go to work, he intentionally wants to jump in front of a subway train pulling into a strangely empty NYC subway station. But he is saved by the black man (an excellent Gary Beadle) who in turn takes him to his run-down apartment to discuss his motive for wanting to commit suicide.”

    So the play (written by Cormac McCarthy in 2006) takes place in the black man’s apartment (the two leads are not assigned proper names). So for the next 95 minutes we get to learn a lot about both men. The white man is a professor, an atheist, really hates his father and mother, and has very bad thoughts about all of his fellow commuters – everyday he has had these bad thoughts – and has had them for the past 20 years. The black man is an ex-con who served time for a crime we are not told, he is very religious, and is now the guardian angel to the white man, trying, very determined, to understand why he wanted to end his life. The play also tries to explore the meaning of life and especially the lives of people who have to endure a commute back and forth to work every day. But it also raises questions on the question – are we living the lives we want to lead? And when the show is over, and the black man finally lets the white man leave, what happens next, not just to him but also to the rest of us – back to our daily grind tomorrow, one that we might find depressing, depressing enough to take the Sunset Limited?

    Perhaps the white man is everyman – one who is sick and tired of his commute, of the people around him, of his life and of his relationships – just plain miserable as hell.

    Writer McCarthy wrote the brilliant ‘The Road’ (which went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, and which was turned into the classic 2009 film), which had themes of suicide and doom, was a brilliant piece of work. The Sunset Limited, apart from very good acting (Beadle is superb) and very good direction (Terry Johnson), is just a bit too thin to really care about the characters (white man is still a mystery to me) and what happens to them next.

    The Sunset Limited is now playing at Soho’s Boulevard Theatre until February 29th.

    https://boulevardtheatre.co.uk

  • THEATRE REVIEW | St Petersberg Classic Ballet’s The Nutcracker – National Tour

    THEATRE REVIEW | St Petersberg Classic Ballet’s The Nutcracker – National Tour

    Nutcracker Doll, Act 1

    The Nutcracker needs little introduction, and tells the story of Clara who is whisked away to a magical land by the Nutcracker Prince to celebrate the defeat of the Rat King. This traditional ballet retains virtually all of its charm and Tchaikovsky’s instantly recognisable score remains a musical treat.

    Saint Petersburg Classic Ballet return with their annual tour of classic pieces, presented very much in the archetypal style of traditional ballet, with tutu’s and tights aplenty, a static set of rather plain backdrops, a virtually non-existent use of props and a dance space which allowed the performance to flood the stage with a bevy of dancers.

    Aside from the fixed grins, slightly loose synchronicity and a few heavy footfalls, the quality of performance in this tour seems to be much better than previous ones, with the cast putting in their all and some nimble and impressive dancing nestled amongst the rather safe choreography. It is not the most luxurious production you will see, but it remains functional and allows for the focus to be on the performances and music.

    With an easily followed narrative and the second act consisting primarily of short set pieces, the ballet progresses at a pleasing pace, making it a great starting place for ballet novices and families with younger children.

    Overall, the show is a pleasant and undemanding evening at the theatre, which remains firmly rooted in the traditional style. There is nothing innovative, ground-breaking or new in this production, but if you are seeking a very traditionally performed, accessible ballet in the classic style, then the St Petersburg Classic Ballet could well be just what you are looking for.

    The Nutcracker is at the Sheffield Lyceum until 11th January 2020 before continuing on its national tour