As the wealthy Birling family celebrate their daughters engagement, their evening is interrupted by Inspector Goole who arrives unannounced to investigate the events which lead to the suicide of a young working class girl. ★★★ (more…)
Category: Theatre
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THEATRE REVIEW: Grey Gardens, Southwark Playhouse
Based on the 1975 cult classic documentary film of the same name, Grey Gardens tells the real life rise and fall of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s aunt and cousin, Edith and Edie Bouvier Beale. ★★★ (more…)
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THEATRE REVIEW: St Petersberg Classic Ballet – Sheffield Theatres & National Tour
Formed in 1996, the St Petersberg Classic Ballet is currently in the midst of their first ever UK tour, bringing an abundance of classically presented ballet and a trio of traditional tales; The Nutcracker, Giselle and Swan Lake. ★★★
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Dazzle, London
A play about two brothers who need each other to coexist is the plot of the new play The Dazzle. ★★★
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THEATRE REVIEW: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang West Yorkshire Playhouse & National Tour
Ian Flemming’s fantasmagorical story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang comes to life on stage this year at West Yorkshire Playhouse, bringing with it everyone’s favourite “Toot Sweets”, banging about with “Me Ol’ Bamboo” and, of course, taking off with the fantastic flying car. ★★★
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Nutcracker, Leeds Grand Theatre
Everyone has their own event which confirms to them that the festive season has arrived, and for some, Christmas isn’t Christmas until they have had their traditional trip to see Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. ★★★★
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THEATRE REVIEW | Victorian & Gay – where cooks cook, and ladies lady
What chestnut-cracking season’s complete without multiple bonkers reenactments of Dicken’s Scrooge, pussy jokes articulated in beautiful Victorian English, a couple of murders and some good old festive references to sodomy – falalalala la la la la? ★★★★
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THEATRE REVIEW | Tinderella, Cinders Slips it In is a real sparkle of a production!
Above the Stag theatre has done it again and produced another hilarious panto in ‘Tinderella: Cinders Slips it In.’ ★★★★
The theatre has produced many a camp panto in years past. These include ‘Dick Whittington: Another Dick in City Hall’ in 2009, ‘Sleeping Beauty: One Little Prick’ in 2011, and last year’s ‘Treasure Island: The Curse of the Pearl Necklace.’ But with ‘Tinderella: Cinders Slips it In‘ the Stag has outcamped, and outdone, all its previous pantos. It’s as camp as christmas and as gay as eggnog. And it’s hilarious.
The title says it all. The show is a take off on Cinderella, and in the Stag’s version Prince Charming is searching the kingdom for a man (and NOT a woman) who fits into the glass slipper, in the kingdom of Slutvia. And that man is Cinders. He cooks and cleans and does the chores for his wicked evil stepmother Countess Volga and her two vile daughters Nicole Ferrari and Maude Escort. But then one day, while on a gay app on his mobile phone, he meets Prince Charming, and it is love at first sight for both of them. But Cinders’ phone gets ruined (I won’t say how!), and he’s unable to contact, or be contacted by, the very handsome young Prince.
But there is a Fairy Godmother, in the form of The Fairy, and she’s the one who, with the help of the adorable Buttons, makes sure that Cinders gets to the ball to be reunited with Prince Charming, though the Prince’s father, King Ludwig, has no clue that his son is jonesing for another man. It’s all a laugh a minute when the show takes us from the Countesses’ kitchen to the King’s office to a courgette that gets turned into, funny enough, a mode of transport to which Cinders to the palace! We also are treated to songs about balls, a clever slow-motion scene that involves the entire cast, and enough campiness and cute boys to make even Alan Carr blush. And to top it off, we are spoiled with Slutvia’s Eurovision song!
What can one say about a show that has ok acting, ok singing, and an ok script? Well – it’s brilliant! You’ll be laughing from the opening scenes which include a giant rat, to the audience participation bits (there are quite a few and boy are they clever!), up to the final heartwarming and groin inflaming scenes. It’s a show that’s over two hours but it flies by. And the cast are perfect, from Joseph Lycett-Barnes as Prince Charming to Lucas Meredith as Buttons and Grant Cartwright as Cinders – everyone does their part, and they all act very well with each other! From the writers and director of total sell-out hits ‘Get Aladdin,’ ‘Jack Off the Beanstalk,’ and ‘Treasure Island – The Curse of the Pearl Necklace’ (Martin Hooper and Jon Bradfield) and directed by Andrew Beckett, Above the Stag has put on another memorable show.
Tinderella: Cinders Slips it In is playing until January 16th, 2016. Most performances are sold out but there are a few tickets left on various dates. To book, please go here: http://www.abovethestag.com/shows/
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THEATRE REVIEW | The Blues Brothers
The blues are back in town in the form of ‘The Blues Brothers Christmas Special’ at the Arts Theatre in Covent Garden. ★★★★
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THEATRE REVIEW | The Illusionist live at Shaftesbury Theatre
America and Britain’s Got Talent has quite the same format and it’s this bi-coastal variety TV show that springs to mind and also celebrates the essence of The Illusionist.
The Illusionist recently opened on Broadway in New York and currently running simultaneously with a different batch of Illusionist’s in London’s West End. I was accompanied by someone who was going to make this show her first Broadway experience and how rapid did any excitement dissolve and replaced with disappointment as the show came across as a highly, taut, expensive and stretched variety show.
Audience participation was relied on and the faces on the unlucky chosen were illusions of willing victims that seemed as though they were not embarrassed to be on stage but more so embarrassed to be associated with some of acts.
Ok, so despite the show being a glamorised magic show (thanks to the heavy advertising and prestigious theatres that house these shows), there were a few steals to be had. The Anti Conjuror shocked the audience by regurgitating a few razor blades that were strung through a piece of floss, ‘’how did he do that?’’, muttered the audience whilst covering their children’s eyes.
Technology was revealed on stage by The Futurist and his acts with bright technology and perfect timing were very welcomed – finally something decent and suitable for the kids in the audience.
No magic show is complete without someone escaping from something – The Escapologist made sure that was served up whilst being hung upside down in flames (of course).
The Trickster continued to blow fresh air throughout the whole show with his adult focused comical one liners and had the kids muttering ‘’what does that mean?’’. The Trickster certainly left the stage with the adults wanting more.
Good seats are important to view this show so everything on stage is beamed onto a screen for everyone that sits say beyond the 10th row in the orchestra. What’s the point of sitting beyond this and more so what’s appealing with going to a theatre to watch a screen?
The Illusionists create their standalone performances so don’t expect them to interact together. The show doesn’t offer anything that most viewers haven’t seen before.
I did leave the theatre thinking ‘’how did they do that…how does a show like this become Broadway worthy?’’ – that’s magic!
The Illusionist live at Shaftesbury Theatre, London & Broadway, NYC, 14/11/15 – 03/01/16
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THEATRE REVIEW | The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, The Birmingham Rep
★★★ – a delicious journey into Narnia
