THEGAYUK

Category: Review

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Late Company, Finborough Theatre, London

    ★★★★ | Late Company, Finborough Theatre, London

    Much like the recent Netflix smash hit series “13 Reasons Why”, “Late Company” examines the events surrounding the suicide of a teenager.

    In this case, Michael and Debora, a wealthy politician and artist have invited round for dinner another boy involved in the online bullying campaign which they blame for contributing to their gay son’s death. Accompanied by his parents Tamara and Bill, Curtis is a mess of teenage angst as they face a dinner party with the potential to be a vision of hell. No prizes for guessing that the earnest plan for ‘closure’ that Tamara is hoping will help Curtis to move on isn’t going to be easily attained.

    Young Canadian writer Jordan Tannahill has created a thing of devastatingly tender beauty in this one act play addressing some of the issues around being a teenager or a parent of one in the 21st century, responsibility for our acts and grief. It sounds gloomy and hard going and at points it is but it’s also surprisingly humorous and compelling to watch.

    It’s a tense but brisk 75 minutes and is a play where the audience feels a constant switch in allegiances and perspective. Was Curtis such a monster? Were Michael and Debora really such good parents? Was the bullying all it seemed? What at first glance seems to be a given set of circumstances is more complex, as things so often are in life.

    The play is tightly scripted and well acted with five sterling performances. This is a startlingly relevant play which will is both entertaining, thought-provoking and heartbreaking. Go see it.

     

    Late Company plays at The Finborough Theatre until 20th May 2017

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW: VQ Restaurant – Bloomsbury

    RESTAURANT REVIEW: VQ Restaurant – Bloomsbury


    ★★★★ | VQ Restaurant – Bloomsbury

    There are greasy spoon diners and then there are nice upscale diners. VQ restaurant is the later and it’s the perfect place for a meal anytime of the day.

    I’ve been to the Bloomsbury location many times for dinner, but hadn’t been there yet for breakfast. So on one very sunny Sunday morning, me and a friend hopped over to Great Russell Street to experience the breakfast on offer there.

    And VQ doesn’t just offer breakfast only in the mornings, it’s breakfast menu is of the 24 hour variety – so anytime you feel like eating breakfast VQ will satisfy your craving. But in the Sunday morning we went, the restaurant was very busy with a mix of tourists (The St. Giles Hotel is right upstairs), locals, singles and families, all enjoying their breakfast.

    We were lucky enough to get a seat in front – their floor to ceiling windows are perfect to watch people walking by – whether tourists looking for the British Museum or healthy and fit gym bunnies going next door to the YMCA.

    I desperately needed a cup of coffee, and Jessica the manager delivered it pronto. The brand was Musetti (which I’ve never seen served anywhere before), and it is a perfect blend with a nice flavor, so I ended up having two of them, black. But of course the visit was also all about the food. I had one of the most delicious omelette I’ve ever had. The Spanish Omelette had everything I wanted in an omelette (chorizo, potatoes, tomatoes and onions) and it was perfect. I asked for it to be cooked a bit well done, and that’s what I got! (That almost never happens when I order eggs – they always arrive runny!) And at £8.50, the omelette is good value because it’s quite big and very filling. My breakfast companion very much enjoyed her scrambled eggs, smoked salmon with granary toast – it was very healthy, was a generous portion, and was very inviting – and she said it was very very good! And at £9.50 – good value for the huge portion of salmon on the plate. We also decided to share the buttermilk pancakes. There were three, scotch pancake size (We were disappointed that they were not American style – very large and fluffy), but served with fruit and a large portion of bacon, they were good and adequate. It was the very lovely Monin syrup (syrup that you normally get with coffee) that, when added to the pancakes, gave the pancakes an extra flavor and a kick, and with a price tag of £7.50 it was an adequate price. Other breakfast items that might take your fancy include Bubble ’N’ Squeak (£7.95), Veggie breakfast which comes in two sizes (£6.95 and £10.95), Baps, as well as Eggs in various dishes – Benedict, Florentine, and Royale – plus don’t forget their English Breakfast (two sizes depending on how hungry you are – £7.50 or £11.50) – and you can also have them make your own omelette with ingredients of your choosing! So something for everyone. And you must must try their lovely Fruit Salad, served with yogurt & honey – it’s a massive serving at only £6.50.

    If coffee or tea isn’t your thing, then perhaps try one of their breakfast cocktails. Bloody Mary £6.95, Mimosa £5.95, Punch Bellini £6.95 or a yummy Breakfast Margarita (with orange marmalade) will be the perfect starter to any meal! Of course, juices, soft drinks (and beer and wine if you fancy) are on the drinks menu as well.

    But what sets VQ apart from the other is that 1.) it’s open 24 hours, 2.) it’s in a perfect location as it’s only one minute away from Tottenham Court Road Station and 3.) the ambience is just about perfect whether you prefer to be exposed and sit in a table up front or in the middle of the restaurant or perhaps sit in one of the many private and semi-dark booths for some clandestine rendevous, and last but not least 4.) the food is absolutely delicious and the service is excellent. With three locations to chose from (including Notting Hill and the newly reopened Chelsea location), and look for an Aldgate branch coming soon.

    My breakfast companion added: VQ, with its floor to ceiling windows and well spaced layout creates a light, airy ambience, whilst providing straightforward but well executed options on a varied menu. The competitive prices, well sized portions and importantly, delicious food, would certainly encourage me to revisit, and the unique selling point of the place being open 24 hours a day is a further bonus. Definitely my favourite breakfast so far in 2017.

    Reviewed by Tim Baros

    Telephone: 020 7636 5888
    Website: vqrestaurants.com
    Email: bloomsbury@vqrestaurants.com

    Hours:
    7am every weekday morning (8am Saturday & Sunday) until 3am on Thursday-Saturday, 1am on Monday-Wednesday and midnight on Sunday
    Bloomsbury – 111A Great Russell Street London WC1B 3NQ – 020 7636 5888 – 24 hours
    Chelsea – 325 Fulham Road London SW10 9QL – 020 7376 7224 – 24 hours

    Photos by Samphire Communications

  • FILM REVIEW | Four Days in France

    ★★ | Four Days in France (Jour de France) is basically one very long advert for Grindr.

    One man uses the app to find his missing partner – in the middle of France! I can’t even find a shag in my own neighbourhood much less find someone in the middle of nowhere. But that’s the premise of this film, very far fetched and not quite durable.

    Pierre (Pascal Cervo) up and leaves his partner Paul (Arthur Igual) in the middle of the night with no explanation whatsoever – he just gets in his car and heads out of town. Pierre drives and drives and drives and uses Grindr to hook up with various men along the way – to nowhere.

    He also encounters all sorts of people, including taking a man’s photograph on the very snowy border between France and Italy, is then yelled at by a woman who is tired of gay men using her neighborhood as a cruising area, and a much older man who refuses sex because Pierre smells (he’s been sleeping in his car). What is Pierre’s motivation for doing this?

    This very long 127-minute film doesn’t give us a clue. Paul, meanwhile, is hot on the trail looking for him and narrows his search by using Grindr. It’s only a matter of time (a very long time) until the predictable happens, but before we are expected to believe that they both picked up the same woman on the side of the same road and had the same conversation with her (she tells both of them that they look depressed), and that Pierre goes out of his way to deliver a package to a woman who lives high up on a mountain because one of his shags asked him to do so. Really?

    Writer and director Jérôme Reybaud really tests the viewers’ endurance as some of the driving scenes are way too long and this film could’ve been cut by at least 45 minutes. It’s a bit of an indulgence that Reybaud puts us through this journey, it’s a journey that’s very unbelievable and the payoff it not even worth it. And while there is only one hot hookup in the film, it may be better that you spend your time looking for sex in the middle of France, because according to this film there are lots of lonely and sexually frustrated men there, and all are on Grindr.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Heal the Living

    FILM REVIEW | Heal the Living

    ★★★★ | Heal the Living

    Heal the Living (Réparer les vivants) deals with a tragedy that changes the lives of two families – it’s very sad and very dramatic like most French films are, but it’s also well acted and well told.

    It deals with the delicacy of life, family, relationships and decisions that need to be made in a tragic time. Teenager Simon (Gabin Verdet) is experiencing his first true love, but when he and his friends get into a tragic car accident it’s up to his parents (Tahar Ramin and Emmanuelle Singer – both very good) to make a heartbreaking decision.

    Meanwhile, Claire Méjean (Ann Dorval) needs a new heart, and while she is waiting she can feel her life ticking away. She’s got two grown boys, and she loves them very much. But without a new heart, she doesn’t have much time to live. So Simon’s tragic accident has very sad consequences for one family but the opposite effect for another family – in a film that is both beautifully and delicately told. Heal the Living, directed by Katell Quillévéré, will leave you in tears. It’s hard hitting yet it comes with an excellent original story (Maylis De Kerangal and Katell Quillévéré) and superb performances all around.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Unhung Hero

    ★★★★★ | Unhung Hero

    When Patrick Moote proposed to his girlfriend on camera at a baseball game the video of her brusque rejection went viral on YouTube within days.

    It wasn’t the fact that he had been so unceremoniously dumped in public that upset him, it was the reason she gave for her refusal. It really hit poor humiliated Patrick below the belt when she told him it was just because his penis was too small. It’s the nightmare scenario that every man, straight or gay, lives in fear of. Our genitals are after all, how we measure our manhood.

    Patrick, despite earning his living as a stand up comic in New York, didn’t find his predicament funny in the least but it did empower him to embark on a quest to discover how small is small, and what could possibly be done to make his member more memorable. Full credit for him for going so public on an issue that most men would totally shirk away from, and he started his journey by going back and re-visiting old girlfriends to get their take on his love tool.

    They only confirmed the opinions of what medical professionals he later consulted, diagnosed as a ‘smaller than average’ penis. Patrick bared his soul (not body though) to total strangers to get a pop vox on their take on what stigma this ‘affliction’ would mean to them. And in an awkward conversation, his embarrassed father admitted that it was probably a hereditary condition anyway.

    Now Patrick decided to visit any corner of the world where there may be a solution to his dilemma. His trips to Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Papua New Guinea were both funny and stressful as poor Patrick witnessed all the bizarre treatments that seemed to result in no more inches but a great deal of pain. Our hearts are in our mouths as he tried lifting weights by his testicles and also when he is on the verge of actually injecting some dodgy looking serum into his balls. Ouch!

    The documentary of Patrick’s search is nothing less than a sheer delight: mainly because he has this endearing quality of naiveté and unfiltered honesty publicly exposing himself on a topic most men would never ever dream of even mentioning to their closest friends. It ends up being so much more than the size of his phallus but the importance of Patrick being comfortable with who he really is. It was a brave undertaking and one that was so worth sharing, especially as it ended on such a high note.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Pam Ann, Leicester Square Theatre, London

    ★★ | Pam Ann: Touch Trolley Run to Galley 20th Anniversary Tour, London and other UK cities

    Trolley Dolly Pam Ann returns to London with her 20th Anniversary tour – Touch Trolley Run to Galley – but it’s pretty much the same schtick she’s been doing year in and year out.

    Australian Pam Ann (real name Caroline Reid) has been making the rounds as the self-described ‘Queen of the skies’ for the past 20 years all around the world, and in this show she lets us know it. Now playing at the Leicester Square Theatre, the show begins with a video montage of her previous shows and the famous people she’s hung out with. Yes, from the minute the video starts we are reminded that the show is all about her. She lets us know that she’s an iconic international celebrity air hostess who has developed cult status over the years with her fans (most of whom are gay and who love her bitchiness and candor). And then when she’s out on stage she picks four audience members and invites them onto the stage to create a new Spice Girls band (who are also celebrating their 20th anniversary). On the night I saw the show, she conveniently picked four gay men from the audience (after all, gay men are so much more likely to ‘get her’) to ‘become’ the Spice Girls. Picking on audience members is a time and tested old tradition used by comedians when they don’t have enough material to fill a show (‘what’s your name?’, ‘where are you from?’ is the usual repertoire), and it’s a bit lazy to do so at the beginning of a show! Anyways, Pam Ann was very good with them; she was quick with one-liners and put-downs, and the men took it all in jest. It’s funny, but I wanted more jokes about the current state of the airline industry and the in-the-news bad treatment of passengers (she did open up with a joke about the United Airlines fiasco but it was a bit too short and too quick).

    The second half of the show had her bring out a trolley filled with, of course, alcohol, as well as a bevvy of dolls that represented airline stewardesses from all over the world (an Australian transgender doll was quite funny). But we’ve seen this from her many many times. Pam Ann tells us why she loves BA, and her alter ego Lilly ‘comes out’ all too briefly, and of course, she makes fun of Ryanair (who wouldn’t?). But as the show goes, it’s ‘we’ve seen and heard it all before’, and two hours in she leaves the stage and tells the audience to expect something great – but when she comes back out all she presents to us is a glittering outfit where she then proceeded to take selfies with the audience members whom she chose to be the Spice Girls, and then thud, the show ended, with not a laugh in sight. Pam Ann: Touch Trolley Run to Galley 20th Anniversary tour is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, but this consisted of a 20 minute interval and 20 minutes of video footage, including two videos of her interspersed into scenes from the Great British Bake-off – it would’ve been a bit funnier if she would’ve done this live, but that would’ve been perhaps too much effort?

    Pam Ann plays at Leicester Square Theatre until 27th May 2017

     

    For more information about Pam Ann and the rest of her UK tour, please visit:
    pamann.com / @pamannairbitch / facebook.com/pamannairhostess

  • THEATRE REVIEW | To Sir, With Love, The Birmingham Rep

    ★★★★ – What theatre is all about!

    Photo Credit – Graeme Braidwood

    Adapted by Ayub Khan-din for Birmingham, To Sir, With Love had its natural charm and appeal to the audience of The Rep. The local, ‘banterous’ fun was well appreciated and received for many laughs were heard in the auditorium. What also impressed me, and I found highly commendable, was the extent to which The Birmingham Rep invested their efforts into nurturing young, new and home-grown talent via The Young Rep Company.

    Every young person shone and were utterly convincing in the roles they played, conveying a variety of emotions with much maturity. Charlie Mills who played Denham, stood out for his aggressive demeanour at the start, and the 360 degree turn at the end. His transition from delinquent to amicable was very warming to witness. Alice McGowan portraying Pamela performed with delicateness but fierceness too and, though her part was smaller, Alice really invested her time to move elegantly and speak with natural flair in-line with the character’s traits. Eden Peppercorn, who played Monica, did really well in contributing to the chaos and challenge of Mr Braithwaite’s initial classes. Her subtle change of heart was well developed and endearing too. Phillip Morris, local actor who trained at Birmingham School of Acting, did a sterling job, to the point of gripping the audience all the way through while fully harnessing the moments and challenges in which his character found himself in. Phillip Morris was a star of the play, and I believe this opportunity granted by The Rep will no doubt further his career in the theatre industry.

    I really loved the thorny fun had between the characters of Mr Weston and Clinty, played by Matt Crosby and Polly Lister respectively. Polly really embodied the locality of the adaption through her West Midlands accent, and she was much joyful to watch, with exquisite comedic timing. Matt was a treat to watch too, and he must have channelled a teacher he knew, because his portrayal of Mr West really made me, and I’m sure others, reminisce, not very fondly, teachers from our pasts; or for those in the profession, education staff would probably relate too.

    Plays are instrumental to teach people their own history. To Sir, With Love did just that. It gave us flavours of the past mixed with contemporary seasoning. It was a feast to be lapped up! Using young talent really made the production special and very memorable, and I hope to see the young actors on stage again soon, as they so deserve it!

    Running until 6 May.

  • FILM REVIEW | Handsome Devil

    ★★★★ | Handsome Devil

    One of the most buzzed-about films at London’s recent Flare LGBT Film Festival is getting released this Friday.

    Handsome Devil played to sell-out crowds at the festival (though at one screening there was a power outage so all the attendees were invited back to another screening). Irish movie Handsome Devil is the charming story of an out and proud young gay man who is attending a boarding school for the first time. Fionn O’Shea plays Ned and shares a room with jock and star of the rugby team Conor (Nicholas Galitzine). The rest of the school doesn’t quite know what to make of Ned, he’s a bit of an outcast, yet he and Ned form a special bond, after a rocky start between them, they realise they have more in common with each other than being roommates. Ned’s school life is made much easier with the help of teacher Dan (Andrew Scott in a very winning and sexy performance), who also happens to be gay. But it doesn’t help Ned (and teacher Dan) that the rugby coach is on to both of them – he’s full of prejudice and lets everyone know it. And it’s just a matter of time until the rest of the school comes around and accepts Ned for who he is, especially just in time for the school’s big upcoming rugby match.

    Writer and Director John Butler’s coming of age story is a winning combination of great performances and a story that’s time and tested and that never gets old. Winning lead performances from O’Shea and Galitzine make this one to remember, but it’s Scott as the supportive English teacher that will tingle your loins. His sympathetic teacher is handsome and oh so sexy, especially when he brings his boyfriend to the rugby match outing himself on the spot to the principal. More of these kinds of roles please Mr Scott. Though at times some of the accents are a bit hard to understand, Handsome Devil is very charming and memorable.

     

     

  • Review – The Fate Of The Furious (FF8)

    Review – The Fate Of The Furious (FF8)

    FAST AND FURIOUS 8 – This record breaking, epic edition to the turbo boosted car based action franchise is the most entertaining movie of the last twelve months by a speeding mile.

    © Universal

    Nutshell – Dom (Vin Diesel) goes rogue, for unknown reasons, forcing the rest of our favourite car wrecking posse to chase across the world from Cuba to Iceland via Germany and New York to find out why he has dissed his extended ‘family’, save the world and defeat tech badass Charlize Theron. Jason Statham is now a good guy and there are two megastar surprise appearances that push this over the top to be one of the greatest popcorn movies of all time.

    Running Time – 136 minutes; Certificate – 12A; The ultimate guys movie but with something for everyone really.

    Tagline – ‘Family No More: The Ride Isn’t Over’ – It should be, ‘The best fun you can have with your clothes on’.

    TheGayUK Factor – So, so many hunks, bulging shirts and even bigger trouser bulges. Vin Diesel, The Rock and Jason Statham are three huge gay icons but you get so many other big studs including the hottest piece of new man flesh Scott Eastwood (Clint’s son) who is a pure 11 out of 10 in anyones book. So much testosterone and you just know that there is some ass action between all the motorised mayhem.

    Cast – Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Charlize Theron, Scott Eastwood, Michelle Rodriguez, Kurt Russell and loads more big names plus those two great megastar cameos in the third act that will make your chin drop to the floor and get you whooping with delight.

    Key Player – Vin Diesel took over this dying franchise after the appalling number 3 and turned it into a James Bond crossed Heist huge star juggernaut which is starting to look like the most successful franchise of all time. With two more already in the works it should now surpass Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings in the all time earning stakes – taking it third behind Bond and Star Wars in a fraction of the time and without having to change its stars, style and look along the way.

    Budget – $250 Million. One of the biggest budgets in movie history and it went into profit in just 4 days flat – not so much a gamble as the surest bet for your cash the world has ever seen. Yes, it beat Titanic, Avatar, Jurassic World & every Star Wars in its opening week and we expect it will run and run for months.

    Best Bit – 1.02 mins. So many to choose from but one never before seen set of car stunts invoked by Theron’s bad girl Cypher who remotely takes control of hundreds of cars and makes them speed around corners in unison and then causes it to start raining automobiles from above – sensational stuff.

    Worst Bit – 0.00 mins. For the first time in TheGayUK annals we have great pleasure in saying their truly isn’t a bad bit here.

    Little Secret – Star & Exec Producer Vin Diesel had a massive bust up on set with Dwayne Johnson which resulted in an extremely pointed public tweet where Johnson said he was finished with the series for good. He called Diesel out for being a chicken shit, unprofessional and a candy ass – an urgent 6 hour meeting was called to patch things up… for now.

    Further Viewing – Fast 1’s through 7, all the Bournes, all the Bonds, Ocean’s 11 through 13, Cannonball Run, Monte Carlo Or Bust, Ronin and 25 series of Top Gear plus Clarkson’s new The Grand Tour.

    Any Good – This is a magnificently fun film. When you look up Friday night popcorn entertainment in the dictionary from now on you will see 4 words, Fast & Furious 8. Five was incredible, Seven was off the hook and this is way better, funny, exciting, jaw dropping and so much more. Yes, we are going over the top, but we cannot remember the last time we threw our hands up in the air in the movie theatre and here we did twice, there was even a round of applause at the end. This is the movie of the year period and it’s only April yet.

    Rating – 100 out of 100.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Shirley Valentine – National Tour

    THEATRE REVIEW | Shirley Valentine – National Tour

    ★★★★ | Shirley Valentine – National Tour

    Shirley Bradshaw is a bored housewife from Liverpool, who has brought up her children, is trapped in a loveless marriage; and who spends her days talking to the kitchen wall and dreaming about Shirley Valentine, the girl she used to be before she was married. So when her best friend offers her the chance to head to Greece for a holiday, Shirley reluctantly takes it, and over the course of her holiday, she rediscovers her zest for life, falls in love with the idea of living and realises that it’s never too late to be yourself.

    PR Supplied

    Jodie Prenger, who is perhaps best known for winning the role of Nancy in BBC’s I’d Do Anything, is impressive in this one-woman show, where she delivers the monologue beautifully; injecting life into the script and forming a believable and likeable take on the character. Her delivery is natural and enjoyable and her comic timing is surprisingly good. It is a formidable task to hold the attention of the audience when you are the only person on stage for the best part of two hours, but Prenger manages it with ease and displays the underlying vulnerabilities hidden beneath the bold veneer of the housewife in a performance which makes you feel like you are catching up with an old friend.

    That said, even with such a good performance from Prenger, the real star here is Russell’s writing itself. Shirley Valentine is a heart-warming story of self-empowerment and a show which remains as beautifully crafted, witty, funny and well observed as it ever was. Throughout this monologue, what Russell creates is an instantly familiar character that you simply can’t help but warm to immediately, as her straightforward look on life is presented via a series of genuine laugh out loud moments which seamlessly flow into moments of calm reflection and sadness as Shirley takes stock of her life.

    But the most surprising thing is how a script about a bored middle-aged housewife written in the mid 1980’s can so easily relate to today’s gay community. What Shirley Valentine realises is that there is an abundance of joy in living your life for yourself, not for others; and that that it is never too late to be yourself or to be the person that you want to be – a theme that many gay men and women will undoubtedly recognise.

    Shirley Valentine is an engaging and enjoyable piece of theatre and, despite the shifting political and social landscape in the 30 years since the play was written, its message still resonates today; and you can’t help but leave the theatre with a warm glow.

    Shirley Valentine is currently at Sheffield Theatres (www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk) until 29th April 2017 before continuing on its national tour up until 23rd September 2017. Visit http://shirley-valentine.com/ for full details

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Jane Eyre – National Tour

    ★★★★ | Jane Eyre – National Tour

    Following being orphaned, Jane Eyre is placed in the ward of her cruel aunt, who favours her own children over Jane and eventually sends her to school, where Jane meets Helen, who teaches her that “there are no evil people, only evil deeds”. Growing into a strong, confident young woman, Eyre becomes a teacher and eventually a governess, and she takes employment at Thornfield Manor, where she meets and falls in love with Rochester, her employer. But Rochester is a deeply complex man who harbours dark secrets and carries with him the weight of a past which is about to come back to haunt him.

    Charlotte Bronte’s seminal work needs very little introduction and under the impressive direction of Sally Cookson, the story is beautifully brought to life in this National Theatre production, using a slew of innovative and varied theatrical techniques to provide a highly contemporary take on a classic tale. The set, consisting of a white curtained backdrop and multi-level wooden platforms accessed by a series of ladders and steps proves to be incredibly versatile and surprisingly effective in its portrayal of the various locations. The cast scramble over the set with energy and enthusiasm as they portray multiple characters meaning that there is an almost constant flow of movement on stage.  Simple props and a healthy dose of imagination on behalf of the audience provide for an effective, original and inventive presentation.

    Nadia Clifford’s portrayal of the titular character is one which is full of confidence, life and determination, and Tim Delap’s performance as Rochester compliments it well, with his aloof and brooding quirkiness. Overseeing events is Melanie Marshall, who observes and narrates key aspects of Eyre’s life with bursts of jazz infused song utilising her beautiful and distinctive voice. The remainder of the cast play numerous roles with clear demarcation between characters and, in the case of Paul Mundell, with a little humour injected into the proceedings.

    Quite what Bronte purists will make of the production is unknown, as, whilst the production sticks closely to the source material and lifts out text, passage and prose from it, this is not your run of the mill period costume drama. Instead, it is a refreshingly inventive, highly stylised and imaginatively presented piece which never loses the spirit of the novel, and which is as trailblazing and as forward thinking as the central character herself.

    Jane Eyre is on National Tour calling in at numerous venues including Leeds Grand Theatre, Belfast Opera House, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre, Milton Keynes Theatre, Norwich Theatre Royal and Brighton Theatre Royal and is currently booking until 23rd September 2017. Visit the National Theatre Website for details. Many thanks to Sheffield Theatres for facilitating this review.