Tag: Four Star Play Review

The latest Four Star Play Review from THEGAYUK.

THEATRE REVIEW | Bitches Ahoy!, Above The Stag

★★★★ | Bitches Ahoy! : Above The Stag

Batten down the hatches, all hands on your AussieBums, and anchors – prudes advised to stay on dry land – aweigh.

CREDIT: Above The Stag

Gareth, Max and Fat Pam set sail for a new adventure on the Mediterranean awash with a couple of love interests in close-quarters. This is up-and-coming Playwright Martin Blackburn’s second production – an all-at-sea sequel to Aright Bitches! – and in Blackburn’s previous style: pummelled with more innuendos than a Navy Officer in the engine room after six months at sea.

Buoyant party-buoy Gareth (Ethan Chapples) is holibobing with new squeeze Drew (Chris Clynes), and giving monogamy a stern-go onboard a queer cruise with two thousand homo-hotties – will either walk the plank of infidelity? Nothing’s ever plain-sailing on this ship.

Max has embarked on a new career as a cabin boy with a firm eye in every porthole and a love/hate taste for his surroundings. Pam (Hannah Vesty) has harpooned the Moby of all Dicks and flaunts new French fiancé Patrice (Simon Burr) from port to starboard causing a splash with the whole crew’s rudders. Straight guy aboard a gay cruise – what could possibly come adrift?

Blackburn clearly knows how to quill a boat-rocking quip, but on this voyage, some of the jokes were washed ashore unnoticed, mainly due to the delivery.

Come aboard this vessel for cock-capers, tampon-tomfoolery and to catch a glimpse of Pam wet wiping her lady bits. This is a camp factor 50 with the potent UVAs radiating from Vesty and Chapples – giving you the Jolly Rogers and the January blues the heave-ho.

Bitches Ahoy is at Above The Stag Theatre until 26th February

24th January 2017
THEATRE REVIEW | BU21

★★★★ | BU21

We’re bombarded every year with news of atrocities. We might try to avoid looking at the scenes on the news or alternatively seek them out with a ghoulish fascination. We might worry about it happening to us or think about how we’d cope with say a gunman opening fire or a bomb blast. The certain fact is that bad things happen in the world and we can’t avoid knowing that they do.

CREDIT: BU21

‘BU21’ looks at the human aftermath of a terrorist plane attack which causes mass causalities in suburban North London. It’s a wry and witty play that’s multi-layered and never predictable. Told as a set of interconnected monologues it’s a 100-minute ride with surprising humour as well as pathos.
Graham has been elevated from van driver to national icon, having been one of the first to be filmed at the scene on the news and now finds this gives meaning to his life. Izzy learned that her mother had been ripped apart via Twitter and is trying to use her middle-class skills set to cope with this. Waitress Ana was horribly burned and maimed whilst sunbathing before her shift and is living life in a cold vacuum. Floss is seeing a dead man everywhere she goes. The thing is she was at the kitchen window and a man fell to earth in his plane seat and died looking into her eyes. City banker Alex’s flat was hit by wreckage which led to the unfortunate discovery of his girlfriend’s body welded to Alex’s best friend mid-shag. Finally,
Clive is a devout Muslim. Raised with no religion he’s found comfort in Islam and wants to tell us about his side of the story.

It might all sound unbearably grim and definitely like a play to avoid watching during a grey English January but this is where author Stuart Slade surprises tricks and teases. Slade’s characters are varying in their resilience, their surprising humour and their ability to get through. The play also turns its gaze upon society. Why do we want to watch this and what does our fascination with tragedy say about us as a society or as individuals? Slade plays with our prejudices too and laughs at and forces us to laugh at ourselves too. This is an alarmingly sad, hilariously funny and utterly pertinent play and is an experience you won’t stop thinking about for quite some time.

BU21 plays at the Trafalgar Studi0 until Feb 18th

15th January 2017
THEATRE REVIEW | Strangers in Between, Kings Head Theatre

★★★★ | Strangers in Between, Kings Head Theatre

CREDIT: Andreas Grieger

Great performances by a cast of three is the highlight of the play ‘Strangers in Between.’

Playing for the second year in a row at the Kings Head Theatre, ’Strangers in Between’ is a drama about a young man experiencing the big city for the first time. Shane (Roly Botha) has moved from his small hometown in Australia to the big city of Sydney. He says he’s 19, and he works in a liquor store yet doesn’t even know how to use the register. In walks a customer – gay and trendy Will (Dan Hunter). Shane at first is a bit intimidated by him, but they manage to make small talk until another customer walks in – Peter (Stephen Connery-Brown) – a middle-aged gay man looking for a simple yet inexpensive bottle of wine. Eventually, Shane gets Will’s number.

Shane lives in the Kings Cross section of Sydney, an area teeming with prostitutes and crime. But Shane loves it there, especially as it’s far away from his family, and especially brother, he ran away from. He and Will hook up for a few trysts – it’s purely a sexual relationship – while Shane finds comfort in his friendship with Peter. But Shane has a couple secrets, one being his age, and the other involving his homophobic brother Ben (Hunter). But suddenly Ben finds Shane in Sydney after Shane’s world is falling apart after he has lost his job and contracted an STD from Will.

The cast is very admirable but it’s Botha who shines. His Shane is young, cute, innocent and with a nervous tick – he dominates the very small stage – Botha is a wonder. Hunter ably does double duty as Will and Ben, while Connery-Brown is very good as Peter. While the ending is a bit of a letdown, the play, written by Tommy Murphy, is a show that all of us can relate to because at one time we were all young and innocent and new to the big city.

For tickets, please visit:

Strangers In Between plays at the Kings Head Theatre until 4th Feb 2017

13th January 2017
THEATRE REVIEW | The Kite Runner, Wyndham’s Theatre

★★★★ | The Kite Runner, Wyndham’s Theatre

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy played by Ben Turner, growing up at the beginning of the troubles, in Afghanistan. When the Russians invade he is forced to flee with his ailing father or “Baba” (Emilio Doorgasingh) and begins a new life in the US where he finds a bride in what should be a happy ever ending. Unfortunately, Amir is also accompanied by a burdening baggage of guilt as a result of a set of lies and deceit, a secret known only by his father’s dear old friend Rahim (Nicholas Khan) who remained in Kabul.

Amir’s mother had died during Amir’s birth, so he was brought up by Baba and father and son servants, the later Hassan (Andre Costin) of whom had developed a strong and loyal bond with Amir which is pivotal to the storyline. However, Amir betrayed that loyalty after witnessing an outrageous act on Hassan by a local gang of youths, who’s ring leader Assef (Nicholas Karimi) and Amir’s nemesis, reappears in an added twist later in the story when he is compelled by Rahim to return on a dangerous mercy mission to Kabul, now inhabited by the Taliban.

The adaptation is brave as it’s a narration by Amir of his journey from boy to man and the tragedy that unfolds. This is a common style for Asian story telling but there is a danger that narration can be plodding and almost “sermon-esque” but Mathew Spangler seems to have struck a perfect balance between the story telling, flash-backs and cleverly choreographed crowd scenes that echoed the atmosphere and rhythms of Husseini’s novel, helped by a strong performance from Ben Turner and the supporting cast. The stage set is minimal with a kind of skateboard park half pipe that cleverly allows an illusion of height and depth for the performers to work off especially during the kite flying and action scenes, the backdrop a giant movable kite that had patterns projected on to it that complimented each scene.

Tragedy upon tragedy lent to a relatively high tear jerk rating but this was pleasantly interspersed with humour from the characters who seemed to grow in confidence as the performance progressed and they connected with the audience.

My only minus point about this stage version is that Husseini’s novel addressed other issues head on, shaking a fist at the revolving door of invaders that ruined what was once a beautiful country and a Mecca for travellers seeking enlightenment with a steady bustling economy and the subservient divide between Sunni and Shia, issues that were incidental and merely form a backdrop in this stage version, but were what made the novel a hot potato. However, to encapsulate the novel in its entirety on stage is too big an ask!

I cannot sum up without mentioning the wonderful and often hypnotic percussion accompaniment from Hanif Khan that gelled the performance, beautifully done.

I recommend this play, well written, and with strong performances throughout. I have already booked my return ticket!

The Kite Runner runs at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 11th March.

13th January 2017
THEATRE REVIEW | Thebes Land

★★★★ | Thebes Land

CREDIT: Alex Brenner

Our fascination with murder shows no sign of waning. Crime fiction, newspaper headlines and ‘true life’ series like Making a Murderer and Serial present tales that are still as grimly compelling to us as the story of Oedipus murdering his father was to the ancient Greeks. ‘Thebes Land’ promises us the story of Martin, a young man who has committed a particularly grisly act of patricide. Not only is documentary maker ‘T’ going to tell us about the story of how he met Martin in order to write this play but he’s also going to present the real Martin on stage. The audience are safe, though. Martin is contained in a 3-metre high wire cage, as per Home Office regulations. Or is he up on the balcony under armed guard? Or is he watching us watching him via video-link?

Daniel Goldman’s cleverly adapted version of this South American piece is a wily beast of a play. It beguiles, tricks and twists until the audience aren’t quite sure what to believe at any point. It starts innocuously enough and promises to be a slightly dry but nonetheless intriguing academic discourse on the nature of theatre-making and storytelling. That’s the first trick of many. It’s a whole lot more than that. What evolves is multifaceted with reflections on multiple issues including the father/son relationship, truth and ego.

It’s a lot more than that too. It’s a grisly crime story, it’s titillating (whilst making you feel perturbed that it’s titillating) and it has a disturbing undertone of sexual tension that crops up between the two men. Hell, it even has a weird little segment where there’s a Whitney Houston number. There’s so much contained here that it leaves you reeling at points and not sure what to think about next.

There is the odd discordant moment where the self-mocking misses the mark but these are few and far between and the two actors are entirely credible. There’s something impish, attractive and likeable about Trevor White’s ‘T’ and Alex Austin gives good vulnerable but terrifying disaffected youth. If you like to be toyed with and want an unconventional night at the theatre then head down to The Arcola and take a cage-side seat. You won’t regret it.

Thebes Land plays at the Arcola Theatre until 23rd December

Follow Chris Bridges on Twitter

7th December 2016
THEATRE REVIEW | Testosterone, New Diorama Theatre

✭✭✭✭ | Testosterone
CREDIT: Testosterone
Kit Redstone – a female to male transgender actor – explains what it’s like to enter a men’s locker room for the first time in the new play Testosterone.

The play, at the New Diorama Theatre near Warren Street tube station, is a semi-autobiographical look at Redstone’s coming out as a man and what it’s like to do so in such a testosterone-heavy environment as the locker room. The show also briefly delves into Kit’s previous life as a woman, as well as the first time he received testosterone – at the doctor’s office.

Told with a bit of drama, and humour, it’s a story that Kit is brave enough to have written and again to tell on stage. But Kit doesn’t just tell his story, he relives it, cleverly, with the locker room as a device to explain the whole male-heavy environment that he now belongs to.

The show, successfully, looks at how masculinity is so prevalent in a locker room environment, and questions whether it is real or is it a facade? Alongside thirty-something Kit are three other actors who display their manliness (not literally), and masculinity; two jocks (Matthew Wells and Julian Spooner) and the fabulous singer/drag queen Daniel Jacob (also known as Vinegar Strokes). They help Kit to tell his story as well as perform in fantasy sequences that move the story along which helps the audience to better understand Kit’s journey. It’s a straightforward, and brave, telling of Kit’s transformation and the new world he lives in.

Testosterone plays at the New Diorama Theatre until the 3rd December 2016, 020 7338 9034

29th November 2016
THEATRE REVIEW | Tonight with Donny Stixx, The Bunker

★★★★ | Tonight with Donny Stixx, The Bunker

CREDIT: Savannah Photographic

Donny Stixx is a boy with problems. He’s the product of a troubled background but he’s putting all that behind him for one night of audience questions and answers as he jokes with the audience, winking cheekily and tells us all about his rise to fame and his magic act. Sadly, Donny isn’t as famous for his dated magic show as he is for other things and he’s not known as the most hated boy in England for nothing. His cheesy ‘end of the pier show’ facade soon drops and despite his rage at the questions about the shootings, he’s going to tell us all about it.

Multi award-winning playwright Philip Ridley is a master at capturing the darker side of the human condition and the story of Donny Stixx is a fine example of his work. Like its companion piece Dark Vanilla Jungle this is a one person show that features a troubled teenager. The script is witty and fast paced and almost dizzying as Donny bombards the audience with his repartee. There’s a cosy and domestic theme to his rambling that draws you in but soon falls apart as a much scarier and uncontained Donny breaks through.

Director David Mercatali has a fine pedigree of presenting Ridley’s works and this is no exception. Sean Michael Verey (Pramface) hits all the right notes as Donny. He manages to convey both an endearing vulnerability and a truly chilling rage as he interacts with an imaginary audience (don’t worry, there’s a fourth wall). It’s not hard to see why he won awards for this performance at The Edinburgh Fringe. The new space of The Bunker at Southwark is a fine home for a piece like this. It’s an intimate new 110 seat venue in an old underground car park (you may want to take a warm coat) next to The Menier Chocolate Factory (a short walk from London Bridge Station). The sparse staging helps to centre attention on Verey’s powerful performance.

Donny Stixx raises interesting issues about the nature of the lost and lonely teenager and how society can fail them. If you want an evening that’s funny but as far away from the saccharine highs of a West End musical as can be then this is a must see.

Tonight with Donny Stixx plays at The Bunker Theatre until 3rd December

Follow Chris Bridges on Twitter

21st November 2016
THEATRE REVIEW | The Boys In The Band – West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

★★★★| Set in Brooklyn in the late 1960’s , nine gay men gather in an apartment to celebrate a friends birthday. Michael is an alcoholic shopaholic, Harold is a self-depreciating “Jew Fairy” (as he describes himself), Larry and Hank are a couple trying to make their differing views on monogamy fit together and Emory is as camp as they come. Throw into the mix a rather attractive, but dumb, cowboy hustler, a closeted testosterone filled ex-college roommate and copious amounts of booze and pot, and it’s not long before lives unravel, tempers fray and a cruel party game emerges.

Photo Credit – Darren Bell

This long overdue revival of Mart Crowley’s classic play is most welcome, and whilst it is no longer as shocking as it was in the late 1960’s, the relevance and impact still resonates today; as, sadly, do the undertones of self-loathing and internalised homophobia. The range of characteristics on show from the main protagonists may seem slightly cliché now, but still manage to reflect a number of the sub groups within the gay community and the issues facing them. The first act is a rather whimsical affair, as the characters arrive and you get to know them, but as the second act progresses, the narrative takes a darker turn, leading to a gripping dénouement.

The cast is strong all round, with solid performances from the ensemble, particularly Mark Gattis (Sherlock, Doctor Who) puts in an effortless performance as Harold, filled with subtlety and natural aloofness. Ian Hallard (Poirot, Doctors) holds the cast together as Michael, and James Holmes (Miranda, Psychoville) is delightful as Emory, brimming with campery and confidence. And whilst Jack Derges (Andy Flynn in EastEnders) is a vision of physical perfection, he proves he is much more than the token eye candy with an enjoyable performance as the dim witted (and mostly shirtless) cowboy hustler.

The set is authentic and beautifully detailed, as are the costumes, but even though the fashions and décor have altered, the issues raised have not; and whilst some of the social impact of the play may have lessened with time, the personal impact hasn’t, and the gay audience will recognise aspects of themselves, their peers and their experiences amongst the events of the evening.

With some sharp one liners, genuine emotion and some top notch performances; don’t miss your last chance to see this this excellent revival before it ends its run. The Boys in the Band is playing at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until Saturday 19^th November 2016. See www.wyp.org.uk for details.

16th November 2016
THEATRE REVIEW | Little Shop of Horrors – Sheffield Theatres and National Tour

★★★★| Life isn’t so great at the Mushnik Flower shop down on Skid Row. Mr Mushnik is on the verge of closing his shop, Audrey is dating a semi-sadist dentist and Seymour’s crush on Audrey is going nowhere. But with the arrival of a strange and interesting new plant, things start to change, especially when Seymour realises that the plant, Audrey II, has a taste for human blood. As things start to look up at the flower shop, Audrey II gets bigger and bigger, as does the list of missing people.
Photo Credit – Matt Martin Photography
Written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, the songwriting partnership behind some of the biggest Disney films, including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors crams in the musical numbers, including “Somewhere That’s Green”, “Suddenly Seymour” and the title track “Little Shop of Horrors”. With a flavour of do-wop, funk and Motown running through it (even including a down on their luck version of The Supremes); and a bouncy and animated feel to the whole thing, this show is tremendous, kooky fun.

Sam Lupton excelled as Seymour, with a strong, natural vocal performance and a geeky clumsiness; as did Stephanie Clift as Audrey, bringing out the optimistic side of her character whilst maintain her vulnerability. The two leads gel together perfectly, especially with their show-stopping rendition of “Suddenly Seymour” and they are an absolute delight to watch. Romantic leads as good as these two are few and far between. Rounding off the main cast was Rhydian, who played the “slightly” manic dentist, Orin, with enough gusto to keep it his performance just on the right side of caricature, and with his strong operatic voice lending itself to his big number very well. However, the star of the show was Audrey II, the giant plant, who grows and grows and becomes more animated as the story progresses.

This touring production boasts a thoroughly detailed and well-designed set, with a cartoonish feel and an eye for detail. Add to that some clear, crisp and perfectly balanced audio, an effective lighting design and an all-round top notch cast and you have an impressive show which is highly polished.

Little Shop of Horrors has gained a cult following over the years and it is easy to see why. At the heart of it is a love story about a guy who will do anything to get the girl of his dreams. The songs are catchy and feel instantly familiar, the story is undemanding, and the script has plenty of moments to make you laugh.

With a healthy nod to 1950’s B-Movies and a musical mish-mash of styles with everything from Motown to Yiddish Folk Music thrown in there, Little Shop of Horrors is a cracking musical comedy which is pure escapist fun.

Little Shop of Horrors is currently on national tour and details can be found on their website at www.littleshopuktour.com. The show was reviewed at Sheffield Theatres, whose upcoming production of Everyone’s Talking About Jamie opens soon (https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/everybodystalking-jamie)

8th November 2016
THEATRE REVIEW | F*cking Men

★★★★ | F*cking Men

If you’ve ever heard of the concept of ‘six degrees of separation’ then you’ll already know the theme of Arthur Schnitzel’s classic 1897 play Le Ronde. Couples copulate and the circle goes round with one-half of each couple appearing in the next scene with a new partner and the half of the first couple seen on stage appearing as one-half of the final shagging couple. Joe DiPietro’s updated version of his 2015 play features men f***ing. Lots of them. The three actors take on various roles including a rent boy, a soldier, a Hollywood actor, a married couple and a porn star. It’s a great concept and it actually works.

The dialogue is sharp and witty and the play is by turns grimy, tender and darkly comedic as well as at times, erotic. Men fumble, fellate and f*** (you’d want your money back if they didn’t, wouldn’t you?). The situations are sometimes familiar, sometimes exotic and DiPietro manages to cover a lot of pertinent issues without being dull or preachy. From the young soldier pretending to himself that having his cock sucked doesn’t make him gay to the couple with intricate rules attached to their open relationship (which, of course, they aren’t abiding to); these are situations that are bound to resonate with a gay audience.

A couple of the scenes jar slightly and there’s the odd discordant character but mostly these people feel spot on. The three actors are as talented as they’re hot. This is a feast for the intellect as well as the eyes and it’s a thought provoking and wise piece.

I’d highly recommend getting down to The Vaults at Waterloo to catch this play. David Hare’s 1998 version of La Ronde (The Blue Room which starred a naked Nicole Kidman) was famously described as ‘pure theatrical Viagra’. This is a triple dose of Viagra in a tunnel at Waterloo. Now that’s not something you get offered every day.

F***ing Men runs at The Vaults Theatre until 4th December

7th November 2016
THEATRE REVIEW | What Shadows, Birmingham Rep

✭✭✭✭ | What Shadows
CREDIT: Ellie Kurttz
Is prejudice innate or learned? Is racism okay if everyone is? And is there such thing as racism equality? These are some of the questions that What Shadows evoked, and are still riddling my mind.

In 1968, Enoch Powell made a speech in Birmingham that created a fissure along the street where it was famously delivered and divided a nation with words that scarred those who became a target of it. The Birmingham Rep put on the production of What Shadows and a troubling moment of history was resurfaced.

In the Studio Theatre, real trees had been planted to give the idea of wilderness and lighting cast shadows on the wall for different moments of the play. I found myself staring at them a lot to figure out their purpose, and it dawned on me, halfway through, that the trees were probably the same ones that had witnessed history across the decades that the play was set in. They were the shadows of time.

Cast-wise, each performer was equal in acting craftsmanship. Most actors multipart played different roles showcasing dexterity and natural flair, which contributed to an extremely believable production that took you on a chronological journey of identity. Chris Hannan, the writer of What Shadows, summoned a mixture of feelings in the audience, and without bias, created a story that made the audience ask and debate inwardly how they felt about their own identity: what is natural for human beings to feel? And, is double standards of racism correct?

Ian Mcdiarmid not only looked the part but his physicality, as well as his tone of voice, were uncannily accurate. The power and fragility of Enoch was brought out by Ian in a subliminal way, and it was one of those performances that stunned you and made you feel incredibly glad to have had the opportunity to watch it.

Bríd Brennan played Enoch’s wife, Pamela, and Sofia Nicol, an unrivalled genius of the early 90’s, which were played in a delicate and powerful way. The actor who stood out for me for his passionate, strong and utterly convincing portrayal of the Sultan was Phaldut Sharma. When he begged for his wife, Grace Hughes (Paula Wilcox), to remember him was close to tear-jerking, and the racial divide was felt the strongest when he gave a speech about serving with the Punjabi regiment and in the British Army as well as being a comrade of Enoch’s, and then Enoch’s dismissal and belittling of the sacrifices made by his regiment brought racism home. A superb performance I will never forget.

Paula Wilcox did a sterling job as Grace Hughes, a lady who lost her husband during the war, and embodied, with impeccable skill, a racist resident in Birmingham who sided with Enoch’s views, but when she got to know the Sultan, the racial tension fell away, and left room for love.

What Shadows plays at The Birmingham Rep until the 12th November

3rd November 2016