Month: November 2022

Thirteen years ago, the Lyric Hammersmith heralded a new chapter in its history by bringing pantomime back to its stage. Jack and the Beanstalk kicked off this bright new era, which is still going strong as the venue revisits the title for a fourth time. As ever, the Lyric’s show is vibrant, dynamic and bursting… Continue reading Jack and the Beanstalk

The annual festive show at the New Vic in north Staffordshire is usually something special and the 2022 offering is no exception. The theatre’s artistic director, Theresa Heskins, has returned to a production she adapted and directed in 2011, Alice in Wonderland, which bears all the hallmarks of a typical New Vic show: committed acting, a slick,… Continue reading Alice in Wonderland

Pete Carruthers is a man on a mental health mission. As writer, director, producer and an actor in this absorbing studio production he’s also clearly developed an effective marketing, promotional and publicity expertise that would shame many larger theatre production companies He’s mined personal experience, as well as the help of professionals in the field… Continue reading The Possibility of Colour

Headlong’s disturbing take on Henry V, directed by Holly Race-Roughan, shines a light on the way weakness and insecurity in a dictator, a King, can generate bullying, murder and sexual abuse. The end section of this production is a real kicker that I would like anyone who is even thinking about Henry V to see. The key to… Continue reading Henry V

New Creation is the latest troubled piece from Brazilian choreographer Bruno Beltrão, famed for radicalising hip-hop and street dance by scooping it off the kerb and into a contemporary dance space. The choreographer aims to create a “socio-political” plea for change within a society gripped by “ultra-right forces” through the form of urgent movement. Whilst… Continue reading Bruno Beltrão: New Creation

The Orange Tree has a well earned reputation for revivals of Bernard Shaw’s plays and this is another delightful example which Paul Miller directs as his last production as Artistic Director. This 1894 comedy comes up fresh as a button and makes a great Christmas treat. It is set in the home of the Petkoffs,… Continue reading Arms and the Man

Here (says a press release over-optimistically) is an opera for our times about our search for belonging, understanding the incomprehensible, and how charismatic leaders can exploit our longing for connection. An American high school teacher (Nicole Heaston) fears she is going out of her mind. She hears a mysterious and constant low frequency hum. She… Continue reading The Listeners

This world première production of Frank McGuinness’s 70-minute new play, which opened in Dublin, now comes to London. It offers the unlikely pairing of movie star comic genius Groucho Marx and acclaimed poet and publisher T S Eliot. In fact, these men from different ends of the artistic spectrum did meet after a correspondence that… Continue reading Dinner With Groucho

Fun and feisty, Life’s a Drag reveals the parallel lives of an awkward young Queer. Maxine struggles to resolve the tension between family pressures and her identity, something that itself remains unreconciled. Her outlet is Drag Diva, a say-it-how-it-is alter-ego who can be, and can do, all the things that 18-year-old Max cannot. In its… Continue reading Life’s a Drag

Hugh Moncrieffe has written his autobiography, he is home after the launch party. There are copies around and he puts up the publisher’s poster, perhaps to impress guests he is expecting. He is even more pleased with himself when, among a succession of mobile phone calls, there’s some pretentious Franglais, a reference to a wager… Continue reading The Critic