Month: January 2025

When I reviewed Seattle Rep’s The Skin of Our Teeth, and mentioned I’d never attended any productions of it after fifty years of watching and writing about theatre, my editor wrote back that he was surprised I hadn’t seen it. Ditto, I hate to admit, with Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit. I had read both but… Continue reading Blithe Spirit

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, and their bitterly antagonistic families meet on stage in a completely new, award-winning version from Ballet Cymru, the Cardiff-based Welsh touring ballet company. Does Romeo and Juliet end well? Sadly, most of us know the fate of the young lovers, and Jacob Myers—Romeo—and Gwenllian Davies—Juliet—portray them well, with, particularly,… Continue reading Romeo a Juliet

A tale of fame and fortune, Dick Whittington feels nowhere more at home than when presented in London, where the streets aren’t quite paved with gold. A home-grown narrative on home soil often leads to a path well-trodden, but this year’s pantomime at the Greenwich Theatre reinvents the title in a truly innovative way. Appearing in his… Continue reading Dick Whittington and his Cat

Mashed-up fairy tales, eye-popping visuals and saturated sound and colour go hand in hand in Patrick J O’Reilly’s exuberant The Adventures of Red Riding Hood at Belfast’s The Mac. It’s busy, loud, paced with enough adrenaline to light up a small town and doesn’t so much bend the fairy tale genre as turn it upside down and… Continue reading The Adventures of Red Riding Hood

For those seeking to avoid panto land but who still want some festive fun, Southwark Playhouse is staging The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary, an adaptation of Flaubert’s iconic novel performed by a cast of four and ‘lovingly derailed’ by writer John Nicholson. Breaking the fourth wall within minutes of the show starting, the cast… Continue reading The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary

Even when it was first conceived, Valentine Davies’s story Miracle on 34th Street was steeped in nostalgia, a yearning for happier, simpler times when belief in Santa Claus and kindness was possible. At that time, no-one could have anticipated society would reach a point where high streets would be barren and physical retail sales in actual shops… Continue reading Miracle on 34th Street

Carlos Acosta’s touring production of Nutcracker in Havana has been on the road since 1 November and will finish in Salford late January, so it has to travel light, relying on video projection (we fly over Havana and Cuban plantations), simple set design and mapping by Nina Dunn and Andrew Exeter’s lighting. And on a… Continue reading Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker in Havana

When it comes to panto season, who doesn’t like an opportunity to enjoy a look at Jack’s stalk lubricated by a couple of pints? Whereas some adult pantos are straightforwardly themed, Vauxhall’s Garden Theatre is hosting a high energy, generally rude Snow White for 18+. It is a mix of the ribald and the smutty and, by… Continue reading Snow White – London’s Naughtiest Adults Only Panto!

The accumulation of profit is the key overriding rule of the capitalist system, even if that means brutally exploiting employees or peddling lethal products to consumers. How else can we explain the Grenfell deaths or the absurdity known as Thames Water? No person is exempt from its destructive impulse, as the fossil fuel industry seems… Continue reading The Little Foxes

Music is not just the food of love, but serves up a feast of musical gags in Prasanna Puwanarajah’s witty, warm-hearted production that is just the ticket for Christmas entertainment. It’s a blast. Dominating the stage are the huge pipes of a triple-manual organ, which provide an alternative hiding place to the usual box tree… Continue reading Twelfth Night