Allison Davies’s play, Tiny Fragments of Beautiful Light, is a warm, compassionate and playful love story based on her own experience of autism. It was first seen in Newcastle in 2023, and Birmingham is the last stop on this 2025 tour. We first meet Elsa (Hannah Genesius) aged fourteen, full of hormones and hopelessly in… Continue reading Tiny Fragments of Beautiful Light
Author: Editor
Mother Russia
I love shows that open with a lie. Especially a lie about politics, as in the case of Lauren Yee’s world première, which finally opened after several world-changing events. First, this was scheduled to open at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2022. Sadly (for all of us), COVID-19 hit and hit hard, closing not only Mother… Continue reading Mother Russia
The Little Prince
Director and choreographer Anne Tournié and libretto adapter and co-director Chris Mouron’s colourful version of The Little Prince novella (my French edition is under a hundred pages), that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry pared down and down to essentials, is not modest. Remember that famous quote about seeing with your heart and not your eyes… that the Fox (very… Continue reading The Little Prince
Clueless, The Musical
It is sobering when younger generations begin to experience nostalgic moments, but 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Clueless, the film loosely based on Jane Austen’s Emma (published 1815) that made stars of Alicia Silverstone and Paul Ruud and turned yellow plaid into a fashion statement. Amy Heckerling, writer of film and book, has now done the same… Continue reading Clueless, The Musical
Tell Me You’ll Think About It
There’s no denying there’s the guilty pleasure of schadenfreude in watching two twenty-somethings argue with each other for the best part of an hour. From the outset, director Sarah Majland has the two characters move around each other like unevenly matched opponents in a ring with David consigned once again to play audience and punchbag… Continue reading Tell Me You’ll Think About It
Weather Girl
Stacey is the perfect fit for her role as the weather girl at the American television station in Fresno California which wants to relax its viewers rather than worry them with unnecessary updates on the weather gloom. Stacey looks and sounds the part with her broad, warm smile, long blonde hair and tight-fitting pink skirt… Continue reading Weather Girl
Illegal rave play dances into Malvern
Six actors are needed for the première of a play which has taken 20 years to write: Rachel Tobin’s The Last Free Rave. Tobin is also directing the play about the Castlemorton Rave. What started out in 1992 as a small, free festival for travellers not only went down in history as the biggest illegal rave… Continue reading Illegal rave play dances into Malvern
Freema and Nick team up for RSC’s Much Ado
Freema Agyeman and Nick Blood will play Beatrice and Benedick in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing at Stratford in April 2025. Agyeman made her RSC debut as Olivia in Twelfth Night in 2024. In the same year, she played the nurse in Romeo and Juliet at London’s Duke of York Theatre. Blood will… Continue reading Freema and Nick team up for RSC’s Much Ado
Exchange chief leaves after report finds “leadership failures” over show cancellation
Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre’s Chief Executive Stephen Freeman has resigned after a report into the controversial cancellation of last year’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Steph O’Driscoll amid allegations of censorship found “significant systemic organisational and leadership failures rather than the deliberate suppression of political content”. The independent report, from people make it work, said… Continue reading Exchange chief leaves after report finds “leadership failures” over show cancellation
Musical to have UK première at Curve
Leicester theatre Curve is to stage Indigo, an “uplifting and heart-warming” new musical, in its studio theatre in summer 2025. Produced by Sing Out, Louise! Productions in association with Curve, Indigo is a story of three generations of women navigating their need to reach one another. Exploring themes of living with Alzheimer’s, autism and synaesthesia, the musical’s run… Continue reading Musical to have UK première at Curve