James Graham’s play Punch which had its première at Nottingham Playhouse in 2024 will go to Broadway in autumn 2025. The Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) will present the Broadway première at the Samuel J Friedman Theatre. It will be directed by Nottingham Playhouse artistic director Adam Penford who will make his Broadway and American directorial debut. Penford… Continue reading James Graham play to punch its weight on Broadway
Author: Editor
The Valley of Queens
Curl Girl Productions is a West Midlands-based theatre company, led by artistic director Kiren Jogi, which focusses on South East Asian culture. The Valley of Queens is a piece of verbatim theatre performed by a cast of five women. It was created out of a project funded by Creative Black Country in which women aged fifty and… Continue reading The Valley of Queens
Aladdin
For the fourth year running, Paul Hendy and Emily Wood’s Evolution Productions has teamed up with York Theatre Royal’s Juliet Forster to present a family-oriented and feel-good take on a traditional Christmas panto. Sticking closely to the conventional plot, Sario Solomon’s Aladdin (but you can call him Al) goes from rags to riches in his… Continue reading Aladdin
The Housetrap
Secrets and lies abound in The Housetrap,but will the audience ever correctly guess whodunnit? For the finale of their 18th birthday celebrations, Guildford Shakespeare Company (GSC) is on the road again, and instead of taking a flight of fantasy on a Boeing 747, they are instead in residence at the magnificent West Horsley Place. Star of BBC’s Ghosts and… Continue reading The Housetrap
Pan
The rich colours and design of the stage set designed by Andrew Caddies can’t fail to catch your eye as you walk to your seat. A rock-like central platform decked with greenery sits on a warm, velvet stage carpet within a semicircular wooden frame, one side of which is labelled NW, W, SW and the… Continue reading Pan
Twelfth Night
Despite the title, Twelfth Night isn’t a play about Christmas, but Tom Littler’s production arrives like a Christmas gift. It starts off sombre then turns delightful. He has set it just after the Second World War, and designers Anett Black and Neil Irish have lined the balcony front with panels that list the fallen, while below, a… Continue reading Twelfth Night
Cinderella
The Royal Ballet gives us a visually magical Cinderella, a new production last seen in 2023, instead of The Nutcracker as our Christmas treat this year. And bearing in mind that it is panto season, it leans heavily towards the Step Sisters’ double drag act. Though we are told male and female dancers will alternate… Continue reading Cinderella
The Pirates of Penzance
Even if you don’t know any Gilbert and Sullivan, you’ll undoubtedly recognise some of the foot-tapping songs—somehow they are in our English DNA. Mike Leigh’s 2015 Pirates of Penzance production—revival director Sarah Tipple—returns for the silly panto season. And it is delightful. The pace could be a bit tighter, the choreography a bit more imaginative, some don’t… Continue reading The Pirates of Penzance
Dick Whittington
The Corn Exchange was bedecked with festive decorations and beautiful real tree in the foyer and festoons of lights in the auditorium for this year’s Christmas Panto Dick Whittington, and it’s an absolute winner. Once again, the award-winning creative team of Plested, Brown and Wilsher return for their sixth year at the helm with Adam… Continue reading Dick Whittington
Robin Hood
Following last year’s sparkly Cinderella, the Yvonne Arnaud team is back with another family focussed favourite, namely Robin Hood. Set in merry old England with a nasty sheriff, magical forest, chorus of villagers and ‘will they won’t they’ love story, Jack Counsel’s script and Joanna Read’s direction delivers an action-packed tale stuffed with silliness and… Continue reading Robin Hood