Category: Reviews

As most people over the age of 30 can tell you, there is a great yawning chasm of anxiety and depression writ large through the mundane horror of everyday life and the painful existential terror of being in your early 20s, usually compounded by the listlessness of an unclear career-path, the grind of boring day-jobs,… Continue reading Hole

Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady is so well-known and loved, most people can sing chunks of the score from memory. Which makes it a bit embarrassing to admit I’ve never seen it on stage before tonight, but then it has been over a decade since there was a major revival. The plot of the… Continue reading My Fair Lady

When the spark flickers in a relationship and threatens to go out, what’s to be done? The solution to reigniting the conjugal flame in Keith Singleton’s Something Different at The Mac, Belfast is a surprising one. Martin and Susan live in cosy, if unexciting, familiarity and companionship in “a humble home in a standard suburb”.… Continue reading Something Different

Richard Strauss was not one to stand still, and this very different follow-up to Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most curious operas ever written, a mixture of tragedy and buffoonery, serious yet constantly sending itself up. The music too has a sad, sardonic quality, slightly mocking in tone as it moves from a conversational… Continue reading Ariadne auf Naxos

More than 20 years have elapsed since I studied Lord of the Flies at school, and I must admit that it’s not a book I remember particularly fondly. With hindsight, however, I believe this might reveal more about the drawbacks of studying a text for a prolonged period rather than any inherent weaknesses within William… Continue reading Lord of the Flies

This is the last spring tour for outgoing the Artistic Director and founder of Eastern Angles, and so Ivan Cutting has chosen a subject that has engaged him ever since university days: Medieval Mystery plays. In the 15th century, these were often the way people learnt about Biblical stories and certainly one of the most… Continue reading Medieval Miracles

Robin Hood and the Major Oak is the fourth production from Derby Theatre to have integrated British Sign Language—and this is the most ambitious to date. Two of the actors, Adam Bassett who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham and Mia Ward who takes the role of Maid Marian, are deaf. A 10-strong ensemble features deaf… Continue reading Robin Hood and the Major Oak

In the programme notes, writer and director Conor McPherson describes Girl From the North Country as “a conversation between the songs and the story”. Having received a package of 40 Bob Dylan albums (sent to him by Dylan), McPherson has woven around 20 songs into the narratives of a similar number of characters who congregate… Continue reading Girl from the North Country

At this point, despite only four years since it premièred at the Dorfman Theatre, The Ocean at the End of the Lane’s reputation precedes it. Through word of mouth or the marketing materials, the audience is promised something it has never witnessed on stage before. So, when one enters and takes their seat in the… Continue reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Have you ever thought you had a great idea for a TV sitcom, wondered how to turn it into a reality? You might pick up a few tips here, for that is the dream that has driven the characters in David Cantor and Michael Kingsbury’s new play to sign up for a course in scriptwriting… Continue reading Jumping the Shark