Category: Reviews

Theatregoers are often baffled by how Hope Mill Theatre can afford to stage sophisticated shows in such a small venue. Bowing to the inevitable, the theatre is expanding operations to produce its award-winning musicals on a larger scale in other venues—in this case The Lowry. Pre-publicity for A Christmas Carol the Musical is typical of the quality… Continue reading A Christmas Carol the Musical

Little Shop of Horrors was first performed off Broadway in 1982 and has been a meteoric success ever since. Librettist Howard Ashman described it as a show “which satirises… science fiction, ‘B’ movies, musical comedy itself and even the Faust legend”. It is the science fiction aspect, expressed through the music and dance, which makes it… Continue reading Little Shop of Horrors

Hankies at the ready for an emotional rollercoaster with occasions for laughter amongst the tears… Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is becoming as immortal as Tchaikovsky’s powerful music of suppressed desires—played live tonight by the New Adventures Orchestra. Psychologically astute, it touches the heart deeply with its many-layered inspirations. And it is as fresh as it was almost… Continue reading Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake: The Next Generation

I’m fast reaching the conclusion that the Exeter panto is the one to beat. The dream team of the zany Le Navet Bete and director Martin Berry have penned a belter of a Cinderella, keeping it local, Gen Z and topical. Back as the baddie is the superb Jodie Micciche as Countess Wear, cold of… Continue reading Cinderella

An anxious woman in a red puffer jacket quickly pushes a child’s trolley carrying a small blue puffer-jacketed figure. She says she wants to stay in her apartment but has been told they must evacuate the area. It could be one of the regular scenes from Gaza. How many times have we witnessed that scene… Continue reading A Trojan Woman

It would be easy to mock Liz Truss, the Prime Minister of the UK whom the Daily Star pointed out did not outlast the shelf life of its live-streamed lettuce. (The lettuce makes an appearance in this production.) Indeed, there are amusing moments in Greg Wilkinson’s play that would easily lend themselves to a new… Continue reading The Last Days of Liz Truss?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year at Princess Hall in Aldershot, as audiences are transported to panto-land for an all-singing, all-dancing, glittery spectacular. For 2024, we are whisked to France for Beauty and the Beast, sometimes viewed as a rather problematic title but presented here sweetly with an emphasis on recognising the good in… Continue reading Beauty and the Beast

Capably written and directed by Jo Mawhinney and to stretch our imagination, this year’s panto has morphed the theatre into a giant boat, the good ship HMS Georgian Theatre Royal, set in the mythical coastal town of Richmond-by-the-Sea. And what seaside town would be complete without an ice-cream van? There are treasure maps, caskets of… Continue reading Treasure Island

Little Wolf knows about pantos. Success in nine categories in the Great British Pantomime Awards over the past six years speaks for itself. So any new production by the company has to be taken seriously, if you know what I mean. Cinderella is a typical Little Wolf staging: a visually glittering spectacular with astounding special… Continue reading Cinderella

It is 20 December 1933, and three strangers are impelled to take an overnight train from London’s Paddington to Cornwall. They are from different backgrounds, a medical doctor, Gordon Henderson, a dock worker and family man, James Macdonald, and an aristocrat, Lady Penelope Cunningham, but they share the same mission. If they reach Montague Manor… Continue reading Montague’s Millions