Category: Reviews

The photographs displayed above are so different that readers may wonder if they really can belong to the same production. And they would not be far wrong. Although Il Bajazet carries the name of Vivaldi on the sleeve, it is the work of many hands, what in 1735 Verona was known as a pasticcio, to you and me… Continue reading Il Bajazet

A show about mid-life women by a mid-life woman and based on anthropologist Dr Isabel de Salis’s research into 50 menopausal women for over 10 years, Mid Life is poignant, funny, over-reaching and frustrating by turns. There is a lot packed into just 90 uninterrupted minutes, from the physical and mental effects of perimenopause and menopause, to… Continue reading Mid Life

This revival of Nick Payne’s intimate two-hander packs a lot into ninety minutes: six decades in fact, beginning in 1942 when young lovers Leonard and Violet give their families invented explanations for not coming home and book into a Bath hotel for a night together, their first and their last before Leonard goes off to… Continue reading One Day When We Were Young

A lively show that mixes live drumming with theatre, judo, dance and wrestling. At the centre, is Jenni (Jennifer) Jackson telling us, repeatedly, she was a Junior Judo Champion (which in real life, she was) and a reason she fights with such passion and determination. Jennifer Jackson is also a performer, director and writer and… Continue reading WRESTLELADSWRESTLE

Hope Mill’s latest production is a play rather than a musical, but one with a musical theme. Peter Quilter’s 20-year-old play centres on the true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, the American socialite from the early twentieth century who was proclaimed as one of the worst opera singers in history but who sold out Carnegie… Continue reading Glorious

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

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 current touring performance of The Buddy Holly Story is a joyful experience and a thrilling evening in the theatre. Since opening in Plymouth in 1989, the musical biography has had a 14-year run in the West End and extended tours all over the world. This is a tribute to the enduring popularity of Buddy’s music, its… Continue reading The Buddy Holly Story

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

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