Amélie The Musical to give it its full title, is based on the 2001 French film that won a number of awards around the world and was nominated for five Oscars. The musical started its life in small theatres but transferred to Broadway in 2017 where after just 56 regular performances, it closed. This production was originally produced at The Watermill Theatre in … [Read more...]
Happy Jack by John Godber at the Jack Studio Theatre
One of writer John Godber’s early works was an adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, his best-known play is Bouncers and his latest production is called Scary Bikers - none of which could be thought of as quiet and gentle. However, his 1982 play Happy Jack is exactly that. Based on the lives of the writer’s own grandparents who lived for their whole lives in a small … [Read more...]
Wandsworth Arts Fringe turns 10! #WAF10
Last night the Wandsworth Arts Fringe launched their 2019 season. Unfortunately, they chose one of the coldest and wettest May nights for the launch and unlike last year when the event was held in a circus tent, this year it was held outside in a very cold and damp Shillington Park SW11. However, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the organisers and their … [Read more...]
Small Island adapted by Helen Edmundson at the Olivier Theatre | Review
After the recent Windrush Generation government scandal, this National Theatre production of Small Island couldn’t have come at a better time. Based on Andrea Levy’s 2004 novel and adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, it tells the stories of two families, one white and one black leading up to the arrival of immigrant workers from the Caribbean on the Empire … [Read more...]
The Full Monty at New Wimbledon Theatre | Review
There are various origin myths regarding the phrase “the full monty”. One is that Field Marshall Montgomery “Monty” used to like a full English breakfast every morning. Another is that after the war, the tailor Montague “Monty” Burton used to supply demobbed servicemen with a suit, a shirt, a tie and a hat. Or in the case of Simon Beaufoy’s play, it means a man … [Read more...]
Sitting at the Arcola Theatre | Review
An anxious, young man walks onto the stage, picks up a chair and proceeds to nervously take off all of his clothes and sits on the chair naked before addressing an unseen person. He soon realises that he doesn’t need to be naked and gets dressed. The set is fairly minimalist with three chairs, a table, a bench and at the back are some blank artists canvasses. A few … [Read more...]
Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story at Hope Theatre | Review
The biggest story in the USA in 1924 was the kidnapping and gruesome murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by two rich students from Chicago, Nathan Leopold Jr and Richard Loeb which became known at the time as “The Crime of Century” and made Leopold & Loeb infamous across the land. The two were lovers and Leopold’s obsession with Nietzsche’s concept of superman, led … [Read more...]
Cry Havoc by Tom Coash at Park Theatre | Review
Tom Coash’s new play Cry Havoc is set mainly in a pokey, claustrophobic one-room apartment in a run-down street in Cairo. Mohammed (played by James El-Sharawy) is recently released from prison where he was incarcerated for his political views, but his sexuality has also paid a part in him being locked up and he returns having been sadistically brutalised by his … [Read more...]
The Lady Vanishes at Richmond Theatre | Review
It all started so well. As the curtain rose in Frank Matcham’s magnificent theatre on Richmond Green, the backcloth representing a vast Viennese railway station just before the second world war with its deep perspective and realistic representation of train steam filled your vision. Combined with some evocative cinematic music and the superbly choreographed comings … [Read more...]