I personally prefer shows that pay homage to stars rather than the Jukebox Musicals. You know what you get rather than some thin storyline weaved with famous songs. And Be Bop a Lula! proved it once again for me. The audience wasn’t your typical West End Audience, A gentleman next to me, told me it was his first time in years he was back in London and his first West End Theatre. “I Like It” he said approvingly. The Ambassadors Theatre is small but perfect for a show or tribute concert like this. … [Read more...]
Review of Without Reluctance and Without Relief
At the Brockley Jack Pub, Well more the Jack Studio theatre, there is loss. Three monologues put in one play by resident writer Howard Colyer. The audience get welcomed with a moody atmosphere, fog and a violin playing in minor. Three tables are spread over the stage which I thought would represent the three stories, I was wrong. There is a chair that just stands there for most part of the play. The first monologue “Again” saw Warren Taylor as a drunken man. Drunken because his girlfriend … [Read more...]
Ordinary Days full of warmth and wit at Rosemary Branch
As the raindrops fell on the pavement and the rooftops the audience settled themselves in a small theatre pub called The Rosemary Branch. It seemed our moods were as miserable as the weather, trying to bring some warmth into our bodies. Our frontal view were boxes and there were lots of them, nothing painted on them or stuck on them, just plain cardboard boxes. The back of the stage was filled with stuck on coloured A5 pieces of paper that had sentences written on some of them. A young man … [Read more...]
How To hold Your Breath: a play M. Night Shyamalan didn’t write
As I was running late due to the traffic, my 38 bus passed a few cinemas. One of the Films showing everywhere is The Theory of Everything. One cinema had a poster of a stage play on screen called Hamlet with a picture of its star Maxine Peake. “She looks familiar," I thought. As the bus passed Piccadilly Circus, I saw two big ads of a famous social network and the soft drink company that has bought the London Eye. Having made it by the skin of my teeth, I sat down as the light dimmed. Whilst … [Read more...]
A Joy for the audience, not for the Characters
Fringe theatre plays mainly suffer from funding, but with a bit of imagination and the free technology we have in the warmth of what we call home, one would expect a bit of decent advertising. Yet somehow, Fringe theatre doesn't seem to be too bothered with modest publicity. As does this play “Joy”. Written by Thomas Jones and Nikolai Ribnikov. The poster does not appeal to me at all, nor does the trailer at The Etcetera Theatre, a small theatre above a pub in Camden. I was once again … [Read more...]