I start this review by holding my hands up and saying I know nothing about indie folk music, which is, I am reliably informed by a certain encyclopedic website, what Charlie Fink is best known for. I have to confess I know of him only through his foray into musical theatre last year with The Lorax. The point is, I entered the theatre last night as someone who was there to see theatre, not someone who wanted to see an indie folk artist sing some songs, and in some ways, it didn’t … [Read more...]
Review of 102 a new play by Michael Honnah at The Space Theatre
Theatre has long been used to deal with difficult and distressing issues in a "safe" space. Some of my favourite shows in recent years have dealt with drug addiction, war and child exploitation yet one issue that I feel theatre does not deal with well is domestic violence, and that really is why 102 is such an original piece of theatre. On my way to the theatre this evening I was thinking about where I'd seen domestic abuse portrayed at the theatre before and I came up with four shows, all of … [Read more...]
Review of Birds of Paradise at The Drayton Arms Theatre
When Broadway actor Lawrence Woods (played by Ashley Knight) returns to the small village he came from he attends a local amateur dramatic group rehearsal. Soon, he is using his fame to direct a musical version of Chekov’s The Seagull with both amusing and moving consequences. With a book and lyrics by Winnie Holzman (best known for the book of the hit musical Wicked) you know from the start that the evening is going to provide some light-hearted entertainment and it didn’t disappoint. … [Read more...]
Front of House Theatre Company presents Let the Write One In
Front of House Theatre Company is made up off (you guessed it) front of house staff from the National Theatre. Each short play presented was written, directed and performed by front of house staff and, perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to an excellent night of varied and exciting new theatre. My favourite play of the night was titled Something Like Light written by Sophie McKay. Set in a war zone it explores the idea of right and wrong, and just how far we would go to help others (and … [Read more...]
Review of Door Ajar’s Theatre’s Thisbe at Theatre Royal Stratford East
Have you ever got to the end of a book or a play and wondered what happens next? In the case of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you need wonder no more as Thisbe imagines what happens 13 years later, through the eyes of Helena and Demetrius’s daughter Thisbe. Fans of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will already have guessed that the title character is named after the play Pyramus and Thisbe which is performed at the weddings of Helena and Demetrius and Hermia and Lysander in the … [Read more...]