Schools are very evocative places. Walking into a classroom, smelling the chalk dust and PVC glue, seeing the brightly coloured poster paint artworks, hearing the scrape of a small chair being pulled out from under a small desk, most of us would be hit by a powerful wave of memories; some good, some bad. For Brian and Donna, summoned to meet their son’s teacher, Mr McCafferty, the memories are mostly bad. Back in those hallowed, hated halls, their confidence seeps away and they are … [Read more...]
Honk! The Musical by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe
The winner of the 2000 Olivier award for Best Musical, Honk! has spent the last twenty years slipping quietly into suburban obscurity. In 2017 it was revived to great acclaim at the Union Theatre, and has since been workshopping at The Arts Centre Hounslow, from whence it will launch its national tour. It is hard not to draw parallels between the play and the venue itself. Both have been rescued, after years in the wilderness, and lovingly revamped with a shoestring budget but plenty of … [Read more...]
Shit-faced Shakespeare® – The Taming of the Shrew | Review
Take a bunch of classically trained yet not entirely serious actors, rehearse a play then feed one of them half a bottle of gin just before curtain up and what have you got? Come on, you can do better than that! I said, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT? SH!T FACED SHAKESPEARE! That’s right! Birthed from under one of the more outrageous skirts of the Edinburgh fringe, this group has been “improving” Shakespearean plays for an incredibly impressive nine years. Hamlet, Much Ado, Midsummer and many others have … [Read more...]
The Last Will and Testament of Henry Van Dyke at the Tabard Theatre
When a play’s title is almost longer than the play itself, warning bells start to chime. Often it augurs an evening of tedious, hollow, pretentious pomposity in the name of “Art”. The Last Will and Testament of Henry Van Dyke (henceforth to be known as Henry Van Dyke to save my fingers) is certainly about “Art”. Thankfully, though, there is nothing pompous or pretentious about it; it’s actually rather a humble little play. Person 1 and Person 2 both have artistic aspirations. Person 1 … [Read more...]
The Grand Expedition from Gingerline | Review
Reviewing a Gingerline evening poses a problem - how to describe a production that you are not allowed to tell anybody about? Location, menu and details about the performance are all a ferociously guarded secret that we are under strict instructions not to reveal, in order to preserve the aura of mystery and element of surprise that is so key to these experiences. Gingerline is the brainchild of Suzannah Montfort and Kerry Adamson, a duo of passionate and imaginative foodies, determined to … [Read more...]
Th’Importance of Bein’ Earnest at Drayton Arms Theatre
In theatreland, the term “re-imagining” is a tricky beast, filling one with an uncomfortable mixture of hope and dread. If done well, it can breathe new life into a hackneyed production. If not, as is unfortunately often the case, you leave the theatre determined to hunt down the director and yell at him: “Why?? Why did you mess with it? Just leave it alone!!” Thankfully, LKT Productions’ reimagining of the Oscar Wilde classic The Importance of Being Earnest falls squarely into the former … [Read more...]