WAITING FOR GOD was a BBC Sitcom that ran from 1990 to 1994 about two spirited residents of a retirement home, Tom and Diana, who spend their time running rings around the home’s oppressive management. Its writer, Michael Aitkens, who was present at the performance I am reviewing, has adapted it … [Read more...]
London Musical Theatre Orchestra: Girlfriends at Bishopsgate Institute
After the success of The Hired Man (being revived at Hornchurch in the Spring of 2019), Howard Goodall turned his attention from ‘lusty, earthy’ choruses dominated by men, to a show in which women are prominent, attempting to tell the story of those who volunteered to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air … [Read more...]
Pack of Lies at The Menier Chocolate Factory | Review
It was an inspired idea of the Menier to revive Hugh Whitemore’s gripping play Pack of Lies this year: not only celebrating the life and work of the playwright, who died in July, but also taking heed of the public interest in Russian spies, following the Salisbury poisonings. This 1983 play, … [Read more...]
The Goon Show at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley | Review
There were nearly 250 episodes of The Goon Show aired on the BBC Home Service between 1951 and 1961, many of which were written by Spike Milligan, who was born 100 years ago, so it must have seemed a good idea to resurrect three of them, including the Famous Batter Pudding Mystery, and perform them … [Read more...]
About Leo at Jermyn Street Theatre, London | Review
Jermyn Street Theatre has a well-deserved reputation for staging new work, and their latest production, About Leo, can only enhance this. It is difficult to believe that this beautifully written, atmospheric play is the first one by playwright Alice Allemano. Eliza Prentice, whose character is … [Read more...]
Review of The Here and This and Now at Southwark Playhouse
This superbly acted play by Plymouth playwright Glenn Waldron is alternately hilarious and very dark, and certainly, sends one out of the theatre thinking! Commissioned by Plymouth Theatre Royal, and premiered there in March 2017, it looks at what would happen if, as seems likely at some date in … [Read more...]
Review of The Hound of the Baskervilles at Jermyn Street Theatre
The pocket-sized Jermyn Street Theatre, just south of Piccadilly Circus, has made an inspired choice for this year’s Christmas production: an hilarious, three-handed adaptation of Conan Doyle’s The Hound of The Baskervilles. The play has been directed (the highly talented Lotte Wakeham) at breakneck … [Read more...]
Review of James Meunier’s new solo EP ‘From The Heart’
James Meunier is currently in the UK Tour of Sunset Boulevard understudying the role of Joe Gillis. The EP is produced by Auburn Jam (Nikki and Joe Davison), including original arrangements by Joe Davison, and featuring live musicians - including Richard Meunier on guitar and string players. The EP … [Read more...]
Review of Frankenstein at the Bridewell Theatre
If you have experienced Mel Brooks’ version of Young Frankenstein and wondered what Mary Shelley’s original was really like, you should head to the Bridewell Theatre near Blackfriars Station this week where the amateur Stock Exchange Operatic and Dramatic Society is staging Nick Dear’s faithful and … [Read more...]