The theatrical story of Burke and Hare, who provided Dr Knox with a plentiful supply of dead bodies for dissection in early nineteenth century Edinburgh, is the perhaps surprising, but inspired, choice of pre-Christmas fare at Jermyn Street Theatre this December. The undoubted success of this production is due in no small part to the imaginative script by Tom Wentworth, which is in turn truly hilarious and serious. He has the gift of speeding us through the plot at breakneck speed, except for … [Read more...]
Season’s Greetings by Alan Ayckbourn – Leatherhead Rep
Season's Greetings, written by Alan Ayckbourn in 1980, is a black though often farcical comedy, especially in this production, about four days in the life of a dysfunctional family, starting on Christmas Eve and set in a typical suburban house. It has been imaginatively chosen as the third and final production in this autumn’s highly successful ‘weekly rep’ season at Leatherhead Theatre. One of the reasons for the undoubted success of this particular play is the witty yet often poignant … [Read more...]
Waiting for God at Leatherhead Theatre | Review
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 as a highly amusing stage play, which, however, shows its TV origins in the number of brief scenes dovetailed together. The play was presented as the first in Leatherhead Theatre’s Autumn weekly … [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 Force in 1941. It was successfully staged, with Maria Friedman, at Oldham Coliseum in 1986, but when it transferred to London’s Playhouse Theatre, Goodall had been persuaded to rewrite much of it, and … [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, which originally starred Judi Dench and Michael Williams as Bob and Barbara Jackson, persuaded by M15 to allow their house to be used for surveillance on their closest friends, is based on the true story … [Read more...]