Winner of the 2017 Papatango Award Stewart Pringle’s Trestle is a two-handed play which through subtle, well-paced storytelling explores love and aging. Set in the Temperance Hall in a small Yorkshire town; widower, Harry (Gary Lilburn) is chairman of the Billingham Improvement Committee and Denise (Connie Walker) is a Zumba teacher. The pair first meet when she arrives to prepare for her class as he is packing away his meeting. Their first meeting is awkward; however, the two soon look … [Read more...]
Review of Moments at The Hen and Chickens Theatre
Part of this year’s Camden Fringe and written by and starring Julia Cranney; Moments is a witty, one-act play which explores loneliness in a big City (London). Twenty-six-year-old Ava (Julia Cranney) has recently moved from the North of England to London where she works in a Call Centre. Daniel (Simon Mattacks) is 52 and works a security guard who has recently separated from his wife. It is during their daily bus commute to their various workplaces that they first meet. Following several … [Read more...]
Review of Body & Blood at the King’s Head Theatre
Written by Lorraine Mullaney and set in rural Ireland/London in 1956, Body & Body considers whether we should sacrifice personal happiness for family duty. Twenty-two-year-old Aileen (Pamela Flanagan) has left her strict family behind and has headed to London to find her younger sister. A sister who has fled the family home in an attempt to avoid an arranged marriage to an elderly farmer who has “a face like the Turin Shroud!” On arrival, Aileen heads to her Uncle Colm (Luke McGibney)’s … [Read more...]
Review of Loop at Theatre N16
A mixture of mime, dance and words performed by an excellent 4-strong cast, Loop is an exploration of the generation gap issue facing one family over a 50 year period. The play begins with a beautifully written descriptive, hopeful and often humorous monologue as Woman (Emily Thornton) plans to leave her East London home for what she believes is an exciting new life in Manchester. Thornton’s delivery is excellent managing to give us a real feel of her hope for the future as she makes her … [Read more...]
Review of Brimstone and Treacle at The Hope Theatre
Banned from transmission by the BBC in the 1970s, this excellent production coincides with the 40th anniversary of Dennis Potter's controversial play. Patricia 'Pattie' Bates (Olivia Beardsley) is being cared for by her parents, Tom (Paul Clayton) and Amy Bates (Stephanie Beattie), after being paralysed following an accident whilst out visiting a friend two years earlier. The family are relaxing at home when they receive an unexpected visit from Martin (Fergus Leathem) who not only says he … [Read more...]
Chinglish at Park Theatre has ‘intrigue, romance and laughs’
Written by David Henry Hwang and previously performed in New York, this production is the UK premiere of Chinglish and is a play with a difference; half the dialogue is being spoken in Mandarin with (often funny) translated surtitles. The play tells the story of an American businessman, Daniel Cavanaugh (Gyumri Sarods)’s attempt at “doing business in China”. In the first scene we see Daniel presenting at a business forum in Cleveland Ohio. The slides shown in this presentation give us a … [Read more...]
I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard – Finborough Theatre – Review
Set in a Manhattan apartment, Halley Feiffer’s I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a two-handed play exploring the fractured relationship between an award-winning playwright and his aspiring actress daughter. The play begins with David (Adrian Lukis) and Ella (Jill Winternitz) sharing a bottle of wine whilst waiting for the reviews of “The Seagull” (a play in which she’s appearing) are published. When the reviews eventually come he teases her further by raising her hopes by saying it is a "rave" … [Read more...]