Any live theatrical experience in the autumn of 2020 is going to be tinged with a profound sense of gratitude. That we have managed to gather and be entertained – thanks to producers, creatives and cast who bring new depth to the term ‘trouper’ with all its ‘show-must-go-on’ notions of persistence and ingenuity – is […]
About Mary Beer
The Maltings Theatre’s The Merry Wives of Windsor | Review
Adam Nichols’ 90-minute adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor is an absolute belter of bawdiness and the perfect pick-me-up for a pandemic. Shakespeare’s comic spin-off from the Henry histories was written as a vehicle to return the deliciously obese and lecherous Falstaff, who provided comic relief in the more seriously-toned Henry IV historical dramas, […]
The Maltings Open Air Theatre Festival – Henry V | Review
As the nation roils amongst a nonsensical A-Levels algorithm and poetry is to be dropped from the essential study of English Literature, get your family down to the Maltings Festival to celebrate the Bard who defines Britain’s aesthetic soul in this entertaining and youthful version of Henry V – a good day out for Shakespeare […]
Super Stories with City Actors: Up, Up, Up & Away! | Review
My twin 7-year-old co-critics have lockdown fatigue like everyone else. Four months since the closure of theatres, museums and schools, the thrill of sheer resourcefulness no longer has quite the frisson it did back in March. The first Zoom gathering of their Year 3 class promised longed-for sociability but produced cacophonous frustration and the novelty […]
Our Man In Havana by Spies Like Us Theatre | Review
Graham Greene’s political farce about a vacuum cleaner salesman turned bogus intelligence source-for-pay to the British Secret Services has always been a brilliant example of the hilarity that can ensue when obsessions and avarice meet. Spies Like Us Theatre has seized the opportunity of a balmy pre-revolutionary Cuban setting inhabited by the British ruling class […]