Anyone that knows me is aware that not only do I love a bit of Shakespeare but there is one of the Bard’s plays I really don’t get on with. I’ve seen it a few times and for some reason, it's always frustrated me. The play is A Midsummer Night’s Dream and after the last time, I said I would never review it again. However, when I was offered a chance to see the play at The Globe, I decided to give it one more go, so along the South Bank I went. Because life isn’t difficult enough A … [Read more...]
Review of Brokeback Mountain @sohoplace
When writing and reading reviews, one phrase pops up more than most – “could have done with being slightly shorter”. This or a variation of the words appears a lot as playwrights and directors strive to put everything out there no matter how relevant. But this review is slightly different, as I can honestly say, I would have been very happy if Brokeback Mountain, having its premiere at the new Soho Place Theatre, was a bit longer. Ennis Del Mar (Paul Hickey) is an old drunk, who sleeps in … [Read more...]
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Corporate life has never been easy. Getting to the top of the ladder is the hope and dream of many a poor underling working in, for example, the mailroom. A million self-help books on how to rise have been written but only one is proven to be successful. That book is How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and you can have a read as it has touched down at the Southwark Playhouse. J. Pierrepont Finch (Gabrielle Friedman) is a window cleaner with ambition. Whilst squeegees and … [Read more...]
Murdered to Death at the Network Theatre
I bet not many of you realise that, aside from the Vaults, there is another thriving theatre nestling underneath Waterloo Station. It's called the Network Theatre and has its own intrepid band of amateur thespians ready to take on and perform theatrical entertainment for those who wish to see it. Their latest show is a production of Peter Gordon’s spoof Agatha Christie murder mystery Murdered to Death. Mildred Bagshot (Moira Cane) is very excited. A group of her friends - who she hasn’t … [Read more...]
Venus and Adonis at Riverside Studios
Let me take you back to a London very different from today. Thanks to an epidemic breakout, the city is pretty much locked down and the theatres are all shut. In his home, a young playwright is twiddling his thumbs trying to decide what to do now there is nowhere to put on his plays. Obviously, this is not the London of 2020, but is in fact 1592, the young playwright’s name is William Shakespeare, and he didn’t twiddle for too long, and he decided to pick up his quill and give poetry a go. The … [Read more...]