Reviews

Terry Johnson’s play takes place in the living room of Richard and Eleanor in the week that the world lost comedian greats Benny Hill and Frankie Howard. Richard is passionate about classic comedians who are no longer with us: Tommy Cooper, Sid James, Max Miller, Eric Morecambe, Tony Hancock… Each gets celebrated in their own little way during the show. Eleanor, however, doesn’t share his passion – in fact their lack of passion is causing issues in their marriage. Eleanor is desperate for a baby, and is concerned that her biological clock is ticking; meanwhile her consultant obstetrician husband will

Charles and Vivienne Brooks are hosting a dinner party for their friends as a way of celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary. Delightful! Well, it would be – if it weren’t for the fact that Vivienne has disappeared, the staff have walked out, the prepared dinner ingredients are uncooked in the kitchen and the first guests arrive to the sound of a gunshot as Charlie is discovered upstairs with a bullet hole through his earlobe…! American playwright Neil Simons originally wrote Rumors as a disastrous dinner party held in the elite Palisades north of New York, but Chesil Theatre have (very

My first introduction to The 39 Steps was the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, first seen many years ago; I loved it and went straight to John Bucan’s original book – and so my love for The 39 Steps began… Back to the present, and with the rain starting to lash outside and the temperature plummeting, I entered the remote Corhampton Golf Course venue eagerly anticipating an evening of drama and suspense. What I got was the complete opposite – an unexpectedly yet absolutely hilarious and magical BlackBox of delights! For those unfamiliar with The 39 Steps, it follows the flight of

On the face of it, the crux of Yasmina Reza’s barbed four-hander is a straightforward one: two sets of parents get together to have a (hopefully) civilised discussion following the attack, with a stick, by the son of one of the sets of parents on the son of the other, leaving him with cuts and bruises and a couple of missing teeth. But the script is torn up fairly quickly as each set of parents tries, after a fashion, to defend their own son’s actions, and the barriers come tumbling down, with the couples almost seeming to agree one moment

The numbers taking history at A level and as a degree subject are apparently falling sharply. Digital devices and social media mean that today’s young are often thought of as a ‘here and now’ generation, but this intriguing production challenges that perception. Its young cast (supported by fellow-students soon to graduate from AUB in costume and performance design, make-up for media and performance, and film production) remind themselves and their contemporaries that there is much to learn from the past and that many strands of memory and influence have come together to make us who we are: to realise that

A 100 years of anything is pretty impressive, but 100 years of delivering musicals and plays deserves a huge round of applause. Poole & Parkstone have now entered their 100th year and have pulled together a huge colorful mix of songs that they have performed over the years as a celebration of their achievements. In true Poole & Parkstone style, the concert is starting at the Regent Centre for two evenings and will then be moving to the Lighthouse in Poole later in the month. The Regent Centre evenings are charity preview nights for Diverse Abilities and Guide Dogs for