Reviews

Here at Scene One Plus, it seems to be my lot to get lumbered with the traditional country house murder mysteries. I have a bit of a reputation for reviewing Shakespeare plays as well but, while other people get to do the glossy stage musicals, I get the Murder in the Library with the Candlestick – by (whoever dunnit this time). I saw the title of this one, Sleighed to Death, and completely failed to research it – assuming that it was either one of the above, or possibly a “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians“, cheesy, Christmas thing. What I

This raucously enjoyable production starts even before one enters the auditorium, when you are likely to find yourself accosted (in the nicest way) by some “cheery ladies”… let’s leave it at that for the moment! As the audience take their seats, a full-on Music Hall singalong is taking place on the stage, and songsheets are distributed for our participation. It’s a hugely engaging introduction to the evening, establishing both style and location superbly. It is also to the credit of the company that they deliver these numbers as if to the manner born, and even at this point there is

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