Reviews

Given that Poole is famously a sea-faring town, with a rich history of pirates and sailors visiting the port, it was a clever move to organize a production of Treasure Island at the Lighthouse, Poole. Based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island follows the story of Jim Hawkins. It is set in the days of sailing ships and tells us of Jim’s adventures in his search for buried treasure. Whilst I appreciate that not every Society has to ability to do this, it was really nice to see that the programmes were freely available for all in

This is a play that tries too hard. Its very title has a smack of pretension about it: for those who are not quantum physicists, Heisenberg’s principle is basically that you cannot measure the position and the momentum of a particle simultaneously. The play has been rightly criticised for its “self-conscious intellectualism”, offering as it does a series of epigrams which sound profound but are mostly either trite or meaningless – e.g. “People think too much about who they are; we should worry more about what we do” – plus the obligatory sprinkling of barely relevant four-letter words. Ironically, underneath

This evening I watched Footlights Youth Theatre perform Footlights Showstoppers, a musical compilation show full of modern musical pieces performed by an incredibly able and enthusiastic cast who vary from ages 7-18. There are no ‘costumes’ in the show but each cast member is dressed in black with a hint of red. This simple yet effective idea worked well but perhaps more than one colour may have added a little something extra. The evening was focused on singing although the cast proved, with the final number of ‘You Can’t Stop The beat’ that they could have easily coped with more

  This is terrific stuff. This sci fi musical has so many nods to Dear Evan Hansen, Little Shop Of Horrors, Spring Awakening and Rent, yet somehow retains its own quirky individuality mainly because of its bonkers plot and excellent score. Set in a New Jersey High School, Grease this is not and some of the mild adult themes from the opening onwards are not for the faint hearted, and yet in the hands of such a brilliant Production Team, although totally on the knuckle, is not shockingly distasteful either. Loner shy and awkward Jeremy is tempted to become the

The day may not be here yet, but there will come a time when an audience will be gender, BAME, LGBT+ [add a very long list] blind. What will matter is the right person for the right role. Importantly, there is a tendency to force this issue at the moment and yt2’s version of Hamlet is no different. The more we come to look at this as the way forward, and less like a gimmick, the more enriched our community becomes. Joanne Denson Stockdale, in an accomplished production, perhaps should have allowed the “conscience of a King to be pricked”

  This was my first opportunity to see both P&P and the play. Richard Harris, perhaps better known for comedies such as Stepping Out and Outside Edge, wrote this psychological thriller in the 1990s. His career has also included many television dramas such as The Sweeney. This play concerns the aftermath of the death of John Haddrell from a heart attack at the wheel of his car. His lover Julia is with him, and whilst recovering from the injuries sustained in the ensuing crash, she is helped by Anne the counsellor and Gary the possessive handyman, who lacks interpersonal skills,