Reviews

Studio Theatre    Studio Theatre, Salisbury Anne Waggott  28 March  2023 Widowed 30 years ago, Margaret Harvey has cocooned herself in a safe haven with her daughter, Rebecca, in their comfy little cottage in a British seaside town. When Rebecca bites the bullet and moves out to start a new life with her partner (the unseen Pete), she ‘invites’ visiting artist, Milton Farnsworth, to be her mother’s new lodger… setting her mother up with a potential source of income as well as a second chance of love… I am familiar with playwright Philip Goulding’s work, having reviewed on a number of

Dorsetborn    The Arc, Winchester  Anne Waggott  26 March  2023 What an adventurous holiday of a lifetime for 12-year-old Georgia: a visit to her elder sister Helena, a scientist, who is stationed at a research base in Antarctica! However, Georgia’s relaxation is shattered when she finds that an enormous iceberg is on a collision course with a nearby penguin colony. Desperate to save them from impending danger, Georgia might just need your help… “Dorestborn are here to discover new stories deserving of new audiences” – and what better new audiences than the very young? As an introduction to what theatre

Swanage Musical Theatre Company    The Mowlem Theatre, Swanage  KD Johnson  23 March  2023 To anyone with even a passing interest in musical comedy, My Fair Lady will be at least slightly familiar, whether from the 1964 film version, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, or from any of the many times that it has been staged by amateur societies around the country. I have performed in it twice in the last 20 years and so its characters, themes and the songs are well known. People like it for that comfortable familiarity (like an old pair of slippers that might

Poole & Parkstone Productions [P&P Productions]    The Barrington Centre & Theatre, Ferndown  Steve O’Neill   23 March  2023 My wife divorced a man who would constantly ask her what was going on throughout a play so it was with some trepidation that I leant over to ask her what was going on. I suppose, in a way, it was a relief to know that she had no more idea than me. Apparently Francis Durbridge was renowned for twisty plots. It was an odd play with strange inconsistencies. Why did Max’s secretary and his estranged wife only discover news of his death

Scaramouch Theatre Company    Community Centre, Milford  Pete Whitaker 5 March  2023 Following successful previous productions Scaramouche Theatre Company return with their latest production: Blood Money by the Heather Brothers. The production circles around womaniser Mike Mason and his wife Liz who were involved in a hit and run accident in which a young teenage girl Carol Mitchell was killed. They believed they got away with it, until seven years later, they receive a call from someone claiming to be the dead girl.  Returning home that night from an award ceremony, the couple find their house trashed and so the nightmare begins.

Maskers Theatre Company    Maskers Studio,  Southampton  David A Putley  6 March  2023 Doran Gray, perhaps without realising it contains many of Oscar Wilde’s greatest hits of quotes, and it was nice to be reminded in this stark production of the famous work adapted by Paul Stebbings. This allows much of Wilde’s words to literally take centre stage. Director Paul Green tells us in an informative set of notes in the programme, which I would recommend reading, that “There are natural scenes but even those use elements of stylised movement”.  Reference is made to Grotowski Theory which in essence is “the