Reviews

Burley have a record of finding unusual subjects for their pantomimes but, to judge by this production, Humpty Dumpty should be expanded to a full-length panto more often. It is the best sort of village pantomime, with some accomplished performances, lots of local references and constant interaction with the audience. It also has an exceptionally good script by Paul Reakes, a professional pantomime-writer (no, I didn’t know such a thing existed, either), onto which the local references are grafted. The script is full of good jokes and the comic rhyming couplets in which Jinxit (Sue Trotter) and the Good Fairy

A rotten apple staring at you from the programme and an underscore wording “a family and a way of life struggle to survive”; there is an awareness from the beginning that the evening is not going to be one of slapstick comedy. The play is set in a fictional West Country Farm but could be the Deep South with Ernest Hemingway as its author, such are its deep rooted themes of family manipulation, each character having wasted opportunities for good relationships with each other, opting for the control aspect and all none the better for it. Neil Gwynne’s directorial expertise

The Stratford Players, like many amateur dramatic societies, are facing economic difficulties and the impending loss of their theatre. By petitioning Hollywood agents, they hope to increase publicity, raise essential funds and continue treading the boards for years to come. In the meantime, waning American action hero Jefferson Steel finds the idea of playing King Lear in Stratford tempting, anticipating that playing opposite the likes of Kenneth Branagh and Judy Dench will raise his profile, boost his movie career and propel him towards his domination of Hollywood. What he doesn’t realise is that his agent has set him up to

Ten guests, unfamiliar to each other and apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast of Devon through unusual invites from the enigmatic U.N. Owen. A record mysteriously begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. It’s not long before the first visitor is found murdered, poisoned by a deadly dose of cyanide. As the body count starts to rise, the remaining survivors realise the killer is not only among them, but is preparing to strike again… and again… and again… I was really

Sometimes you can spend two hours at the theatre and come out feeling that’s two hours of my life I’m never going to get back. I thought that might happen tonight watching three monologues by Alan Bennett. How wrong could I have been? One word, really, sums up the evening: genuine, enthralling, compelling, spellbinding, funny, moving. You pick one, any one will do. It is a very hard thing to do to hold an audience for 30 minutes or so all by yourself but Harry Susser as Graham in A Chip in the Sugar, Jenny Sibley as Doris in A

I woke up Sunday morning very ill with little enthusiasm and no interest in seeing the panto which I had looked forward to seeing for such a long time. It would have been nothing short of a miracle for Highcliffe to impress me and make me happy again, but I’m delighted to say that, for a few hours at least, I was given that lovely warm theatre feeling you get when watching a great show. First and foremost, I really must commend the amazing set. From the moment I walked in I was impressed with the backdrop, but as the