Reviews

I normally put my ‘go see’ at the end of the review, but today I will begin with it. Go and see this show; take the family, take the grandchildren, but don’t miss it. Having thoroughly enjoyed last year’s Duncan Reeves production of Aladdin, our little family were full of high hopes for Cinderella and we were certainly not disappointed. It’s fabulous! Cinderella’s writer and director, Peter Duncan, gets it so right. This show works so very well because it doesn’t try to be anything other than family entertainment, with a little bit of innuendo for the grown-ups, but with

The things that run through my mind in the aftermath of an evening at the theatre tend to influence how my review is crafted. Last night, I left the theatre and drove home with a lot if ‘is’s’ and ‘isn’ts’ running through my mind. First, an ‘isn’t’. It isn’t one of Alan Ayckbourn’s greatest masterpieces. There are many of his works that are masterpieces, but this, as a piece of writing, falls a bit short of his usual high quality and just doesn’t span well or sit right with me. What it is is a play about a woman who

Bitterly cold outside, gobos of falling snow on entering the performance space and festive music filling the venue all combine to set the tone for Maskers’ annual Christmas show in the intimate location of the Studio; with cabaret-style tables and a minimalist set, director Meri Mackney invites the select audience to ‘join in with all the songs, boo the villain, cheer the hero and chant the melodrama catchphrase’. As this suggests, this year’s December show has a wide variety of entertainment styles on offer: the first half provides a mixture of literary extracts, poems and music, followed by an interval

What a difference 24 hours makes! Last night I was in an audience with a goodly proportion of children, watching a traditional panto with nothing more risqué than the occasional mild double entendre. Tonight it was what has become an annual Stage Door tradition: its ‘adult’ pantomime. Never was there a more accurate label. The whole show is drenched in sex, and every erotic activity I’ve heard of is referred to at some point, plus some which were new to me – and I haven’t led exactly a sheltered life. The contrast between the two consecutive evenings’ entertainment is convincing

You know when you’re going to watch a production crafted by Disney that there will be an element of Show, together with a sprinkling of magic, and Debut Youth Theatre’s current production of the classic Peter Pan story is no different. The little boy who didn’t want to grow up, Peter Pan, is a well-loved favourite, particularly at this time of year, with a story that includes adventure, swashbuckling pirates, magical fairies, kidnapping, a hungry crocodile and a happy ending. In this ‘junior’ version, the story is retold in a beautifully reduced manner, while maintaining all the necessary charm. As

The Salisbury pantomime has always been a favourite with our family. It was an annual fixture in our children’s diaries and even now that they have long since flown the nest, Salisbury is still my wife’s and my venue of choice for our yearly fix of panto. Its secret is that it strikes so many balances so well. It brings out the scary element that is in every pantomime’s story, but mixes it with plenty of fun and colour. There is sophisticated humour for the adults, but not so much that uncomprehending children get bored. It provides spectacle, but keeps