Reviews

The Memory of Water is a comedy by English playwright Shelagh Stephenson, first staged at Hampstead Theatre in 1996. Three sisters have come together for the funeral of their mother, Vi. Vi was a glamorous woman when younger and freely admits she had little time for women, always preferring male company. ‘Yet you had three daughters’ would come the response and much of this play is an exploration of how and why we see things in a certain way, dressing the truth perhaps for our own memories, making them cleaner and easier to live with. I am told that this

This 1992 comedy play by Richard Harris puts several exaggerated stereotypical characters into two adjoining, semi-detached, suburban back gardens – and stirs, with hilarious consequences. In one house it is the night of the house-warming fancy-dress barbecue for obsessive doctor Michael (Bob Rankin, who also directs) and his exasperated wife, Roma (Fiona Richards), while in the neighbouring house, former market barrow-boy turned successful greengrocery entrepreneur, David (Peter Watson), is making an infrequent visit to his controlling and manipulative mother, Mrs Hinson (Estelle Hughes). David is soon joined by his second wife, Jennifer (Janine Williams), while over in the party house

This enthusiastic and hard-working company is always a cause of wonder, and their latest production met the standards we have come to expect of them. A murderer is at large in Checkmate Manor, doing in members of a family who have gathered for the reading of a will. Thanks to the skilled sleuthing of Inspector O’Reilly, the perpetrator is unmasked in the final dramatic scene. Or is (s)he? The play was in the safe hands of four stalwarts of the company, each of whom played several parts, cleverly doing so without losing their own identity. It was a good idea

The website tells me that this production is all but sold out for the entire run (contact the box office, though, just in case) which is as it should be because this is an excellent adaptation of the famous sleuth’s most related tale. The third novel about the Baker Street detective, although originally serialised in the Strand Magazine in 1901-2, has the last of the Baskerville clan in perpetual peril. Only Holmes can un-riddle the puzzle with his usual panache and style. As ever, the set for this tiny space makes full use of every inch available and is expertly

When I reviewed this society’s Sounds of the ’50s and ’60s just a year ago, I regretted that there were only two performances, both on the same day. Exactly the same thought struck me this year: there was so much talent, skilful direction and sheer hard work on show that it seems a pity that it was all over so quickly. On the other hand, a slightly disappointing audience for the evening performance suggests the reason why; this is one of the best musical theatre companies in the area and it richly deserves greater local support. As well as some

It’s a brave company that puts on a show with an entire cast on roller skates, but perhaps an insane one that also expects them to be able to sing and act. BMT Productions does it superbly. It would be very unfair to compare this production to the London or touring shows, but for an amateur society to perform it, with most of the cast never having skated before, is breath-taking. Starlight Express is another fabulous collaboration of Lloyd Webber and Stilgoe (Cats, Phantom etc) and although many of the songs are unfamiliar, they are all enjoyable. The music is