Reviews

There’s something about a home-grown panto. Sometimes – let’s be honest – that something can be pretty dire, but every year, Swanage Drama Company present the other side of the coin and show just how good amateur panto can be. It’s true that the script of this Aladdin, by Pat Jones and Brian Travers, is full of jokes so corny that they can hardly walk (Widow Twankey on her ambition to wed the Sultan: ‘I want to be his Sultana, but what’s the point of raisin’ my hopes?’), but that is as much part of panto as the principal boy

Having watched – and adored – Peter Pan Goes Wrong on TV over Christmas, it was perhaps ironic that my first review of 2017 should be Peter Pan. However, knowing that director/choreographer extraordinaire Sarah Haberfield would be at the helm of this NFP production, I had no fears that I would be seeing something similar on the New Milton stage, with disaster following disaster and stage hands roped in to cover for injured principals. In fact, apart from a quiet moment – why are they always quiet moments? – when an offstage conversation came over loud and clear in the

I love Christmas and it doesn’t take much for me to feel festive. But if I had needed any more festive spirit, then this show gave it to me in abundance. Arriving at the Regent Centre in Christchurch amidst lots of excited children, I knew I was going to be in for an afternoon of great entertainment. The Glad Rag Production Company return for a fifth year of festive family entertainment, so it would seem that this is becoming something of a tradition. The stage is set with a simple but beautifully lit Christmas tree, and once settled in my

People who traditionally go to Christmas shows seem a bit more pious and family-oriented than those who don’t. I’m not talking about those ‘adult pantomimes’, which, if performed at any other time of the year, you would have thought had been written by someone incarcerated in Broadmoor. No, I’m talking of those who like to recreate an idyll of Christmases past which only ever really existed in stories or on Christmas cards. Close scrutiny of this demographic would show that over the Yule period, they prefer to be surrounded by family of all generations, limit their television viewing, partake in

Arriving early in the hope of a space in the car park at the back of the church, I was intrigued to see that there appeared to be an exercise class going on in the rear hall, but strangely, it seemed that everyone was in evening wear. Closer inspection revealed the truth: musical director Ivy Tan is clearly not content with simply a few pre-concert vocal gymnastics for her performers but has them bending and stretching too – and very energetically at that. It certainly paid off in the way everyone marched smartly to their seats, standing and sitting as

Surely it is easier to write a one-act play than a full-length piece? On the contrary: to tell a story well in one act, let alone to convey any sort of message behind that story, you need tautness in both writing and thought. BLTC are offering a double bill of comedies by masters of the genre, and the similarities and differences between the two are fascinating. First up is The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard. Two theatre critics are watching a traditional Agatha Christie-type thriller set (of course) in a remote manor house cut off by the weather. At