Reviews

Back in 1990 a successful Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine opened in London’s West End, where it was incredibly well received. I was lucky enough to see that production and have adored the show ever since, so my hopes were high for the joint production between graduating students from AUB and the BSO’s newish music group, Kokoro. The story is an amalgam of Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Jack & The Beanstalk, with a fifth made-up story of a childless baker and his wife thrown in to muddy the waters of what is essentially a

Inspired by a true story and based on the movie of the same name, this new British musical is full of friendship, equality and the importance of fighting for what is right. It certainly places Dagenham on the map! Opening at the Adelphi Theatre in 2014 to mixed reviews, Made in Dagenham follows the female factory workers who went out on strike at the Ford production plant in 1968. They had been downgraded to unskilled category B workers, which also meant that they were paid less than their male equivalents. It is a heart-warming story which portrays how a group

Despite his lack of formal education, Charles Dickens is one of our most celebrated authors, so it is unsurprising that his works are often chosen to adapt for the stage and screen. Some of the adaptations have been sensational, others quickly forgotten. Director Sarah Russel chose very carefully in using the Gale Childs Daly version of this particular classic. When it comes to creating memorable fictional characters, Dickens is one of the masters, and this production contains a whole host of them. The programme notes claim there are 30 characters in the show – although it felt like more –

It was lovely to see the Tivoli filled almost to capacity for the first night of this production, and whether this was due to the company’s well-deserved high reputation or the fact that the play is by that icon of modern-day playwrights, Alan Bennett, is really of no matter. What does matter is that the combination of those two elements gave the first-night audience the very best of evenings, one for which it was well worthwhile leaving the comfort of our cosy warm homes. A cosy warm home is not how one would describe the old, cold and decidedly run-down

Like an ageing heavyweight journeyman boxer, this 61st offering from Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a bit tired, has only a slugger’s chance of being a contender and, you get the feeling, is probably only in it for the money. It lacks the chiselled fleet-footedness of others in its weight class like Sleuth and the ability to deliver a knockout blow like Deathtrap. Many view him as a great writer, impervious to failure, but this work lacks imagination and is pretty standard. Clues given early in the piece mean that your proverbial qualification in brain surgery or rocket science isn’t going

This beautifully crafted play from playwright Brian Friel is the tale of one summer in 1936, told through the memories of Michael Mundy. It is a slice of life told in such a way that one feels that it was full of moments that shaped the Michael Mundy character as a man. The piece opens with the ‘moving parts’ of the story, utterly still in tableau, while Michael introduces us to the tale. This is so well done that, whilst your eye is drawn to the tableau, you are still very much listening to what Michael has to say. Indeed,