Reviews

Maskers Theatre Company     Maskers Studio, Southampton David A Putley     5 December 2022 SPOILER ALERT Masker’s member Brian Stansbridge has captured the written moment in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol when Spirit takes Scrooge ( a wonderfully emotional Philip de Grouchy) to the Cratchit household and re-imagined an alternate timeline. What if the Cratchits were in fact more Larkin/Del-boy-esque than the all accepting of their poor lot characters portrayed by the great writer ( Joao Pinto giving a very dignified and warm performance throughout). Jez Minns beautifully casually throwing away the crutch usually associated with Tiny Tim, cleverly giving him

Spot On Productions     The Point, Eastleigh Mark Ponsford     2 December 2022 My first encounter with this show was in London, several months into its original run. It was a midweek matinee, the rain was nothing short of Biblical, and (for reasons we don’t need to go into here) I was in the grumpiest mood imaginable, all set to resist whatever the show might have to offer. By the time the final curtain fell, I left the theatre feeling 10 feet off the ground. Proof again of the power of Theatre, of what it can do for us, and

Milton Musical Society    Forest Arts Centre, New Milton  Carole Gadsby  30 November 2022 The atmosphere as we walked into Forest Arts was buzzing with anticipation and excitement; we were warmly greeted by Front of House staff, which contributes to the feeling of “this is going to be good”. What I was expecting I am not sure, but I was certainly not disappointed. The barman at The King Henry, Cayton Francis, opened the proceedings with all the other characters in tableaus strategically placed around the stage.  Dan Murrell as Fagin was superb in his interpretation of ‘Gotta Pick A Pocket

The playwright, Joel Horwood, takes the basic premise that global warming is caused by capitalism and adds other tropes such as the abuse of power, the threat posed from outsiders and the desire to build a better society. This production was performed by twelve women from the BA (Hons) Acting course, supported by students from two of the Costume Design courses and the Make-Up for Media and Performance course. Several disenchanted young women have formed The Community on a platform out at sea, to create a better way of living. They rail against the negative effects of Capitalism and inequality,

  Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads is the latest delightful treat on offer from Redlynch Players, staged in the charming and cosy Redlynch Village Hall. For many people there is only one Alan Bennett, and he requires no introduction – a household name and a much-loved national treasure, whose stage and TV writings are well liked and appreciated. He is undoubtedly one of the most popular mainstream dramatists in Britain today. Arguably he sealed his reputation as a master of wry observation and insights into the human condition with the classic Talking Heads series of 12 hard hitting monologues, featuring a

Nightmare is a suspense play by Norman Robbins and was first produced at the Oast Theatre, Tonbridge in 1987. Robbins wrote his first stage show over sixty years ago while working for the Yorkshire Evening Post and his plays are very popular with Amateur Theatres. The action takes place in a remote country house with a village a mile or so away. The main scene is set in a cosy home with beautiful moorland views. The owner is Marion Bishop, an elderly writer of romantic novels, convincingly portrayed by Val Smith. Her kind friend, Katherine Willis, cares for her whilst