Reviews

Ferndown Drama Barrington Centre, Ferndown Jade Morrell 23 October 2024   ‘Murder in Play’ by Simon Brett is a witty and engaging dark comedy that blends elements of farce with a classic ‘whodunit’. The plot revolves around Boris Smolensky an egotistical director producing a budget murder mystery, Murder at Priorswell Manor, with a cast more focused on personal rivalries than the play itself. As tensions rise, fiction mirrors reality when one of the actors is murdered, and the remaining cast must solve the mystery. Right out the gate, the interactions between the characters—actors embroiled in personal conflict – is made

Bournemouth Little Theatre Bournemouth Little Theatre, Bournemouth KD Johnson 22 October 2024   Gaslight was written by Patrick Hamilton in 1938 but set in Victorian London in the 1880s. This production, by the Bournemouth Little Theatre, features as part of their “Six of the Best” series of classic British plays for the 2024-25 season. I don’t know how many of tonight’s audience were already familiar with this play in any of its incarnations on stage and screen – but I was not (until tonight). Jack and Bella Manningham have been married for seven years and moved into a house in London six

Maskers Theatre Company Maskers Studio, Shirley, Southampton Anne Waggott 21 October 2024 It’s summer, 1943. A group of children play in the West Country hills, fields and woods of the Forest of Dean; with no adults around, they indulge in spontaneous games and rough-and-tumble. As typical of a child’s schema, sometimes their play echoes the distant war, at other times more domestic situations, personal insecurities and petty vindictiveness; but as they tease, daydream and fight, their innocence is about to be destroyed forever… Set during World War 2, Dennis Potter’s dark comic-drama Blue Remembered Hills encapsulates (through adults playing children) a

Studio Theatre Studio Theatre, Salisbury Anne Waggott 12 October 2024 Without a programme synopsis and secretive social media publicity from the company, it’s clear that Studio Theatre love a mystery… and who doesn’t?! Their cryptic clues for Night Must Fall are as tantalising as their latest production is beguiling – and surely that is the appeal of a psychological thriller, especially when it’s done as splendidly as Studio Theatre have achieved. With respect to what the company have set up, there will be no spoilers in this review, either – suffice it to say if you miss seeing this production,

ENCORE! Theatre Productions Regent Centre, Christchurch KD Johnson 11 October 2024   There are Musical Theatre Companies which prefer to stick to known, tried and tested productions – with songs familiar to us all since childhood. I don’t need to list them, but you will know the sort of shows I mean, and you have probably seen them, performed in them, sung the songs many times. Similarly, there are theatregoers who are only interested in seeing what they know they like – because they have seen it, heard it, watched a film of it – possibly several times. I can’t

Phoenix Musical Theatre The Barrington Centre & Theatre, Ferndown Carole Gadsby 3 October 2024 Here’s hoping you don’t have to wait until tomorrow for the sun to shine, Annie delights audiences once more on a local stage.  The Production Team headed by the Director Hilary Baker did a really good job to bring this show with its large cast to the stage of the Barrington Theatre. Alice Weller, the Choreographer had everyone moving around the stage in their various roles.  She did a particularly good job with the opening number ‘Hard Knock Life’ the children jumping on and off their