Reviews

Studio Theatre Studio Theatre, Salisbury Lloyd Perry  6 July 2024 The summer offering from Studio Theatre Salisbury is the brilliantly written One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. The play started off life premiering at the National Theatre and then went on a long production run in both the West End, before moving to Broadway. The leading role made famous by James Corden of Gavin And Stacey fame who won the Tony Award in the USA for best actor. The play is set in 1963. The lead character, Francis Henshall, becomes separately employed by two men – Roscoe Crabbe, a gangster,

Pinpoint Productions The Arch, Chandlers Ford Becki Lavender  20 June 2024   Company is the story of Bobby, a 35-year-old bachelor, living in the bustling New York City and trying to navigate the world of relationships. He is surrounded by his ‘good and crazy’ friends who he goes to for advice and conversation. Company is told through a series of dinner parties, dates and weddings to help Bobby understand the pros and cons of marriage and make sense of his persistent bachelorhood. Company is written for a group of strong actors and singers, with all of the roles having their own

Swanage Drama Company The Mowlem Theatre, Swanage KD Johnson  14 June 2024 The name Cooney is famous in the world of farce – but that would be Ray Cooney, playwright of Run for Your Wife (1983), which ran for 9 years in London’s West End and remains London’s longest running comedy to date.  The current play, running at the Mowlem Theatre in Swanage, is by Michael Cooney – his son.  Set in 1994 in the living room of Eric and Linda Swan, of 344 Chilton Road in East London, this hilarious 1997 comedy about benefit fraud harks back to those

Scaplen’s Community Players The Black Cherry Café Theatre, Boscombe Jade Morrell  8 June 2024   Stepping into Scaplens Community Players’ world for the first time, you are embraced by the warm and immersive atmosphere that positively hums with anticipation. The play for the evening’s performance, Unbroken Bonds, A Women’s War, promised a poignant journey through the untold stories of a community during wartime – a theme as rich with historical significance as it is with emotional depth. The intimate setting of the Black Cherry – which recently announced the sad news of its closure – allows the audience to feel

Poole & Parkstone Productions [P&P Productions] Lighthouse Arts & Entertainment, Poole Carole Gadsby 5 June 2024 Taking on a musical as beloved and intricate as Lionel Bart’s Oliver is no easy task, but Poole and Parkstone did a fantastic job of bringing the tragic and heartwarming story to the Lighthouse Theatre.  Bart’s adaptation of the classic Dickens novel follows the life of Oliver, an orphan boy in a London workhouse, who upon asking for more food ends up amongst a gang of pickpockets fending for themselves on the streets of London. Despite Oliver’s attempts to fit in and join the business

Bournemouth Little Theatre Bournemouth Little Theatre, Bournemouth JJ 4 June 2024   I was very much looking forward to seeing this classic Neil Simon play. Although perhaps becoming a little dated, it is a funny comedy and it is not performed as often as it should be. The play is set in the same suite in the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1968/9. It is split into three acts each involving a different couple who occupy the suite at that time. The set stays the same throughout and although the set was good it did not convey the sense