Review of Back In Time For Breakfast by Munchkins & Monsters Theatre Company at The Umbrella Fair 2016, Northampton

Munchkins and Monsters Theatre Company had what I personally consider two of the toughest audiences to keep entertained; a bunch of four, five, six, and whatever year olds gathered in a constantly distracting and sweltering tent with rock music emanating from another nearby tent; and myself surrounded by aforementioned children and in that sweltering tent. They had much to do to keep us absorbed in their performance of Back In Time For Breakfast. I have to say though thats against my fears at the start, very surprisingly this lively show managed to do just that, and for the best part me included.

Trapped in a secluded lighthouse with her family, Millie (Laura Richardson) dreams of magical journeys and on one night with a little wish on a star, a mysterious traveler, Jasper (Dale Forder) crashes his flying ship on the island and that magical journey becomes a reality.

This little piece has been lovingly created to encapture perhaps everything required of a children's entertainment show. Its brings gurning faces, silly dancing, jolly music, bright colours and a nice collection of simple, but very effective puppets. Providing the adults who have accompanied the children to the show with entertainment is a surprising amount of intelligent storytelling of an environmental (but never ever preaching) nature. It provides the perfect balance with silly fun from those like Percy the Penguin, and onto actually quite powerful imagery of the restoration of the ocean, via the most simple of things an umbrella as a jellyfish. It all allows the children to be happily taken in by their waving of the handouts and the adults to have perhaps a few more contemplative moments.

Dale Forder and Laura Richardson

There are several really great scenes during the show, a couple of favourites being the reconstruction of the ship with all its dancing and nicely constructed rountine, and then the fabulous nit-picking monkey who happily travails the crowd to the delight of the children and some of the adults. The audience interaction pieces are perhaps the best way to gauge a success of a show like this, and pretty much most of them were loving it and eager to be the one to have the chance of tossing the old sock at the big cat (you had to be there).

Dale Forder and Laura Richardson

As performers Dale Forder and Laura Richardson do everything that you would want from a childrens show, full of highly expressive faces and lively motion, making everything deliberately bigger and bolder than it needs to be to keep those distracted eyes on them.

This likeable pairing of performers coupled with an apparently simple tale full of hidden depths provides a great little show, which when performed it a more accommodating location is absolutely sure to keep the kids thrilled. Couple that with the fact you can then get your picture taken with Percy the Penguin at the end, makes this a sure fire hit.

Performance reviewed: Sunday 21st August, 2016 at the Umbrella Fair 2016, Northampton.

Munchkins And Monsters have a website for details of upcoming shows at http://www.munchkinsandmonsterstheatre.co.uk/

Review of Here & Now at Milton Keynes Theatre

During the late 90s and early 2000s, the dance-pop group Steps was a mighty presence in the British charts. They accumulated two number-one albums in the UK and 14 consecutive UK top-5 singles, including two number ones. They were juggernauts of lightweight pop. It is perhaps a surprise that it took until 2024 for a musical to be based on their hits. Now, writer Shaun Kitchener brings enough campness to keep Alan Carr and Julian Clary in work for decades. Here & Now , the show everyone was waiting for, is at Milton Keynes Theatre as part of a UK tour. So, the question is: has it been worth the wait? Here & Now is, fundamentally, a ridiculous concept that should not work. Set in a supermarket, yes, a supermarket, our eclectic cast of characters go through the typical dramas of many a musical as love and drama unfold against a backdrop of jukebox music. It should never work, but it does, extremely well in fact. A huge amount of the success here has to go to writer Shaun Kitchene...

Review of Blood Brothers at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

A theatre in the east midlands, a thousand people stand applauding and cheering towards a stage where fourteen people stand. There on the stage, they bow, and bow, an inordinate number of times. They depart after a time and the lights come up over the capacity audience. So did you hear the story of the Blood Brothers show, how people flocked and came to see them play? Did you never hear about how we came to be, standing applauding the brightly lit stage this November day? Come judge for yourselves how this night did come to be. Blood Brothers was a significant show for me back in 2014, being the first musical that I saw live. Hiding up in the upper circle of the Derngate back then, not really sure what to expect, it was it turned out perhaps the perfect show to graduate me from play to musical that I could choose as Willy Russell's gritty and solid story is as confident as a straight play that perhaps any musical is. So strong is the story of the Johnstone's twins, tha...

Review of National Theatre Connections 2017 (16 Shows) at Royal & Derngate (Royal & Underground), Northampton

Alongside the University of Northampton BA Actors Flash Festival, the Connections festival at Royal & Derngate is now my joint favourite week of theatre each year. This is my fourth year at the festival and each time I have tried my very best (and succeeded) in seeing more and more of those on offer (four in 2014, ten in 2015 and twelve last year). This year I cracked sixteen shows, including the most interesting, a chance to see two of the plays by three different groups. I was able to see nine of this year's ten plays (a single nagging one, Musical Differences by Robin French was missing from the R&D line-up), and most I either enjoyed or finally understood their merits or reasons for inclusion. The writing of sixteen reviews is a little bit of an daunting prospect, however, I will do my best to review each of the plays and those I saw more than once, and pick around the comparisons. Extremism by Anders Lustgarten Performed by Bedford College Extremism was perfo...

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