A Small Mind At The Theatre

Motown the Musical has had international success both sides of the Atlantic, much like the music it tells the story of. However, despite that success, this jukebox musical, which at times feels like it is on speed dial, due to the intensity of the music, is a mixture of quality, especially when it comes to that second act. Motown the Musical is as much about the music, as it's founder Berry Gordy, and that's no surprise as this 2013 musical is based on his autobiography, To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown. And it is safe to say that despite the talent around him, busy bringing icons of music to the stage, this show is also mostly about Edward Baruwa who plays Berry Gordy. Baruwa gives an exceptional performance, maybe one of the strongest individual ones I have seen on the Milton Keynes stage to date. His depth of emotion in not only his acting but also the emotion he puts through his own renditions of Gordy's songs is exceptional, his v...

I first saw this rebooted version of the sixties musical back in 2016, when at the compact little Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester, director Jonathan O'Boyle first presented it on the stage. The intimacy of the venue, where you were never more than a few metres from all the cast, was perhaps one of its greatest impacts. So, in a space like the thousand-odd seater, Milton Keynes Theatre, the question is, does it still work? The answer is mostly yes. Hair first launched onto the stage in 1967, at the height of flower-power and more importantly for the, admittedly at times light story, the Vietnam War. These hippies are living it high, permanently and fighting the fight against that war, and all it represents. After fifty years, perhaps its relevance wains in that respect, but what we are left with is a kaleidoscopic collection of music and tripping theatre. There is no denying that Hair is an excellent show, but despite revelling in the original version of this version back in 2...

Contact Light Productions first came to the stage with their production of Bombshell on the Playhouse stage back in November 2017. It was a short, sharp, one-act play, which at the time I suggested could have been a longer two-act play and "could perhaps at times benefit from a little more light and shade, as it is unremittingly grim". So, for their second venture at the Playhouse, Drink , the short has become a sprawling three hour (with interval) production and the "unremittingly grim" has been dropped in favour of a play exploring the death of hundreds in an exploration of an American cult. Well, one out of two ain't bad. Drink takes as the main inspiration the Jonestown cult, which came to prominence in the 1970s and eventually saw under its leader, Jim Jones, the death of 918 followers in November 1978. Jones established his cult in the Guyana rainforest, and here in Drink , the fictional cult leader Marcus Moores sets own his own commune, Mooresplace ...

Twelfth Night was either my very first Shakespeare encounter or if not that, the one I definitely remember as being so. It was one of two of his plays that I studied at school (I genuinely can't remember which dry boring history one I also studied), and it was, 100% the very first Shakespeare I saw on stage live, via a trip to the RSC as Stratford no less with my school. In that cast were the likes of Tony Britton (Sir Toby Belch), Desmond Barrit (Malvolio), Haydn Gwynne (Olivia) and Derek Griffiths (Feste), and it went some way back then to stop me from hating the bard, despite eventually having the soul ripped from me via the teaching of him. Since I started my epic escapade of theatre back in 2014, my love has been rekindled slowly for the bard with just seeing and enjoying plays being performed, as they should, and not dissected. Also, life has been brought into them by being endlessly innovative, maybe controversially for some, with their telling. My love is perhaps final...