A Small Mind At The Theatre

Cluedo has become a staple of British life since its original release back in 1949. Even if you may never have played the game itself, you have likely heard of it for its characters and collection of sinister murder weapons. The name Cluedo perhaps doesn’t trip off the tongue of any American people however because over there, they call it Clue , and this spawned a US film of the same name in 1985, which is the inspiration for this new stage play. Clue became a cult hit with many, despite failing even to initially get its budget back at the box office, and watching this play written by Sandy Rustin, from Jonathan Lynn’s original screenplay, you can probably see why. This play has a unique, crazy kind of humour, which would not suit all. The audience is a mixture of laughing their socks off or a stony-faced look, which makes it extremely difficult to know whether to recommend. The comedy on offer is clearly signposted, unsubtle, and often just ridiculously crazy, and if this is your th...

Was it Miss Scarlet, with the revolver in the dining room, or was it Professor Plum, with the lead pipe in the library…? As Cluedo heads into Milton Keynes Theatre next week, we should find out the answer! Nearly everyone is familiar with the classic Hasbro detective board game, and a battered box of it has no doubt been dragged out of many a cupboard just in time for a Christmas or birthday party in households across the world. This game of course is the influence for this new touring play opens which opened on 28 January at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre and continues its tour until July. It is also heavily influenced by the highly regarded, but little known, 1985 film Clue (the name that Cluedo goes by in the US) which starred Tim Curry and Christopher Lloyd. This new stage version stars Daniel Casey, familiar with a crime or two as a star of Midsummer Murders, and Michelle Collins, the culprit to many a sin of her own as long-running Eastenders character Cindy. Casey plays Profes...

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...

Coming the Milton Keynes Theatre next week is a return to the stage for the hit production The Great Gatsby brought to the stage by Northern Ballet. The production reaches Milton Keynes as part of its UK spring tour for 2022 which culminates in Cardiff in June. The production based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald brings all the glamour and seduction of the roaring twenties to life and premiered in 2013 and which has now had three UK tours. Set on New York’s Long Island, in the heady, indulgent days of the 1920s, Nick Carraway comes to know his infamous neighbour Jay Gatsby – a mysterious millionaire with a secret past and a penchant for lavish parties. As the sparkling façade of Gatsby’s world slips, Carraway comes to see the loneliness, obsession, and tragedy that lie beneath. The Great Gatsby was nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance. David Nixon OBE choreographed The Great Gatsby and earned a nomination for Best Classical Choreography in the 2014 National ...

The second of the two University of Northampton shows performed in the Royal for 2022 by the BA Actors was Buckets by Adam Barnard, and it was a much more entertaining, cleaner and better-performed show than The Gut Girls the day before. Barnard’s Buckets takes the form of thirty-three interconnected scenes revolving around the loose link of “buckets” be they sick buckets, bucket lists or a bit of charity bucket shaking, the scenes weave and meander with occasionally recurring characters and situations. It is very similar to other plays performed by the BA Actors of the past, including perhaps most obviously Love + Information , and as with such a format, it is also perfect for the University actors to perform. It is a delightfully delivered play, with strong performances and characterisation across the board from all the performers. I particular liked Erin Jones’ loving mother, tasked with dealing with the eventual death of her daughter, and it was great to have this poignant charac...

After over two years away from seeing the BA Actors of the University of Northampton on stage, it was a delight to be back to see the final year students in their two performances on the Royal stage at Royal & Derngate. The first of the two plays I got to see was The Gut Girls by Sarah Daniels, and I genuinely wish that after that gap in attendance I had a much better show to return with. During The Gut Girls , I continued to hope that more of a spark would appear on stage. Sadly, after over two and a half hours, that spark struggled to show. Even now as I write this review, I can’t quite put my finger on why that spark isn’t there, whether it is the play itself from Daniels (unlikely, as it is a well-regarded play), or whether the cast for whatever reason did not jell and enthuse over the material. What occurred however was something that felt a little under-rehearsed even if maybe in reality it wasn’t. Either way, the scenes did not flow, there wasn’t a constant move of dialogue...

The Osmonds, as a group, were a global phenomenon, dominating so much of the charts during their peak in the seventies, and here in this new musical, with the story written by Jay Osmond himself, some of their tale of their success and failure is told. However, which of those two does this show fall into as a production? Foremost, The Osmonds - A New Musical doesn’t pretend to be ground-breaking, this is like any other musical based on a successful group, think Jersey Boys or Sunny Afternoon for instance, and you know the structure you will get, the journey from A to B, with the bumps in the road on the way. Father of the many, Osmond siblings, George Osmond (nicely played by Charlie Allen) wants success for his children, he is a driven, ex-military man, and he knows where success should be when he sees it, and through his children, initially Merrill, Alan, Jay and Wayne, he guides them into the path of music legend and television host Andy Williams. From that point, success and a m...