A Small Mind At The Theatre

Michael Frayn’s 1982 play Noises Off is perhaps British farce at its most chaotic and has created a vast number of spin-off plays of its ilk, no less more successful than The Play That Goes Wrong , which you can see a heavy influence upon. The chaos in question, much like that influenced play, is the play within a play structure, a play titled Nothing On . The production is on a constant edge of disaster as we see, through three acts, a dress rehearsal, a behind-the-scenes scene of often silent slapstick and finally the catastrophic onstage spectacle to culminate the show. So, after over forty years, is this still the cracker it was back then? The simple answer is yes, Michael Frayn's show is remarkably well structured to sustain longevity, but, maybe at the interval you might not realise that, as the first act is, at times clunky, wordy, and not as funny as you might expect of such a successful play. However, as the second and third acts play out, you realise how astute Frayn has...

The original stage version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I hit Broadway in 1951 and both that and the later film version made a star of Yul Bryner, and the evocative tale, based on Margaret Landon's novel Anna and the King of Siam has continued to captivate audiences to this day. Whether this be for nostalgic reasons, or, simply put, because it is tremendous, is unknown. However, the latter part of that is true. I first saw The King And I on the same Milton Keynes Theatre stage three years ago, and I was enthralled. It has to be said that the passing of the years has not changed that position, mostly, helped in no small way by the fact that this new tour brings the same two amazing leads as back in 2023. The first obvious thing from The Lincoln Center Theater Production of The King and I is that it looks gorgeous, despite being a touring production, this carries with it a lot of set, costumes and props to make you feel that you are getting as near as possible, a Lo...

Ken Loach's devastating 2016 film I, Daniel Blake sent shockwaves through many areas when it first came out and the worlds of politics and the general community became at odds with its depiction of the benefits system and the world of poverty. The political minds rubbished the theory and tales within it, but others knew well, living on the breadline and weaving and trying to survive the system themselves, that is was very true. Daniel Blake is an upstanding citizen, a typical worker, who following a heart attack, hopes quite rightly, to be protected by the state in his bad days. This fails to happen as he finds himself unable to provide the points needed to gain benefit for his inability to work, and cannot take Universal Credit as he cannot work unless he continues to apply for jobs he simply cannot take. The system fails him, and fails his new friend Katie and her daughter Daisy, "transported" from London at the whim of the system. The play has been cleverly and skillf...