A Small Mind At The Theatre

Everybody's Talking About Jamie first appeared back in 2017 as a stage musical with a score written by Dan Gillespie Sells and book and lyrics by Tom MacRae and co-writer/original director Jonathan Butterill. However, the beginning of this story, and the true story that it is, came to the public eye a little earlier with a 2011 British television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 . This tells the story of Jamie Joseph Campbell (also known as Fifi la True) and his coming-of-age journey to the world of drag, and this musical inspiringly tells this tale. Without hesitation and from the outset there is no question that Everybody's Talking About Jamie is an exceptional show. The key initial reason for this is that it has a stunning collection of songs, and what better requirement for a musical? It sets the benchmark high from the very beginning number and never drops in standard. Dan Gillespie Sells songs from start to finish are pure magic, be that a proud anthem ( And You Don&

Mischief Theatre has been creating havoc in theatres across the world now for ten years with shows like The Play That Goes Wrong and  Peter Pan Goes Wrong regularly doing the rounds. Their latest incarnation, reaching Milton Keynes Theatre this week on a UK tour, is The Mind Mangler , a two-man solo show (with some audience participation) offering more chaos, this time around mind-bending-mind-reading. The Mind Mangler is played by Mischief Theatre co-founder Henry Lewis with a mixture of menace, danger, and cuddliness, a devastating combination. For anyone who has seen Lewis on stage before, you will be well aware of his tremendous stage presence, a booming voice full of the greatest of enunciation and perhaps, with The Mind Mangler he has one of his greatest creations to use these skills. It is beyond the stage presence however that this character delves, into one of self-mocking in the extreme, the ability to try to smooth his suit out as his self-importance fails as his mind-read