A Small Mind At The Theatre

Sometimes in theatre, it doesn't take you long to decide if you are going to like a show or not. Like the opening of a book, whether you try not to judge, that initial moment can decide the entire evening, and with Nigel Slater's Toast , that initial moment is pretty much perfect. However, back to that in a moment. I confess readers that I did not know of Mr Nigel Slater before this evening, much to the horror of my cooking and foodie enthusiastic companion of the evening. However, this tale of the early life of Slater, bouncing around the sixties and into the seventies, needs no knowledge as Henry Filloux-Bennett's play, based on the book by Nigel Slater himself, gives you everything you need to know. Toast opens to the start of what is to be a glorious sixties and seventies soundtrack and a playful loving sequence of dancing kitchen units as the cast bring us into the world of nine-year-old Nigel. At home with mum, making jam tarts, and of course, waiting for tha...

In the world of modern theatre, The Woman in Black doesn't need any introduction. Now over thirty years since the actors first trod the boards in Scarborough telling Susan Hill's story, through Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation, this show has packed the audiences in and travelled widely. When the play opened in London in 1989, few probably thought it would still be there 30 years later, but there it stays, thrilling audiences. So, it's a pretty good play, right? Let's see. Arthur Kipps (Robert Goodale) has a story to tell, a horrific one based on his own experience after travelling to Eel Marsh House, the final home of the late Mrs Alice Drablow. To tell his story, and to relate his "five-hour" tale, he seeks the help of "The Actor" (Daniel Easton), and a ramshackle theatre, which fortunately does have a good sound system and sound engineer. So, Kipps' story can be told. I first saw The Woman in Black five years ago, and back...

The Pope weaves the story of the resignation of Pope Benedict into a finely tuned tapestry of entertainment. Enthralling, funny and with two devastatingly brilliant performances from masters of the stage. That's all you need to know really before you go and see this show. However, for those still here, let's flesh it out a bit more. As Our Lady of Kibeho did a few months back, The Pope brings religion to the Made In Northampton range, and once again, it sweeps to every success in making it accessible for all. You don't need to have any religious leanings to be thrilled by this tale, expertly written by Anthony McCarten ( Bohemian Rhapsody ), this is simply told, and intensely funny, there are actually some amazingly good one-liners in this play which cause show-stopping moments due to the audience's laughter. It is unexpected, but superb to see, and also importantly doesn's shy away from the numerous issues of the Catholic church. It helps that we have the in...

I as a reviewer despise having to write negative reviews, although I suspect many reviewers revel in it, in a weird sort of way. They feel unfair as you know in theory that the performers especially are often just doing what they are told and their very best, well you hope so. Therefore as this tour of the iconic Dirty Dancing travels around the UK, I lay virtually all of the blame of how poor this show is on the director and producer, if that is unfair, I'll take that, but believe me, if you are ever going to, this is a shocker of a show at times. I was a huge fan of the original film Dirty Dancing in its day, it was a standard little film, nothing award-winning, it just hit a nerve with many people, whether you swooned over Patrick Swayze, or had a crush on Jennifer Grey (hand up here). Baby coming of age through dance with teacher Johnny Castle was iconic cinema, and that is what makes this production so bitter tasting as it rumbles over the characters we grew up loving ...

Despite now having seen a few dance shows encompassing many different styles, I had yet to see one developed by Sir Matthew Bourne, a controversial player in his time, but as the relatively recent knighthood suggests, now very much embraced by the establishment. So, does Romeo + Juliet live up to his name, that is the question? So, first, this might normally be where I give you a brief outline of the story, but, for one, most have a general understanding of the love disaster of William Shakespeare's play already, and two, as it turns out from the Bourne production, a huge amount of what you might be familiar with has gone or been dramatically changed anyway. There is shocking complicity in murders, there are different moments of murder and gone are the warring factions of the Montagues and Capulets. Characters themselves feel very different at times also, to such an extent that even knowing the play doesn't always make it clear who is who at times. So, if all that sounds...

While I would never consider myself anywhere knowledgable about the good old Bard, I did believe I had enough knowledge to know that Richard III was not one of his comedies. However, this totally striking and visually amazing version from Headlong (and co-production with Alexandra Palace and Bristol Old Vic, with Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Oxford Playhouse) ploughs so much dark and brilliant comedy from the situations of Richard dispatching his enemies that you could easily be mistaken. Richard III is without doubt about Richard, maybe that is unsurprising, however, unlike any other named play perhaps, with this one, others rarely matter. There are no side plots, we have no fool for instance, in fact, nothing much other than Richard and his devilish plotting to power. Perhaps here in this cut version (still 150 minutes including the interval), Richard is, even more, the centre of attention. We don't generally get to know many of his victims much before he is dispatc...

When looking at the prospect of the Fringe performance Working For The Man , it is slightly difficult to work out who is the bravest person involved in this remarkable one performer, one audience member show set totally within or around the edges of a car. I guess I would in my case, say myself, but it takes some daring for performer Ellie Lomas of Naked Truth Theatre to also create a piece that offers the boldness that it does. Working for the Man is perhaps unsurprisingly about the sex trade, and explores exploitation and how, or if, prostitution is taken as a serious profession. It involves no live audio dialogue from performer Ellie Lomas, instead, she inhabits a purely physical performance, that is progressed by the use of a pair of headphones which you are given at the start. Across this audio are instructions of what to do. "Get in the car", "sit in the middle seat in the back", "open the glove compartment" etc, as you move to different areas ...

It is safe to say I think that reviewer and show maker alike never set out to deliberately write a bad review or create a bad show. There is simply no logic in it really for the latter, I mean why would you? However when the latter occurs and the former is there in the audience, things will end badly, and for me, it gives me no enjoyment. For my penultimate show, Unveiled , at this year's University of Northampton Fringe Festival, Myriad Theatre performer Isabella Hunt explores what marriage means to her in what ends up being just 18 minutes of a show that sadly goes nowhere. Marriage to Hunt it seems involves intermittently putting on and taking off a succession of dresses, amongst a collection of anguished thoughts mostly that mainly involves an outrageously over repeated physical piece. There is some very brief interaction with the audience among the lines of "how many of you are married?" and other light thoughts, where the answers are written onto a dress, the ...

I have always been a fan of a little science fiction. Not those sprawling space operas, or complicated detailed tales though, that you feel the need for a science degree to battle through. I am more about a simple tale, well told, not packed with scientific lingo, just well told. With Godspeed from performer Fox Neal and his Far From Home company, he ticks all the boxes on the good tale, well told, checklist. Ishmael Constant is humanity's last hope and following a comprehensive training, and having survived a troubling childhood, he is ready to embark on a twelve-year journey to a hole in spacetime to see if beyond it there is any hope for the people of Earth. Godspeed is an extremely well-written tale, told through Ismael's initial agreement and through his journey and told in chapters, and most impressively interspersed with some brilliant flashbacks, indicated via the screen in brilliantly realised video flashing between Space/War/Home, it's an incredibly good id...

One of my favourite films is the 2014 Whiplash , it revolves around drums (one of my favourite and often disregarded instruments) and jazz (one of my guilty pleasures, the Marmite of music indeed). Can't Quite Hit It takes drums as it's theme, and at times has a little of that film about it as well. Maybe it is therefore not a total surprise that it ended up being my favourite show of the Fringe week, and one of the top University shows I have seen over six years. Bias doesn't come into it though, as performer Rosemarie Sheach has created a top-notch show from her Rumble Theatre Company, superbly and endearingly performed, that non-drum fans I am sure would enjoy as well. It's more a chasing your dream story as Leah, an aspiring drummer, seeks out fame and more importantly the ability to do for a career what you love, and not have to be a team leader at KFC instead. You could replace drummer for any number of things to make everyone in the audience feel the passion...

Musicals are becoming quite an interesting breed to review as they always end up via the audience, who are just out to enjoy themselves, a slightly difficult show to judge. How could you possibly criticise something that at least 90% of the audience are apparently enjoying and that at the end everyone is standing for, even yourself (so you can see the stage though for the dissenters)? Maybe you could look around and see how many people have left during the interval? Poor Audrey! More on Audrey later though. Maybe with Rock of Ages , you could simply just comment on how poor it truly is in places? That is tricky because the show actually knows that it is more than a little bit *bleeping* *bleep*. Rock of Ages follows Sherrie heading to Hollywood to make it big. After being robbed just after stepping off the bus, friendly Drew helps her and gets her a way into working the Bourbon Room. That is before a misunderstanding with Stacie Jaxx leaves her on the streets. Add some German pr...