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REVIEW: Avenue Q

Published on April 18, 2026April 17, 2026 by eloisebarber611Leave a comment

A vibrant and raunchy show that adds so much colour to the west end scene, and a massively talented cast.

Avenue Q is an up-to-date, vibrant show with an absolute corker of a cast – a brilliant success of a musical! A show any theatre fan should go and see, or in fact any puppet fans! For a small cast, they truly pack an absolute punch.

Emily Benjamin as Kate Monster / Lucy The Slut stood out as an incredibly strong performer, especially in her convincing duality as the two entirely opposing characters, both in physicality, but also in the way that she changed the quality of her singing voice when singing as the different characters. If I hadn’t known they were the same person going into it, I would be fully convinced that they were separate people. A showcase of exceptional talent through and through.

Her castmate, Noah Harrison, showed a very similar ability to adapt to completely differing characters and yet was utterly convincing in all areas when on stage. He had played a soft and lovable Rod – opposite the brilliant Charlie McCullagh playing Nicky – and had the whole audience absolutely feeling for him! It was a brilliant display of how even in a theatre as large as the Shaftsbury, a performance can still be as intimate as if you were living these events with the characters. As Princeton, he showed another side to himself, showing a plucky young thing, although equally as easy to sympathise with. Another masterclass in performance for any audience member.

The set, unassuming at first, is brilliantly designed, with a simplicity to it that allows for a lot of fun with the staging of songs – and a surprise manipulation of the set in act 2! The movement in this entire piece is absolutely brilliant and just adds to the complete hilarity of the show as a whole, especially in conjunction with the puppets. Speaking of the puppets, they are gorgeously designed and absolutely brilliantly handled. Hats off to the entire cast on this – but especially to Meg Hately, who stepped in frequently to take over when multiroling was taking place and changing her physicality across all of the different roles that she played – not an easy feat!

A small moment that stuck out across the entire cast through the entire show was that the puppeteers kept the Puppets breathing throughout the whole thing. In theory, a small moment, however, something that just shows how slick, polished, and professional this company truly is.

This production cannot be complimented enough. An absolutely brilliant show, one that I truly believe everyone should come and see. Well done to all involved!

Avenue Q is running at Shaftesbury Theatre until 29th August. Tickets here.

REVIEW: A Queermas Carol

Published on December 19, 2025December 18, 2025 by eloisebarber611Leave a comment

“This piece was a beautiful combination of adult humour and poignant themes wrapped up with ghosts and christmas songs. “

A Queermas Carol was a beautifully well – rounded demonstration of how theatre should be a safe space, both shown through the actors’ vulnerability and also the clear demographic of the audience. The duo, accompanied by the disembodied voice of Charles Dickens (Micky Cochrane) and their wonderful special guest, Carmen Silk, brought some societally heavy topics to life in an engaging and playful way that had the whole audience on the edge of their seats with both laughter and anticipation.

The opening rap of the show was an immediate hook into the piece and also set the expectations of the audience – establishing that the audience was expected and encouraged to interact. As someone who loves immersive theatre, being given permission to interact and feel at the same level as the performers was a really nice addition. It also goes without saying that the opening rap set up the piece as being unapologetically camp – arguably to be expected from the title but was really lovely to be reflected by the performers and the way that they presented themselves in the space.

As in the original story, we were introduced to the ghosts – not just Marley and Marley, but also of Past, Present and Future, which is where we really saw the actors’ vulnerability. Rhi started this off by delving into the past, bringing themes of discovery of self and the feeling of isolation to the forefront. This was brilliantly done, as it allowed the performers to reflect feelings that I would guess a lot of the audience would have felt at some points in their life. Following this, in the Present, we saw a version of Bob Cratchitt and Tiny Tim that followed the realities of being transgender in the current society. This was particularly poignant due to the current potentialities of imposing governmental laws. My friend who attended with me spoke to Mack at the end, expressing her appreciation for that story being told as she has a trans partner – further proving how important it is for these stories to be told.

Of course, these themes weren’t just brought up in a straight forward way, no not at all. Rhi’s delving into the past was accompanied by the brilliant character that was the furbigotchi – no context needed, you’ll have to see the show – and Mack’s Bob Cratchitt moment was set up with him being portrayed as a ‘DILF’, both of which juxtaposed the seriousness of the stories being told beautifully, allowing us to laugh at the funny moments and listen when we needed to.

Carmen Silk brought a few minutes of cabaret style singing – obviously different depending on the guest you see, this will be different, but she had a lovely voice and connected incredibly well to the audience in the short time she was on stage.

Using Charles Dickens as a (mostly) just voice over character was a very well thought out choice, as it emphasised the way that the queerness of the characters was being policed, which I thought landed subtly but very well. I may be a bit biased, but I particularly enjoyed the ending of the piece after being entrusted to look after the Tiny Tim puppet (thanks Mack!). I won’t go into too much detail so as to not spoil this piece, but it was wrapped up in a lovely way that both kept the audience laughing but also left them satisfied.

Overall, I would highly recommend this piece to anyone looking for both a laugh and also to see themselves reflected in the stories told.

REVIEW: Little Miss Christmas

Published on December 14, 2025December 13, 2025 by eloisebarber611Leave a comment

Little Miss Christmas is a raucous and captivating piece of drag theatre that had the whole audience laughing

Patti Boo Rae created a space for people from many different walks of life to come together and enjoy an evening of Christmas fun. She started the piece with a bang – interrupting the ‘disembodied voice of male authority’ to establish that her show had no rules – people could film, take photos, eat snacks, making this a really accessible place to be. Furthermore, she opened the show with an incredible lip sync performance, which left the audience waiting to see much more from her as a performer. She was clearly an incredibly all-round performer, singing, dancing and having some amazing moments of comedy, including a great rendition of ‘Blue Christmas’ sung as though they were underwater.

In Little Miss Christmas, Patti Boo Rae has a multitude of different special Guests, differing across the run as to who you’ll see. We got the joy of seeing Duane Nasis, who was a joy to watch. He gave us all a right laugh with his costume, which didn’t leave very much to the imagination, and then gave a brilliant lip sync routine with dancing, a beautiful speech and some cracking tricks to top it off.

My one qualm with this performance was the length and quantity of the video elements. Don’t get me wrong, they did add to the performance, and some of them were absolutely hilarious. But it felt at times like a stalling tactic to cover some of the lengthy costume changes. I have to say however, the advert was brilliantly done and did genuinely add to Patti Boo Rae’s Character development!

One thing that stands out about this performance was the level of audience participation. Not only did Patti Boo Rae frequently make eye contact with and interact with the audience from afar, they also chose three people throughout the night to directly interact with them. The first of whom was the interviewer and was talked through exactly what to do, asking Patti questions to give the audience an insight into her personality. The second was asked to ‘pick’ a present from under the christmas tree, followed by a great interaction with Patti, which I won’t spoil, in case you come to see it! But it was brilliantly done, and like most of this performance, absolutely hilarious! The third and final person chosen was ‘someone responsible’ and again, I won’t go into too much detail, but it made for a great show, and a great ending!

Little Miss Christmas runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 3rd Jan. Tickets here.