Reading Time: 3 minutesThis is a phenomenally good show. In many ways, it’s incredibly simple. It explores the effects of Alzheimer’s on one couple, Arthur and Jane, and tracks their journey from meeting to “the incident” to dementia’s inevitable conclusions while demonstrating the unbelievably powerful effect of music. The set is mostly bare—two old armchairs and a lamp—and it’s only a two-hander, yet the show succeeds in building out its world and packing its punches.
Reading Time: 3 minutesMerrily We Roll Along is not an easy show to pull off. The story starts in 1980 and gradually works its way back to 1955, charting a journey from corrupted aspirations back to college optimism. It’s a story about dreams—their allure and their elusiveness, growing up, and how friendships survive. If they do. It’s an ambitious show for the National Youth Music Theatre to attempt; after all, these characters spend most of the time at an age far exceeding that of their actors. And, it’s a Sondheim. Fortunately for us, this production is a sure-fire success.
Reading Time: 2 minutesWord-Play has a lot to say about the impact of language and, for the most part, succeeds in not only helping the audience see its effect but feel it, too—all the while skewering those types of people we know well.
Reading Time: 2 minutesFRAY is a story of two brothers learning how to navigate reality as they grow up. Using the world of video games as a language to explore what it means to battle monsters and head out on your own Hero’s journey, this energised show fusing hip-hop dance, music and moving visuals aims to teach us that all we ever needed was inside us all along. It’s an electric production, but we know the ending already.
Reading Time: 3 minutesViola lands on the shore of Illyria after losing her twin brother in a shipwreck. She dresses as a boy, calls herself Cesario and goes to work for a rich Duke called Orsino. What follows is brilliantly ordered chaos in which we find a love triangle, mistaken identity (of course) and ye olde classic resolution device of marriage to wrap it all up. It’s a story that has entertained audiences for centuries and this showing is no exception.
Reading Time: 2 minutesBilled as “part stand-up, part poetry, part interpretive dance,” and absolutely nailing all three of these promises, this work in progress show tracks Telnikoff’s quest to write The Great Female Novel. And it’s fantastic.
Reading Time: 2 minutesCirque Berserk! are celebrating their tenth anniversary year with a residency at Riverside Studios, and their show certainly entertains.
Reading Time: 3 minutesJack Bradfield's writing in Alice in Wonderland is excellent, managing to retain the key points of reference from the original whilst adding its own magic.
Reading Time: 2 minutesT. S. Eliot and Groucho Marx were unlikely pen pals, corresponding for three years until they met in June of 1964. The reports say that Groucho reread King Lear so he could hold his own in conversation; Eliot was more interested in talking about Duck Soup. This meeting is the inspiration for Frank McGuinness’s newest play which revels in the imagined repartee of these two giants of their field.
Reading Time: 2 minutesLove Goddess started as a one-woman show and has clearly achieved some critical acclaim, which isn’t a surprise. The story of Rita Hayworth, or Margarita Carmen Cansino, is a fascinating one—if a little overdone as of late