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REVIEW: Cavetown

Published on March 14, 2026March 15, 2026 by sophiemclarend5f8cfacc0Leave a comment

Cavetown came to the Toon and wowed the crowd

On Wednesday the 11th of March, Robin Skinner, professionally known as Cavetown, performed the 14th show of their ‘Running With Scissors’ world tour at The Boiler Shop in Newcastle.

The Boiler Shop has around a 1000 capacity and can feel like quite a large venue, but on this particular night, the crowd didn’t quite fill the room. While there was a tightly packed group standing around the stage, the back of the space didn’t seem very full. In some ways though, the small crowd worked in the artist’s favour, creating a much more intimate environment for the audience.

The evening began with a set from support act Dreamer Isioma, Nigerian-American singer-songwriter. While their performance was energetic, it felt quite out of place compared to the atmosphere that Cavetown’s music typically creates – their overall style and sound didn’t quite match the tone that the audience were probably expecting. The set was also cut short due to a technical issue, meaning they only played a few songs and the support slot ended fairly quickly.

However, once Cavetown took the stage, the whole room came alive. They started the set with ‘Skip’ – the first track on their most recent album, which effortlessly transitioned into ‘Cryptid’. By this point I was already immensely impressed by the musicianship between Robin and their band. They were joined by Nick Johnson on bass/keys, Willaby Morse on drums and James Rapp on guitar, all of which also provided strong harmonies during some of the songs. Another thing to note was the impressive lighting design of the whole show – throughout the night, it enhanced every song perfectly.

Towards the end of the set, Skinner spoke about how he wanted to create “a space where we can forget about everything for a second”, after reflecting on the issues of the world we live in today. He ‘ended’ the set with ‘Boys Will Be Bugs’, an obvious crowd favourite, and then left the stage before coming back with an encore consisting of ‘Home’ and another clearly popular song ‘Devil Town’. It was a fitting end to the performance, with Robin on his back, his legs in the air and playing his guitar, and the whole crowd jumping and singing along.

Going into the gig, I was only vaguely familiar with a few of Cavetown’s songs, and wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect from a live show. However, by the end of the show it was clear that Robin and the band had created something that really engaged and connected with the audience, making it a very enjoyable night.

REVIEW: Cable Street

Published on January 28, 2026January 28, 2026 by sophiemclarend5f8cfacc0Leave a comment

Powerful, punchy, poignant

Cable Street at the Marylebone Theatre remains a powerful story from start to finish. With a trifecta of families interlinked by the common theme of living in the same building on Cable Street, we are enriched with the ways each story navigates the uproar of fascism in London’s East End in 1936. Many key themes in this piece are very poignant to political events happening in today’s society, so the decision to perform to contemporary audiences was a clever use of historicization that left many audience members in shock to the levels some will go without realising who they are supporting.

The stage set up the urban atmosphere of the piece, with underlying symbolism of colour and minimalistic props that would later be multi-use in a variety of scenes. Even the colours of the doors in the flat upstage foregrounded the political views of the inhabitants, with 2 blue and the top floor being red, alluding to the fascism rise and inequality of status coherent with income or background.

The through-line of the tour of the East End was cleverly weaved in, with place markers being pointed out by the tour guide and personal familial links between tourists and those who experienced the movement allowing consistency in multi-rolling and clear storytelling. Transitions between scenes were smooth, including costume changes between characters that never seemed to phase the actors, making an even more believable switch between each personality.

The protagonists from each family were given an individual style of song to reflect their personalities. Mairead’s empowering, strong and belt-like qualities, Sammy’s being down-to-earth, rap style and patter and Ron’s almost rock-ballad influences. All members of the cast exuded professionalism, talent and triple (sometimes quadruple) “threat-ness” with actor-musician inclusion and multi-rolling with many accent changes. Stand out songs included : “No Pasaran!”, an anthem for the tenants to stand up against the BUF inspired by a similar uproar of events happening in Spain, “Only Words” a hauntingly beautiful ballad sung by Yitzhak to his son and the importance (or lack) of words and “Bread and Roses” with clever and thought-provoking lyricism. The “Read All About It” segments were particularly enjoyable, adding a layer of comedy in some often disturbing political events.

The additional use of stage combat, puppetry and poetry were all brilliantly executed and made a very enjoyable and thought-provoking experience. I hope it sends a message to the masses to listen to those who do not always get a voice.

REVIEW: Murder, She Didn’t Write

Published on April 14, 2025April 14, 2025 by sophiemclarend5f8cfacc0Leave a comment

‘An entertaining improvised murder mystery. Not one miss!’

This hilarious whodunnit is an Agatha Christie-inspired masterpiece, that is completely improvised based off of the audience’s ideas, making it your very own classic murder mystery play.

As everyone took their seats, the detective of the show ‘Agatha Crusty’ sat down in the corner of the stage, isolated from the rest of the set, interacting with the audience and writing notes, accompanied by jazz music to give it the 1920’s feel. When the show began, she briefly introduced herself and the play, and then the lights came up on the audience. One lucky member of the audience was chosen to be ‘Jerkins’, her assistant. The plot of the show was then decided by audience members shouting out ideas for the location and murder evidence and then Jerkins picked out of their suggestions, ours taking place at a taxidermy convention, and a wet instruction manual for deep lunging found at the crime scene. What made the show hilarious was that any other suggestions that were shouted out which didn’t make the cut, the actors tried to somehow incorporate throughout.

We were then introduced to the cast, each of the five with their own signature colour – a bit like Cluedo! They improvised scenes based on the audience’s decisions, which was very cleverly helped by the detective in the corner of the stage as she prompted them with ideas or told them what would happen next to move the show on. They were also helped by the lighting team, who would bring the lights down to end the scene if the actors were struggling or it was going on too long. Detective Agatha Crusty then made her way to ’Jerkins’ in the audience who picked from 5 character cards who would be the victim of the murder, and then who would commit the crime.

One of the stand out things was the lack of props and set. It was brilliant watching the cast use their imagination, using rolling pins as rhinoceros horns, and miming the missing items, but it didn’t take away from the piece at all. The show was accompanied by Sara Garad, an improv pianist, who played during the show, following everything that was happening on stage and adding character and emotion to the piece.

The only thing to note was that there were a few lighting issues throughout the show; the lights coming up on the audience when they weren’t meant to. But honestly the audience were enjoying themselves so much that it wasn’t really noticeable and didn’t affect the performance.

The show was a true testament to how skilled these actors were. Being able to stay in character whilst thinking of everything on the spot, and then having the ability to remember every little thing that the other actors had said so that the story flowed. It was honestly incredible to watch. Of course there were a few laughs that were held in from the cast, but it’s expected from an improvised comedy. It’s definitely one to watch, even better if you watch it more than once. Not one show will be the same but every single time you will be laughing your head off and leaving the theatre impressed!

Murder, She Didn’t Write tours across the UK this summer, tickets are available here.

REVIEW: Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens

Published on January 7, 2025January 6, 2025 by sophiemclarend5f8cfacc01 Comment

A classic story, with a hilarious twist, leave your kids at home for this one!

This year North East Adult Panto is back with their production of Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens. The show is an extremely unique take on the classic story and had me crying with laughter the whole way through. It goes without saying that this is an over 18s event so be prepared for a performance that is truly rotten to the core!

Throughout the whole performance, all of the actors appeared comfortable with one another on stage, bouncing off each other’s energy and the audience’s reactions. There were a few minor line slips, which is expected with a panto, and in my opinion made the show even funnier. The show was accompanied by some eye-catching backdrops on a screen at the back of the stage, setting the mood for each scene, bringing the whole piece together.

The show opened with a rendition of Ex-Wives, from Six: The Musical, which introduced the seven queens. As each one appeared on stage, it was clear that the majority of the audience were familiar with the cast by their reaction but especially with Tiny, played by Tomara Thomas and Bitchy played by Michael Marouli who both competed in series 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. We were then introduced to Snow White, beautifully portrayed by Amelia Cavagan, Snow’s best friend Puddles and the hilariously naughty David Potts, winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2024, playing the role of Dirty David, the Huntsman. We then met Prince Albert, who performed his version of Dancing Through Life from Wicked, introducing his charming and witty character. Another special mention goes to Deborah Taylor-Smith (stepping in for the 2016 Queen of the Jungle, Scarlett Moffatt, as the Evil Queen) who closed act 1 with some incredible vocals, singing Rise Like A Phoenix.

In Act 2, the majority of the songs were performed by the Queens, including Celebration, for Snow Whites 18th birthday. Aside from all of the singing, we met an Amazon Delivery Driver in hot pants and a hi-vis , who was clearly an audience favourite based on their reaction every time he was on stage. The show ended with a classic panto song; If I was not in pantomime which was performed by the seven Drag Queens and Dirty David, which was a perfect ending to this crazy performance.

Overall, I think this is a really funny show. It stuck to the basic Snow White narrative fairly closely, whilst adding and changing scenes to keep the audience interested. If I had to have one criticism, it would be that I would have preferred a seated show, as the stalls were standing, but that may have just been the venue and not the production’s choice.

FEATURE: Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens

Published on January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by sophiemclarend5f8cfacc0Leave a comment

I recently attended the media day for the North East Adult Pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens, and to say the least, it didn’t disappoint.

Throughout my time there, the company performed an extract from the show, and a musical number; Celebration. They were only 4 rehearsals in at the time, so were reading off of scripts, but it was clear that the show was going to be an incredible show. I also spent time with the cast asking questions about the show and here were some of the responses:

David Potts (Winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2024) – Dirty David the Huntsman – described his character as ‘very sassy and a bit of a baddie’, and explained that he had always played a good character so he was enjoying ‘a bit of a bad bitch for once’. I asked him how he had found the rehearsal process so far, as there were only 4 rehearsals in at the time, and he said ‘ It has been so much fun, we’ve all been screaming, we’ve all been laughing. It’s all just coming together so nicely already, it’s brilliant.’

I also asked every cast member to sum up the show in one word. It was so interesting to see what everyone said:

-spicy

-naughty

-slay

-filthy

-disgusting

-vile

-saucy

-camp

-fab

-bonkers

-heartfelt

Monday 6^th January, 8pm – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham

Tuesday 7^th January, 8pm – The Clapham Grand, London

Wednesday 8^th January, 8pm – Tramshed, Cardiff

Thursday 9^th January, 8pm – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow

Friday 10^th January, 8pm – Leeds Beckett Students’ Union, Leeds

Saturday 11^th January, 8pm – O2 Ritz, Manchester

Sunday 12^th January, 8pm – Wolfrun Halls, Wolverhampton

For full details on the show visit www.neadultpanto.com. Suitable for ages 16+.