Reading Time: 3 minutesLipstick doesn’t make you pretty is a personal story about family, self-image, bullying and the effect of childhood on adulthood. Creator and performer Christine Feng viscerally relives moments from her life in the intimate setting of the Baron’s Court Theatre. The show was honest and forthright, giving audiences a comprehensive look into Christine’s life and challenges.
Reading Time: 2 minutesDesmonda Cathabel shines as Jasmine, offering a nuanced, heartfelt portrayal with warmth and vocal ease, balancing strength and vulnerability. Damien Winchester’s Genie is another standout, with impeccable comic timing and vocal prowess that infuses each scene with energy. Gavin Adams, in the role of Aladdin, though talented, feels one-dimensional beside Cathabel and Winchester’s richly layered portrayals. The trio of friends—Kassim (Nay-Nay), Omar (Adam Taylor), and Babkak (Nelson Bettencourt)—add charm, providing a fun twist to Aladdin’s capuchin sidekick, Abu.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is your classic one woman stand-up comedy show starring a glamorous alien from out of space. Sprinkle in a few music numbers, lots of camp, and a large blonde beehive, and you have a uniquely Juno Birch show. If you are not already familiar with Juno Birch, she is a drag queen from Manchester who has amassed over a million combined followers on Youtube and Instagram thanks to her iconic look, witty humour, and appearances with other famous drag queens such as Trixie Mattel. She has brought her new show to Soho Theatre following on from previous successful shows including “Attack of the stunning” which she toured around the world.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIntrigued? It’s Barbra & Liza Live! a night of show tunes and glittery tops. Steven Brinberg brings sophistication and a fierce bob to his renowned Barbra impression, and Rick Skye’s vocals and style brought Liza Minnelli straight into the Charring Cross Theatre.
Reading Time: 2 minutesDeveloped in America and currently having its European debut, Little Piece of You: An Atypical Musical in Concert has been in development since 2020.
Reading Time: 2 minutesSasha Regan’s production of "The Pirates of Penzance" is a lively, comedic take featuring an all-male cast. While some performances, particularly by Luke Garner-Greene and David McKechnie, shine, the lack of operatic prowess sometimes obscures lyrics. Though it entertains, there’s room for improvement in storytelling and clarity.
Reading Time: 2 minutesHere You Come Again at the Lowry, Salford offers a humorous, Dolly Parton-infused take on pandemic life, but ultimately suffers from a paper-thin plot and a sense that its use of Parton's music is more opportunistic than inspired.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn The Other Palace’s studio space, a stage is bedecked in vegetables. The lighting low, Ginsters logo appears on every surface, signaling the not-so-subtle commercial facet of this production. Dan Mersh, our compere for the afternoon, bounds onto the stage to introduce himself and provide a little context to the event. This event is inspired by the apparent care Ginsters takes when it comes to sourcing their vegetables for their products. What follows is an array of musical performances, a video of Farmer Merryn’s day in the life on her farm, a surprising interval and an overarching profession of how amazing Ginsters is for taking such care in cultivating their vegetables.
Reading Time: 3 minutesCreative Director Matt Belcher’s vision for The Orchestral Forest sees the audience experiencing a classical concert from within, free to wander between the ‘trees’, our orchestra blooming from scattered podiums across Sinfonia Smith Square’s hall. The programme celebrates the hidden beauty of the UK’s ancient rainforests, with Belcher’s guide to the performance informing us that at one time, ‘as much as 20% of the UK was covered in temperate rainforest. Today, as little as 0.07% remains. Most have been replaced by conifer plantations – dense, silent monocultures that are intensively grown and felled on repeat…as a result, these forests are now among the rarest and most vulnerable in the world.’
Reading Time: 2 minutesFollowing the 2022 staging of We Wrote A Show at Camden Fringe, Hannah Adams and Jack Cray have returned to the stage with a new iteration. Based on the same characters and loose plot line as their previous production, they now focus their new show on the complexities of love and dating in the digital age.
This latest production, Chemistry Test, follows the same characters (two Artificial Intelligences, Steve and Evie), as they complete the final stages of testing before being sent to Earth. Their mission? To teach humans that art of romance…without the apps.