Reading Time: 3 minutesOn the Ropes is a true story that follows the tumultuous life of Vernon Vanriel, from his early life as a British boxing champion to his battles outside the ring with addiction, mental health crises and the utter cruelty of Windrush generation hostile immigration policies.
Reading Time: 2 minutesCanadian classic Salt-Water Moon written by David French gets its UK debut 38 years after its Canadian one. Directed by Peter Kavanagh this one act, two hander is a romantic exploration of young love in post war Newfoundland.
Reading Time: 3 minutesTo Have and To Hold, written by Mark Bastin, is a play centred on the lives of an elderly couple, Dennis (Mark Steere) and Gina Woodman (Susan Graham).
Reading Time: 2 minutesWritten and directed by Mark Shanahan, A Sherlock Carol is on just a stone's throw from Baker Street at the new Marylebone Theatre, which is the perfect setting for this Dickensian crossover show.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Wedding Speech is a one-woman show, starring Princess Donnough and written by Cheryl May Coward-Walker, currently playing at the Camden People’s Theatre.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt’s 1941, a couple of months before the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and G Company are stationed at the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. It’s no surprise that James Jones’s original 1951 novel, From Here To Eternity, was heavily censored by his publisher - it’s a story about power, masculinity, gay men in the army, sanctioned bullying, and the effects of war.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt’s 1928. Lila is all alone in a hospital for the criminally insane. Without any support, she is forced to face her secrets and the darkness of her past that led to her imprisonment “Packed with playful poetry and vivid trauma,” says the description, though this one-woman show from Shea Donovan perhaps struggles with the latter claim.
Reading Time: 2 minutes‘Strictly Ballroom’ follows the story of Scott, an accomplished ballroom dancer, Fran, a beginner ballroom dancer, their contrasting families, and a struggle to break free from expectations and pressure.
Reading Time: 3 minutesComing straight from the West End, Bill Kenwright’s production of Saturday Night Fever sets off on tour this September and we caught it at the Oxford Playhouse.
Reading Time: 3 minutesPoorly received by critics when it was first performed, Tennessee Williams’ “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” is an explosive, off-the-rails exploration of morality, our fear of death and being forgotten