Reading Time: 2 minutesMurder in The Dark is an electrifying production that combines talented acting, clever set design, and atmospheric lighting to deliver a spine-tingling experience that lingers long after the final curtain falls.
Reading Time: 3 minutesStrangers In Between is a 2-act play written by Tommy Murphy and directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher. It tells the story of a young man called Shane who has recently left his small town to move to Sydney where he tries to build a life for himself.
Reading Time: 2 minutes30 years ago, when Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing was first produced, it was described as an urban fairy tale which portrayed what it is to be young, gay and in love in the early 90s.
Reading Time: < 1 minutePart of the renowned Royal Albert Hall’s Films in Concert series, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra brings the second instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to delighted audiences in London this month.
Reading Time: 2 minutesI stepped back in time at Liverpool's Royal Court. The Boys From The Blackstuff adaption transported me to a not-so-far-away past, haunted by the Thatcher reforms. The play shed light on the harsh realities of unemployment, which was jokingly referred to as a "growth industry", and how it particularly affected those from industrial backgrounds.
Reading Time: 3 minutesPatsy Ferran and Bertie Carvel star in the revival of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, a play written in 1912, a classic tale of rags to riches, familiar to us, having inspired films such as My Fair Lady and Pretty Woman. Pygmalion follows the transformation of Eliza Doolittle (Patsy Ferran), from a working-class girl, selling flowers in Covent Garden, into a refined, presentable "lady". Eliza's story begins with her meeting the phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Bertie Carvel) and Colonel Pickering (Michael Gould). Higgins makes a bet with Pickering that through training and speech lessons, he could replace Eliza's cockney accent and blasphemous language, with the speech and mannerisms of a high-class lady, and pass her off as a duchess in high society. Eliza is transformed and suddenly a new world is opened up to her; various parties, social opportunities, and romantic interests. As expected, this big change has its consequences, and as we follow the effects of Eliza's new social status, we also observe the changing relationship between Eliza and Higgins, leading to questions concerning class, identity and power.
Reading Time: 2 minutesAs I read the program, I was initially perplexed by the diverse set list put together by Manchester Collective. It was difficult for me to discern the connection between a Wood Thrush, trains, and artificial intelligence. However, by the end of the night, I came to realise that, just as there are infinite paths to take when travelling by train, the human experience knows no bounds.
Reading Time: 3 minutesOperation Epsilon tells the story of a group of German scientists who were sequestered in an English manor house near the end of WW2 and spied on by the British to see how close they were to creating an atomic bomb. Directed by Andy Samberg and written by Alan Brody, this play shines a light on a little-known part of history, and uses real life transcripts of the conversations these scientists had, plus a whole lot of creative license, to make an interesting and thought-provoking show.
Reading Time: 2 minutesA monolithic sound system towers over the room. A circular rug creates the playing space. A table, two chairs and two screens are all else that’s needed for Brixton legend Sutara Gayle (aka Lorna Gee) to take us through a journey of heritage and trauma to the other side. And a microphone, of course. The show’s present is set in a spiritual retreat in India where Gayle is undergoing some meditation guided by her brother, Mooji. It is the place in which Gayle is encouraged to allow her past to flood out of her, to realise that the past and future are simply thoughts, and that everything truly exists in the right here and now.
Reading Time: 3 minutesFollowing successful productions in 12 countries around the world, the musical adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s 20th century classic finally finds its way to a London stage, 17 years since its world premiere in Vienna, Austria. Written by the acclaimed duo of Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, and adapted in English by Christopher Hampton, another theatre and film legend, this musical adaptation of Rebecca remains true to the original storyline and captures for the most part the essence of the 1938 Goth classic.