Category Drama

REVIEW: Wish You Weren’t Here

Reading Time: 2 minutesWish You Weren't Here is a one act 2 hander play written by Katie Redford, and directed by Rob Watt. It stars Eleanor Henderson as Lorna, a 32 year old mother who wants to recapture the joy of family holidays to Scarborough from when her daughter was younger, and Olivia Pentelow as Mila, who plays the now 16 year old daughter who would much rather be with her friends in London than stuck in a seaside town in a dodgy B&B with her mother. 

REVIEW: Hir

Reading Time: 2 minutesAlthough overtly about gender, Hir is at its most exciting in its wider sociopolitical commentary. Whilst Taylor Mac’s observations on the trans community will have been revolutionary when written in 1996, these are fairly run-of-the-mill takes in the modern era, and at times it feels like trans-rights themselves are the butt of the joke.

REVIEW: Dear Eliza

Reading Time: 2 minutesFollowing a successful run at the 2023 Greater Manchester Fringe Festival where it was shortlisted for Best Newcomer, Dear Eliza has since grown into an hour-long production and gained Helen Parry as director. Midway through its mini UK tour, I managed to catch Dear Eliza in The Studio Below on Liverpool's Rodney Street (a diamond of a theatre I was annoyed at myself for not knowing existed.)

REVIEW: Haunted Scouse

Haunted Scouse dress rehearsal at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Picture Jason Roberts

Reading Time: 2 minutesFrom it’s promotion, you may expect “Haunted Scouse” to be something of a horror-comedy (a rarity for plays, definitely), but what emerges instead is something of a comedy-drama - a heartfelt and intriguing story intermingled with frequent laughs and a good dose of situational irony.

REVIEW: My Blood

Reading Time: 2 minutesMy Blood, written by Leelou Lapteva, is about the inner drama of a well-off banking family that has survived, even prospered from, the 2008 financial crash. They are grieving the loss of the youngest daughter, and deal with more challenges throughout the 90-minute play. 

REVIEW: The Circle

Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Circle, brought about by Theatre Royal Bath Productions, this short play revolves around the family of Arnold Champion-Cheney, a high-strung politician with a no-nonsense attitude brought about by his traumatic family past; he was abandoned by his dear mother, Lady Kitty, at the mere age of five years old, in the name of “love” for his father’s very best friend Porteus.