20 March 2023 4**** It seems inconceivable that a play could still be running in London’s West End after 70 years (albeit with a lengthy gap during the Covid pandemic) – even the author couldn’t fathom the reasons for it and she passed away nearly 50 years ago! ‘The Mousetrap’ is a phenomenon. The London …
15 March 2023 5***** In the week after Theatre Royal Plymouth have a major coup in appointing Dame Darcy Bussell as its Chair of the Trustees, they bring to the stage an exquisite production of Swan Lake from Birmingham Royal Ballet. BRB visit Plymouth twice a year and it is always something to look forward …
SWAN LAKE – Birmingham Royal Ballet – Theatre Royal Plymouth Read More »
13 March 2023 3*** The popularity and fascination with Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes continues unabated. Continual reinventions, reincarnations, revivals and adaptations highlight the longevity of the stories and the character. Blackeyed Theatre are well versed in bringing new adaptations of classic novels to the stage and have previously presented Holmes in ‘The Sign of …
SHERLOCK HOLMES – THE VALLEY OF FEAR – Exeter Northcott Theatre Read More »
7 March 2023 4**** A quick read of J B Priestley’s opening stage directions for ‘An Inspector Calls’ offers some insight into his thinking behind the play and the decisions taken by director Stephen Daldry and designer Ian MacNeil in this production which has been in existence for over 30 years. Priestley tempts directors to …
24 February 2023 4**** Let me just say from the outset that for any actor to hold the audience’s attention and to entertain them royally, to make them laugh and to move them for 90 minutes, all alone, is something to be deeply admired and in this thoroughly entertaining play, Robert Daws is simply outstanding. …
WODEHOUSE IN WONDERLAND – Exeter Northcott Theatre Read More »
14 February 2023 5***** Sometimes it is good to come to a piece of theatre with the very minimum of background knowledge; I have never read any of Neil Gaiman’s work, nor seen adaptations of them in any form, but was aware that the stage version of his book, THE OCEAN AT THE END OF …
THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE – Theatre Royal Plymouth Read More »
8 February 2023 4**** Exeter Northcott Theatre has been a crusader in bringing dance to the stage and the audiences have been treated to many variations of the artform over the years. They are usually very well supported and the appearance of Cornwall-based James Wilton Dance was welcomed with open arms by a packed house. …
JAMES WILTON DANCE – THE FOUR SEASONS – Exeter Northcott Theatre Read More »
30 January 2023 3*** Baz Lurmann’s 1992 film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ was made on a shoestring, but it has become a firm favourite and helped the world of ballroom dancing no end. Its story of an ‘ugly duckling’ achieving her dream as being a dancer with a more seasoned, but renegade partner is full of charm …
STRICTLY BALLROOM – THE MUSICAL – Theatre Royal Plymouth Read More »
25 January 2023 4**** Trying to unpick Pinter’s ‘The Birthday Party’ could be a full-time job. A play of contradictions and of absurdity, of the mudane and of menace. A play where it’s difficult to believe anything you hear, but somehow, you become hooked by the writing and sucked into a world where the ordinary …
23 January 2023 4**** Nicolas Billon’s play found success in his native Canada and has since been filmed and become, curiously, a surprise and long-running hit in South Korea. This is the UK premiere production. A doctor in a mental health establishment has gone missing; the last person to see him was troubled inmate, Michael. …
