Wednesday, December 3, 2014
I am fascinated and slightly bemused by the ongoing battle raging around theatre criticism: i.e. the “death” of serious print critics in favour of bloggers and the Twittersphere, which …
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 12:26PMTuesday, December 2, 2014
I’m playing catch-up. Here are four shows I caught before my turkey-filled escape to the States last week for Thanksgiving. All of which serve up entertaining evenings in the theatre. As u…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 02:02PMThursday, November 20, 2014
Yesterday was the inaugural #LoveTheatre day. Run in partnership with Twitter UK, Guardian Culture Professionals Network and Culture Themes, it was widely embraced by theatres and theatre lo…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 05:07AMWednesday, November 19, 2014
There are plenty of plays to choose from on London’s fringe and Off-West End. Here are some that I’ve seen recently and am happy to recommend. As usual, I’ve listed them in closing dat…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 10:57AMTuesday, November 18, 2014
You may not have heard of octogenarian Sondra Lee, but you should have. This petite lady is a legend – and I had the privilege of chairing a Q&A with her along with Peter Tate and …
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 07:43AMThursday, November 13, 2014
A note in the programme for Wildefire, Roy Williams’ new play about the perils of modern-day policing at Hampstead Theatre, deftly summarises the public relations problem that the police f…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 12:29PMMy partner Peter had vicious man-flu for over a week so it was only a matter of time until I caught the female equivalent, a.k.a the common cold. Yesterday morning, after a no-sleep night, I…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 05:25AMMonday, November 10, 2014
Most review publications rate shows on a five-star basis. But even full fives across the board from every theatre critic in the country won’t guarantee a hit. So what does? Over his 30-odd…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 02:26PMThursday, November 6, 2014
On Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending the second official gathering of the London theatre bloggers, an amorphous group of 30-odd who you can follow collectively at #LDNTheatreBlog…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 04:15AMWednesday, November 5, 2014
My first thought when the folks behind a new musical based on Guy Fawkes tweeted me this morning was: what a great idea for a musical! My second thought was: why hasn’t it been done befor…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 09:43AMThursday, October 30, 2014
In my Theatre Diary last week, I recommended two new musicals – Urinetown and The Scottsboro Boys, both originated in New York and given UK premiere productions Off-West End before transfe…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:46PMThursday, October 23, 2014
Having escaped back to Mallorca for a week (god, I love that place, my little piece of heaven), there are at least two weeks of theatre I want to catch up with. My must-see list just keeps g…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 03:45PMTuesday, October 7, 2014
After catching Simon Callow’s latest barn-storming performance in The Man Jesus, which stopped off last night (6 October 2014) at the West End’s Lyric Theatre as part of a national tour,…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 05:50AMMonday, October 6, 2014
Take me out to the ballgame… There’s a lot of new talent on show in the Landor Theatre’s boisterous revival of 1955 Broadway baseball musical Damn Yankees, but I must declare a per…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 07:18AMWednesday, October 1, 2014
I voted in the inaugural West End Wilma Awards this morning – and experienced an intense feeling of déjà vu. My own awards past Fourteen years ago, I founded the WhatsOnStage Awards almo…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:27AMTuesday, September 30, 2014
Forbidden Broadway was just what the doctor ordered for me the other night – I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. The renowned Broadway institution (going since 1982) has been sl…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 11:18AMWednesday, September 17, 2014
Knowing that my theatregoing – and overall mental and emotional bandwidth – would be going into tailspin this week, I packed in as many shows as I could over the past fortnight. Amongst …
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 03:36PMMonday, September 8, 2014
“Talk about handling a hot potato,” Gabriel Quigley said to me after I chaired a post-show Q&A with her and her co-star Richard Clements following last Thursday’s performance of Sp…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 12:29PMThursday, September 4, 2014
Four of the nine Festival Highlights shows I worked on in August were solo pieces. And over the years of visiting the Edinburgh Fringe, I estimate that at least 60% of all those shows I’ve…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 10:22AMWednesday, September 3, 2014
I’m excited to attend the gala opening tonight of Michael Flatley’s revamped Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games. I got a sneak peek recently when a few extracts were performed at a previ…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:23AMTuesday, September 2, 2014
When the Daily Telegraph announced yesterday that Charles Spencer is retiring after 25 years as the newspaper’s theatre critic, there was an outpouring of appreciation for Charlie on Twitt…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:58AMThursday, August 28, 2014
As I mentioned in my Theatre Diary today, I cannot recommend Benjamin Scheuer’s The Lion highly enough. This is a beautiful one-man musical about a boy and his father and how that boy beca…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 04:15PMEdinburgh aside, my August theatregoing has been sporadic, but here are a few shows I’ve seen recently that are worth catching if you can, especially now that the late summer sunshine seem…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 07:12AMFriday, August 15, 2014
When Mark Shenton was dismissed as critic from the Sunday Express last December, it was the talking point of the theatre industry, particularly after he blogged for The Stage about the sensa…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 04:40AMThursday, August 14, 2014
Any chance of dieting this month went out the window with the arrival of this beautiful care package of Sweet Theatre’s Shakespeare’s Leading Ladies chocolate bars. Sweet Theatre is the …
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 10:09AMMonday, August 11, 2014
As part of my recent Festival Highlights Challenge, I had the pleasure of meeting – and, for 24 hours, effectively stalking – Sarah Quinney at the Edinburgh Fringe. Sarah is a Technical …
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:41AMFriday, August 8, 2014
What a turnout! After a Twitter RT frenzy with the cast of Therese Raquin yesterday, every single one of them joined me for a post-show Q&A after their sensational performance last night…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 07:14AMWhat chutzpah! Producer David Johnson’s reaction to a request from ATG, the UK’s largest theatre owning group, for complimentary tickets to his production of Fascinating Aida…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:07AMMonday, August 4, 2014
I had photographer company in the form of other half Peter Jones for part of my Festival Highlights visit to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. If a photo is worth a thousand words, youR…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 01:23PMThis year, I’m returning from Edinburgh just at the time I would normally be heading up… And that’s not the only difference in my festival going. 2014 has been a year of many Fringe fi…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 12:38PMWednesday, July 30, 2014
In London, five shows a week is a serious haul. In Edinburgh, that’s small fry. When I was reviewing in Edinburgh, I could easily do twice that in a day. This year, this week, I’m experi…
SOURCE: Terri Paddock at 06:55AM 
