All stories by Libby Purves on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

TALKING HEADS – PLAYING SANDWICHES/ LADY OF LETTERS Bridge, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

TWO MORE FROM ALAN BENNETT              One of the darkest and one of the merriest.   PlAYING SANDWICHES  is an even more than usually sombre one of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.�…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:30AM
Friday, September 18, 2020

‘Absorbing & thrilling & touching’: THE SHRINE / BED AMONG THE LENTILS – Bridge Theatre ★★★★★ by Libby Purves

The Talking Heads monologues The Shrine and Bed Among the Lentils are absorbing and thrilling and touching and – here is the surprise – amid Alan Bennett’s wry pathos the playlets are …

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Friday, September 4, 2020

REVIEW: Beat The Devil, Bridge Theatre London ✭✭✭✭ by Libby Purves

By Libby Purves The Theatrecat Libby Purves finds herself back in the stalls for Beat The Devil at the Bridge Theatre London and it's a very Fiennes start! This post REVIEW: Beat The Devil, …

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:43AM
Thursday, September 3, 2020

BEAT THE DEVIL Bridge, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

BACK IN THE STALLS!   AND A VERY FIENNES START         After nine months’ exile – my chemotherapy ended slap bang at the start of lockdown –  I felt like the Ancient Mariner, goo…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 09:15AM
Saturday, August 1, 2020

TWELFTH NIGHT Red Rose Chain by Libby Purves and Friends

A SINGING, SEASIDE,  STRIKING DEFIANCE OF THE NEW SEPARATION   Theatrecat remains dark,  as it has been since December when chemotherapy began and then ran seamlessly, in March, into loc…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 11:38AM
Thursday, March 19, 2020

AS THE VIRUS SAFETY CURTAIN FALLS… by Libby Purves and Friends

…FROM ME AND FROM THEATRECAT.COM (&HOUSE ARTIST ROGER HARDY)  HERE’S THE CAT AND THE MICE .     THEY COLLABORATE FOR ONCE TO WISH EVERY THEATRE, ARTIST AND SUPPORT WORKER LUCK, SO…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:39PM
Friday, December 6, 2019

THEATRECAT IS UNDER THE VET… by Libby Purves and Friends

A MESSAGE FOR THOSE KIND ENOUGH TO DROP INTO THIS SITE… Theatrecat followers: a bit of news below, in detail for your information or in case any of you are undergoing the parallel thing. …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 11:56AM

‘Will make your heart leap’: A CHRISTMAS CAROL – The Old Vic by Libby Purves

This freshened-up and first-rate production of A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic sees Paterson Joseph giving one of the performances of his life, his humanity simply erupting onto the stage.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM
Tuesday, November 26, 2019

THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE        Bridge Theatre, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

 MONSTROUS AND MAJESTIC ,  A NARNIA FOR NOW      How to interpret an old favourite?  A Christian fantasy allegory, the world of Narnia,  the first of C.S.Lewis’ immortal children’…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 11:26AM
Thursday, November 21, 2019

DEAR EVAN HANSEN Noel Coward Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

BEN DOWELL REVIEWS: A bright, socially withdrawn teenager called Evan is desperately lonely, taking comfort in the internet and not much else. He has a crush on a girl from his school, but c…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:39AM
Saturday, November 16, 2019

‘A riot of good cheer & some quite breathtaking stagecraft’: MARY POPPINS – West End ★★★★★ by Libby Purves

Mary Poppins is as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as one can hope, a riot of good cheer, fun, excellent signing and some quite breathtaking stagecraft.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Friday, November 15, 2019

MARY POPPINS. Prince Edward Theatre. w1 by Libby Purves and Friends

BEN DOWELL AND DAUGHTER POP WITH PLEASURE AT ITS PEP.. It has floated in one the chilly autumn breeze like a much-needed blast of summer sunshine. Yes, this Mary Poppins is as supercalifragi…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:08PM
Wednesday, November 13, 2019

THE SEASON Wolsey, Ipswich & then Northampton by Libby Purves and Friends

A BIG APPLE ROMANCE WITH CRUNCH        How romantic New York is to the British heart!  From Superman to Friends we seem to know it,  from Elf and 34th Street (not to mention the Pogues…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:52PM
Saturday, November 2, 2019

‘The ensemble had me helplessly grinning with affection from the start’: HIGH FIDELITY – Turbine Theatre ★★★ by Libby Purves

High Fidelity stomps along unmemorably with great goodwill and a three-piece band overhead, and moments of soul or hare-krishna pastiche are wittily done

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:00AM
Wednesday, October 30, 2019

LIGHT FALLS             Royal Exchange, Manchester by Libby Purves and Friends

NORTHERN GUEST REVIEWER HELEN GASKELL TIRES OF THE RELENTLESS GRIT…   A family of five, scattered across the North of England, are brought together by tragedy.  The play shows a picture …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 12:19PM

WHEN THE CROWS VISIT Kiln NW6 by Libby Purves and Friends

ARROGANCE, ANGER ,   INDIA’S  SHAME     Hema’s is a house of women now.  The old grandmother is in bed below the tall screen doors ,  feeding  crows who move shadow-shapes behind…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:16AM
Tuesday, October 29, 2019

VASSA Almeida, N1 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST CRITIC BEN DOWELL DOES NOT HAVE A GOOD NIGHT OUT   What a strange evening this is. Young director Tinuke Craig has taken Maxim Gorky’s 1911 play (there was a revision in 1935 but s…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:21AM
Thursday, October 24, 2019

BOTTICELLI IN THE FIRE Hampstead, NW3 by Libby Purves and Friends

RENAISSANCE  RUTTING,   VENUS AND  VANITIES   Sandro Botticelli, he makes clear to us at the start, plans to tell his version. He’s Dickie Beau: skinny and swaggeringly queeny in blac…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:54PM

​LUNGS.    Old vic, SE1​​​ by Libby Purves and Friends

​​IT TAKES TWO​​…​   Here’s  a sharp eyed little gem about coupledom and the wary, fretful road towards parenthood in an age of easy contraception and illimitable expectation…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:47AM
Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A MUSEUM IN BAGHDAD Swan, Stratford upon Avon by Libby Purves and Friends

TWO CURATORS,  ACROSS EIGHTY YEARS     The little Swan , a jewel-box of a theatre, often sees the new plays the RSC does best: immaculate technique and careful clarity elucidating complex…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 03:34AM
Sunday, October 20, 2019

AN INSPECTOR CALLS Touring by Libby Purves and Friends

INSPECTOR GOOLE,  BACK  BACK ON THE ROAD    Below,  edited, is my original London review of this remarkable production.  This new tour deserves to be marked, though:   regarding the t…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:46AM
Friday, October 18, 2019

[BLANK] Donmar, WC2 by Libby Purves and Friends

A COOL EYE ON SHATTERED LIVES          Of all the well known flaws of our criminal justice system,  one of the most glaring is how badly it fits women – though they  are only around…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:44AM
Saturday, October 12, 2019

‘Roars along’: GROAN UPS – West End by Libby Purves

Groan Ups has hamster substitutions, unexpected subtler laughs and a moment of real pathos before it swizzles into something more poignant.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM
Thursday, October 10, 2019

REVIEW: Assassins, Watermill Theatre Newbury ✭✭✭✭ by Libby Purves

By Libby Purves Libby Purves reviews Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical Assassins now playing at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. This post REVIEW: Assassins, Watermill Theatre Newbu…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 08:37AM

ASSASSINS           Watermill, Bagnor Newbury by Libby Purves and Friends

THE DARK AND THE CRAZY       This is  – for us anyway – the first  production in the Trump era of this savage musical:  a revue reimagining of all the attempts, successful or not,�…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:03AM
Wednesday, October 2, 2019

THE NIGHT WATCH New Wolsey, Ipswich & touring by Libby Purves and Friends

PEOPLE OF THE BLITZ    Sarah Waters’ best novel, evoking lives during and after the London Blitz,  was told backward in time.  It is much the same way, indeed, as we meet real people�…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:41PM

FOR SERVICES RENDERED              Jermyn St Theatre WC1 by Libby Purves and Friends

THE LOW DISHONEST DECADE…   It’s always intimate, the Jermyn,.  We’re in an autumn garden, apples on the ground and fading roses on the wall;  birdsong,  and a tea table set defia…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:55AM
Tuesday, October 1, 2019

MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS Lyttelton, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

A COLLIDING WORLD       Couldn’t miss this: for two years as a teenager (Dad in the Jo’burg Embassy)   I lived alongside the frightened, arrogant paranoia of  white South Africa un…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:18PM
Monday, September 30, 2019

THE WATSONS. Menier SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

15 CHARACTERS OBJECTING TO  AN AUTHOR..   The Jane Austen industry never flags, in tribute or in parody.  You can barely throw a bonnet without hitting an  Austentatious improv,  popcor…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:45PM
Sunday, September 29, 2019

‘Streaks of compassionate melancholy under the sparkles of hilarity’: BIRTHDAYS PAST, BIRTHDAYS PRESENT – Scarborough ★★★★★ by Libby Purves

Underneath Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present beats Ayckbourn’s sorrowful, understanding heart, showing us that comedy is just tragedy on its way to happening.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM
Friday, September 27, 2019

KING JOHN Swan, Stratford upon Avon by Libby Purves and Friends

KING JOHN WAS NOT A GOOD MAN…     Maybe we should stick to AA Milne’s version?  “King John was not a good man He had his little ways   And sometimes no one spoke to him For days an…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 09:18AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre