The night before Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination on the balcony outside of his Memphis motel room, Katori Hall’s play The Mountaintop takes us inside Room 306 where he was stayi…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 12:00PMHaving come to Rock of Ages with no prior reference other than the 2012 film version (mostly memorable for featuring a surprisingly entertaining performance from Tom Cruise) I was, let’s s…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 12:00PMA Very Very Very Dark Matter lacks the coherence and pleasing culmination of the playwright’s other works. Despite the ‘upbeat ending’, this play displays none of Martin McDonagh’s t…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AMThe Madness of George III offers a great part for an actor, one which Mark Gatiss relishes. His vocal and physical tics are memorable, while never reducing mental illness to a series of quir…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:00AMTo say Calendar Girls The Musical is celebratory seems cliché, yet there’s no better description; Calendar Girls is an unashamed celebration of love, life, and community (and cake!).
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PMOverall, Cilla the Musical is a watchable and well-produced show. On the other hand, I think there’s possibly a more interesting story in there.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AMBourne’s Swan Lake is timeless, this production as fresh as ever, while a company that embodies a tireless amount verve, ingenuity, precision and emotion ensure this is a revival to be uni…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:00AMDespite a lack of connection, The Wipers Times celebrates a great, previously untold story, about war, journalism, tenacity, and the need for humour in difficult times.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AMThe Lovely Bones is one of the best plays I’ve seen this year. In fact, Melly Still’s vital production is the best page to stage adaptation I’ve seen since Curious Incident.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AMIn Bill Buckhurst’s production of Sweet Charity we benefit from the delicate balance between the seediness of the New York backstreets with the technicolor of Charity’s blithe daydreams.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AMWhatever criticisms people may have of McDonagh, his neat plotting and big jokes are enough to entice people not usually interested in theatre. It may be Aidan Turner drawing the crowds in, …
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:00AMExit the King’s interest in the crumbling of a kingdom is relevant, and I found its musings on death – and Anthony Ward’s visual representation of this – emotionally affecting.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AMBy turns cynical, touching and with a rogue twinkle in its eye, Allelujah! doesn’t set the stage alight, and as both a black comedy and state-of-the-nation play it feels underpowered, but …
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AMClaire van Kampen’s decision to eschew gimmick/concept is a bold statement in a production of Othello that generously places the focus firmly on plot and character, and pays dividends for …
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMLike America promises so much to Henry Lehman when he stands on the dock side, The Lehman Trilogy at the National Theatre promised so much as well.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMCurve, Leicester 17thJuly, 2018 “Wherever there’s trouble, I can guarantee you I’ll be there” Apparently this stage adaptation of Raymond Allen’s 1970s’ c…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AMFun Home exceeds all expectations. It’s one of those productions where everything – book, music, performance, design – comes together in perfect harmony and by the final notes you know…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMIf I have been overly harsh, I apologise, and I’m sure many audience members found aspects to enjoy in The Final Curtain, however, if ‘cosy crime’ is your thing, I think you’d be bet…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMIn all of the hot air, there’s been lately about the 25 greatest plays since Angels in America, I cannot argue against the decision to include An Octoroon high on the list.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:04AMMischief Movie Night is enormous fun and the cast clearly loves what they do. The sense of kinship is refreshing and invigorating as we giggle alongside the actors on stage at the absurdity …
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PMPolly Stenham has updated August Strindberg’s 1888 play Miss Julie to contemporary London. Why? Well, it would be foolish to think that this new version is modern only because of its langu…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMIn their latest touring production, Ken Ludwig’s musical comedy, Crazy For You, Paul Hart and the Watermill Theatre have enhanced a much-loved classic with flights of fanciful footwork and…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PMI was thrilled that a new generation (myself included) could get an opportunity to see the play and experience a plethora of luscious characters that are frightened of their selves as much a…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AMGérald Garutti’s production of Molière’s Tartuffe hasn’t convinced me that it’s the finest play in the French canon. Yet, for its sexy design, its novelty, and its ambition, it is …
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMNow, Soho Theatre and DryWrite (the latter of which is run by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Vicky Jones) are taking Fleabag on the road again, handing down the performing reins to Maddie Rice.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AMHere, Agatha Christie’s and Frank Vosper’s 1936 play is in the assured hands of Lucy Bailey in a production for the Royal & Derngate. Where the play flounders, the production remain…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AMIn summary, stage adaptations of films should be justified by bringing something new to a well-known story, and Strictly Ballroom misses the mark on this point.
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AMThis new musical adaptation of An Officer and a Gentleman, receiving its world premiere at Curve, makes no apologies for embracing the melodrama of the movie. In doing so, it delivers a poli…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:17PMRobert Hastie once said that the director’s role is “to provide the clearest conduit between a writer and an actor”. Such an approach, effectively of getting in the way as little as po…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AMWhile Puig’s masterpiece Kiss of the Spider Woman doesn’t quite work when fleshed into a physical entity, I am reminded of the unique and all-conquering power of the human imagination, a…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AMMatilda is THE family musical of this generation and a must-see for musical theatre aficionados for Minchin’s score alone. The fun and mischief are infectious and I can’t remember the la…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM
