Monday, July 8, 2013
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London: This exuberantly energetic version of Shakespeare's bittersweet story of jealousy, loss and reconciliation is described as "re-imagined for …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:59AMNew Ash Green Primary School field, nr Maidstone: Whited faces, exaggerated gestures, high flown language, musical instruments, songs, farce, slapstick, mime and a daft plot with underlying …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:26AMLast week’s The Stage (July 4 2013) published the result of a piece of research by casting director Jane Deitch for Drama UK. The thrust of it was that vocational drama schools could do mo…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:30AMMonday, June 3, 2013
Belmont House, Faversham: I'm not sure Stevenson would have recognised much of his famous tale in this upbeat, irreverent, musical account which owes more to pantomime than to serious s…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:32AMTuesday, May 21, 2013
Criterion, London: Coloured lights, dry ice and angular music are an overture to the stage filling with 18 impeccably drilled and choreographed dancers, twitching and shivering with striking…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:57AMMonday, May 20, 2013
Little Angel, London : It's probably as good a success indicator as any if you come out of a mini-musical humming the songs. Barb Jungr's haunting, accessible melodies - many cheer…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:17AMFriday, May 17, 2013
Criterion Theatre, London: This succinct showcase would benefit from being a little longer and allowing its 22 students more chance to show what they can do. As it is we see them only once a…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:52PMMonday, May 13, 2013
Criterion, London: It's a bit odd, and arguably gratuitous, to open an acting showcase with literal smoke and mirrors and a spiky dance sequence by a physical theatre ensemble. The proj…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:52AMThursday, May 9, 2013
Tristan Bates Theatre: This tight, exceptionally well directed showcase really gives 13 students the chance to show what they can do. For once, careful choice of material and casting allows,…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:44PMFriday, May 3, 2013
Polka Theatre, London: This sequel to Charlie and Lola's Bestest Play is more three-dimensional amd ambitious than the earlier show. It takes part of the action out of Charlie and Lola&…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:47AMThursday, May 2, 2013
Criterion Theatre, London: This showcase features just 12 scenes from modern plays, each with four or five roles. In this way we see 50 students in action in just 55 minutes which is quite a…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:36PMFriday, April 26, 2013
Little Angel, London: This glitteringly good show is billed "for adults" but actually would appeal to anyone over, say, nine. It retells a dark, Nordic version of Beauty and the Be…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:27AMWednesday, April 24, 2013
Gulbenkian, Canterbury : This enjoyable, imaginative show consists of two short dance pieces for children aged 7 and over, separated by an interval. Tamsin Fitzgerald's The Rock uses mi…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:38AMThursday, April 18, 2013
I make no secret of being more drawn to classical and choral music than I am, in general, to other genres, although it’s a very personal thing and I do my best to be open-minded...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:00AMTuesday, April 16, 2013
Soho Theatre, London: Although this is a rather large and long showcase featuring 40 students in 41 items it does manage to give most participants the chance to show what they can do in seve…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:58PMFortune Theatre, London: This impeccably directed, rather enchanting showcase opens with a compelling musical number devised and nicely performed by Oliver Grant, Michael Fox and Steve McCou…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:02PMTuesday, April 9, 2013
Criterion Theatre, London: It's a big ask to showcase the talents of 37 students (23 men and 14 women) properly in just 75 minutes and 51 items. Inevitably there are talented and accomp…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:04PMTuesday, April 2, 2013
Unicorn, London: Imagine a Kafka story with a whiff of Brecht and Roald Dahl, punctuated with Kurt Weill-style music, all deliciously and hilariously hammed up for children, and you've …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:43PMThursday, March 28, 2013
Soho Theatre, London: With its 38 students, 62 separate items and 90-minute duration this showcase smacks of trying to do far too much at once.
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SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:30AMMonday, March 25, 2013
Half Moon Young People's Theatre, London: This magical, colourful little show for children aged 3-7 gives us Jamal (Mark Newnham) put to bed by his grandmother (Gwenllian Higginson). He drea…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:11AMThursday, March 21, 2013
Duke of York's Theatre, London: It is unusual and encouraging to attend a graduating showcase in which male students outnumber female and where there is so much strong work. So this <a hr…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:19PMIn this guest blog, Susan Elkin – author and Education and Training Editor at The Stage – tells AYT about the need for more practical careers advice when it comes to theatre, and talks …
SOURCE: A Younger Theatre at 06:44AMWednesday, March 13, 2013
Apollo, London: Luke Treadaway, twists, cries, writhes, fiddles nervously, howls and moves with astonishing fluidity especially in the surreal dream sequences when he is bodily threaded over…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:23AMThursday, March 7, 2013
Half Moon Young People's Theatre, London: This immaculately integrated four hander gives us a group of older teenagers acting out the story of their lost friend Holly and it is one of the mo…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:08AMThursday, February 21, 2013
Polka, London: This entertaining celebration of Chinese New Year sets out to educate non-Chinese people into the great traditions. It packs a lot of slightly clunkily placed information (wor…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:39AMMonday, February 18, 2013
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London: Roald Dahl once said that you only have to mention "knickers" to make children laugh and this gentle, witty, clever show for over-threes - p…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:04PMBluetown Heritage Centre, Sheerness: This swashbuckling, farcically entertaining tale of mistaken identity, with its echoes of Shakespeare, WS Gilbert and Mark Twain, is deliciously hammed u…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:32AMFriday, February 8, 2013
Unicorn, London: This delightful take on The Arabian Nights sets the stories against a poignant 21st century plot about a father (Thomas Padden) and daughter, Shahrazad (Danusia Samal) who l…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:39AMMonday, February 4, 2013
Unicorn Theatre, London: This intense piece of theatre gives us Grace (Danusia Samal), whose mother has left home for another man, dealing with the troubled complications of life with her in…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:11AMTuesday, January 29, 2013
New Diorama, London: Configured in the round without raking and with the surrounding audience on a single row of seats, the New Diorama provides an appropriate, claustrophobically intimate s…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:57AMMonday, January 28, 2013
January 25: This well-directed and enjoyable showcase gives us just 18 students - eight women and ten men - an ideal number and balance for a successful event. It is also encouraging, and su…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:11AM 
