Latest catch up on my reviewing and theatre writing.

I am aware now that I haven't been as hot on keeping a record on here of my theatre activities since December so this listing may be a bit link by link. The link to my @EM_Theatre Twitter account for my website, next to this blog post will hopefully help to keep readers informed too.

Here goes: in order of writing here are a list of my recent website posts for www.eastmidlandstheatre.com.

Derby Theatre's Cinderella production.

East Midlands Theatre.com and #culturematters

Jason Donovan to reprise role in Priscilla Queen of the Dessert.

Derby Theatre highlights of 2015.

Nottingham Playhouse. What's On Live.

Theatre talk for Club Encore news.

Brian Weaver Fellowship Offer to young actor.

War Horse goes on tour. Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Leicester Curve promotion. Jan/Feb 2016

Promotion for Anything Goes at Nottingham Arts Theatre

Oddsocks promotion. Family First.

#culturematters for the older generation.

Great opportunity to learn more about Greek Theatre.

Cats the musical returns in Summer of 2016 to Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

http://eastmidlandstheatre.com/2016/01/23/review-priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-nottingham-royal-concert-hall/

Review: Priscilla Queen of the Dessert. Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

Review: Cats at Loughborough Town Hall by Christchurch Theatre Club.

Review: The Snowman. Nottingham Theatre Royal.

The Great Gatsby. Coming to Derby Theatre. 

Writing for Sardines magazine. Professional writing.

Review: Hetty Feather at Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Twisted Dame Theatre Company writing opportunities. 

Piece on old time music hall event.

Review: Anything Goes. Musicality. Nottingham Arts Theatre.

Review: Any Means Necessary. Nottingham Playhouse.

Review: A Girl is a Half Formed Thing. Leicester Curve.

Promotion: Hetty Feather comes to Curve.

Review: Blood Brothers at Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Interview: Look Back in Anger interviews at Derby Theatre.

Round up on a month of reviewing across the East Midlands.

As you might imagine November and December have been rather hectic in terms of theatre and festive show reviewing as well as promoting events through www.eastmidlandstheatre.com. In early January 2016 I have been invited to Nottingham Playhouse to do an hour long talk to the Encore over 50s group about my theatre reviewing and theatre writing experiences. I am looking forward to that.

Here is a rough roundup of the reviews I have written since early November to the present date. I have also written an interview with actress Rebecca Little for Sardines magazine about her continuing presence in the annual Playhouse Pantomime. This will be published in the January edition.

Other relevant theatre promotion material features between the reviews on www.eastmidlandstheatre.com.

An Inspector Calls the National Theatre touring show of Priestley's famous work. Theatre Royal Nottingham.

A View From The Bridge. Nottingham New Theatre production at Nottingham University.

Beryl touring production about Beryl Burton acclaimed yet forgotten cyclist. Nottingham Playhouse.

Pam Ann - acerbic comedienne at Nottingham Playhouse.

Celtic Woman - Gaelic concert at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

Mack and Mabel. Touring musical starring Michael Ball and Rebecca LaChance.

The Diary of Anne Frank. Nottingham New Theatre at Nottingham University.

Dick Whittington. Panto at Nottingham Playhouse.

Oliver. Curve Leicester. Main house show.

The Great Gatsby. Nottingham New Theatre at Nottingham University.

Cinderella. Christmas show at Derby Theatre.

Neverland. Christmas show for children at Lakeside Nottingham.

Plus One. Helping under-privileged children and teens have access to the arts. Derby Theatre.

Hare and Tortoise. Neville Studio. Nottingham Playhouse.

The Witches. Curve Leicester. Studio show.

Review. Richard III Curve Leicester

In the Leicester Curve studio space an eager audience enters and seats itself for the annual community theatre event. This year it is Shakespeare's Richard III directed by professional director Nikolai Foster, an apt choice given the recent internment of the actual King Richard's bones in Leicester cathedral. This community theatre play is comprised of non- professional actors of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and sexes and their production of Richard III is better than a handful of professional versions this reviewer has seen over the recent years.

 

The playing space is traverse and most of the action takes place on a raised area of faux black marble. Even before the play has begun the parameter surrounding the playing space is encrusted with the thick grey dust and debris of war. The set design is created by Matthew Wright with lighting and sound by James Whiteside and Thomas Preston respectively.

Abandoned shoes and boots litter the area and denote the grisly remains of the victims of warfare. A long heavy chain handing from the ceiling ends with a hook and on the hook hangs a knee length leather coat. In the air electricity crackles almost as if human flies are frying in an invisible fly catcher. The coming danger is palpable.

Richard III needs a very compelling Richard to carry the piece. It is huge challenge for any actor in a monster of a play of containing 3718 lines and Mark Peachey's plain speaking Richard nails it from his first 'Now...' His performance is subtle stage craft personified, full of guile and smiling charm, his personality greased with cunning and malevolent intent, theatrical but never bordering on the camp. This is a manly Richard for a modern age, despotic, determined, hypnotic and we get to see his crippled back!

Luke Oliver makes an almost brotherly companion to Richard as a conniving Buckingham and their scenes together are some of the most compelling of the play.

The entire cast is embodied by a total of thirty-one actors and through Nikolai Foster's directorial guidance their passion for this work shines through and their commitment to the energy and tone of the play is exemplary. The scenes of brutal violence are done with precision and sound effects of gun shots coupled with clever lighting make the human dispatches so much more effective than relying on a prop gun that might not fire and thus ruin the scene.

The women in the cast all show strong characters in defiance of Richard of Gloucester and Laila Lee is electric in the wooing scene. Catriona McDonald as Queen Margaret is interestingly positioned in the parameters of the stage as she initially bridles against Richard's parading swagger and comes into her own powerful self once she moves centre stage. Another subtle performance comes from Becca Cooper as the hired killer Tyrell and vodka swilling mock priest. A fascinating character change was bringing in Emma Dent as Bishop of Ely with a small line change of 'Lady Bishop'. As this version of the play was set in contemporary Russia with appropriate costuming one wonders whether Russia does indeed have lady bishops. Mistress Shaw was also absent from this production and her staying in bed makes for a tighter scene and keeps the drama intact.

The men and boys in the cast demonstrate strong character portrayals, all of them very diverse, human and believable. Three stand out portrayals come from William Hayes as a sympathetic Duke of Clarence and Dale Goulding as the wheelchair bound ailing but still powerful King Edward IV. Edward Spence shows us a brutal humour as the hired killer William Catesby, loyal to Richard.

In this ultimately professional community production the play retains its social and political relevance warning of democracy being eroded and freedom of speech being prevented. As Nikolai Foster says in his programme notes 'this production uses little more resources than Shakespeare's players would have had available to them, trusting the text and the actors to release the significance of the story for a new generation.' Given the huge final curtain applause from the Leicester Curve studio audience this cast and team have done their job stunningly and Leicestershire should be rightly proud of such superb local talent. Runs until 9th August 2015

Originally published July 30th for The Public Reviews

Photos credit Pamela Raith

@CurveLeicester

Review: Chicken Dust at Curve Leicester.

Ben Weatherill's Chicken Dust is the 2015 winner of the Curve Leicester's Playwriting Competition and was originally shown as a staged reading at the Finborough Theatre in a festival for Finborough playwrights. The ninety minute play at Curve marks the full length début of Weatherill's East Midlands based drama. It is a highlight in Curve's excellent Inside Out Festival of new theatre work. If this showing is a good indicator of creative talent then Weatherhill has a fine future in dramatic writing.

 

Chicken Dust is tightly directed by Chelsea Walker and the new work is helped by exemplary casting. In this very close up studio based environment, complete with a grubby formidable cage like set, (designer Cecilia Carey) the acting ranges from very subtle to accurate and often moving demonstrations of emotions. The short scenes are punctuated with a variety of sound effects created by sound designer Ella Wahlström. These are acoustic variants on a mix of panicky chicken sounds underscored with an industrial roar. Occasionally we hear lorries going by. All combined they create an atmosphere of itchy claustrophobia in which the human story of workers at the chicken farm dramatically unfolds.

The story concerns the extremes of the chicken farm which is being forced to raise more and more chickens for public consumption and the spiralling costs involved leading the farmer into increasing debts. The other costs considered in the drama are those of the human workers and their stress levels as they try to eke an existence on poor pay and even poorer health and safety conditions. In a moment of almost shocking disassociation one character even says of the chickens “You have to remember, they are not really animals.”

The six strong cast give to Chicken Dust a deeply truthful sense of reality. They portray well the rough camaraderie of the workers often returning from collecting and ramming live chickens into cages to be sent to slaughter. We also witness some dark humour from the corporate end of the business in Alexander Gatehouse's portrayal of Oscar. Gatehouse excels as the ever smiling representative of PlusFood Poultry, sometimes comically so and other times chillingly as he assists in a dismissal of a farm worker.

The single woman in the piece is Val (Paddy Navin) who we discover is an ex farmer and ex con now doing the only job she can get as a worker at the chicken farm. Navin brings out all of Val's self protecting nature, her coarse expressions with the men and her gentler side in a superbly believable performance. Christopher Hancock as new worker Tim is a likeable character who wants to do well and is taking some time out from University to earn some money and help his father. Hancock is especially convincing towards the end as he fears his life is in serious danger from his unexpected actions against the farm.

Mark Conway steals the show as Razvan the young Romanian worker who is happy to slave away on a basic wage of £6.50 per hour so he can send money home and dream of going on holiday to Ibiza. His accent is spot on and he very effectively demonstrates a tremendously dark vein of gritty humour in the man. This is especially so in the scene as he and Tim return from working a shift, their overalls covered in chicken excrement, blood and feathers stuck to their boots and Razvan laughs at Tim for feeling bilious. A great deal of thought and authenticity has gone into the costuming by costume designer Sarah Mercadé

The two older men in the play, Russ the stressed and debt ridden farmer (Paul Easom) and Freddie the blunt and embittered long serving worker (Roger Alborough) are a delight to encounter on the stage. Both actors are utterly believable in conveying the inner turmoil of their characters each faced with unexpected and unwanted life changing decisions. This too stems from the strength and honesty of Weatherill the playwright's incisive writing and no more so than the poignant scene where Russ and Freddie meet at Freddie's home. The awkwardness of two men who have gone from being friends to being very distant is superbly realised by Easom and Alborough.

Chicken Dust is altogether, a glorious, thought provoking play with very realistic performances and one that definitely deserves to be seen. This reviewer was wondering if the ninety minutes without an interval would drag. Not a bit of it. It was totally engaging and sped by faster than a chicken escaping the coop!

This review was originally published by The Public Reviews on May 3rd  2015

Photo credit: Richard Lakos.

Review: Ventoux at Curve Leicester by 2Magpies Theatre

Author Roland Barthes made a claim that the French mountain of Ventoux is a god of evil, to which sacrifices must be made. In Ventoux the one act play by Nottingham based 2Magpies Theatre they certainly make some exciting and sweaty sacrifices in the name of art. Indeed, they take pedalling theatre to a whole new meaning of brilliance and return triumphant from the mountain at the end of the play. The performance is a true tour de force.

 

Ventoux is a devised live performance by 2Magpies Theatre who are being mentored by New Perspectives, Curve and IdeasTap. The piece is part of the Inside Out Festival of new writing at Curve Leicester. The performance examines the rivalry of Tour De France gods Lance Armstrong (USA) and 1998 Tour champion Marco 'Il Parati' Pantini, the first, in total denial but facing major disgrace for using performance enhancing drugs in the sport of cycling and the second, now revered, eventually losing his life.

Ventoux is directed by Matt Wilks with actors Tom Barnes as Pantani and Andy Routledge as Armstrong. As the audience members arrive into the small space of studio two we witness the two characters dressed in Lycra limbering up and behaving in a repetitious and almost ritualistic manner. Two racing bikes are on stage with the back wheels off the ground supported by stands. At each end of the space are two big screens one facing the other. There is no talking in this prelude except Barnes as Pantani raising a wine bottle in the air and periodically saying “Simpson” or “Tom”. This turns out to be in honour of sports cyclist Tom Simpson who lost his life during the 1967 Tour.

When the play begins both the actors playing the American and Italian speak in their normal English voices. For the first few seconds this seems a little surprising but actually the decision to speak this way gives a better focus on the storytellers' words and loses nothing in the theatrical impact.

The play makes inventive use of some clever staging, projection, heart racing live action and film footage of the increasingly steep road up the capricious mountain. Initially we hear from each actor about their characters' childhoods and their eventual desire to become winners in the world of professional cycling. We also learn of their individuals struggles to achieve their sporting glory. The story is about the cost of great human passions as well as pedals and pumps.

During the whole performance there are constant changes in the dynamic with the bikes being ridden and manually relocated around the floor space. At times the visual aspects become very symbolic with Pantani frantically attaching small brown envelopes containing drug reports on the spokes of Armstrong's bike. At times the action becomes punishingly surreal as both performers begin to cycle barefoot towards the end of the piece.

Last portion of Ventoux

One of two major themes in the play is Armstrong's return to cycling after surviving testicular cancer and Routledge demonstrates well Armstrong's unwavering passion for his LiveStrong Foundation charity throughout. There are some wry knowing smiles from the audience as he also publicly claims to be drug free and protests the ridiculous notion that he should abuse his own clean body with performance enhancing drugs especially after his cancer survival.

The major story that we hear of is that, in the year 2000 Tour De France, leaders Armstrong and Pantani were well in front of the others on the Ventoux during the mountain stage. After three kilometres with Armstrong leading Pantani attacked late to win the stage. Armstrong didn't answer his attack, content that in thinking that he'd distanced his closest rivals and made winning his second Tour a little more certain. This and the following information is conveyed to the audience through an intriguing mix of text and visuals making the whole performance very accessible and intriguing even if you have little interest in the world of cycling. It is the human story that counts.

Thousand's of onlookers had expected Armstrong to impose himself given the historical significance of the mountain. The fact that Armstrong didn't sprint deeply offended the hot headed Italian Pantani who thought that by Armstrong giving him the stage he had failed to show proper respect to himself as a former tour winner. He never forgave Armstrong and went out of his way to make things difficult for Armstrong and his team mates over the following days at the stage towards Courcheval. This turned out to be Pantani's final win as a professional. Pantani's story is brought vividly to life by actor Tom Barnes through abstraction and direct conversations with the audience. Historically, on the 14^th February 2004 Pantani died alone in a hotel as a result of a cerebral oedema and heart failure. An inquest revealed acute cocaine poisoning. He had five times the recommended levels of cocaine in his body.

Through Barnes and Routledge's fantastic story telling skills and the particular style of 2Magpies Theatre we are constantly engaged in this story of cycling rivalry. There is much stamina involved in performing such a masculine adrenalin soaked piece as Ventoux and the acting fully demonstrates the passions of the sports stars and their very human qualities and failures. Original audio commentary from the actual gruelling race up the mountain road of Ventoux is combined with the live cycling and screened visuals make this an unusual but none-the-less vibrant piece of new theatre writing and performance.

Performance Poetry workshop with Deborah 'Debris' Stevenson. A refection and video.

As part of the Inside Out Festival on Saturday 25th April at Curve Leicester I enjoyed a free poetry writing workshop run by Deborah 'Debris' Stevenson of Nottingham based Mouthy Poets. I couldn't stay for the whole two hours as I had to review a brilliant musical called Mrs Green by Sheep Soup in another part of the building at 12.15pm.

In the time I was able to attend I discovered that it was a delightfully engaging workshop in which the twenty-plus attendees enjoyed the benefit of Deborah's hugely passionate enthusiasm for creating and encouraging poetry and giving people a voice through poetry.  With a cheeky smile she told us that, during the workshop, we would be writing lots and lots of new poems and we most certainly did!

The main exercise after our poetic introductions was for us to creatively respond to titles offered by Deborah on a rapid basis. We were creating a short poem approximately every one hundred seconds. In total we must have each created about fourteen poems in less than half an hour. We broke off into groups of three and read each other a selection of our poems and underlined the positives in each. It appeared I have a talent for writing small pithy poems that the other two ladies in my group said were relatable. I also enjoyed hearing what the two ladies had created too. Always interesting and sometimes surprising to hear what people devise in a restricted time frame.

Deborah 'Debris' Stevenson

I was thoroughly enjoying the workshop when I had to slip out to review Mrs Green. In fact I enjoyed the workshop so much that I decided to perform some of my freshly composed poems at the open mike session later in the afternoon. There were some interesting other performers including Kevin from the workshop. I enjoyed his wry comical poetry very much. I always enjoy performing and it was especially good doing so in front of such an interested audience with the support of the staff members at Curve and representatives of Writing East Midlands. Alas for me the Mouthy Poets gig at Curve was sold out. I have heard some terrific responses to how well their work was received though.

"Deborah, I had no chance or equipment at the time to video myself onstage but have made this short video for you with some of my poems created on Saturday. I hope that you like them. Taking the workshop has made me want to revitalise my latent poetic talents and do something more with them. Big thanks to you and Mouthy Poets for the wonderful workshop and encouragement. "

Phil x Good to meet ya again!

      

Deborah 'Debris' Stevenson of Mouthy Poets

To catch up on the exciting things happening at the Festival check out #InsideOutFestival on Twitter.

 

To book 0116 242 3595

Review: Return to the Forbidden Plant. Curve Leicester

Review originally published on The Public Reviews website 8th April

For the 25^th Anniversary tour the, Olivier awarding winning Best Musical, Return to the Forbidden Planet lands solidly on Leicester's Curve theatre main stage this week and takes off to huge applause. This fun sci fi show is packed with musical numbers from the 1950s and 1960s with the instruments all played live by the eleven strong cast of actors. Even before the show has begun the actors are out on the stage welcoming and chatting amongst the beaming audience. From the Return to the Forbidden Planet tee shirts in the audience it is clear that the show has a big fan base. As the high energy show launched into the first act and continued to rocket skywards you could see why.

 

 

The show always has a well known personality that is connected to space as Chorus – a pre filmed role – and this year it is Brian May Queen guitarist, music producer and Doctor of Astrophysics and May comes across well as the guide to the piece.

None of the roles are serious drama, more like pastiches of 1950s sci fi movies like the original classic Forbidden Planet. The acting is meant to be a mix of postured and over the top – the characters almost like walking talking and singing cartoon people and the story, tenuously linked with Shakespeare's The Tempest, is there to provide a narrative base for the songs and action. In director and creator Bob Carlton's musical the spoken dialogue is a mix of faux Shakespeare and actual Shakespeare quotes. It works amusingly well and the 'to be or not to be' gets the biggest laugh of the evening.

The internal space ship set design by Queen's Theatre Hornchurch associate designer Rodney Ford is a rock solid construction of steps and levels with enough bells and gadgets to satisfy any bad sci fi fan. It has an open roof through which we can see the stars and on coming wacky monsters. Additionally, the audience enjoy a deliberately corny effect of a space shuttle escaping the main ship into the blackened star lit cosmos. Ford first designed for Return to the Forbidden Planet at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre some thirty years ago and has also designed for many versions of the show in the UK and abroad. He is also credited as the costume designer.

The show is quite lengthy at two hours playing time but the time zips by quicker than a star ship hero can whip out his ray gun. The multi-talented cast play an amazing array of instruments between them including tenor and alto saxophone, clarinet, electric guitar, drums, flute, piano, oboe, bass, electric keyboard, harmonica, trumpet, trombone and even a cowbell!

The action is rapid pace augmented with songs to add musical depth to the story. All the cast are accomplished singers and wonderfully re-create the sounds of popular songs such as “A Teenager in Love” “Great Balls of Fire” (well what else do you sing as the space ship dodges through the asteroid belt?) and “Born to be Wild”. In total this toe tapping rock and roll soundtrack features twenty-seven hits.

Actor Sean Needham never lets up the comedy with his pipe smoking, square jawed space captain Captain Tempest and one of the highlights of the show is his rendition of “Young Girl” sung to the sweet and innocent Miranda played with a heart melting coyness by Sarah Scowen. Another relative youngster in the cast is Mark Newnham as Cookie the ship's hopeless romantic. Newnham's electric guitar solo is a show stopper and his acting as the lovable Cookie is tongue in cheek believable.

Jonathan Markwood excels as the crazy mad scientist Dr Prospero throughout and is powerful in his conjuring up of the space monster that attacks the ship before the interval. The audience recognise the extracts from King Lear as he whips up a storm of revenge and Mark Dymock's brilliant lighting design coupled with thundering footfalls of the monster coming closer (sound design by Ben Harrison) create real excitement and tension. Much hilarity is had from the 'clearly not real' big tentacles of the monster attacking the cast. This spoof monster is so like the old movies where the special effects were very poor and handmade compared to the CGI effects we enjoy today.

Of course the audience always look forward to seeing the robot character Ariel and although not on roller skates (guess the multiple steps rule that practicality out) Joseph Mann as Ariel does not disappoint. His character is not overly robotic but he works well in a lovable android way. Mann also has a superb singing voice as well as a great extra talent in fire breathing.

The female Science Officer played with gutsy effervescent by Christine Holman is a star turn in a play full of stars. Her energetic and sexy full on performance lights up the stage and although she appears to disappear and desert the ship by escaping in a space pod during the early asteroid storm she makes a surprising new entrance with Ariel later in the show.

There is so much to recommend in this silly science fiction show with its high energy, daft humour, campness and quadruple threat talents (acting, singing, dancing and live playing of musical instruments) and I would happily sit through the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch's version currently at Curve, again and again. It is no wonder it is loved through the world.

Tour details found HERE

Review: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - the musical at Curve Leicester

"Dear Diary, just like the proverbial buses, reviewers, like myself, sometimes get three press nights all coming on the same night or see none at all. That's how it was on the 17^th March. So I gathered my intellectual and poetic thoughts together and went over to Leicester Curve on the 19^th instead. I had arranged to see The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged thirteen and three quarters – the musical. I was very glad I did. It was dead good. I think even that bully Barry Kent would've liked it too. I know Pandora would. Got to go. Review to write. Phil Lowe, aged fifty-nine and a quarter."

Five stars for an all star production!

The Curve production of Sue Townsend's story of adolescent trails and tribulations (The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged thirteen and three quarters) turned musical by Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary and directed by Luke Sheppard is a wonderfully entertaining, funny and touching night out at the theatre.

It hits all the right spots in portraying the life of the tender and wacky youth Adrian Mole, played by the very talented Lewis Andrews in tonight's show. It is no mean feat carrying a musical as the lead. Even for a seasoned adult performer you need bundles of talent, experience, energy and nerve and this young performer really nailed it as the gauche and socially confused lad obsessed with his observations of the adults around him and his love of the adorable Pandora. Andrews is a natural performer and conveyed all aspects of Mole's character to a tee. He could have walked straight out of the original book. Huge pimple and all.

 

 

There are four young actors who play Adrian throughout the run (until April 4^th) and three young women who portray the object of Adrian's passion, Pandora. Tonight it is the turn of Elise Bugeja and she puts in an accomplished performance dazzling Adrian and the other boys on stage with Pandora's mix of confidence, sweet schoolgirl charm and posh girl understated sexiness. Adrian's cheeky mate Nigel (George Barnden in fine form) may initially get the girl Pandora over Adrian but he is hilarious in his teenage despair when it turns out she prefers Adrian after all. The audience really seem to like Barnden as Nigel and his dancing and facial glee occasionally reminds me of the character Michael in Billy Elliot. There is an obvious sense of huge enjoyment in what he is doing and in him going all out to do it.

 

 

The school bully Barry played James McJannett -Smith dominates (as you'd expect) in his scenes and has all the swagger of an idiot school bully but McJannett -Smith is also very funny in the uproarious Nativity scene as the kid forced to play the donkey in the second half.

The show itself zipps along at tremendous and colourful pace. Slamming doors punctuate the action on a fabulous set of cartoon style houses with pencils and pens for chimneys and back walls made out of pages of the Secret Diary made large. The original musical numbers are very professional with a good blend of fun songs, lively song and dance numbers and very tender songs about loss of love, regret and hopes for change. I especially liked 'I miss our life' sung by Adrian's estranged mum and dad Pauline and George (Kirsty Hoiles and Neil Ditt).

 

 

All of the cast play multiple roles (except Adrian Mole) to many laughs from the audience and they help the show retain its slickness by moving on set pieces and props. The adults in the show seem to have great fun playing the children at the Neil Armstrong Comprehensive school too.

 

 

Actor Rosemary Ashe is in fine voice and cantankerous form as Grandma, Cameron Blakely makes the slightly creepy neighbour Mr Lucas very amusing and is comic book laughable as the head teacher Mr Scruton. Neil Salvage as the old chap Bert Baxter complete with the food stained clothes and a communist bent is a real star of the show. Another highlight is Amy Booth-Steel's steamy portrayal as Adrian Mole's dad's new man mad lover, Doreen Slater.

This whole show is just a fun packed musical that should appeal to families and diarists alike. I would love to see it transfer to the West End some day. It is that good. Sue Townsend would have been delighted with it.

 

Circa Wunderkammer at Curve Leicester. Review

Historically a Wunderkammer was a piece of German furniture that also seems to have many other names but one purpose: to fascinate. It was also known as a Cabinet of Curiosities, Kunstkabinett, Kunstkammer, Cabinets of Wonder, or Wonder room. Friends and family would come round and be amazed at all the crazy collections of curiosities one had assembled and would talk for hours over what they were being shown.

So it is with Australia's modern day circus company Circa founded by Yaron Lifschitz and their show Wunderkammer. It is crazy, utterly riveting, deeply curious, brave and far more fascinating than any fleeting firework display happening outside the Curve theatre on this bonfire night.

The troupe has seven astonishingly talented performers, both men and women and for a non-stop eighty-five minutes the transfixed audience are in genuine wonder at a fluid fusion of contemporary circus. Their work is a breathless cocktail of circus arts, often done with much humour and sexiness, a mix of dance, acrobatics, trapeze work, cabaret, vaudeville and burlesque. Their innovative circus work also has one key element – danger. Whilst the performers are tumbling and flying across the bare stage with well practised and very highly skilled ease we are constantly aware that this is a dangerous art and thrilling with it.

The show is a series of set pieces performed either as a single artiste, a selection of artistes or the whole ensemble. Alas, I have no names to share as there was no programme. The Curve audience lap up every second and appreciative applause, gasps of amazement and much laughter for every wonderful display are constants throughout the show. It is truly a show you want to go on for hours. Utterly amazing, poetic and utterly unique. Circa Wunderkammer is at Curve until 8^th November.

Review originally for The Public Reviews Nov 5th 2014

A stunning production of Chicago at Curve Leicester. A review.

In 1975 the iconic, dark and edgy, sexy musical Chicago (based on the play 'Chicago' by Maurine Dallas Watkins) was originally named Chicago- a vaudeville revue. The original creative team of John Kander & Fred Ebb (famous for the musical Cabaret and forty years of musical collaboration) produced the piece around the same time that another musical was about to hit the Broadway scene and swamp the Variety headlines and win acres of musical theatre awards – this was the tamer but enormously popular show called - A Chorus Line. It opened five days before Chicago.

At the time Chicago was seen as a success but met with a mixture of varied revues and perhaps seen, retrospectively, as well as before its time, due to the dark nature and perverse humour of its subject and the thrilling choreography and direction by Bob Fosse who dealt in steamy yet stylised minimalist dance movements. It was a style that nobody then was aware of and it was seen as difficult yet fascinating. Chicago the musical was violent and moody and the audience were expected to laugh at people being killed and be sympathetic with the perpetrators whilst, at the same time, imagining they (as an audience) were having a wonderful time at a Broadway show.

Although set in the 1920s it reflected the morality of what was happening in the mid 1970s in the USA and every type of debauchery and scandal that was taking place. For instance, the concept of honouring 'celebrity out of criminality'!? Scandalous! Who'd have thought that would make a popular musical? Why would anyone want to celebrate the morally bad folk getting away with murder? Yet this was done with such an underlining core of fun and sexy dark humour and somehow it worked and people loved it and continue to love it today so much so that it became a soar away success not only on the stage around the world but, also as a film version in 2005.

The new Chicago musical currently playing at Curve is directed by Paul Kerryson, the musical director is Ben Atkinson and the choreography by Drew McOnie and the multiple sets designed by Al Parkinson. Sound design and lighting design are by Ben Harrison and Philip Gladwell.

In musical terms this is a concept musical – not just a story with songs that end a scene followed by another song that ends another scene i.e. a traditional musical. A concept musical has numbers that comment on what is happening in the plot and the combined dance work visually illustrates what the motifs are and doubly demonstrates the character's motivations in a form that is often a pastiche in order to bring the point across in a theatrical way within pertinent musical and theatrical genres like ragtime or vaudeville. The dance beat and rhythms draw out the drama in a way that is enhanced and comprehensible to an audience theatrically. In Chicago there is an unreality and a stylisation in the portrayal of the major characters that lends the story a dramatic feel in these stories of corruption and murder. It sensationalises how a guilty party gets away with shooting her lover another more innocent victim hangs for a crime she didn't commit and celebrates the murderous actions.

The two female leads of Roxie and Thelma are played excellently by Gemma Sutton and Verity Rushworth and each are very strong in their dance and vocals. There is a lot of dark humour associated with each character and the actors bring it out in spades. These are performances that Curve will be proud of for years to come.

Sandra Marvin as Mama Morton practically blows the roof off the theatre with her powerful rendition of 'When You're Good to Mama' and commands the stage with her presence every time she appears on stage.

David Leonard as has a sleazy manipulative authority as the crooked lawyer Billy Flynn and is assured in his vocal numbers such as Razzle Dazzle and All I Care About (is love) and he really comes into his own in the surreal court scene. Matthew Burrow brilliantly inhabits Amos, the pathetic husband of murderess Roxie Hart. Amos believes that he is so insubstantial as a human being that he is practically invisible. Burrow does a great job with a very plausible character interpretation and wins sympathy with his song Mr Cellophane. Most inspired is the choice of Adam Bailey as Mary Sunshine the newspaper reporter who follows the trials of both Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly and Bailey has a startlingly good singing voice.

The whole twenty strong ensemble work hard to create the grubby vaudevillian sleazy atmosphere of this prohibition era Chicago. The major song and dance numbers are sexily realised through Kerryson's direction and the sizzling hot choreography of Drew McOnie and are thrillingly costumed to the point of cross dressing the dancers. The famous dynamic numbers such as All That Jazz and Cell Block Tango do not disappoint and are counterbalanced with more reflective numbers such as Nowadays. The live band on stage brings a terrific musical energy to the show.

The large stage is often dominated by dozens of hanging lights used to great effect and the set pieces of the County Jail and Speakeasy are strong. Furniture slides into place to create other venues such as the court or Billy Flynn's office or a bedroom. The lighting by designer Philip Gladwell is superb moving the story along and even blitzing the audience with hundreds of flashing camera bulbs as the journalistic frenzy builds as the body count grows.

This show is a hot ticket. If you can't get one just murder a friend who has one!

http://www.curveonline.co.uk

Runs until Saturday 18^th January 2014

This review was originally published by www.thepublicreviews.co.uk on 5th December 2013.

Written by Phil Lowe.

An insight on my year as a theatre reviewer and writer.

Well, this time last year I would never have known what 2013 was about to grant me. With my 'proper' job I went on a course in mid Wales to learn about beef and lamb slaughtering and meat packaging and I got to appear on a national television advert for Tesco as the Tesco butcher in their Love Every Mouthful campaign.

More importantly to me I found an opportunity to work on a new aspect of my writing and from it I began to further develop my second blog about my involvement with the world of professional theatre. This came about through a chance finding of a review website called www.thepublicreviews.com. They were asking for new reviewers and so, as per their remit, I sent in a copy of a review I had done for Piaf at Curve theatre in Leicester which was accepted with some critical suggestions for style improvement and a particular way of writing. I also received an online booklet that gave all reviewers guidance and rules about the way a review should be submitted. The way it works is that every Sunday a listing is sent by email and you send in a 'bid' by email if you want to critique a particular show. If successful you get a notification saying that two tickets will be at the box office to pick up. There is no choice in the night you go and often it can be a press night so there is a chance to mingle and have a chat with the theatre staff with a glass of wine. There is a time pressure to have the review in on time. It is sent by email and must be with Public Reviews by 12pm the next day or you may be taken off their books. Considering I don't get home from the shows until about 11pm I still have to write the review and am often up until 1am until I am satisfied with the result. I do some research prior to going to the show which is important and helps with the writing. Incidentally, there is no wage to do this – it is done out of love for the theatre and writing. The tickets are comps.

I still review plays independently and now I have got my name and good reputation known over the year I get invites from Nottingham Live and Derby Theatre to review a variety of shows. I also use Twitter and Facebook to promote my blog post reviews and those that appear on the Public Review site.

Over the last ten months (I started in March 2013) I have reviewed over thirty shows mostly in Derby. I began at The Guildhall with Hardgraft Theatre's 'I Love Derby' and Reform Theatre Company's 'Me and Me Dad' and UK Touring Theatre's new translation of Strindberg's 'Miss Julie'.

For Derby Theatre I have reviewed their home grown productions and touring productions including Balletboyz -the talent, The Opinion Makers, Cooking with Elvis, September in the Rain, Go Back for Murder, Kes, Blue Remembered Hills, The Seagull, The Pitmen Painters and Horrible Christmas. For Derby Live I went to their amazing arts festival (Derby Festé ) and witnessed the stunning outdoor event – As The World Tipped.

For Nottingham Playhouse I have reviewed, The Ashes, The Kite Runner, Richard III and Jack and the Beanstalk and I went also to a free event about the writing process of a future production by Amanda Whittington called My Judy Garland Life. There have been very few chances to review at Nottingham's Theatre Royal but Nottingham Live did ask me review Nottingham Operatic Society's Oklahoma!

Recently I returned to Curve in Leicester to review the musical Chicago and even attended Martin Berry's 'A Christmas Carol' at Lakeside before going to work one Friday morning and then working until nine that evening! When I got home at 10pm I wrote their review and put it online. Phew!

There have been talks and shows that I have attended and decided not to do a review. This isn't because I didn't like them but usually to give myself a rest from 'having' to review everything and work full time and write my food blog as well!

I tend not to review at The Lace Market Theatre because I have so many friends there and it is difficult to offer an impartial view on a production when you know practically everyone involved. I do write articles for their monthly magazine -The Boards however and like to promote ex members who have gone on from an amateur status to study drama and theatre design with an aim of working professionally in the arts.

If I were to choose – the best play I have seen over the last ten months I would unreservedly say it was Cooking With Elvis at Derby Theatre.

The old Derby Playhouse (same building) gave me my grounding and enthusiasm for theatre going and acting during the 1970s and 1980s and this led to me joining and performing with Derby Theatre in The Round and Derby Shakespeare Company and eventually coming to Nottingham in the late 1980s to take my degree in the performing arts. I then spent many a happy year performing with The Lace Market Theatre and others and dipped into the world of television through Central Television productions and some film work.

So, thank you fate for steering me on this exciting course of writing about the theatre that I love. Who knows what 2014 will bring!

Do check out my theatre reviews on this blog!

Promo video for Chicago at Leicester Curve. Plus auditions video.

For those that have read my recent glowing review you might be interested in this short video produced by Curve that shows some of the background to the show and comments from director, Paul Kerryson. Plus I have added a Curve Chicago audition video for your delectation and interest.