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 King Charles III at the Theatre Royal Nottingham

In Mike Bartlett's quasi Shakespearian telling of the fictional death of Queen Elizabeth and the automatic succession to the British throne of her son Prince Charles (now King Charles III) we get over two hours of brilliant political theatre with a dark comic edge.

The magnificent set, almost mediaeval in look – crumbling ancient walls – tall guttering candles – dark entrances and a sea of faded painted faces right across the middle section is designed by Tom Scutt. The atmosphere is heightened throughout with superb music from composer Jocelyn Pook and splendid sound design from Paul Ardetti. Lighting designer is Jon Clark.

King Charles III benefits hugely from excellent direction (Robert Goold with Whitney Mosery) and the whole play flows along like a stricken royal barge dangerously navigating the river Thames at night. As the story glides by it takes in the difficult politics in Parliament due to King Charles refusal in signing a legal document concerning freedom of the press. Social unrest ensues and along the way, with a few nasty bumps into the proverbial riverbank we eavesdrop on certain major players in the current royal family and their entourage.

None of the royal characters are caricatured and Robert Powell is terrifically stubborn and vulnerable as the new King who just wants an easy life after waiting almost a lifetime for his mother to pass away and for himself to rightfully attain the throne. Son, Harry 'Prince of Wales' just desires to be a 'normal bloke that shops in Sainsbury's and has a house that he has paid for'. Richard Glaves lights up the stage as the confused and love-struck Harry and Lucy Phelps plays his new girlfriend and staunch republican in a very natural way – at once in awe of her situation and politically pulling the opposite way.

William and Kate (Ben Righton and Jennifer Brydon) are almost perfect look-a-likes for their roles; William forever holding his hands together at waist level; intelligent, polite and strongly built and Kate – beautifully dressed and initially demure. As the play evolves however the tides turn and Kate comes into her own; acting much more ambitious and vociferous, pushing her husband William to usurp his father as king. Supporting King Charles III himself is his wife Camilla (Penelope Beaumont) and shown as an equal to Charles whose loyalty to her husband is tried to the utmost as the country goes into civil war and Charles struggles to reason why.

The two major politicians Mr Stevens and Mr Evans (Giles Taylor and Tim Treloar) appear to walked straight out of the real House of Commons and even with their dialogue being mostly governed by the strictures of iambic pentameter, their performances are very natural and powerful on the stage.

This complex and potentially controversial play from the Almeida Theatre (on tour)  is brilliantly written and performed and although the story is dark and - even includes a recognisable ghost predicting destiny- it is not without a great deal of wit.

For those coming to the play to see Robert Powell as the lead they will be delighted in his tour de force portrayal in the challenging lead role. For those interested in witnessing 'a play of the future' today with a superb ensemble look no further than this terrific production.  Charles III runs at Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 10^th October 2015.

Interview with David Longford re: The School For Scandal

Interview with David Longford - Creative Learning Manager - at Nottingham Theatre Royal.

As the historic Nottingham Theatre Royal celebrates 150 years of theatrical existence Phil Lowe visited David Longford -former professional actor – now Creative Learning Manager and director of the theatre's community theatre group's (The Royal Company) recent acclaimed production of The School For Scandal. David was keen to promote the theatre and especially the hard work and non-professional local talents that made the promenade show such a huge success with Nottingham's theatre going public in September 2015.

The School For Scandal performance echoed Sheridan's day in terms of text and costume but also the students of Nottingham Trent University's Theatre Design degree course had huge input with their cross referenced costume and wig designs that combined the fashions of the mid 1800s but added in very modern touches with wigs made from modern day gossip magazines. The props of the piece included mobile phones and contemporary branded shopping bags to carry the play's messages across to a modern day audience. The whole combination worked extremely well and was backed up with periodic pop music tracks that introduced the characters at points during the show.

David Longford director and the show's narrator picked up on how the show worked and on the history of recent amateur community shows that have had and, benefited from, professional input throughout the rehearsal processes.

David Longford

“I started here in 2001 and there was no educational community role whatsoever in the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall. It was a brand new job and I had previously worked at the Mansfield Palace theatre as their education officer. Before that I was a freelance actor and director mainly working in young people's theatre. TIE has a real appeal for me. In the Nottingham Theatre Royal job I was lucky enough, in July 2001, to be employed full -time and to build everything up from scratch. My brief was, and still is, to work with all the visiting companies and to make the venue much more 'open' and publicly accessible and to get the community involved in our work. So, one of my first decisions was based on the thought that I wanted to set up a community theatre company so that we could engage with the public directly and within the spaces in the Theatre Royal and, as it turns out, also around the city of Nottingham.”

“The aim was for every one of the community projects to be a real 'in depth' process. Not just learning the lines but treating it with the seriousness and passion of a pro theatre project with as much professional input as chances would allow. I wanted to totally engage the participants by bringing in external practitioners in order to learn from them and bring a professional approach and discipline to the essentially 'amateur' actors experience and make them feel and grow from being really challenged. I always say to people as we go through the audition process – 'This is a big commitment – I will be asking a lot of you but I want to challenge you and I also want you to have some fun too.' We did a production here of the Government Inspector in 2002 and that was a promenade piece too. However it was not as extensive as The School For Scandal. We mainly used the foyer spaces. Our theatrical statement was that we wanted to do things differently and with local people involved. That went down extremely well and so The Royal Company was born.”

“My job includes working with Northern Ballet and Opera North (regular visitors to our theatre) and within my role with The Royal Company we often work alongside other venues such as when we did Fahrenheit 451 where we combined with the local amateur arts venue - Nottingham Arts Theatre. In 2005 The Royal Company show was held at Nottingham Castle and we rehearsed and performed Tony Harrison's version of The Mysteries, in a huge marquee, a very gritty and very northern piece. This version was originally done by the National Theatre in the 1970s and is all about working class folk putting together a passionate piece about the last days of Jesus Christ.”

 

 

“We have also done three productions on the Theatre Royal stage. One especially memorable one being Oliver Twist (2004) where we really used the Victorian interior of the Theatre Royal to best advantage with narrators in the boxes and the Nottingham Trent University Theatre Design course students who brought in their amazing talents. The shows we have done on the main stage have done extremely well, This is mainly because we have chosen sell-able titles and therefore they become commercially good sellers, but at the same time they still offer the all important challenges for the participants.”

“In 2006 we did our most successful production to date – 101 Dalmatians. We had one professional actress in that. This was Toyah Wilcox as Cruella DeVille. Toyah came into our rehearsals two weeks before the show opened and she was incredible. She had no qualms whatsoever working with a talented amateur cast. In fact the whole cast's theatrical outlook and performance level went up several notches with Toyah's presence. It makes me quite emotional thinking about the commitment those non-professionals put into the show to make it a piece to be hugely proud of. Once again there was a real physical theatre challenge about how do we create a world of dogs without having 101 people in cute doggy outfits!”

“Sometimes, I find when people ask what is the difference with working with professional and amateur community performers, and I think some of the performances in 'Scandal' were extraordinary high, I believe it is that confidence to 'play' within the rehearsal room to build on the role and its place within the play itself.”

“Generally, The Royal Company is an amateur company that is based at Nottingham Theatre Royal but doesn't limit itself to purely performing solely at the venue. We have even done schools tours in the past and some of our talented members have gone on to engage in professional theatre school training with the emphasis on a career in the theatre arts. Plus, we have encouraged the art of story-telling in a dramatic medium and our actors have gone out into the community to develop and show off their skills.”

“With the 150^th Anniversary of Nottingham Theatre Royal we felt that we needed to do the obvious production that was the inaugural production way back in 1865 – Sheridan's The School For Scandal'. It was cast by starting from a clean slate. We extensively advertised the opportunity to be involved through various local and national media and everyone, even people we had used before, had to audition with a single audition piece. Then we did group auditions and whittled it down. We had a lot of ladies audition so the production evolved with many of the male roles being played by women. This was so successful in creating a diverse, interesting and sexually charged piece that I almost considered having the whole cast as women! I loved the fact that Joseph and Charles were both played by young women and this was echoed through audience feedback too.”

“A practitioner called Gerry Flanagan came into the rehearsal process and helped with important clowning and physical theatre aspects of the play. Gerry is very thorough in his workshops and he really did push them. Interestingly we had three drop outs along the way but that doesn’t surprise me because in every single community show that I have done we have had a similar amount of drop outs. Sometimes people don't realise the hard nature of the commitment and sometimes they drop out for unfortunate personal reasons that no-one can predict. We just have to re-adjust and consider how to move on within the scenes. Each production is different and there were some extra pressures with this show because of the 150^th Anniversary and the promenade aspects. I kept saying to everybody that when we are moving the audience around the theatre to each different place – that is still part of the performance. Overall, I truly believe that all the potential playfulness of Sheridan's comical play encouraged all creative aspects of the final piece and brought out really professional performances from a talented group of non-professional or amateur performers. I can't wait for the next project but I am so busy with the Nottingham Theatre Royal's 150^th Anniversary celebrations that presently I have no idea what that might be.”

All production images are from The School For Scandal copyright Alan Fletcher.

 

All other images copyright author Phil Lowe.

For Phil Lowe's review of The School For Scandal click HERE.

Hood – the legend continues review.

As part of the Nottingham Theatre Royal's celebration of 150 years existence seven local theatre writers; experienced playwrights plus other exciting new and proven talents have been commissioned to bring about Hood – the legend continues, a new piece of theatre relevant to Nottinghamshire. Written by Andy Barrett, Tim Elgood, James Graham, Laura Lomas, Mufaro Makubika, Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon, Hood – the legend continues, is also co-produced by one of Britain's best and most innovative touring Nottinghamshire based theatre groups – New Perspectives.

 

The director is Jack Mcnamara and the quick change stage designs are down to designer Rhys Jarman and these are graced with atmospheric lighting by Mark Pritchard, music by Tom Mills and choreography by Chantry Dance Company.

Hood – the legend continues is allegedly based on the ballads of Robin Hood and set in the century and a half from 1865 (the year that the Nottingham Theatre Royal first opened) to the present day, thus reflecting the 150^th Anniversary. It is promoted as a journey through a one hundred and fifty years of Nottingham's vibrant and colourful history through the eyes of Robin Hood. The question we may ask ourselves as an audience is 'does this theatre work also promote Robin Hood as an international figure or limit itself to local history?' The answer is most certainly the local history slant wherein each section of the story looks at one aspect of the character Robin Hood and presents a version appropriate to the historical period.

Keeping the writing in and around Nottinghamshire, the piece scores on the side of jokes about local areas and gets a lot of laughs throughout. Making fun of rival cities like nearby Derby works too, as well as it might in a pantomime setting. However this reviewer has his doubts whether a visitor from outside the East Midlands or even abroad would find the mostly Nottingham related wit in the piece amusing.

Equally, the six part episodic nature of Hood – the legend continues finds one in a succession of short historically based stories some of which don't actually seem to go anywhere and the narrative thread of the whole is stretched rather thin. In the final scene relating to the nature of the Robin Hood industry a row of what look like random supernumerary pensioners in a long line wearing modern day clothes and metal helmets are revealed to the audience. Sadly they look uncomfortably very out of place. The show in general is thankfully upheld by some spirited acting from the company especially Ed Thorpe as a very funny and engaging Alan A Dale.

Adam Morris as The Sheriff of Nottingham is best in the Second World War scene and as a greedy politician in the 1980s New Nottingham section. More darkly comical than pure evil Morris engages and entertains the audience throughout. Robin Hood himself (Jonah Russell) is presented in various rebellious guises. Mostly non-conformist in nature, this idea of Hood or Loxely is more of a man of words than an action hero although he does get into a few fights and scrapes along the way. Russell does have a good authentic rough Nottingham accent and this works to his credit.

Some of the most flexible acting opportunities are given to the two actresses Jasmine Blackburrow (Marian) and Alex Bedward (Scarlett) and both offer very enjoyable performances. Particularly funny is Bedward as a beer guzzling Nun and boy/girl newspaper seller. Lastly, Ewan MacIntosh bigs it up as Little John and brings out the comedy in all his various roles.

Overall, Hood – the legend continues offers the Nottingham theatregoers a chance to celebrate 150 years of theatrical fare in their beautiful Nottingham Theatre Royal and in a climate where theatres and entertainment venues unfortunately close this can only be a good thing.

Runs until Saturday 26^th September.

 

Originally published and written for The Public Reviews. 19th September 2015

 

 

Review The School For Scandal Nottingham Theatre Royal

Sheridan's complex comedy The School For Scandal was the inaugural play that opened Nottingham's historic Theatre Royal in 1865. The 18^th Century play had already been a popular night out at any regional theatre since its first ever performance at London's Drury Lane theatre on May 8^th 1777. It continues to delight with its stock characters named after their personalities and their delectation in creating scandal in society. The higher in society the victims are the more thrilling (to the scandal mongers) is their demise. It seems that things haven't changed so much since Sheridan's day as modern day gossips still love to pour over the gossip magazines and many a celeb exposé and debt issues are common themes in all the modern media.

 

 

This performance of The School For Scandal is revived as part of the celebrations of Nottingham Theatre Royal's 150^th anniversary. The Theatre Royal community theatre ensemble (The Royal Company) take the unusual stance of presenting the play in a promenade performance with various parts of the action played in a variety of locations in and around the theatre and its public spaces. With a constantly mobile audience of around fifty members, all eves dropping on the comical and naughty goings on in Sheridan's comedy of manners, the story becomes a lot more immediate than it might be in a classic proscenium arch production. Much use is also made of bringing individual audience members comically into the action. This type of presentation makes the audience true voyeurs to the piece almost to the point of direct complicity. The theatrical tables are even turned on the audience at one point when we are seated right here on the main stage watching the actors perform against the background of the sumptuous green and gold of the theatre's interior!

The play satirises the behaviour and customs of the upper classes through witty dialogue and an intricate plot incorporating ludicrous situations that expose the characters' shortcomings. Sheridan's characters are somewhat cartoon like and take on bold characteristics such as; the terrible bore; the gossip; the wastrel and the rich uncle. There are a massive twenty one actors in the cast and live music is played by John Crawford and Richard Mercia. The very stylised clownish make up of the entire Royal Company helps considerably to convey these types. It is almost if these personalities have slipped out of a satirical painting of the era. The costumes designed with a modern twist by theatre design students at Nottingham Trent University are superbly conceived and made up, especially the paper wigs made from modern day gossip magazines.

Major gossips Lady Sneerwell (Deborah Porter-Walker) and Mrs Candour (Michelle Smith) are portrayed to perfection in their snobbery as is Snake (Ade Andrews) with his opening complex monologue gleefully depicting who he has sold down the line with his deceitful lies. The Surface family - Sir Oliver (Barbara Whisbey) and brothers Charles and Joseph (Madison Wales and Charlie Osborne) two young men under the guidance of Sir Peter Teazle, (Mik Horvath) are all played with broad strokes and their various character traits come through well with this style of acting. Both the brothers are played by female actors as is Sir Oliver Surface. Such theatrical artifice works terrifically in this production.

The scene where Sir Peter Teazle complains about his young wife Lady Teazle (Victoria Murphy) and her spendthrift ways works well and the common argument over money is as appropriate now as it was in the society of 18^th Century Britain. The three clown characters (Mercedes Assad, Nikki Disney and Kayleigh Phillips) are played with great wit and energy and help keep the piece buoyant throughout the promenade transitions and within the play itself.

Edward Crook is superb as the rather camp Sir Benjamin Backbite, being all leopard skin and wicked asides and a louche poetic nature. Crook's stage performance as Backbite, although sadly brief, (as are a lot of the School For Scandal characters) leant a great deal of substance to the play as a whole and really brought out the self possessed nature of the scandal mongers. Contrariwise, the only truly moral character Moses is played with an aloof and knowing grace by the bespectacled and cautiously strutting Alina Hughes.

The School For Scandal is a complex and enjoyable play full of more sub plots than an over zealous design for a garden allotment, but The Royal Company do it proud in a gorgeously accessible production that Richard Brinsley Sheridan would have been rightly proud of here at Nottingham's Theatre Royal. It is directed with great style by David Longford. With a strong and likeable theatrical presence Longford also plays narrator Walter Montgomery who was the first theatre manager at the Theatre Royal.

 

 

This review was originally written for and published by The Public Reviews on 7th September 2015

Review. Jeykll and Hyde, Theatre Royal Nottingham

Nottingham Theatre Royal's annual Colin McKintyre Classic Thriller Season which comprises of four thrillers played, as in rep, over four weeks is a very much anticipated part of the Nottingham theatre calendar. This year they present Jekyll and Hyde, Night must Fall, Suddenly at Home and Stage Struck and all the plays are performed by the TABS Production cast over the month of August.

Their season begins with Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde adapted for the stage and directed by Nicholas Briggs. Brigg's adaptation stays true to the original, although edited for theatrical brevity, it keeps, within the story-telling, to a lesser degree of locations.

For this reviewer the confused set design by Geoff Gilder is too much at visual odds with the Victorian melodramatic story. Only the central door of Dr Jekyll's house is in period leaving the rest of the stage to be dressed in incongruous criss-cross wire flats that, except for being draped in swathes of red cloth, would have suited West Side Story best.

The atmospheric lighting by Michael Donoghue helps to create various moods effectively and the music, composed, selected and arranged by Nicholas Briggs equally so - albeit with a little over reliance on the drama being punctuated repeatedly with short blasts of 'revelation' music.

On the whole, the gothic story of Jeykll and Hyde, is well acted by the TABS cast and the style keeps within the boundaries of what a modern audience would respond to in the form of melodramatic theatre. In fact the 2015 Nottingham Theatre Royal audience are not so far removed from their Victorian ancestors with the seriousness in which they take the moral story-telling. No tittering in the third row here, no even as Andrew Fettes occasionally hams it up beautifully as the evil Mr Edward Hyde.

There are some believable solid performances throughout especially from Susan Earnshaw as the concerned house keeper, Mrs Poole. Earnshaw brings a motherly sincerity to her part that a man in the role of the novella's original Mr Poole the butler wouldn't have. The choice to have a Mrs Poole also redresses the balance of the sexes in a very male populated play.

Anna Mitcham shows her versatility throughout this piece, one minute being killed off and the next popping up again in the mixed roles of servant girl Maisy, the dubiously moral Paterson, and the maid to Dr Lanyon.

Andrew Ryan is quietly compelling as, Mr Gabriel Utterson, lawyer and friend to Dr Jeykll and quite unrecognisable from his previous appearances at this theatre as pantomime dame! Robert Laughlin is perfect as a large bearded Dr Henry Jekyll and shows just right amount of concern over his mental and physical state as the tortured doctor. In a scene that could have been risible he refrains from being unintentionally comical as he twists and turns in agony in the transformation scene.

A character that could be allowed to employ a little humour into the proceedings is the canny Scotland Yard police inspector – Inspector Newcomen – given an highly enjoyable and slightly sarcastic performance here by David Gilbrook. From his programme résumé Gilbrook seems to have been cast as a police inspector on many theatrical occasions. His wry performance is one of the highlights of the show.

One wouldn't truthfully call this production of Jekyll and Hyde particularly scary or even overly thrilling. However, on the plus side the action moves quickly from location to location and the acting standards overall are good and the gothic story entertains. For the rest of the season we have the thrillers from the pens of Emlyn Williams, Frances Durbridge and Simon Gray to look forward to. Jekyll and Hyde runs until 8^th August.

Review originally published on August 4th by The Public Reviews

Review: East is East (touring) Theatre Royal Nottingham July 2015

The first thing that impresses is the amazingly realistic and yet theatrical set for this sterling production of East is East directed by Sam Yates. The brick work on the house walls is super real in texture and depth and the whole space has a very lived in atmosphere redolent of the early 1970s back to back slums of Salford before the slum clearance programmes a decade later. Designer Tom Scutt has done a superb job in realising the whole effect and allowing for creativity within it. With the bombed out side walls looking like they might crumble away any second the whole effect is of survival in difficult surroundings and that duly reflects the whole mood of this funny and moving play. All the coal black doors are designed as outside privy doors and get plenty of usage as the cast make rapid entrances and exits that become almost the percussive heart beat of the play.

 

The cast of eleven are a ball of collective energy throughout, constantly re-realising the stage space through their positioning and rapid placement of furniture and go from funny to violent to angry and frustrated and intermittently to loving all on the turn of a silver shilling. The changing moods are also enhanced by Richard Howell's elegant lighting design.

Pauline McLynn and Simon Nagra shine as the English wife Ella to Pakistani husband George Khan and the penultimate scene of violence between them is hard to watch. George Khan is a tyrannical father to their seven children one of whom we never see but is hated by the father for having left home to pursue a life out of reach of his 'respect me or else I kill you - you bastard' tirades. He is a man of his generation and background, antiquated in his enforcement of unquestioning total respect for the father and totally blind to the alienation he causes in his family. He idealises his home country and is also fearful of what the uprisings and violence in Pakistan will have on his culture and religion and ultimately his family that he purports to love.

Ayub Khan Din's incredible play works on many levels and throughout the audience is gripped and swept along as they laugh at the many comedic goings on and gasp at the raw reality of the Khan family bickering and making up. The language is fruity, funny, demanding and a true culture shock when the shit finally hits the proverbial fan in the second half. The acting from all the cast is utterly perfect and this reviewer would highly recommend a visit to this exemplary piece of theatre currently playing at Theatre Royal Nottingham.

Originally published by Nottingham Live on Tuesday 28th July 2015

Jesus Christ Superstar UK tour review

Playing at Theatre Royal Nottingham 30^th June- 4^th July this terrific production of Jesus Christ Superstar shows why Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's show has remained at the forefront of musical theatre since its conception in the early 1970s. Throughout the decades it continues to engage emotionally and this current 'on tour' show demonstrates this in spades.

Directed by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright this touring production features JCS stalwart Glenn Carter as a very likeable and emotionally complex Jesus who pulls out all the musical stops with his brave rendition of the deeply compelling song 'Gethsemane' and altogether wows the audience with the gentle power of his overall performance as Christ.

Opposite Carter is Judas Iscariot played by Tim Rogers who finds some affective sympathy in a man destined to betray Christ and sings his gutsy main role with great credibility bringing some truthful light and shade into a character that could potentially be seen as purely the bad guy.

There aren't any really complex roles for women in this show and the character of Mary Magdelene is thinly sketched with the famous and historically much covered 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' as her main number. Although competently sung by Rachel Adedeji it isn't until we get the final scenes of Christ's crucifixion that we see any true depth of feeling, other than initially comforting Christ, from Adedeji's character portrayal.

This production benefits theatrically from the presences of a very camp and funny Tom Gilling as King Herod. Equally we have Johnathan Tweedie as the politically and socially manipulated Pontious Pilate in a very strong and commanding performance. The audience are also in awe and a little afraid of the deep voiced actor (Cavin Cornwall) playing Caiaphas. Cornwall brings great authority to his character and even when silent one can sense the danger in the man that helped to execute Jesus through his dealings with Judas Iscariot.

The show's choreography is brought splendidly to life by choreographer Carole Todd and really achieves its best in the 'Simon Zealotes' number enthusiastically led by actor Kristopher Harding as Simon Zealotes and equally so in the title number 'Jesus Christ Superstar.'

The JSC ensemble work hard at telling the story of the last days of Christ and are wonderfully supported musically by the live orchestra under the musical director Bob Broad and the fantastic set designed by Paul Farnsworth and lit by Nick Richings. It was great to see the inclusion of some local children in two of the show's most upbeat scenes – 'Hosanna' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar'.

Jesus Christ Superstar in its current touring mode is a terrifically moving piece of musical theatre performed by a youthful and very talented cast.

Originally written for Nottingham Live

Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Nottingham Theatre Royal

This National Theatre touring production of the play version of Mark Haddon's book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time adapted by Simon Stephens turns theatre on its head and spins it round sparkling. It currently resides at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until April 11^th.

Technically it is superb, not only the dynamic cast headed by the very talented Joshua Jenkins as Christopher Boone but also an amazing set design by Bunny Christie. Christie's technological work of art is used in a variety of ways including some amazing projections to add sense to Christopher's state of mind and confusion. The stunning video design is by Finn Ross augmented by equally sensational lighting sets by Paule Constable. Adrian Sutton provides the music which links each short scene in the play, often changing moods on the spin of a foot. Sound design is by Ian Dickenson (Autograph). Dickenson's design allows for some powerful changes in the play and at one point almost literally blew the audience away.

Steven Hoggett and Scott Graham are the movement directors (Frantic Assembly) essential to a work of theatre made so compelling by the movement dynamics of the cast which at many points are utterly magical. As Christopher is lifted into the air and moved around the stage with a backdrop of stars you'd believe a boy could fly – and his rat Toby too.

Apart from Jenkins as Christopher there are a cast of eleven actors all playing specific roles and ensemble. As well human understudies taking part during the tour Toby the rat is also played by two very cute and talented rats, Starsky and Hutch. 'Cute rat' I never thought I'd ever get he chance to write that as a reviewer!

In the story of Christopher Boone and his abilities and disabilities actor Stuart Laing as his father Ed shines as a man at the end of his emotional tether having lost a wife and now having to deal with a constantly agitated son. In one silent scene as they looked up at the sky between them the silence spoke volumes. The play is a very active and totally engaging piece of theatre and all of the gifted cast are to be applauded for their constant energy, movement skills and humour in the portrayals. It is a piece that really makes you think about how people with autism or asperges perceive life and it is put across with great drama and much humour.

Mark Haddon's best selling story is brilliantly brought to the stage by Simon Stephen's writing and the thrilling work of the National Theatre and Nottingham is lucky to get a chance to see such multi-talents on the Nottingham Theatre Royal Stage. I implore you to stay after the curtain call for five minutes to hear and see Christopher's gutsy and proud explanation of how he solved the A level maths question. It is worth the admission fee alone.

Review originally published by Nottingham Live on 1st April 2015

Review: Barnum at Nottingham Theatre Royal. On tour.

In early September 2014 I reviewed, for The Public Reviews, the very first showing of the now touring production of Barnum at Leicester's Curve theatre. It was a very exciting night for this reviewer. Firstly I loved the re-working of the show and its new dynamics plus a deeper and more fluid emotionally engaging storyline. So on a rare chance to review the same show twice on its twenty-four theatre venue tour (finishing at the Birmingham Hippodrome 7 July - 1^st August) I'm delighted to witness Barnum once again at NottinghamTheatre Royal (Tuesday 3^rd February - 14^th February).

 

In between time I have had the chance to interview the lead man himself, Brian Conley, for Sardines magazine. The interview was a great insight into the process of being chosen by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and how Brian agreed to play the role after seeing the show in a slightly different format at Chichester. The interview can be read in issue twenty-four of Sardines magazine. It is four pages of fascinating insights and some glorious photos of Barnum and of Brian's amazing career so far. I digress.

Two pages from feature/interview for Sardines magazine.

As a second review of the same show I would expect a little repetition but what I found tonight was that the show seemed extremely comfortable with itself and tighter than at Curve where the cast had so little time to get used to the building and the stage before press night was suddenly thrust upon them.

So without further ado: Barnum at Nottingham's Theatre Royal is an utter triumph! The 'old time' set fits in perfectly with the ornate Victorian architecture and green and gold finery and the magic of the show sparkled from beginning to the glorious finale and epilogue. The energy of the piece continues to be phenomenal. By the end you truly believe that PT Barnum (as played by Conley) is the Greatest Showman on Earth. There is almost a tangible sadness in the audience that the real life exuberant character isn't around any more.

Brian Conley as PT Barnum is certainly up there with the greatest show folk. There is a lovely warm chemistry from Conley with the audience and he handles all the great physical demands and vocal demands of the show with a hard earned cheeky ease and humour. The tension in the audience is palpable as he attempts to walk the high wire! In our interview for Sardines magazine Conley told me about how he feels during the wire walk. He said that he has learnt to concentrate solely on 'staying on the wire' and not just on getting to the other side. He said, " That's the real mind set - staying on the wire - plus the wire itself is a work of art. It has to be at exactly the right tension so that it doesn't snap. I like it as tight as possible. I don't like it moving. It took ages to get that right. And our set is solid. It has to be as we have people doing acrobatics on it and everything."

Like a previous Barnum (Michael Crawford) Conley has that wonderful ability to engage you wholesale in the emotional roller-coaster of his character with each utterly joyful and sometimes tearful note. Over the last five months touring with Barnum Conley has really grown into his character displaying further subtleties in his interpretation.

His recent diversion into pantomime with Gok Wan has certainly done his performance no harm. Indeed, his performance is continually electric and he is superbly supported by the whole talented ensemble and especially by his stage wife Chairy Barnum played by the beautiful and talented Linzi Hateley, stalwart of many a West End show. Hateley brings out all the grounded love for her husband PT Barnum and her depiction of her attractively sung songs feel genuinely heartfelt. You may imagine that a long running show on a national tour may diminish in quality. Imagine all you like this but this one has grown in stature beyond even the gigantic size of Jumbo the elephant! Hateley and Conley's on stage partnership is still as fresh as ever.

Actress and singer Kimberly Blake throws a romantic Swedish spanner into PT Barnum's world with her seductive talents as 'Swedish Nightingale' Jenny Lind singing Love Makes Such Fools of Us All. The brilliant staging as she rises to the roof of the stage on a swing has her literally ending her song on powerful 'high' note. Interestingly the slow acrobatics above the action- dream like with coloured umbrellas was excluded in tonight's show

 

Landi Oshinowo makes 160 year old Joice Heth one of funniest parts of the show with her utterly mad rendition of 'Thank God I'm Old' and Landi's later talents as Blues Singer warmly imbue the musical tone perfectly in the more poignant parts of Barnum.

General Tom Thumb – only twenty-five inches tall – played by Mikey Jay -Heath flings himself into the optimistic song 'Bigger Isn't Better' with great gusto and his scene with Jumbo the huge elephant has the audience in stitches.

 

This continues to be a very slick production with each of the all singing, all dancing, circus skilled cast putting in 200%. The live music (Musical Director Ian Townsend) is spot on acoustically and instrumentally and each musical number still gets huge applause from the very appreciative audience here in Nottingham.

Bang from the outset we are bedazzled by the cast playing amongst the audience and bamboozled with Conley's baloney and all sorts of circus trickery and hokum pokum. As previously hinted at the wonderful stage set is lit like a versatile Victorian gas lit theatre with all the colours of the spectrum thrown in for free. Well maybe not for free. A few worthwhile dollars may need to spent on a ticket or two but like Barnum's American Museum I can envisage people heading for the egress and queuing round the block to see it again and again. There are a few tickets left at the Theatre Royal but only a few. Grab em while you can.

This exuberant production of Barnum, adapted from the original 2013 Chichester Festival Theatre Cameron Mackintosh and Mark Bramble production is utterly breath-taking acrobatically, musically, visually and fizzing with theatrical energy.

The whole concept of Barnum is that the audience get swept along wholesale on a huge musical and spectacular wave of unashamed enthusiasm and emotion and this show that began its tour at Leicester Curve, far from disappoints. In fact it excels beyond measure. The multi talented ensemble are a force of energy that could light up the whole of a chilly and wintry February Nottingham one golden brick at a time! If you stood outside the frontage of the Theatre Royal during this show you could almost warm your hands on the brickwork. But maybe that's just humbug! Maybe not!