THE received wisdom in some theatrical circles is that everything has to be edgy and dangerous and shocking and NEW! This production is a very good reason why this is a shallow and doomed policy. Hobson’s Choice is a very good play. It is described as author Harold Brighouse’s masterpiece and that’s not hyperbole. It…
THERE are many reasons to honour someone in this country, from the battlefield to the classroom, and of course, on the stage, and in the old-fashioned decorous language of pomp and heraldry, “services to dance” sounds so reserved for what Matthew Bourne has achieved in the past thirty years, but that is the reason he…
AS director Doug Cockle is keen to point out, the idea of reverse casting for Shakespeare’s cross-dressing comedy Twelfth Night is not new. But it IS new for the drama students at Arts University Bournemouth, and new for the audience enjoying it at Poole until 27th February. In the original, which would have been played…
ABOUT half-way through Brendan Murray’s new play, Martin Butler recalls a workmate commenting on the Butlers’ four-year old son Matty. The man says what a lovely little boy he is, but adds “what a shame” that he has Down’s syndrome. Martin (Vic Llewellyn) realises that he and his wife Odette love Matty as he is…
PLAYING the world’s most famous detective is anything but elementary, but the talented members of Salisbury Studio Theatre’s youth section certainly rose to the challenge in Tim Kelly’s clever and amusing play, on at the Ashley Road theatre until 27th February. All the favourite characters are here – Holmes, Dr Watson, Prof Moriarty, Mrs Hudson,…
FRENCH-Canadian actress Catherine-Anne Toupin won awards for her play A Present, translated as Right Now and given its UK premiere at Bath’s Ustinov Studio until 19th March. Michael Boyd’s direction, closely linked with Oliver Fenwick’s lighting design on Madeline Girling’s set, increases the dreamlike – sometimes nightmarish – essence of the story. Running for 75…
BASED on the American strip cartoon Little Orphan Annie, the musical Annie has been a worldwide hit since it opened on Broadway in 1977 where it won a Tony for composer Charles Strouse. It opened the following year in London with Sheila Hancock and Stratford Johns among the cast, and this week, Cary Amateur Theatrical…
WHEN you head out for the annual Buckhorn Weston Amateur Theatrical Society pantomime you can be sure of two things – it will be energetically performed by everyone involved and it will be BATS, in the best and most inspired way. In recent years Allison Barfoot has gathered a regular team which has delighted audiences…
THE 2016 season opened at the Tobacco Factory in Bedminster with Andrew Hilton’s production of Hamlet, with young Irish actor Alan Mahon at its heart. This is the first UK appearance for the 23 year old Dubliner who graduated as a Bachelor of Acting just 18 months ago. And of course it is the biggest…
ALAN Ayckbourn is a theatrical phenomenon. This is his 79th play, yes, his 79th, and he is still only 76 years old. His last work, Roundelay, was one of his clever games with five short plays linked by common characters and performed in random order each time, the order being decided by a member of…