Dave Porter‘A country road, a tree’. The setting for Beckett’s play is surely as synonymous with the text as ‘blasted heath’ is with King Lear, and in director Dominic Hill’s assured stage setting looks just as desolate. A spectral tree with the mangled...
Leslie James KerwinA ‘miracle’ to some, a ‘gangster’ to others, the grown-ups around Matilda Wormwood can all agree on one thing: this is a five-year-old far too smart for her own good. Now on its 15th year of touring, Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s ‘Matilda: The...
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but it is in the script…” “There’s a script?” “Not tonight there’s not!” Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you’re having a lovely evening – and if you’re not sharing a bed with your appropriately-aged best friend...
For people of a certain vintage (your reviewer, for one), Brookside holds a special place in their heart. So it’s apt that the new production of Two at Shakespeare North should feature two of the show’s stars, Michael Starke (Sinbad) and Sarah White...
Carmel ThomasonThere’s a true sense of the hero returns as Operation Mincemeat opens its first ever world tour at Lowry’s Lyric Theatre. Now a West End and Broadway hit with numerous awards, it is hard to imagine the musical’s humble beginnings in front of an...
“We’re all born naked and the rest is drag” is an immediate thought on the first watch of ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. RuPaul’s most famous catchphrase comes from the idea that there is more to a person than what is outwardly visible. The story...
Has the day of a wedding ever gone smoothly? The bride is stressing out, the groom is having second thoughts, the kids are being a nightmare, and there’s always one underpaid staff member keeping it all together. If your palms are already sweating...
The new tour of The Bodyguard explodes onto the stage at Manchester’s Palace Theatre, with a start that needs no phones-away announcement. The echo of a gunshot does that job – now everyone is paying attention. Seconds later flames rise from the...
My first ever stadium gig as a child was watching the late Tina Turner at Gateshead International Stadium in 1990. It was billed as a farewell tour – which of course it wasn’t. Much to the delight of her fans, this born performer was back at the...
Cathy CrabbA camp old time was had of it at the Opera House with Top Hat. A flighty on its shoes show with classic Irving Berlin songs and a stellar cast of triple threats. Jerry Travers (Phillip Attmore), a Broadway sensation, helps an old boy out by coming...