Paul ThomasonAnyone for snot macaroni and toenail ice-cream? Paul Thomason experiences the gross-out fun of watching David Walliams’ story live on stage. Less than a week after children all over the land have been going to school dressed as one of many of...
Martin ThomassonJeremy Sams, adapter and director of this stage version of the popular 1970s sitcom The Good Life, points out how current the central clash of ideas seems to be. On the one hand, we have careerist Gerry (played here by Dominic Rowan) and his...
Steve TimmsPortraying a beloved public figure is a risk for any actor but when it comes to Princess Diana, it seems like a poisoned chalice. There have been several soapy TV versions of her sadly short life, featuring actresses looking coy, and cocking their...
Georgina WellsAs Hope Mill Theatre’s Executive Director William Whelton observes in his programme notes, the journey to bring their production of Rent to the stage has been a difficult one. Originally scheduled for performance in the summer, national lockdown and...
After seven months with no live theatre, it felt like a miracle to be part of the audience that gathered outside The Lowry on a dark October evening to watch Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show. Imitating the Dog’s new touring work – created with the...
Moses KabungaSet in the mid 1980s, Kevin Elyot’s My Night with Reg tells interacting stories of six gay men living in London. The play was first produced a decade later and thanks to the Green Carnation Company is now enjoying a revival. The entire play is set...
The first thing that strikes you about this National Theatre of Scotland production is Simon Kenny’s set, the centrepiece a 30-foot high wooden picture frame, with the top corner a wild, untreated tree branch. Initially, this appears to be something...
One of the most remarkable theatre productions I’ve seen in recent years was Feelgood Theatre’s Macbeth, staged in Heaton Park 10 years ago, and which coincided with a week of torrential rain; performing in a muddy pool in damp costumes sorely...
Carmel ThomasonEarly Doors, the stage show of the BBC2 pub sitcom, returns to the Lowry for a limited run, and even the hottest day of the year can’t keep its punters away. The theatre is packed to the top, and it’s no surprise given the size of the Arena venues...
Liz RatcliffeSo, burn me at the stake but I was completely bewitched by Joan – part compelling theatre, part horrible-histories, part drag act and all hugely entertaining. The basic set comprises four mirrors and four crates forming a cross in the centre of the...