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An American In Paris (stage2view.com) Verdict: Swish, swanky and ‘s wonderful! Rating: Falling Stars (stream.theatre) Verdict: Put it in your pocket Rating: Marry Me A Little (barntheatre.org.uk) Verdict: Polished Sondheim Rating: With a little bit of luck, before too long we’ll all be vaccinated, freed from the shackles of Covid and feeling (I imagine) like … Read more
What A Carve Up! (whatacarveup.com) Verdict: What a mash-up Rating: 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre) Verdict: Heroine overdose Rating: Emilia (emilialive.com) Verdict: Rambo-esque rad-feminism Rating: You don’t need to be a Maggie-sceptic to relish this brilliantly inventive recreation of Jonathan Coe’s 1994 anti-Thatcher murder mystery novel…but it may help. Coe’s deliciously macabre 1980s satire has … Read more
Les Miserables — The Staged Concert (VOD) Verdict: Fortifying brilliance Rating: We’re all going to need fortification in the coming weeks — and not just of the liquid variety. How happy, then, was I to discover that Cameron Mackintosh was releasing a live concert performance of Les Miserables — recorded in December last year at … Read more
This Is Going To Hurt (Apollo Theatre, London) Verdict: Queasy rider Rating: The Great Gatsby (Immersive LDN) Verdict: Fizzy Fitzgerald Rating: Lone Flyer (Watermill, Newbury) Verdict: Little gem Rating: Given the fevered state of the nation, re-opening the West End with a hospital doctor who’s gone rogue was a stroke of mischievous genius. The … Read more
Betrayal (Theatre Royal, Bath) Rating: Verdict: Pinteresting Love From A Stranger (Theatre Royal, Windsor) Rating: Verdict: Who do you think you are kidding Mr Covid? A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Flute Theatre (flutetheatre.co.uk) Rating: Verdict: Shakespeare for autistic people Harold Pinter is a good choice for socially distanced theatre. The characters in his plays usually like … Read more
Krapp’s Last Tape (Leeds Playhouse) Verdict: Buggy has Beckett taped Rating: Dr Blood’s Travelling Show (touring; imitatingthedog.co.uk) Verdict: Schlock horror in the car park Rating: Say a prayer for Leeds Playhouse. After opening last year following a £16 million makeover, they ran straight into lockdown. And just when they thought it was safe to come … Read more
Apollo 13: The Dark Side Of The Moon (originaltheatreonline.com) Rating: Verdict: One giant leap for a theatre The 39 Steps (Maltings Theatre, St Albans) Rating: Verdict: 39 steps in the right direction Houston, we have a problem.’ It was one small sentence for a man; but one giant hitch for Mission Control when, 50 years ago, … Read more
Playing Sandwiches/Lady of Letters (Bridge Theatre, London) Verdict: Imelda nails it Rating: Rating: An Evening With An Immigrant (Bridge Theatre) Verdict: Charm offensive Rating: Pippin (Eagle Garden Theatre, Vauxhall) Verdict: Hippy dippy psychedelia Rating: There has been something missing from Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues, which continue to file into the Bridge Theatre like Noah’s … Read more
Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic Live Stream via TicketCo) Rating: Verdict: A tasty return The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (blackeyedtheatre.ticketco.events) Rating: Verdict: Saucy split personality drama Remember when putting on a show seemed relatively straightforward? Theatre director Emma Rice and her faithful company of actors, called Wise Children, have had Covid tests and … Read more
The Shrine/A Bed Among The Lentils (Bridge Theatre, London) Rating: Verdict: Playlet noir Rose (hopemilltheatre.co.uk) Rating: Verdict: Beattie’s brilliant Denonement (traverse.co.uk) Rating: Verdict: Armageddon outta here Stories are often changed by the context in which they are told. And in the context of Covid-19, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues — originally written for TV in the … Read more