May 2023 ‘People can lose everything, but still have so much joy’ – the powerhouse creative team behind The Beekeeper of Aleppo - including bestselling author Christy Lefteri and Olivier Award-winning director Miranda Cromwell - discuss its power and truth with Miriam Gillinson. The runaway success of the novel and now the stage play of... Continue Reading →
Review: Dream School at The Space, London
Trigger warnings for the content of this review: cults, psychological manipulation, sexual manipulation/abuse, self harm Thursday, 18th May 2023 at The Space, London ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reviewer: Emma Dorfman The ensemble emerges. They are floating, euphoric. They are seeking out connection. They are giggling for no reason at all, but you know it must be a good... Continue Reading →
Review: Quality Street (Touring)
Tuesday, 16th May 2023 at York Theatre Royal ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Quality Street: The Regency Comedy is J.M. Barrie’s take on life and love for the women left behind during the Napoleonic Wars; those who involuntarily became old maids when dreams of marriage departed along with the strapping patriotic men. Quality Street is certainly a farce in... Continue Reading →
Review: Of Mice and Men at Leeds Playhouse
Saturday, 13th May 2023 at Leeds Playhouse ⭐️⭐️⭐️ John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, once a GCSE text staple (remember the spoilers helpfully left behind in the margins by the outgoing Year 11 students?), is currently finishing up its tour at Leeds Playhouse. Following an unlikely pairing of itinerant workers during the Great Depression, this... Continue Reading →
Review: Dirty Corset (Touring)
Thursday, 11th May 2023 at York Theatre Royal. ⭐️⭐️ Billed as “a company of flea-bitten actors” who “try and fail to live up to their on-stage personas” in 1687, Bang Average Theatre’s Dirty Corset offers a loose but fun premise with early signs of the hygiene-averse brand of humour awaiting us. This is a tongue-in-cheek,... Continue Reading →
Review: Heathers The Musical (Touring)
Tuesday, 9th May 2023 at York Grand Theatre and Opera House. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ There’s catty, there’s bitchy, and then there’s Heathers The Musical: “mythic bitch” central. With book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, and based on the 1988 film by Daniel Waters, this show is a darkly comic look at the sacrifices... Continue Reading →
Review: Mayflies at York Theatre Royal
Thursday, 4th May 2023 at York Theatre Royal ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The world of modern dating: connection online, awkward first meetings and the inevitable gamble taken on whether or not anything will come of it. Gus Gowland’s warm-hearted new musical, Mayflies, follows a pairing who are meeting up for the first time after two years of chatting... Continue Reading →
Review: Blanket Ban at Southwark Playhouse
Tuesday, 2nd May 2023 at Southwark Playhouse, London. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reviewer: Emma Dorfman Note: mild spoilers ahead! All too often, when we introduce both the personal and the political into a piece of theatre, it can come across as self-serving and undeniably cringe-worthy. Blanket Ban, without a doubt, is not that show. Through this verbatim 2-hander... Continue Reading →
Review: The Retreat at Finborough Theatre, London
Friday 28th April 2023 at the Finborough Theatre, London. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reviewer: Emma Dorfman The Retreat is reminiscent of much of the realist dramas that North American audiences seemingly couldn't get enough of in the early 2000s. Most of the time, it reads less theatrical and nearly slice-of-life. As much as the 4-person cast and the... Continue Reading →
Review: Strictly Ballroom The Musical (Touring)
Wednesday 26th April 2023 at York Grand Theatre and Opera House. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Based on the celebrated 1992 Baz Luhrmann film and promising to lift the curtain on the competitive ballroom scene, this show offers comic glimpses of backstage squabbles, underhanded dealings and blossoming love alongside some impressive dance numbers. The story? Scott Hastings and partner... Continue Reading →