Photos: First Look TATTOOER At Charing Cross Theatre
TATTOOER, written by Takuya Kaneshima, translated by Linda Hoaglund, inspired by the short story, Shisei, by Junichiro Tanizaki and directed by Hogara Kawai will gets its UK premiere Monday 14 October to Saturday 26 October direct from a run in Tokyo, Japan. Check out photos from the production!
Review: BECOMING NANCY, Birmingham Rep
Cheese and pineapple on a stick, anyone? The latest musical from Birmingham Rep takes us back to 1970s Britain, where trousers were flared, birthday parties required Iced Gems, and boys definitely didn't play girls in school musicals without everyone having something to say about it. BWW's critic weighs in.
Photos: BECOMING NANCY at Birmingham Rep
Birmingham Rep has released all new photos from Becoming Nancy, directed and choroegraphed by Jerry Mitchell. The musical will host its official press night in Birmingham on Tuesday 15 October 2024.
Review: ABIGAIL'S PARTY, Stratford East
The Seventies were a time for cheesy pineapple, bellbottom jeans, Elton John, and ABBA. Written in 1977, Mike Leigh’s darkly comic picture of the English middle class turns out to be an evergreen classic. Revived some ten miles from the story’s real-life setting, this is Nadia Fall’s last show as Artistic Director of the venue and features known ‘EastEnder’ Tamzin Outhwaite as Beverly Moss.
Review: COME DINE WITH ME THE MUSICAL, Turbine Theatre
There’s potential for Come Dine With Me: The Musical to become a Michelin-starred delight, and its Edinburgh Fringe production has the foundations for it. The cast are all great, the writing has its laughs and the songs are catchy. It just needs more time to simmer and extra spice to give it that extra kick.
Review: THE 39 STEPS, Trafalgar Theatre
Patrick Barlow’s parody The 39 Steps creaks and groans in places but still has plenty of laughs. Wrapped around the central character of Richard Hannay, the story unfurls as we see him accused of murder, run from the police and then defeat a foreign cabal of spies.
Review: THE 39 STEPS, Theatre Royal Brighton
A stage adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1930’s spy film (which was in turn was an adaptation of John Buchans novel), The 39 Steps is a madcap dramedy set in 1935 but many of its themes feel relevant today, despite the wacky premise of just four actors playing 139 characters.
Review: MISS JULIE, Park Theatre
Max Harrison’s production is a beautiful textbook revival that, while leaning into the comic side of the text (translated here by Michael Meyer) accordingly tips into the opposite range of emotional distress. This Miss Julie is funny one second, horrid the immediate next.
Review: CLOSER TO HEAVEN, Turbine Theatre
The talented cast and creatives can only do so much to elevate the musical’s inherent camp, but Jonathan Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys' script and songs feel underbaked with characters who aren’t able to be fleshed out. With this in mind, it feels closer to hell.
Review: WEDDING BAND, Lyric Hammersmith
Interracial marriage has been legal in the United States for less than six decades. To put it into perspective, sliced bread was first sold forty years earlier. Set in 1918 South Carolina, Wedding Band is a blistering portrayal of unjust laws and discrimination, of conscious and unconscious bias, of finding love inside hopeless prejudice. Alice Childress’ American classic describes a Deep South riddled with hatred and stigma, a picture that’s uncomfortably close to a certain party’s opinions and that, sixty years later, remains unfortunately topical. A white baker and a black seamstress defy public opinion in this sombre drama.