UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 17

BWW Review: HEART OF DARKNESS, York Theatre Royal
by Sarah Ryan - April 10, 2019

Written more than 100 years ago, Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness continues to be a hugely influential, and deeply controversial, work of literature. But where Conrad's book paints a picture of colonialist Africa that roots it firmly in its time, this startling new adaptation catapults it h...

BWW Review: BED PEACE: THE BATTLE OF YOHN & JOKO, Cockpit Theatre
by Gary Naylor - April 06, 2019

Recreating the political tensions that swirled around John and Yoko's Bed-In protest of 50 years ago, this play with music strives for a radical approach to its material, but forgets some theatre basics....

BWW Review: NOUGHTS & CROSSES, York Theatre Royal
by Sarah Ryan - April 04, 2019

Malorie Blackman's young adult novel Noughts & Crosses was ground breaking when it was first published in 2001, and now Pilot Theatre have brought it to the stage to capture a new generation....

BWW Review: THE WHITE CROW
by Gary Naylor - March 26, 2019

The White Crow focuses on Rudolf Nureyev's life from birth until his sensational defection at the age of 23....

BWW Review: WOLFIE, Theatre503
by Gary Naylor - March 26, 2019

Wolfie glows with the energy and hope of youth, even as it paints a grim picture of a world stacked against it by the alienating forces of a society retreating from its obligations to its children....

BWW Review: STANDING AT THE SKY'S EDGE, Crucible, Sheffield
by Ruth Deller - March 21, 2019

Sheffield's Richard Hawley-based musical is a spectacular piece of theatre that is full of humour and love - without dodging difficult social issues....

BWW Review: OTHELLO, Union Theatre
by Gary Naylor - March 21, 2019

Othello remains as relevant today as ever it were, Phil Willmott's adaptation setting it in the Raj of 1919, but it's as much in the White House and Palace of Westminster of 2019....

BWW Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - March 20, 2019

A bold and often beautifully staged production that makes women men and men women to throw light on the often brutal text. What emerges is plenty of new insight, but the nagging doubt persists that the play just isn't very good....

BWW Review: PRINCESS AND THE HUSTLER, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
by Jo Fisher - March 20, 2019

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BWW Review: STRIKE UP THE BAND, Upstairs at the Gatehouse
by Gary Naylor - March 13, 2019

The Gershwins' sublime music and lyrics rescue a show hamstrung by a confused and clumsy book and some very familiar characters....

BWW Review: MATTHEW BOURNE'S SWAN LAKE, Bristol Hippodrome
by Kerrie Nicholson - March 13, 2019

When Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake received its world premiere in 1995, it ripped up the rulebook in terms of traditional dance and storytelling. It won over 30 awards internationally, including three Tonys and an Olivier Award, and paved the way for new generations of young male dancers. Returning i...

BWW Review: THE PROJECT, White Bear Theatre
by Gary Naylor - March 08, 2019

The Project is set in an in-between space in history, not freedom, but not yet the death camps, but its fails to explore the possibilities that environment suggests, lost in too many words and too little credibility....

BWW Review: A LESSON FROM ALOES, Finborough Theatre
by Gary Naylor - March 07, 2019

Seen for the first time in 35 years, Athol Fugard's play loses none of its relevance as two men and one woman fall apart under the strain of living under the Apartheid regime....

BWW Review: HANG, Crucible Studio, Sheffield
by Ruth Deller - March 01, 2019

Sheffield Theatres bring debbie tucker green's play to the city in this vibrant revival....

BWW Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Tobacco Factory Theatres
by Tim Wright - March 01, 2019

It's fitting that the once industrial space of the Tobacco Factory is now the dystopian setting for the latest outing of the Factory Company - a gender-bending A Midsummer Night's Dream....

BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS, Bristol Hippodrome
by Tim Wright - February 27, 2019

There's something undeniably irrepressible about Kinky Boots - it's a fully sequined, unabashed romp through a true (ish) story of a shoe factory threatened with closure until a radical idea to start producing oh so fabulous boots for drag queens appears....

BWW Review: CHEATING DEATH, Cockpit Theatre
by Gary Naylor - February 27, 2019

Cheating Death fails to solve the considerable problems of writing and staging farce in an ambitious show that falls well short of expectations....

BWW Review: AS A MAN GROWS YOUNGER, Brockley Jack Studio Theatre
by Gary Naylor - February 22, 2019

David Bromley brings Italo Svevo back to life in Howard Colyer's monologue, As A Man Grows Younger, and finds plenty of parallels with the Europe of today....

BWW Review: EDEN, Hampstead Theatre
by Gary Naylor - February 21, 2019

There's much to admire in Eden, a play that pits town against country, development against conservation, corruption against integrity, love against careers, the big guy against the little guy....

BWW Review: DIGGING DEEP, VAULT Festival
by Cindy Marcolina - February 21, 2019

Presented by Just Add Milk as part of Let's Talk @ VAULT Festival - a collaboration with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust to start a conversation about death and grief - Digging Deep sees 22-year-old Mossy (Kyle Rowe) fundraising his own funeral....

BWW Review: PRINCESS & THE HUSTLER, Bristol Old Vic
by Leah Tozer - February 23, 2019

Beauty pageants and bus boycotts seldom belong on the same page, but in Chinonyerem Odimba's joyously playful and beautifully played Princess & the Hustler, they're brought together by Princess James, a flamboyant young girl who is black, beautiful, and brilliantly funny....

BWW Review: CAN-CAN!, Union Theatre
by Gary Naylor - February 15, 2019

Phil Willmott tries to rescue two shows with the plot of a third, but his show also never quite coheres, for all the energy expended by the hard-working cast....

BWW Review: CARMEN, King's Head Theatre
by Gary Naylor - February 14, 2019

The King's Head pulls off another re-imagining of a classic opera that packs plenty of punch and is a joy for newbies and old hands alike....

BWW Review: RUTHERFORD AND SON, Crucible, Sheffield
by Ruth Deller - February 13, 2019

Sheffield Theatres' revival of Githa Sowerby's play skillfully balances drama and humour....

BWW Review: BLUE DOOR, Theatre Royal Bath
by Leah Tozer - February 20, 2019

From mathematics professor Lewis's insomnia and amnesia plagued night emerges a poetic, fragmented and poignant reflection on race, forgetfulness, and legacy enlightened by two fine performances in a thoughtfully directed production from Eleanor Rhode as part of the Ustinov Studio's UK premieres fro...