UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 33

BWW Review: FOOTLOOSE, New Alexandra Theatre, 4 July 2016
by Emma Cann - July 06, 2016

In the mid-west American town of Bomont, a small tight knit community are suspicious of any new-comer, and especially streetwise Chicago teenager Ren McCormack. Ren has moved from Chicago with his mother Ethel after the sudden departure of his dad. Eager to move on from his recent loss and keen to s...

BWW Review: MAMMA MIA, Birmingham Hippodrome, 30 June 2016
by Emma Cann - July 03, 2016

Every year, the Birmingham Hippodrome bring a blockbuster West End musical to the UK's second city; a brilliant tradition eclipsed only in size and scale by their annual pantomime. Their 2016 offering is Mamma Mia, bringing the azure blue skies of Greece to the typically grey British summer in Birmi...

BWW Review: SONGS UNSEEN, Oran Mor, July 1 2016
by Natalie O'Donoghue - July 02, 2016

Songs Unseen is a performance that aims to create opportunities for Scottish and Scottish-based composers to have their work seen and ideas developed....

BWW Review: CAPTURED, Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham, June 30 2016
by Jenny Ell - July 01, 2016

Prior to their run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, White Slate Theatre are currently previewing their new show Captured. A two-hander, the writing by Jenna May Hobbs focuses on Isaac and Sophie - estranged five years ago but drawn back to one another in the present. Suzanna Ward direct...

BWW Review: THE TEMPEST, Royal and Derngate, June 30
by Verity Wilde - July 01, 2016

A National Youth Theatre ensemble shines in a specially adapted TEMPEST at Royal and Derngate, Northampton....

BWW Review: AS YOU LIKE IT, The Savill Garden Open Air Theatre, June 24 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 25, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a unique and completely delightful production of one of Shakespeare's sillier comedies in an environment that could have been made for it....

BWW Review: THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF, Drayton Arms Theatre, June 23 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 24, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a fine comedy by Moliere brought to the stage in English and French by a company dedicated to resurrecting rarely performed Francophone plays....

BWW Review: VASSA ZHELEZNOVA, Southwark Playhouse, June 17 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 18, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a courageous and demanding production of Maxim Gorky's play about a family and society breaking apart as authority oversteps itself....

BWW Review: HAPPY TO HELP, Park Theatre, March 16 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 17, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a new comedy that takes aim at the power of supermarket multinational companies and skewers them like a £3.99 kebab from the delicatessen counter....

BWW Review: GERTRUDE - THE CRY, Theatre N16, June 14 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 15, 2016

Gary Naylor sees an close-up, no holds barred production of Howard Barker's sexy, sweary, sinful take on Hamlet and tries not to think of Sid James's laugh....

BWW Review: CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA & PAGLIACCI, Birmingham Hippodrome, June 2016
by Emma Cann - June 10, 2016

To celebrate their 70th anniversary, Welsh National Opera returns to the Birmingham Hippodrome to perform Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci; the same operas the company performed for their debut performance. A novice opera-goer, I was intrigued to experience the opulence and spectacle of the WNO...

BWW Review: EIGENGRAU, King's Head Theatre, June 5 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 06, 2016

Gary Naylor sees an interesting, if ultimately somewhat unsatisfactory, slice of life set amongst the twenty-somethings of London....

BWW Review: THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE, Union Theatre, June 4 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 05, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a very fine production of one of the most popular plays of the last twenty years, crowned by a superb central performance....

BWW Review: KING LEAR, Birmingham Rep, May 2016
by Emma Cann - June 04, 2016

The Birmingham Rep present another exciting Shakespearean production to celebrate 400 years since the great writers' death; this time it was King Lear. Directed by Michael Buffong, this production has the audience gripped from the start....

BWW Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Southwark Playhouse, June 3 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 09, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a high octane, fourth wall smashing, hugely enjoyable production of Shakespeare's much loved comedy...

BWW Review: NORMA JEANE: THE MUSICAL, Lost Theatre, June 2 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 03, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a musical that starts with a good idea and fades due to a script that lacks the pace and humour to drive the plot forwards....

BWW Review: THE QUIET HOUSE, Birmingham Rep Theatre, June 1 2016
by Jenny Ell - June 02, 2016

As part of Fertility Fest, Gareth Farr's new play The Quiet House has its world premiere at Birmingham Rep this week. This co-production - also between Echo Presents and Park Theatre - is the exploration of a happily married couple in their mid-thirties who are desperate to have a child. After years...

BWW Review: SHADOWLANDS, Birmingham Rep, May 31 2016
by Emma Cann - June 01, 2016

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre is transported back to Oxford in the 1950s for Birdsong Productions' new adaptation of Shadowlands. Written by William Nicholson, Shadowlands is based on the unlikely romance between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham, and follows their first meeting, developing relationship...

BWW Review: SHAKESPEARE UNTOLD, Wilton's, June 1 2016
by Gary Naylor - June 02, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a couple of fine introductions to Shakespeare plays aimed at kids, but with more than enough for adults to enjoy no matter how familiar they may be with the sources....

BWW Reviews: SOUL, Royal and Derngate, May 27
by Verity Wilde - May 29, 2016

SOUL is billed as the untold story of Marvin Gaye - but it's really a dysfunctional family drama, with one participant who happens to be famous....

BWW Review: FLOWERS FOR MRS HARRIS, Crucible, Sheffield, May 23 2016
by Ruth Deller - May 26, 2016

Clare Burt shines as an ordinary woman with a big dream in Daniel Evans' goodbye to Sheffield Theatres....

BWW Review: JACKIE THE MUSICAL, New Alexandra Birmingham, May 2016
by Emma Cann - May 25, 2016

We took a trip back to Planet Seventies at the New Alexandra Theatre as Jackie the Musical swept into town. Based on the book by Mike James, Jackie the Musical follows a forty-something divorcee as she stumbles across her old collection of Jackie magazines and once more seeks their advice about fash...

BWW Review: A SUBJECT OF SCANDAL AND CONCERN, Finborough Theatre, May 23 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 25, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a fine revival of a play that was of its time in the buttoned up, pre-Beatles 1960s, but has much to say to audiences in 2016....

BWW Review: MADE UP, Birmingham Rep Theatre, May 17 2016
by Jenny Ell - May 18, 2016

Birmingham-based company Stan's Cafe have been creating new theatre for 25 years. After successes such as The Just Price of Flowers and The Cardinals, they return to the Rep with their brand new and original production - Made Up. In collaboration with the theatre, Made Up is a story told through a s...

BWW Review: THE JAMES PLAYS, The Lyceum, Sheffield, May 7-8 2016
by Ruth Deller - May 17, 2016

The touring production of Rona Munro's Scottish historical trilogy is an epic achievement....