By Andrew Bewley Tuesday, November 22 2016, 12:16
Gripping for its entirety, lingering in your thoughts for days after and doing a fine job of lulling the audience into thinking it is something that a plot twist brilliantly reveals it is not. Great show.
There’s a cracking twist in the Royal Court’s SEWING GROUP by E.V. Crow and it's important to not go anywhere near revealing it, but what can be said is that Crow shines an uncomfortably bright light upon the impact the digital age has had upon the development of humans.
By Phil Willmott Tuesday, November 22 2016, 11:47
They say the simple pleasures in life are the sweetest and it's certainly true of this revival of a lovely, heartwarming and unpretentious musical from a time when writers and composers simply aspired to make an audience smile and to send them home humming a song from the show.
The very slight plot is based on a novel by H.G Wells in which a shop boy, Arthur Kipps, inherits a fortune, and as a result chooses to marry outside his class before fate intervenes and all works out more satisfactorily. The message that money doesn't bring contentment is always popular for audiences living through tough times.
By Phil Willmott Friday, November 18 2016, 20:28
Theatre is transitory. It's there and then it's gone.
Although there have been landmark productions which are widely regarded as having redefined the art form we usually have to take the word of those who were there.
However if you head to the Playhouse Theatre at the moment you can discover one of the most influential productions of the last 50 years, in the latest of many revivals, which demonstrates how striking it still is.
By Phil Willmott Thursday, November 17 2016, 10:07
It's been a tough few decades for Andrew Lloyd Webber since the 1980s when announcement of a new show by him would prompt a ticket buying frenzy keeping hits like EVITA, CATS and PHANTOM in the West End for years. Of the big mega hits only PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is still running.
I say "only" but it's an extraordinary achievement to have created something that's been so loved by so many people for so long in London and on Broadway. In recent years however the composer's new pieces have failed to take root and grow into long running hits.
By Jack Watson Wednesday, November 16 2016, 10:06
Peter Quilter’s enthusiastically received new play SAVING JASON certainly gave me a lot to think about.
The play is centred around a family who can no longer tolerate their son Jason's hedonistic lifestyle of raves and ecstasy. The course of action they believe to be the most prudent is to stage a fake funeral for Jason and show him his potentially bleak future if he doesn’t cease his self-destructive ways. In attendance are his parents, his aunt and uncle and a friendly older woman who lives down the road.
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