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West End Theatre News and Reviews

Half a Sixpence
22 Nov
Reviews
Phil Willmott

Review: HALF A SIXPENCE at the Noel Coward Theatre

Half a Sixpence 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.

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An Inspector Calls
18 Nov
News
Phil Willmott

An undisputed theatrical masterpiece returns to the West End

An Inspector Calls 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.

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School of Rock
17 Nov
Reviews
Phil Willmott

Review: SCHOOL OF ROCK at the New London Theatre

School of Rock 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.

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Saving Jason
16 Nov
Reviews
Jack Watson

Review: SAVING JASON at the Park Theatre

Saving Jason 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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Strindberg’s Women
14 Nov
Reviews
Nastazja Domaradzka

Review: STRINDBERG’S WOMEN at Jermyn Street Theatre

Strindberg’s Women THE STRONGER and STORM are two short pieces written by one of the fathers of modern drama August Strindberg. THE STRONGER was dedicated to his first wife Siri von Essen, whilst STORM was written for his third Harriet Bosse. Despite his troubled love life Strindberg possessed a gift for writing multi-layered female characters but unfortunately the production of STRINDBERG’S WOMEN directed by Jacob Murray at Jermyn Street Theatre doesn’t do any justice to his writing.

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