REVIEW: Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys (Smoke Labours Productions)

February 3, 2014

The journey, not the destination [by James Wenley] It struck me while watching Sam Brooks’ Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys how many moments of great (and small) personal drama burns out while stuck in an automobile. While Film loves to show wheels in motion, cars can be problematic to represent and rather static in action in a stage drama. […]

REVIEW: Hamlet (Galatea Theatre)

October 5, 2013

The Red Tragedy [by Matt Baker] The problem with Hamlet as a play is that it treats character over plot. The success of Galatea Theatre’s production, therefore, is the casting of Calum Gittins as the titular Dane. Asides from his remarkable technique, Gittins’ performance is packed with pathos, giving full colour to the extreme range of Hamlet’s capricious nature. This […]

REVIEW: King Lear (Summer Shakespeare)

March 4, 2013

Game of Thrones [by James Wenley] When I consider King Lear I think of the high grand tragedy, the demands of the title role and the master actors who have played him, and I conjure the harrowing image of the old man against the storm on the heath. It was pleasing to be reminded that the play begins (where it […]

REVIEW: Eigengrau (potent pause) productions

November 14, 2012

More than black and white [by Matt Baker] Meet Cassie. She’s just moved in with Rose, who’s just had a one-night stand with Mark, who’s fed up of living with Tim, who secretly loves Rose, who’s just using Tim to get to Mark (who she loves), who’s just become very interested in Cassie. While the magnitude of that sentence is […]

REVIEW: Bombs Away! – A Musical (Comedy Festival)

May 16, 2012

Bombs Away!: Who you [not] gonna call? [by Sharu Delilkan] There is no secret that ‘there will be bombs’ in the brand new comedy-musical Bombs Away!. The hilarious script written by Nic Sampson, Ryan Richards and Barnaby Fredric, complemented by a full-length musical score from Joseph Moore, can only be described as absurd, uplifting, full of life and the height […]

REVIEW: The Pitmen Painters – (potent pause) Productions

November 19, 2011

Billy Elliot meets RED [by James Wenley] With Billy Elliot, everyone remembers the feel good inspirational story of the boy who became a ballet star. In revisiting the film recently, I was struck by the gritty social background – of Thatcher’s England and the miners sacrificing everything with lengthy strike action. For Billy, dancing was a way of escaping a […]

PREVIEW: The Pitmen Painters – (potent pause) Productions

November 8, 2011

A Tale of Two Gittins [by Sharu Delilkan] Having worked on the international film circuit for the past few years, including The King’s Speech and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Calum Gittins jumped at the chance to work in theatre. And when his dad Paul told him he was directing The Pitmen Painters it was a no […]