These Theatre Thoughts

  Date: 25nd October 2023  Seat: Unallocated Rating: 2 Stars It’s always hard to reinvent a classic story that people know well, and although it can work beautifully when it’s done right, when it’s done wrong, it leaves an audience with more questions than answers, the main one being “why?”  Rope , a modern adaptation of the original 1929 Patrick Hamilton play and the 1948 Hitchcock film , unfortunately, falls into the second category. In this production, it’s been brought right up to date, but the many mentions of Uber and Tinder/Grindr and the use of smartphones does nothing to improve the story or make it more interesting, and this modernisation, along with some added swearing and the fact that the original gay undertones are no longer hidden, seem to be gimmicks more than anything that really does much.  The story is that of Brandon Wyndham and Gregg Charles, a couple living in Brandon’s expensive London flat, left to him by a recently deceased uncle. The pair d...

  Tickets: Paid for Date: 22nd October 2023  Seat: E1 Rating: 4 Stars Frank and Percy , a new play by Ben Weatherill and directed by Sean Mathias, is a beautiful story of friendship and love and how one can become the other (and vice versa). It’s sweet and playful, but that’s not to say there aren’t some truly heart-breaking moments in there as well. It’s everything life is distilled down into a two-hour two-hander, and it’s just what’s needed to lift the spirits and bring a smile to your face.  Frank and Percy, two older gentlemen, meet while walking their dogs (Frank has Toffee and Percy has Bruno – neither dog is ever technically seen, but Weatherill’s writing and the convincing performances by Ian McKellen as Percy and Roger Allam as Frank are enough for the audience to see them nonetheless). That’s the setup, and that’s the beauty of  Frank and Percy ; it’s so simple, but there’s still a lot it has to say.  Frank is a recent widower and retired history teac...

  Date: 19th October 2023  Seat: Unallocated Rating: 3 Stars It’s spooky season, so of course, it’s time to watch scary theatre productions, complete with a true air of menace and a few jumps along the way. That’s something The Nag’s Head , a Make It Beautiful Theatre Company production, has managed to pull off, but it’s combined with a lot of laugh out loud humour which tones it all down and takes away that potentially nasty edge. This is a scary play for people who don’t generally like scary plays.   Three siblings, Jack (Felix Grainger), Sarah (Cara Steele), and Connor (Gabriel Fogarty-Graveson) come together after their father dies after living completely separate lives for what seems to be a number of years (Connor doesn’t even know Jack’s girlfriend’s name, and they’ve been going out for 15 years). They have to take care of things, which includes his pub - The Nag’s Head – they grew up in and which their father pretty much ran into the ground.  Discovering tha...

My review of   Sunset Boulevard  at The Savoy Theatre, on behalf of West End Best Friend:  “With one look, I can break your heart…” So sings Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s stripped-back yet beautiful reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, a gothic, cautionary tale of Hollywood glitz and glamour and what happens when the cameras stop turning and the fans stop caring. And she can. And she does. Oh, how she does. She’s ready for her close-up, and she delivers.  Read more at:  https://www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-sunset-boulevard-savoy-theatre    

  Photo credit: Charles Flint Tickets: Gifted Date: 2nd October 2023  Seat: Unallocated  Rating: 4 Stars In Lazarus Theatre Company’s bold and innovative adaptation of The Changeling , a striking vision meets some of the most visceral storytelling you’re likely to see, takes the audience with the characters on a real journey – and it’s a dark one (perhaps because you’ll have your eyes closed in fear or shock or disgust for at least some of it).  The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton, in collaboration with William Rowley. Usually set in 17th-century Spain, the play revolves around the dark and complex themes of love, betrayal, and madness. The central character, Beatrice-Joanna, is engaged to one man but falls passionately in love with another, Alsemero, and to rid herself of her unwanted fiancé, she conspires with her servant, De Flores, to have him killed, as you do. However, this plot sets off a series of tragic events as De Flores becom...