Writer: Jules Verne Adaptor: Ben Kernow Around the World in 80 Days is a new co-production by Into Bodmin and Ha Hum Ah theatre currently taking up residence in a quiet corner of Cardinham Woods. Ha Hum Ah is an award-winning theatre and film production company based in Cornwall. The strength of the cast hits immediately in Ben Kernow’s new adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, we are greeted by two “gentlemen” who seem to have come straight from The Fast Show and onto our woodland stage. Over-the-top, so cringe-worthy it makes you shudder but with just the…
Author: The Reviews Hub - South West
The Reviews Hub - South West
The Southwest team is under the editorship of John McRoberts. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Adaptor for stage: Charles K. Freeman Director: Nikolai Foster Co-Director/Choreographer: Nick Winston Inspired by the 1953 Doris Day movie of the same name, Calamity Jane premiered as a stage musical back in 1961. Afficionados – of whom there are many – may well have seen both, as did your reviewer. Is this present-day adaptation up to scratch a decade from its conception? And does it cut the mustard with first-timers among the audience? A packed audience on the first night in Cardiff gave it a standing ovation (although I query whether or not the before curtain up Prologue delivered by…
Book: Julian Fellowes Original Music and Lyrics: Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman New Songs and Additional Music and Lyrics: George Stiles & Anthony Drewe Director: Richard Eyre It has been well documented that P.L. Travers, author of the original Mary Poppins stories was no huge fan of the Disney movie of her beloved character, so what would she have thought of a live action mega musical? Once describing the book as “the story of her life”, it was inspired by memories from her Australian childhood. Taking some of the extra, slightly darker leads from her novels that were…
Writer & Director: Paul Hendy Reviewer: Lela Tredwell Three outstanding performances dazzle at the heart of this positive play about comedy legends. Expect a night of nostalgic comedy and an exploration into what makes comedy men tick. In the Last Laugh, Tommy Cooper (Damian Williams), Bob Monkhouse (Simon Cartwright) and Eric Morecambe (Bob Golding) take to the stage for the performance of their lives. The jokes stack up thick and fast and there’s still time for more pensive moments to reflect on the comedy game. Lee Newby’s set provides a fittingly shabby backstage dressing room for the three comedians to…
Book: David West Read Music and Lyrics: Max Martin and Friends Director: Luke Sheppard Multi Olivier award-winning musical & Juilet has the audience enthralled from the moment it begins at the Theatre Royal Plymouth. Ensemble cast members draw in the audience with playful, improvised, interactions. The hit musical features some of the most popular songs from the last few decades, many created by genius songwriter/producer Max Martin. These well-known tunes are given new life through the plot of & Juliet, written by David West Read, and the audience is literally on its feet, dancing along, by the end of the…
Music: Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics: Edward Kleban Book: James Kirkwood Jnr & Nicholas Dante Director: Nikolai Foster The Broadway musical A Chorus Line was written back in 1975 and went on to become, in 1983, the longest-running musical in the history of Broadway. The London production premiered soon after the Broadway opening and was an immediate success. This brand-new production opened in London earlier this year and is now touring. This week it is in Cardiff and opened on Monday night before a packed audience. A few thought-provoking changes have been made in keeping with the mores of today but the…
Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Sean Linnen From the moment it starts, Alan Bennett’s The History Boys leaves the audience at Theatre Royal Plymouth in no doubt that they are in for an evening of excellent entertainment. Leading with strong acapella vocals and dynamic set movement, this touring production from Theatre Royal Bath Productions begins with pace, energy, and no small amount of talent. Setting out its stall as being firmly based in the 1980s through a superb soundtrack and costume design, The History Boys delivers a humorous yet powerfully realistic performance of the lives of teenage boys on the cusp…
Writer: Azuka Oforka Director: Patricia Logue Azuka Oforka’s searing new play is not an easy watch, because The Women of Llanrumney has something to say… More than say, actually; shout: about the power structures of colonialism, the conflicting and contrasting experience of women living within those structures, the relentless brutalisation of black bodies throughout the slave trade, and, in a twist that feels most apt for The Sherman Theatre, the dark and lesser-known part Wales had to play in it all. With that backdrop, you’d be forgiven for thinking the two-and-a-bit-hour-long performance would be wall-to-wall discomfort; which it sort of…