Writer: Enid Blyton Music: Ian Ross (and others) Lyrics/Book Adaptor/Director: Emma Rice (and others) Director: Emma Rice Emma Rice, the director of this musical, first brought Malory Towers to the stage in July 2019 when it was performed at the Passenger Shed in Bristol, previously a terminus for the Great Western Railway at Bristol Temple Meads. The show was then due to tour in 2020 and was in technical rehearsals when the pandemic strikes. However, this was never going to keep a good show down, and with the love that pours through all of Emma Rice’s work, audiences always know…
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.
Writer: Dylan Thomas Director: Kate Wasserberg To begin at the beginning… As Under Milk Wood begins, the small Welsh village of Llareggub awakens slowly and ethereally before the audience. The characters emerge one by one with distinct voices – fitting for a play that begins its life as a piece written for radio. It is clear right from the start that Dylan Thomas is a dreamer – his poetic language is accentuated using a multitude of visual and audio techniques. The performance integrates BSL, offering a new interpretation of the language, as well as integrated captions which are beautifully woven…
Writer: Rick Elice & Roger Rees Director: Ryan McBryde So, what happens when you are snow-bound at the home of a famous theatre director in Stratford Upon Avon, with nowhere to go and nothing to do? For Rick Elice & Roger Rees , the answer was simple- write a play around one of your favourite genres. the thriller. Working backwards from the final twist, the first draft of Double Double was completed by the time the sun shone once again over the town. Six drafts later, the play was enjoying success in the West End, with the late, great Jane…
Music/Lyrics: Richard Wagner Director: Jack Furness Conductor: Tomáš Hanus What a joy. Director Jack Furness brings a new production of The Flying Dutchman to Plymouth with style, passion and simplicity. Opening the opera, a woman in labour is alone on a sparse stage. Set against Wagner’s powerful overture, led by conductor Tomáš Hanus, a dichotomy between woman and man is immediately established and the music begins to represent the other worldly man who will invade Senta’s dreams and take her from this life. The opening scene spells the rest of the opera, themes of toil, solitude, joy and community are…
Writers: John Nicholson and Le Navet Bete Director: John Nicholson Since 2008, Nick Bunt, Al Dunn & Matt Freeman, collectively known as Le Navet Bete, have been creating high-energy physical theatre, expertly blending madcap antics and larger-than-life comedy characters They’ve sailed the seven seas as swashbuckling pirates in Treasure Island and now burst back onto the stage with Oh Zeus!, a new show that might just be their biggest adventure yet. Billed as a ‘mythical farce,’ the show centres around the impending wedding of hotel manager Gregg (Bunt) and Hebe (Freeman), who also happens to be the daughter of Greek…
Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Nöel Jones It may be written for an audience of 3,000 (the capacity of the Globe Theatre while The Bard was alive), but the emotional ending of Shakespeare’s Othello is even more powerful in Discarded Nut Theatre Co.’s Nutshell studio. The show’s climax, with Ashley Merjri in the title role and Lottie Burns as his wife, comes at the end of a production which, although good, feels long at almost three hours. Felix Price and Ben Lynn, as Roderigo and Iago, open the show by running up the same stairs that the audience uses to enter…
Writer/Director : Ed Viney Stolen Ram, is the latest offering from the same creative team who brought us Pot licker in 2025. Writer and director Ed Viney is keen to emphasise that the play can be enjoyed as a stand-alone piece, with no need to have seen the earlier production. Produced by Mark Tattersall for Dorchester Arts in association with Lighthouse Poole, Stolen Ram centres on three teachers. Zara (Monika Brodowska) who has recently been promoted to senior management and is struggling with both the added responsibilities and the shift in attitude from her colleagues. Kris (Charlie Coldfield) is a…
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…