All Reviews

Reviewer: Clare Howdon Following on from a successful storming of the USA, performer Sam Wills is returning to his Edinburgh Festival Fringe roots with a brand new and eagerly awaited show. Starting off at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010 and bagging the prestigious Foster’s comedy award nomination for Best Newcomer, The Boy with Tape on his Face has gone from ...

Reviewer: Clare Howdon Baby Wants Candy is fast becoming a staple part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe experience. Following total sell-out shows in 2015, 2016 and 2017, one of most celebrated improv shows in the world is back and judging from the audience reaction this year, is as strong as ever. It is nigh-on impossible not to be completely charmed ...

Director: Roberta Zuric Reviewer: Clare Howdon Set in 1920’s London, Incognito’s Tobacco Road has more than a fleeting resemblance to the murky world of the BBC’s Peaky Blinders, complete with its period costumes and Nick Cave, Caravan Palace, and Fratelli’s soundtrack. Directed with a tangible confidence by Roberta Zuric, Tobacco Road centres around the emergence of a local girl gang, ...

Writer: Frances Hodgson Burnett Adapted Book and lyrics: Carl Miller Music and lyrics: Marc Folan Additional lyrics: Adey Grummet Director: Emily Gray Reviewer: David Guest There is something of a welcome and exciting renaissance in the world of youth theatre, with young people not only being given a chance to perform but also to appear in productions at well-regarded London ...

Music: AnneMarie Lewis Thomas Script and Lyrics: Phil Willmott Director: Brendan Matthew Reviewer: Karl O'Doherty There has clearly been a huge amount of work put into this production - a 17 strong cast, musicians, original writing and more. The ambition to have a large scale, vibrant and punchy musical is evident. However, the show passes a lot of that work ...

Writer:  Jordan Seavey Director:  Josh Seymour Reviewer:  Richard Maguire This tidy, but talky, examination of gay life in America is the latest addition to plays about LGBTQ+ people being shown in London this summer. It’s a ripe period with the Young Vic’s The Inheritance and Fun Home, the White Bear’s A Little Hero and the King’s Head Theatre’s whole season of queer ...

Music: Mark-Anthony Turnage Director: Jonathan Moore Reviewer: Maryam Philpott In recent years, opera companies have worked hard to shake off their elitist image. Cheaper ticket prices, more work performed in the English language and initiatives such as opera up-close, taking shows to more intimate venues. Mark-Anthony Turnage and Jonathan Moore know that story and setting are half the battle, and ...

Writer:  Valeriy Pecheykin Director:  Charlotte Evans Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Many of us can remember Thatcher’s Clause 28 of 1988, which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality by local boroughs, and the teaching in schools of homosexuality as a ‘pretended’ family relationship. In 2013 Russia introduced its own version where homosexuality cannot be discussed in front of children. A Little Hero, a Russian ...