Book: Mark Bramble Music: CY Coleman Lyrics: Michael Stewart Director: Jonathan O’Boyle We begin with the recognisable fanfare of the classic circus soundtrack ringing out, preparing us fully for what we are about to experience: an evening at the circus, perhaps even the greatest circus of all time. The curtain rises, and we are inside the ring, with Barnum’s name up in lights and the familiar surrounding red and white stripes of the tent. The set is compact yet clever, designed by Lee Newby, who has incorporated subtle additions that enhance the performance, such as a ladder that enables acrobats…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Central
The Reviews Hub - Central
The Central team is under the editorship of Selwyn Knight. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Tamara Harvey Henry V is Shakespeare’s most contested history play — part war epic, part political examination, part comedy — and getting the balance right has defeated many a production. Tamara Harvey’s RSC staging, strangely the first time a female director has taken on the play in the company’s history, finds an answer by committing unapologetically to accessibility and humour, without sacrificing the play’s darker undercurrents. The result is slick, fast-paced and frequently very funny, while still finding room for something more unsettling by the final scene. The production announces its intentions early. Rather than opening…
Writer: The Wardrobe Ensemble Director: Paul Simpson It’s 1997. Tony Blair’s government has swept to power with a landslide, stating his priorities as ‘education, education, education’. And we are in a school … For the annual showcase of the Playhouse’s outreach programme for 17 – 25 year olds, Paul Simpson has taken up the Bristol-based Wardrobe Ensemble’s 2017 piece, which explores this situation – though there is little in it that seems particularly time-specific. The anguish and friction of school life would appear to be an eternal truth. Choosing to set the production on the main stage behind the curtain,…
Writer: H G Wells Adaptors and Directors: Pete Brooks and Andrew Quick It’s 1968, a pretty momentous year in history. The war in Vietnam has reached a turning point with the infamous My Lai massacre. Over here, Enoch Powell, a charismatic speaker, has found himself de facto leader of a populous movement following his incendiary Rivers of Blood speech in which he sowed the seeds of xenophobia, which led to protests involving the far-right. Will Travers has found himself swept away by Powell’s hate-filled oratory and is now a card-carrying member of the National Front. And, despite the protests of…
Book, Music and Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts Director: Robert Hastie Operation Mincemeat began life as a scratch performance in a studio at The Lowry, Salford, in 2017. A co-production with the New Diorama Theatre followed, and from that 77-seat fringe beginning the show has travelled to the West End, to Broadway — collecting an Olivier Award for Best New Musical, three Tony nominations for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book along the way — and has now embarked on an international tour. No mean feat for a debut musical. Currently running simultaneously in London…
Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Rupert Goold Revival Director: Sophie Drake This RSC touring production of Hamlet premiered in Stratford last Spring and the revival Director, Sophie Drake has made ingenious adaptations to Rupert Goold’s ambitious original show to enable it to tour. The King of Denmark, Old Hamlet, has died and been succeeded by his brother, Claudius, who has since married the widowed Queen within weeks of Old Hamlet’s death. When his ghost appears to Prince Hamlet, his son, and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius, the young Prince plots revenge. To cover his intentions, he feigns madness……
Writer and Director: Brian Foster Brian Foster’s Myra’s Story began life as Maire: A Woman of Derry in 2002, drawn from street people Foster knew in his home city. Rewritten and renamed in 2009, it has since become something of a theatrical phenomenon — four Edinburgh Fringe runs, a West End transfer, and a touring production that has now reached over 150,000 theatregoers across Ireland, the UK and North America. Its return to Birmingham Rep, this time stepping up from The Door to the main House stage, feels like a natural progression for a show that has quietly grown into…
Book: Heather Hach Music and Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin Director: Nikolai Foster The 2026 touring production of Legally Blonde: The Musical brings the beloved story to the stage with colour, energy, and plenty of pink sparkle. Based on the hit film Legally Blonde, famously starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, the musical retells the same story of a determined sorority president who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School—only to discover her own strength, intelligence, and self-worth along the way. This 2026 tour embraces that familiar narrative while leaning fully into the musical’s upbeat score and theatrical spectacle.…