Writer: Charlie Josephine Directors: Charlie Josephine and Sean Holmes Some pieces of theatre defy description or easy categorisation. Some pieces defy convention. Sometimes this is not the initial intention of the creators. But in the case of Cowbois, defying convention and rejecting norms is absolutely at the heart of the project. That defiance is both political and beautiful. Written by Charlie Josephine (who also co-directs with Sean Holmes), it is an unashamedly Queer take on the Western. The Swan Theatre is transformed effortlessly by designer Grace Smart into a tavern in an isolated town in Middle America where all the…
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: Anita Sullivan Director: Angharad Jones What decisions do people make that truly influence the world in which we live? Who makes the most important decisions? Why are those decisions made? Model Village is the story of the second largest model village (not counting Legoland) in the UK. It depicts the idyllic life of an English village safely nestled in the countryside in 1936. However, visitors to the Model Village are dwindling. Hoping to bring in new audiences, the manager commissions an edgy street artist to create a new building for the town. Luckily, his fame and anarchic approach bring…
Writer: Torben Betts Director: Philip Franks It’s New Year’s Eve, and once-famous but troubled singer Danny Sierra is involved in a car accident on a lonely country road, miles from anywhere. He thinks he’s fortunate, a lady has picked him and his extended family up and driven them to a holiday cottage on her farm where weather conditions force them to spend the night – but it’s a holiday cottage with some very dodgy wiring, and when the lights go out some strange and inexplicable events start to occur. Murder in the Dark is a ghost story full of twists,…
Writer: Ben Jonson Director: Anna Tolputt Revivals of any of Ben Jonson’s plays are a rare treat for theatregoers these days, so Creation Theatre are to be thanked for giving local audiences the chance to see The Alchemist for the first time in nearly a a decade. One of the hallmarks of the company is its frequent use of found spaces for its productions. This is very much true on this occasion where the performances are being staged in the common room of a university building. The very modern aesthetic of the space has clearly influenced the decision to…
Writer: Tim Firth Director: Daniele Sanderson It’s November, and managers from Pennine Mineral Water are on an outward-bound team-building weekend. Team C has elected Sheila to lead them – and she believes her superior skills at solving cryptic crosswords will lead them to success. Unfortunately, all she’s managed to lead them to is a deserted island in the Lake District, and a wrecked boat that makes it impossible to get back to shore. As night falls, tempers get frayed, previously unspoken truths are told, and questions are asked. Is it possible to attract attention with a plastic plate and a…
Book: Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner Music: Alan Menken Lyrics: Glenn Slater Director: Bill Buckhurst Based on the 1992 film of the same name, Sister Act is a high-octane fun night out. This revival has had a slightly chequered career, with development interrupted by the closure of theatres during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has roared back for this tour that extends well into next year. It’s Christmas Eve, 1977. The Convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Sorrow is falling into disrepair and being circled by property developers. With a tiny congregation at the midnight mass, it seems the conservative…
Writers: Larry Stephens and Maurice Wiltshire Director/Producer: Dave Freak Original Music: Jim Wynn Devotees of early childhood radio anarchy, The Goons, will be familiar with its creator, Spike Milligan, together with his conspirators in mayhem. There’s the comic genius of a thousand characters, but never comfortable in his own, Peter Sellers as well as the splurging voice from the valleys, Harry Secombe, whom Spike had met during WW2 when he witnessed his one-man disaster-area attempts at anything resembling soldiering such that clandestine plans were made to get him captured by the Germans, comfortable in the knowledge they would surrender within days…
Book: Timothy Allen McDonald and Jodi Picoult Music and Lyrics: Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel Writer: Markus Zusak Director: Lotte Wakeham The most powerful weapon is words is the oft-repeated message in The Book Thief. Set in Nazi Germany, we watch as Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda machine works its insidious magic on the population, while peer pressure and the fear of consequences does the rest. One otherwise sensible and sympathetic character asks, without irony, if it’s true that Jews drink babies’ blood and have tails like rats. If you’re going to lie to the people, make it a big lie and repeat it…