Author: The Reviews Hub - Central

Writer: Paul Laverty Adaptor: David Johns Director: Mark Calvert It was in 2016 that the Ken Loach film, I, Daniel Blake, was released, winning numerous awards including the BAFTA for Best British Film. The storyline and its depiction of DWP staff led to controversy and in response to a question, the government famously remarked that it was a work of fiction. And in the strictest sense, it is. However, the film and this adaptation of it both resonate with a deeper truth, one that is troubling and unsettling. In the film, Daniel Blake is played by stand-up comedian Dave Johns…

Writer: Deborah Moggach Director: Lucy Bailey Sonny can’t seem to do anything right – at least, according to his overbearing mother. He’s forever being compared unfavourably with his siblings while he tries to make a go of their hotel in Bangalore. In truth, it’s past its best. But then the ever-enthusiastic Sonny has a brainwave: why not advertise in England for long-term elderly residents? It’ll be cheaper than a home there and the warm climate will be kind to ageing joints. And so Sonny and his mother are joined by a disparate group of retired British residents. The story began…

Director Tim Wedlake Commencing Countdown…the year is 1971, The Man Who Sold the World was a huge success two years ago and David Bowie is ready to introduce the world to one of his most famous personas Ziggy Stardust. Where would this premiere take place? The Friars Club in Aylesbury, where there is now a statue of Bowie where once he had performed. The music has returned but what about the majesty and the grandeur? In short: Yes! The Bowie Experience as a collective is fantastic, each member a master of their craft: at the forefront and performing as Bowie…

Conductor: Michael England It’s been a while since we were able to cover one of the lighter, Friday concerts from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), but it has been well worth the wait. This concert features inspired programming, an orchestra at the top of its game and soloists with strikingly different styles but who all, nevertheless, inhabit the song they sing as well as being technically superb. And on this occasion, a British Sign Language interpreter. While the interpreter’s principal role is, of course, to make the evening more accessible to members of the d/Deaf communities, in fact,…

Book: Harry Hill Music and Lyrics: Steve Brown Director: Peter Rowe “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones”. Shakespeare was writing about Julius Caesar but – notwithstanding the fact that he is, at the time of writing at least, still very much alive – the same could be said about Tony Blair. It’s with a certain inevitability then that this production, a running gag about fox hunting aside, skips quickly over his many achievements in office and sends us away with an impression of an opportunist in thrall to Bush’s United…

Book: Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner Music: Alan Menken Lyrics: Glenn Slater Director: Bill Buckhurst Sister Act is one of those shows that will be almost guaranteed to send an audience home happy and judging from the reaction on Press Night it certainly succeeded in that aim. The plot may be paper-thin but even so there’s a deeper message lurking in this feel-good show – that fame and fortune mean nothing, and real happiness is to be found in companionship and community. Sister Act is a show that’s always been funny but here director Bill Buckhurst has managed to find…

Book, Music and Lyrics: Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe Director: Andy Fickman Bullying, date rape, abuse, suicide and murder are the main ingredients of Heathers the Musical. These themes are little more than props to a storyline which fails to omit no cliché from the well-trodden genre of American high school teen angst. Heathers the Musical is based on the 1989 film of the same name which was initially a box office failure but went on to gain some cult status on home release. The show very effectively sets out its stall with its strong opening number: “College will be…

Writer: Jules Verne Adaptor and Director: Juliet Forster Join the Albany Theatre for a whirlwind adventure Around the World in 80 Days. No passports are needed though: this journey can be enjoyed from the comfort of Coventry, and it takes a little over 80 minutes rather than 80 days. Jules Verne’s iconic and popular novel has been adapted countless times through every medium, and now it is the turn of Juliet Forster and Tilted Wig to try and inject new life into this classic. The play starts painfully slowly, to the point where it wouldn’t be a challenge for the…