Author: The Reviews Hub - Central

Writer: David Walliams Adaptor and Director: Neal Foster With his back catalogue of best-selling children’s books capturing the imagination of little minds all over the UK, it is little wonder that Demon Dentist has been adapted to a piece of touring children’s theatre. With his signature combination of contemporary wit and, let’s be honest, grisly humour, Walliams has created a tale loved by both young and old.  The story follows Alfie, a young boy traumatised by a past visit to the dentist who lives alone in a bungalow with his terminally ill father. The doddery old dentist dies in mysterious circumstances and is…

Writer: John Steinbeck Director: Iqbal Khan Lennie isn’t like the other guys. Sure, he’s big and strong – heck, he’s the strongest – and he works better than most guys on the ranch. But there’s something wrong in his head. In the future, they’ll say he has learning difficulties or maybe some syndrome or other. For now, in 1937 California, folks just call him simple or an imbecile. Or nuts. Luckily, he has George to look out for him. It’s an unlikely partnership, George is sharp as a tack. Trouble is, Lennie just doesn’t know his own strength. He loves…

Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Music: Bob Gaudio Lyrics: Bob Crewe Director: Des McAnuff You can look forward to a good night out at the Royal and Derngate as the smash hit musical Jersey Boys hits town. The show is based on the story of the Four Seasons, spanning the decades from their formation up to the present day – and no story of a massive pop group would be complete without a liberal dose of their music to complement it. So music there is and it’s there aplenty, with over thirty of the group’s songs to enjoy, both…

Writer: Robert Harling Director: Anthony Banks Truvy jokes that the only romantic thing her husband ever did was to convert their carport into her beauty salon in which she now holds court with the women of Chinquapin, Louisiana – the beauty salon where anyone who is anyone has their hair done and where all the action of Steel Magnolias takes place. We’re in the 1980s, where the higher the hair, the closer to God. And while the women we meet may bicker and poke fun at one another – or even disagree over the ownership of a magnolia tree –…

Writer: Mike Leigh Director: Michael Cabot  Abigail is throwing a party, but we’re not invited. Instead, the audience becomes a fly on the wall in Beverly and Laurence’s 1970s living room. Cheese and pineapple sticks, an endless collection of records, cigarettes and copious amounts of alcohol mean that their own party is about to begin and this one is better. As teenage shenanigans unfold down the road at the other party, this one has all the hallmarks of an evening which is teetering on the brink of marital explosion. The play begins as we are introduced to Beverly – played…

Writer: Samson Hawkins  Director: Nadia Fall “The best show you’ll ever see – about HS2.” Townies have decided they want a lie in so they’re building a new high-speed railway. The problem is, it’s planned to go straight through Barbara Honeybone’s house in the Northamptonshire village of Syresham, and she’s not happy. In fact, she’s refusing to budge. Barbara’s grandson Harry doesn’t care about the trains, he’s only interested in Debbie Mahoney – and the only thing Barbara hates more than the trains is the Mahoneys, particularly Debbie’s father Kevin and her brother Liam. Barbara’s other grandson, Peter, on the other…

Writer: Mojisola Adebayo Director: Matthew Xia In 1951, a black woman, Henrietta Lacks, died in Baltimore. She was being treated for cervical cancer which had been confirmed after a biopsy. The cells taken from her for the biopsy were cultured in the lab and had a remarkable property: provided with nutrients, the cells divided quickly and could survive and divide outside the body indefinitely – most human cell lines die within a day or two. Production of her cells, designated HeLa, was industrial in scale and they were, and continue to be,  used commercially for medical research – for example,…

Adaptor and Director: Nathalie Bazan The Moth is the latest offering from Lying Lips Theatre Company, a midlands based company that presents intense drama in intimate spaces. And what drama could be more intense than A Streetcar Named Desire? What space more intimate than the theatre at the Old Joint Stock? Nathalie Bazan, artistic director of the company, has adapted and directed this version of Streetcar. In her notes, she says that it has been adapted to fit a British audience and relocated to 1990s working-class Britain with an added twist centred around the character of Stanley. As far as…