Author: The Reviews Hub - Central

Writer: David Walliams Adaptor and Director: Neal Foster Alfie is twelve and a child carer to his dad, disabled by pneumoconiosis. Alfie hasn’t been to the dentist for six years after a bad experience – which we see in a gloriously funny slapstick flashback that sets the tone for the evening. But then a new dentist, Miss Root, appears and offers to fix Alfie’s neglected teeth. At the same time, children are putting their teeth under their pillows, but rather than getting them exchanged for a shiny pound, they find a load of unpleasant stuff like dead frogs under their pillows.…

Writer and Director: Sâmir Bhamra For those of us not well-versed in the traditions and personalities of Bollywood, writer and director Sâmir Bhamra provides some excellent background to 1970s Bollywood in the programme – the decade of the superstars. And while the characters in Bombay Superstar are at pains to point out that any resemblance between these characters and real people is coincidental, it’s obvious that this era and the changes it saw both in Hindi cinema and the wider Indian society have inspired Bhamra and Phizzical Theatre in this piece. It’s Bhamra’s love letter to 1970s Bollywood. A 16-year-old…

Writer: Molière Adaptors: Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto Director: Iqbal Khan Look out, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, the Pervaiz family are about to hang out their dirty washing and what an utter stink ensues. No issues dodging here: usurping the oppressive misogyny of the Establishment religious patriarchy, selective interpretations of The Koran for convenience of purpose, forced marriage, compulsory wearing of the hijab, hypocrisies on steroids and the conflated concept of female ‘Honour’ confused with male Pride. Throw in a dash of starry-eyed, very cross, giddy lovers for additional comic relief. Want some real-time family feuding fun enough to make the Peaky Blinder…

Book: Rick Elice Director: Arlene Phillips The stage bursts into glorious camp life as an ensemble of triple-threat performers pops and twirls, ready for Cher’s big entrance. But where is Cher? She’s having a crisis of confidence backstage. To try to get her mojo back, she turns back time and so starts a whistle-stop tour of her life. Cher has reinvented herself multiple times, so it’s no surprise that three actors take on the role for different periods of her life: Millie O’Connell brings us the young Cher in all her teenage awkward angularity; Danielle Steers brings us the more…

Writer: Nina Segal Director: Guy Jones “Our story begins at night time, in a medium-sized village (which is to say a very, very, very small town) somewhere outside the M25”. There’s a river, and when it bursts its banks the village is surrounded by water, unexpectedly an island cut off from the rest of the country. There a leader emerges – and what follows takes events in an unexpected direction. As the flooding starts, inept MP Leonard (played with a slimy faux-charm by Alex Bhat) tries in vain for the heroic photo-op he craves and, finding himself usurped, departs for…

Music: Benjamin Britten, Mikael Karlsson and Ludwig van Beethoven Choreographers: Jiří Kylián, Morgann Runacre-Temple and Uwe Scholz One of the joys of a triple bill is being able to experience a diverse programme of ballet. This autumn Carlos Acosta brings us a celebration of music and movement, complete with a UK and world premiere, and rarely-performed work – all of them new to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s repertory. Leading off Into the Music we have Forgotten Land, choreographed by Jiří Kylián who is undoubtedly one of the great choreographers of modern ballet. It’s a celebration of love, and a commemoration of loss,…

Writer: Anthony McCarten Director: James Dacre Since getting its act together in the mid-first millennium, the catholic church has been fine-tuning its dogma regarding sin, even laying claim to the original one. If establishing an entire judgemental faith-based belief system on an inquisitive couple scrumping an apple in a nudist colony is justification, then the road to hell is well and truly paved with good intentions. (They made hell up as well.) All bases were covered, the bar set impossibly low. Thank God then for confession. These Two Popes believe they have much to confess – evidently so, it transpires…

Writer: Dougie Blaxland Director: Roughhouse Theatre “All you need to do is read the leaflet” These are the words Ricky Martin hears time and time again on his frustrating and stressful journey to finding the stability and comfort that we all take for granted. This is the true story of one young man who has been left in a tragic set of circumstances for which he holds no blame. The story of a man who over time loses his identity in a system of red tape, bureaucracy and a painful lack of empathy from a country which does the bare…