Author: The Reviews Hub - Central

Music: Jocelyn Pook Writer: Tariq Jordan Director and Choreographer: Akram Khan Akram Khan’s Jungle Book Reimagined is far from a Disney movie. Instead, the rise in sea levels globally in this tale of survival through dance feels more Biblical – and even then, Noah wasn’t dim enough to shoot down the dove that brought peace and hope in a time of despair, unlike some of the humans in this darker take on a well-known story. In this reimagining, climate refugee Mowgli loses grip of the raft transporting her family to higher ground. She is found by a wolf pack in…

Writer: George Eliot Adaptors: Josephine Burton and Ruth Livesey Director: Josephine Burton George Eliot’s Middlemarch was originally published in instalments in 1871 and 1872, although it was set some forty years earlier. It wove several narratives together with references to real events and themes of the time – political reform, development of the railways, progress in medicine. Above all, it looks at a community responding to change. While its initial reception was mixed, it’s now regarded as Eliot’s best work. At the time of writing Middlemarch, Eliot was living in Nuneaton, and the parallels between Middlemarch and the Coventry of…

Writer: Jamie McGough Director: Corey Campbell Writer Jamie McGough, a former national champion boxer, was one of ten aspiring writers to take part in a writers’ programme organised by The Belgrade and theatre company Paines Plough as part of Coventry’s tenure as UK City of Culture. Each writer created a ten-minute play, but McGough went on to produce Fighting Irish, a play about his own roots in Coventry. A compelling tribute to his family, it’s events like the successful staging of Fighting Irish that the City of Culture programme is all about. Fighting Irish is at its centre a gripping…

Writer: Floella Benjamin Adaptor: David Wood Director: Omar F Okai Coming to England is a vibrant, colourful celebration of the life of Floella Benjamin. After a high energy welcome, with the cast singing and signing High Five, Hello very much in the style of 1970s children’s television that first brought Benjamin to prominence, the adult Benjamin – played superbly by Paula Kay – comes to the front to tell her story. And, at first, it’s a commonplace story, of how the mother country’s postwar need for labour led to Caribbean families uprooting themselves and travelling thousands of miles in the hope…

Writer: Mark Farrelly Director: Sarah-Louise Young Derek Jarman was a famously disruptive and influential film-maker and activist. When he was diagnosed as HIV-positive in the mid-1980s he became known for discussing his condition in public, continuing his campaigning right up until his death in 1994. Over the course of 80 minutes, Jarman gives us an insight into his story. It would be wrong to call this a play. It’s a piece of theatre, an experience almost, and it would be hard to imagine it being performed anywhere other than an intimate space such as that at the Old Joint Stock.…

Songs: Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed Original Screenplay: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Director: Jonathan Church From the first note, we are transported back to the 1920s to Monument Pictures where we are offered a night of glitz and glamour amongst the stars of the silver screen. What ensues is a captivating night of song and dance performed masterfully by the entire ensemble. What makes Singin’ in the Rain sing are the performances of the leading cast, Sam Lids as Don Lockwood, a fantastic leading man full of charm and talent; Ross McLaren as Cosmo Brown, the leading man’s…

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice Director: Laurence Connor This production first saw the light of day at the London Palladium before embarking on tour and it is an undoubted hit as far as the audience is concerned. With bad news on our televisions and in our newspapers on an almost daily basis, something light and easy-going seems to hit the mark. That said, there’s a couple of things that don’t entirely work. Steering the show through is Alexandra Burke as the Narrator. Burke is in good voice and belts out her numbers with gusto. She also has some…

Writers: Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert Director: Bob Tomson You could be forgiven for confusing Catch Me If You Can for the 2002 film with the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio: however, this show is a very different beast. This play is a thriller that originally debuted on Broadway in 1965. Based on a French play by Robert Thomas, this American adaptation is written by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, best known for their collaboration on How to Succeed in Business. It’s a small ensemble show with just eight actors who pull together to present a highly convoluted and deeply thrilling plot. The…