Writer: James Graham Director: Rupert Goold 12 yards. That’s the distance from football’s penalty spot to the goal. It’s a meagre distance, but for many England footballers, and for a nation of football fans, that distance defines decades of disappointment. Yet under former England manager Gareth Southgate’s stewardship, bridging this distance and finding the net under such pressure becomes bigger than just scoring a goal in this terrific state-of-the-nation play. Dear England chronicles Southgate’s eight-year stint as England manager, charting the highs and lows of his reign but more deeply looking at his desire to change the culture within the…
Author: The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East
The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East
The South East team is under the editorship of John McRoberts. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Book, Music and Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda Director: Thomas Kail The phenomenon that is Hamilton has finally arrived in Norwich, and it’s every bit as stunning as its reputation suggests. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s genre-defying musical, blending hip-hop, R&B, and traditional show tunes, makes the Revolution feel immediate and alive. This touring production not only honours the original but proves its power can travel far beyond Broadway and the West End. At its heart, Hamilton is the story of America then, told by America now, but what makes this production special is how fully its cast seize that challenge. The company’s energy never…
Composers: Samatha Fernando, Pauchi Sasaki, Robin Haigh, Anibal Vidal, Blasio Kavuma, Theo Whitworth, Zhenyan Li Director: Jack Lowe Ambition is something to be celebrated, and Exoplanets, a new work co-created with Norwich Theatre Royal, is certainly brimming with it. Weaving together music, memory, science, and love, the piece aims to reach across both the cosmos and the human heart. It’s a project that reaches for the stars, quite literally, but in doing so, sometimes struggles to bring its many ideas into alignment. At its centre is Audrey (Amanda Hadingue), whose interview with Classic FM acts as a framing device through…
Music: Terry Davies Director: Matthew Bourne Taking the novels of Patrick Hamilton as his source material, Matthew Bourne draws us into the slightly seedy, murky Soho of the 1930s. We are introduced to a cast of characters who, whilst not down and out, are certainly down on luck and looking for love. In his programme notes Bourne tells us that the play was inspired by the periods of lockdown and isolation that we all endured in 2020. It is somewhat ironic in a way, that there is no dialogue then, only the words from a few carefully chosen songs from…
Music: Jule Styne Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Gypsy is loosely based on the memoirs of Gypsy rose Lee, the American burlesque star and striptease artist. The main focus of the narrative is Rose, mother to Louise and June, and her efforts to achieve fame vicariously through her relentless promoting of her daughters, with June being the favoured and more talented of the two and Louise often treated almost as an afterthought. With music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy has been called the greatest of all musicals by several leading critics so it’s perhaps a brave choice for…
Writer (of original book): P. D. James Adaptors for stage: Duncan Abel and Rachel Wagstaff Director: Jonathan O’Boyle Ushering into the drawing room of the world of Jane Austen to sit apprehensively beside a whodunnit, Death Comes to Pemberley is a stage adaptation inspired by P. D. James’ crime novel sequel to Pride and Prejudice. The production showcases some great performances but ultimately leaves an audience wondering whether this union needed some more meddlesome match-making. Six years on from the excitement of the courtship between Mr Darcy (James Bye) and Elizabeth (Jamie Rose-Duke), the happy couple are now settled at…
Writer: Amy Rosenthal Director: Richard Beecham Swept up in scandal upon scandal, the Mitford sisters are once again thrust into centre stage in this exposing and fascinating new drama, The Party Girls, Amy Rosenthal’s new production in a joint venture with the Marlowe Theatre. The play is split into three time periods, all interchanging across the production. Launching in the middle of World War Two, the piece then shifts a decade earlier, and two decades later, showing how the ravages of war, and its propaganda, gradually swayed the impressionable Mitford sisters. It is a piece that reflects its time and…
Book: Joseph Stein Music: Jerry Bock Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Director: Jordan Fein Fiddler on the Roof arrives in Norwich direct from the West End as part of its UK wide tour. The classic production, here reimagined by Jordan Fein, of course tells the story of a small Jewish village grappling with the tension between time-honoured tradition and the unstoppable forces of change. With innovative choreography by Julia Cheng and design by Tom Scutt, this sixty-year-old classic is transformed into something traditional yet modern, amusing yet deeply affecting. As the beleaguered milkman Tevye, Matthew Woodyatt brings heart and humour to the…