Music and Lyrics: Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman Writer: Jeremy Sans Director: Paul Hart Newbury’s Watermill Theatre was named Theatre of the Year 2026 by The Stage, partly because of the reputation they’ve built for high quality productions. This summer’s offering, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, certainly lives up to that reputation in a new production directed by Watermill artistic director Paul Hart. Hart brings to the show a strong vision, eschewing the traditional bright colours and technical reliance for a show that comes to life through physicality, ingenuity, and creative. He has created a world for his production…
Author: The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East
The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East
The South East team is under the editorship of Peter Marcus. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Doctor Faustus might not be your first choice for a night of comedy, but Half Trick Theatres The Faustus Project delivers a laugh a minute as a cast of four bring on a guest, Juliette Burton in Brighton, to take the lead in a show they haven’t read, seen, or rehearsed. Led by artistic directors Courtney Bassett and Caden Scott and directed by Scott, The Faustus Project turns Christopher Marlowe’s 17th century show on its head. Scott plays Mephistopheles (or Mr Mistoffolees to Barton), the demon. Bassett is joined by Alex Medland and Moira Hamilton to play the rest of…
Book, Music and Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts Director: Robert Hastie It is 1943, and the Allied Forces are desperate to push Hitler back and seize Sicily with as little bloodshed as they can. Keen to disguise their plans, it is up to a team of MI5 operatives to come up with an ingenious plan to save the Allies and save the war. It sounds like the set-up of a spy thriller, but this fascinating real-life story gets the musical treatment as the smash hit Operation Mincemeat continues its winning success on tour. The plot the…
Writer: Peter Quiller Director: Stephen Mear Dame Maureen Lipman returns to the Stage for the first time in twenty years at the age of Eighty for this UK Tour of a new Peter Quilter play, Allegra. She is best known to many in the audience perhaps in the Eighties for the TV advert for British Telecom in which she played Beattie and also for her role as an agony aunt in the sitcom Agony (1979-81). More recently she has starred in Coronation Street as Evelyn Plummer. Yet she has plenty of stage experience and her long and successful career has…
Writer and Director: Paul Hendy If you ask people to name three comedians who encapsulate the unique nature of British comedy, more people will give the same three names: Eric Morecambe, Bob Monkhouse, and Tommy Cooper. Few come close to the legacy they have left on comedy and entertainment, but for those who missed the opportunity to see them live Paul Hendy’s The Last Laugh provides an insight into the comedy – and minds – of Britain’s comedic heritage. Hendy’s script is not a cheap reenactment of the acts of yesteryear. It is a well-crafted look at the people behind…
On what would have been her 73rd birthday, Bowness-on-Windermere’s theatre has been renamed the Victoria Wood Theatre in honour of the actress, writer, and comedian. The theatre is currently presenting Fourteen Again, a new musical staring Ria Jones and Sally Ann Triplett both of whom worked with Victoria Woods on Acorn Antiques, Triplett playing Miss Berta in the West End and Jones playing Mrs Overall in the first national tour. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’s Tom MacRae has written the book for the musical which features songs from Victoria Wood herself to mark the change from The Old Laundry Theatre to…
TV presenter and comedian Mel Giedroyc, known for presenting The Great British Bake Off and having recently appeared in the ENO’s HMS Pinafore, has been named as the patron of the new Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre in Guildford. The Surrey-born writer and performer has a long history with the theatre, including playing a key part in the Guildford venue’s recent capital campaign. I’m truly honoured to have been invited to be a Patron of the Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre, whose commitment to supporting young people often overlooked by society is incredibly inspiring, especially with half of its places offered through…
Book: Shaun Kitchener Director: Rachel Kavanaugh Formed in 1997, British pop band Steps soon had listeners do-si-do-ing to ‘5, 6, 7, 8’ and a generation of teens mimicking the moves to ‘Tragedy.’ Yet, this new production resists the temptation to be another jukebox musical about the band’s history, instead using their iconic hits as the score for a heart-warming story that puts love at its core. Here & Now throws us into ‘Better Best Bargains’, a seaside supermarket and riff on those recognisable shops where you can get anything and everything, where shop worker Caz (Lara Denning) is caught at…