Author: The Reviews Hub - Yorkshire & North East

Writers: Steven Canny, John Nicholson Director: Orla O’Loughlin You have to admire the honesty of Original Theatre: The Time Machine is listed as “a comedy” and the writers as Steven Canny and John Nicholson, none of that phoney “adapted from H.G. Wells” nonsense, though the great man is accorded a two-page biography in the programme. This is no more than “from an idea by…” and the second half, when it gathers full momentum, uses time travel as a hook to hang all sorts of nonsense on. It begins in “going wrong” territory, with technical flaws, unsynchronised dialogue and the like. The conceit…

Writer: Athol Fugard Director: Jake Murray Initially it was a somewhat disconcerting experience coming in from the blizzard-like conditions of Darlington to the small, intimate space that is Hipp at Hullaballoo to see The Island, one of the most famous plays of the 20th Century and set on hot, sweaty Robben Island, South Africa. A two-hander, this intentionally claustrophobic single setting play, produced by Elysium Theatre Company, runs for just one act of around 80 minutes. It provides a snapshot of what life must have been like in the notorious prison in the midst of apartheid. The only two characters…

Writer: Eve Leigh Director: Laura Keefe This is a hijack with a difference and what is the motive? Perhaps there is a hint in the title of the play, Wildfire Road. Eve Leigh’s one act play is innovative and captivating, dealing in part with current day air travel. BA flight Number 509 sets off on a journey to Tokyo, with the usual and all so familiar safety routine, so much so that the four passengers make light of it by performing a dance routine in the gangway. But a hijacker appears. The swivel seats enable the passengers to turn to…

Writer: Lydia Marchant Director: Zoë Waterman Great Thornton Street Flats are a prominent feature of Hull’s skyline. Towering over Anlaby Road, they were given a make over as part of a 2017 City of Culture regeneration project. Here, inside one of these flats, we get a glimpse into the tender and fraught family relationships as cross generations of actors share their story. Family dynamics, the cost of living crisis and the need to survive in a Tory-led Britain are the stories here with conversations that could’ve been echoed in anyone of these flats. We are immediately introduced to Rachel (Nicola…

Director and Choreographer: David Nixon CBE  Co-Director: Patricia Doyle Music: Sir Richard Rodney Bennett CBE Based on the novel by: F. Scott Fitzgerald “All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.'” Ten years after its premier, Northern Ballet bring The Great Gatsby home to Leeds to a packed audience, proving that the above quote from the novel might not be true. This ballet certainly might, if the enthusiasm of its audience is anything to go by. It’s the text everyone studied in High School or College (except, unfortunately, your reviewer!) and…

Writer: Manjeet Mann Director: Tessa Walker Pilot Theatre’s vibrant production of Manjeet Mann’s superb adaptation of her own novel takes place on a stage with a ramp at each side and props, furniture and equipment scattered on the fringes of the stage: chairs, a coat rack for instant changing, and most important of all a video projector to set up a variety of images on a screen at the back of the stage. Some of these are visual enactions of what is happening on stage; others project words and phrases to emphasise Amber’s state of mind or, most touchingly, a…

Writer: Ian Hallard Director: Mark Gatiss The Way Old Friends Do is the first play that Ian Hallard has written. It is a personal narrative, telling the story of a middle-aged, LGBTQ+, Birmingham-born ABBA fan. It is hugely refreshing to see a completely unique and original story being told on stage. The script is funny and packed full of a huge amount of heart. The characters Hallard has created are relatable, if not all hugely complex. Mark Gatiss’ direction keeps the play moving. Some scene transitions, due to the rotating stage, are a little slow but the action of the narrative…

Writer: Agatha Christie Directors: Ian Talbot and Denise Silvey Incredibly this was a 70th anniversary tour – surely somebody must have let the cat out of the bag as to who the murderer is in all that time, but no – at curtain call we were all solemnly warned not to betray the secret. Well, in truth it wasn’t all that solemn! The nicest thing about The Mousetrap, though it has a genuine whodunnit puzzle, is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. At the beginning, when the radio conveniently brings the latest news of a murder in London every time…