Writer and Composer: Conrad Murray Directors: Conrad Murray and Ria Parry This modern, music and beat box-led take on the Pied Piper story brings the tale to life in a very different way, reimagining Hamelin as a town where young people are stuck working in a pie factory under a mayor who has banned music altogether. It’s a simple concept taken on by Beatbox Academy but a fun one, and the show leans heavily into rhythm, rap and beatboxing to tell the story. There are in fact few words spoken without a soundtrack underneath them created by this hugely talented…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Yorkshire & North East
The Reviews Hub - Yorkshire & North East
The Yorkshire & North East team is under the editorship of Jacob Bush. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Writer: Debris Stevenson Director: Eleanor Manners Debris Stevenson’s profile in the text states, “My Brother’s a Genius is not just a play about neurodivergence, it’s a play made with neurodivergence.” As such it occupies its own space, with exact identities and the reality of events somewhat clouded in confusion on the audience’s part, but it displays as much wit as fantasy and rather more than emphasis on education for special needs. All in all, though your reviewer couldn’t claim to follow everything exactly, it emerges as an oddly charming piece of work, not least because of the enormously likeable performances of Jess Senanayake and…
Writer: Zannah Kearns Director: Gareth Taylor The scandal of the Post Office and the Horizon computer programme is surely all over. The sub-postmasters/mistresses must have been compensated by now and Alan Bates has been knighted, so all’s right with the world. As a powerful antidote to such wishful thinking, what Glitch does is remind of the human suffering involved (with at least 13 suicides) and – shockingly – the fact that many have yet to see any compensation. Pam Stubbs was the sub-postmistress at Barkham Post Office and essentially the play is her story, with other tales interwoven: the young woman,…
Writer: Arnold Bennett Adaptor: Deborah McAndrew Director: Conrad Nelson Claybody Theatre is a theatre company in Stoke-on-Trent with an understandable predilection for the works of Arnold Bennett whose novels of the Five Towns (in reality, six) combine serious themes with robust narration and detailed characterisation. So what do we expect from The Grand Babylon Hotel, originally staged by Claybody at the New Vic in Stoke and now touring? Probably anything but this wonderfully over the top adventure story/comic parade of dubious foreigners/paean of praise for Bennett’s favourite hotel, London’s Savoy. One suspects the Deborah McAndrew’s unfailingly witty and unpredictably zany…
Writer: Agatha Christie Adaptor: Ken Ludwig Director: Lucy Bailey Agatha Chrisite, the Queen of Crime, got the inspiration for her classic crime novel Death on the Nile, when in 1933 she travelled up the Nile with her husband and daughter. It has now been very successfully adapted for the stage by the award-winning Ken Ludwig. Death on the Nile, is a story of love, passion, revenge, and murder. It is an intriguing ‘whodunnit’. Thankfully the world-famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Mark Hadfield) is there to solve the mystery. At a prestigious event at an Egyptian gallery in London, the glamorous…
Writer: Jacquie Lawrence Director: Fiona MacPherson Shuggy boats. Fairground attractions. Heave on the ropes, sway them back and forth. Designed to be rocked. Which is how Maeve marks her 60th birthday, when the unexpected revelation that her schoolgirl crush was another schoolgirl rocks everyone’s boat. Back then, “a long time before the Lesbian kiss on Brookside”, that fledgling romance fizzled out faster than the thrill of a fairground ride. But the ripples resurface decades later, sensations of “freedom, excitement and stomach flips” as the shuggy boats swing threaten to leave a family sea-sick. Jacquie Lawrence’s new play ticks a lot…
Book: Joe Tracz Music and Lyrics: Rob Rokicki Director: Lizzi Gee Even if you’ve never picked up a Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is surprisingly easy to jump straight into. Within the first few minutes the show clearly sets up the story, so you don’t feel like you’ve wandered into the middle of something you’re supposed to already know. The plot follows Percy Jackson (Vasco Emauz), a teenager who discovers he’s actually the son of the Greek god Poseidon. After a monster attack leaves his mum in danger, Percy ends up at Camp Half-Blood, a summer…
Producers Naoya Kinoshita, Kumiko Yoshii, John Gore, Kenny Wax, Michael Wolk, Jack Lane and Leo Stages have announced full casting and the creative team for the UK premiere production of The Karate Kid – The Musical. Daniel is the new kid in town trying to fit in until he becomes the target of Cobra Kai’s relentless star student, Johnny. Underestimated and outmatched, Daniel struggles to find his footing, until Ali, Johnny’s ex, sees something in Daniel that no one else does. As Johnny refuses to step aside, teenage rivalry turns into something more sinister. Daniel discovers guidance from Mr Miyagi…