South East

Director: Kirsty Patrick Ward Writers: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields Reviewer: Lu Greer Following the incredible success of The Play That Goes Wrong, Mischief Theatre return to Norwich with The Comedy About a Bank Robbery which follows the attempts to safely store a priceless diamond in the most corrupt city bank imaginable. It seems like a simple premise, but once Mischief ...

Directors: Jeannot Painchaud and Dave St Pierre Choreographer: Dave St Pierre Composer: Stefan Boucher Reviewer: Lu Greer Cirkopolis, from the Montreal based troupe Cirque Éloize sold-out audiences across 50 countries before making its way to Norwich. Proclaiming the ability to challenge the limits of gravity and perform jaw-dropping feats against a backdrop of video projections, the theatre saw a packed ...

Writer: Lisa Genova Adaptor: Christine Mary Dunford Director: David Grindley Reviewer: Alice Fowler Alice and John Howland are a high achieving professional couple, both academics at Harvard University. Does Alice have the edge intellectually? Perhaps. But 50-year-old Alice is starting to forget words – nothing serious, and it’s probably just the menopause. Then she begins to forget other things too: ...

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Philip Franks Reviewer: Alice Fowler Which is more powerful, music or words? The poet W.H. Auden and composer Benjamin Britten debate this point in Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art and, unsurprisingly, agree to differ. Bennett stages an imagined meeting between the two great men in 1972, rekindling an old friendship at a point when both ...

Writer: Eleanor Bergstein Director: Russ Spencer Reviewer: Simon Topping  Dirty Dancing is one of those 1980’s iconic films everyone has seen by the time they reach their teens, even though, upon intense questioning, some would deny it. Judging by the diversity of the Brighton audience, the classic coming-of-age tale appears to appeal to all generations, captivating the young just as ...

Book: Rachel Wagstaff based on the novel by Paul Gallico Music and Lyrics: Richard Taylor Director: Daniel Evans  Reviewer: Simon Topping  Director Daniel Evans brings this award-winning 2016 musical, from his previous creative home in Sheffield, to Chichester for its first outing since its revision and shortening of act one. Set in a food and clothes rationed, shell-shocked, south London ...

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Philip Franks Reviewer: Michael Hootman The Habit of Art sees Alan Bennett stake his claim to the same theatrical territory inhabited by Tom Stoppard. Habit is very much a play of ideas. Or, to put it more bluntly, a play of too many ideas. It’s a play-within-a-play which examines the very idea of theatrical devices whilst ...

Creative Director: Julius Green Reviewer: Victoria Bawtree Circus meets West End in this gloriously quirky and creative show. Performers from across the world are represented here with an endless variety of traditional and contemporary skills entwined. Impressively, what might have been a simple variety show becomes a unique and unified production through careful staging and storytelling. Apart from one specific ...