South West

Writer: Thomas Meeham Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Martin Charnin Director: Nicolai Foster Reviewer: Francesca Parker The classic rags-to-riches story has once again been brought to life on stage. Despite being set in New York at the time of the Great Depression, Annie is the anything but downbeat. The heart-warming tale of a young orphan whose life changed irrevocably after a chance encounter, ...

Writer: Tom Stoppard Director: Rachel Kavanaugh Reviewer: Kelyn Luther Rough Crossing is freely adapted from Ferenc Molnar’s The Play at The Castle, previously adapted by PG Wodehouse. However, Stoppard’s take is somewhat closer to that of Noël Coward. Set on a cruise liner in the thirties, playwright Turai (John Partridge) is working on his new play, but is forced to ...

Writer: Michael Gyngell Music: Greg Arrowsmith Director: Samuel Holmes Choreographer: Nick Winston Reviewer: Georgie Bird Club Tropicana The Musical delivers what anyone would expect – wonderfully cheesy 80s music, fun energetic choreography, and plenty of laughs. The set perfectly complements the music; loud, colourful and fun. The costumes are an adept reminder of the many questionable fashion choices in the ...

Venue: Theatre Royal Plymouth Choreography: David Bintley Music: Glenn Buhr Reviewer: Helen Tope The ballet begins with a familiar scene. Belle stands at the top of a bookcase, mired deep in words. She is the original bookish heroine; an outsider in her own family. Her father is a ship merchant, deep in debt – and the bailiffs are called. While ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Erica Whyman Reviewer: Barbara Michaels Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – the tragic tale of love at first sight between two young lovers doomed to die through the intransigency of their feuding families, has been performed innumerable times with varying degrees of expertise – plus film, ballet and operatic versions. In consequence, companies strive to present a ...

Writer: Harvey Fierstein Composer: Cyndi Lauper Director & Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell Set Designer: David Rockwell Costume Designer: Gregg Barnes Lighting Designer: Kenneth Posner Reviewer: Leah Tozer Trust your feet in Price and Son, our work is tried and true: practical, pragmatical, steadfast, and steady, too. So echoes the omnipresent theme of Price and Sons shoe factory, yet this musical is as far from practical and pragmatic as the ...

Music: Gaetano Donizetti Libretto: Salvadore Cammarano Director: Alessandro Talevi Reviewer: Barbara Michaels A stunning revival for Welsh National Opera’s take on Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux – one of the least known of the great composer’s operatic works (over seventy in total).  Definitely a case of “last is best” for WNO’s presentation of the third of the so-called ‘Tudor Trilogy’, despite being ...

Writer: Justin Teddy Cliffe Director: Paul Jenkins Reviewer: Beth Steer Pitted as a 'semi-autobiographical act of self-schadenfreude' that becomes an 'audience responsive ragged-scream-party-piece', The TigerFace Show certainly lives up to its claim of being 'one part misery, two parts joyful.' As Justin Teddy Cliffe shuffles onto the stage wearing a tattered tiger-print onesie with his face painted like he's going ...