Central Reviews

Writers: Agatha Christie and Frank Vosper Director: Lucy Bailey Reviewer: Maggie Constable Prepare to be on the edge of your seat at Milton Keynes Theatre this week with Lucy Bailey’s brand new production of Agatha Christie’s Love From A Stranger. Christie originally wrote this in 1924 as a short story, Philomel Cottage, but then re-wrote it for the stage some ...

Book: Peter Stone Music and Lyrics: Maury Yeston Director: Thom Sutherland Reviewer: James Garrington Is it possible to create tension in a show where everyone in the audience knows the plot and knows how it ends? Not easily you may think, but that is exactly what Maury Yeston and Peter Stone have achieved with Titanic – The Musical. The show tells ...

Writer: Philip Goulding from the book by Compton MacKenzie Director: Kevin Shaw Reviewer: Selwyn Knight The programme notes for Whisky Galore tell us about a troupe of strolling players, The Osiris Players, which was an all-female theatre group touring adaptations of the classics to schools and other community spaces. Formed in the mid-1920s, the women-only rule might have been caused ...

Writer: William Shakespeare, adapted by Andy Barrow Director: Andy Barrow Reviewer: James Garrington Since it was established 29 years ago, Oddsocks has become famous for its unusual and comic versions of the classic Shakespeare plays – often to some acclaim. This year, alongside a rerun of last year’s Romeo and Juliet, we have a new production of The Tempest. It ...

Reviewer: RL Bartholomew Such is the stature of jazz great George Benson that - should he ever choose – he could walk on stage, mumble the titles of his monumental back catalogue and would, no doubt,  receive an ecstatic standing ovation. There is not, indeed, any such grandstanding at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall where the charismatic guitarist plays a two-hour set that effortlessly ...

Writer: Rachel Wagstaff from the book by Sebastian Faulks Directors: Alistair Whatley and Charlotte Peters Reviewer: James Garrington Birdsong as a novel is something of an epic. It stretches to over 500 pages, covering a period of many years and several generations. Compressing all of this into a two-hour stage play would seem to be an enormous challenge, and Rachel Wagstaff has succeeded ...

Writers: Michael Gyngell and Mark Haddigan from the screenplay  by  Ronald Cass and Peter Myers  Director: Racky Plews Reviewer: James Garrington Everyone who was brought up during the 1960s will surely be familiar with Summer Holiday. The red London bus trundling its way across Europe, Cliff Richard and The Shadows, and full of songs that everyone knew and loved, all of ...

Book: Douglas McGrath Music and Lyrics: Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil Director: Marc Bruni Reviewer: Clare White It’s fair to say that Carole King is responsible for some of the most memorable songs in musical history. Since the 1960s, over 400 of her compositions have been recorded by more than 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles. Beautiful is ...