Central Reviews

Music: Kerry Muzzey Choreographer: Kenneth Tindall Reviewer: Maggie Constable At Milton Keynes this week, Northern Ballet stages yet another wonderfully exotic piece in the form of Casanova, which has rightly received much praise from critics and public alike. Casanova’s life story is a complicated one; he was so much more than the dilettante womaniser for which he has become known. Who knew, ...

Writer: George Bernard Shaw Director: Sam Pritchard Reviewer:  G. D. Mills Sam Pritchard’s bold, experimental production of Pygmalion at the Oxford Playhouse finds innovative new ways to probe the themes of diction and class. Professor Higgins, a phonetics expert, plucks a common flower girl from the streets of London and resolves, through close manipulation of speech, to make a lady ...

Book: Joe Penhall Music and Lyrics: Ray Davies Director: Edward Hall Reviewer: Clare White ‘But will they still play it in 30 years’ time?’ asks The Kinks frontman Ray Davies of his song Sunny Afternoon. Indeed, more than 50 years later, the renowned hit is the titular track of a multi-award winning musical, telling the captivating story of the iconic ...

Writer:  Sam Holcroft from the book by Roald Dahl Director: Maria Aberg Reviewer: Nicole Evans Now over 40 years old, Fantastic Mr Fox is a children's classic whose tale continues to delight generations and so, along with all of the Roald Dahl masterpieces, it is a natural choice for theatre companies worldwide to try their hand at recreating for the stage. ...

Writer & Director: Ray Cooney Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Ray Cooney is, surely, the master of British farce, writing many for the West End. And all are very British in nature, poking fun at our betters as they get into, and try to extricate themselves from, sticky situations. We can feel superior to the characters, some of whom are the authors of ...

Writer: Sarah Tullamore Music & Lyrics: James Burn Reviewer:  James Garrington Sarah Tullamore, she tells us, is “a woman of a certain age”. It’s an age that seems to arrive suddenly, one where you have to sit down to put your tights on. She’s spent 20 years in Paris, and maybe it’s time to move on. For just over an ...

Book, Music and Lyrics: Kirsten Childs Director: Josette Bushell-Mingo Reviewer: Selwyn Knight America in the 1960s isn’t a good time to be growing up if, like Viveca, you are young and black. When in 1963 she rebuffs her friend Gregory leading him to make an ill-judged comment about Viveca and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in which the church was ...

Writer: Richard Bean Director: Phillip Breen Reviewer:  James Garrington One thing you can pretty much guarantee with a Richard Bean script – you won’t be bored. Set at the beginning of the English Civil War, The Hypocrite is based on a true story. Hull has the largest military arsenal outside London – with signs of civil war looming, whoever takes ...