Central Reviews

Writer: Terry Johnson adapted from the novel by Charles Webb and the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry Director: Lucy Bailey Reviewer: Laura Jayne Bateman Originally a novel by Charles Webb, published in 1963, The Graduate is perhaps best known as the 1967 film starring Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman. Curve’s co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse follows the trend ...

Music: Gary Yershon Choreographer/Director: Daniel de Andrade Reviewer: David Robinson John Boyne wrote his best-selling Holocaust novel in a matter of a few days, although this is barely evident as it is transferred to ballet form in the capable hands and feet of Northern Ballet on this world premiere tour. The scenarios are adapted engagingly by choreographer Daniel de Andrade and ...

Writer: Ayub Khan Din Director: Suba Das Reviewer: Dave Smith The press night for this timely revival of Ayub Khan Din’s 1996 play, a co-production with Northern Stage, takes place a little over a week before a General Election in which Islam, immigration and Britain’s place in the world have played a leading role. That many of the issues that ...

Writer: Eleanor Bergstein Director: Federico Bellone Reviewer: John Kennedy With pyrotechnic pirouettes, reach for the stars diva diving gymnastics and the decade defining power-ballad The Time of My Life, the eponymous film remains rightly a shameless, polished chrome muscle car vanity mirror for guilty pleasures. It's slick, outrageously hip-swinging muscular dash and decibel bling panache still has sweaty, taut sinews quivering with lithesome ...

Book, Music & Lyrics: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey Director: David Gilmore Reviewer: Selwyn Knight The original production of Grease in Chicago in 1971 was a rather starker affair than audiences are used to today. As it evolved, and especially after the 1978 film version, which made several changes to the song list some of which filtered back into the ...

Writer:  Carol Ann Duffy Director: Rufus Norris Reviewer:  Cath Lyon However you voted during Brexit, this play will make you feel better about the whole sorry business. My Country: a work in progress is a statement of our times, built from the words of Britain’s own people, the fluffy stereotyping and saccharine nationalism that can leave you feeling warm and ...

Book: Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy Music: Matthew Sklar Lyrics: Chad Beguelin Director: Nick Winston Reviewer: John Kennedy Based on the lucrative box office eponymous 1998 movie Rom-Com that, being generous, lent Adam Sandler’s career at least some ephemeral gravitas, the much lauded ‘chemistry’ between him and love interest, Drew Barrymore, became a water-cooler buzz topic. What actual chemicals they shared, ...

Writer: Willy Russell Director: Glen Walford Reviewer:  Dave Smith Willy Russell’s ever-popular Shirley Valentine, first seen at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre in 1986, has been given a long overdue and high-profile revival in the form of a major national tour. Original director Glen Walford is again in charge, with Jodie Prenger given the difficult task of carrying the whole thing ...