South East Reviews

Reviewer: Robin Winters Arriving on stage and beginning to dance unannounced, Humanhood immediately both throw us completely and draw us straight into their mesmerising 15-minutes of contemporary infusions. The first of a dance double bill and part of Sadler’s Wells’ weekend offerings, Humanhood sees a pair of dancers intertwine in a short yet faced paced, perfectly controlled display of utter brilliance; seeming to never take their ...

Reviewer: Kris Hallett We’re in a room where it happens but it’s not THE room. In the years after a game-changing musical there are guaranteed years of imitators coming along to try to bask in some of the glory, and more importantly, box office bonanza’s of these works. It hasn’t taken long for Hamilton’s influence to take hold, SUFFRAGEDDONis so in thrall ...

Music: Noel Gay Revised Book: Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent Director Daniel Evans Reviewer: Steve Turner Tension is running high at Hareford Hall, the Earl has died and the long search for an heir has finally borne fruit.  Imagine their horror then, when they find out that the heir is cockney costermonger Bill Snibson. The indignation of some of the ...

Book and Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire Music: Jeanine Tesori Director:  Nigel Harman Reviewer: Lu Greer Shrek the Musical, currently embarking on its second UK tour, brings to the stage the hugely successful 2001 Dreamworks animation.  The original film reinvented the fairytale, following the gruff ogre Shrek from his beloved swamp on an adventure that teaches us lessons about perceptions of beauty ...

Writer: W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan Director: Sasha Regan Reviewer: Cathy Swaby Gilbert and Sullivan’s uproarious satirical operetta Iolanthe is a must see this week at Brighton’s Theatre Royal, a somewhat miniature Savoy, the home of the 1882 original show, with its velvet Victorian interiors. Iolanthemay be antiquated but it is classic, and the mischievous references spark intrigue and tears of ...

Writer: William Wycherley Director: Jonathan Munby Reviewer: David Guest Restoration comedies are enjoying something of a renaissance, with a recent in-period The Way of the World at the Donmar and The Country Wife at Southwark Playhouse transposed to the Roaring Twenties showing the timelessness of rants against seduction, deception and excesses. At Chichester’s Minerva Theatre Wycherley’s sparkling 1675 comedy of manners ...

Writer: Agatha Christie Director: Brian Blessed Reviewer: Christie-Luke Jones The Unexpected Guest is a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery set in a fog-shrouded 1950’s South Wales. One-time big-game hunter Richard Warwick, now in a wheelchair after having been mauled by a lion in Kenya, is found dead in his study by Michael Starkwedder (Séan Browne), the show’s staccato-voiced titular character. ...

Music and Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin Book: Heather Hach Director: Anthony Williams Reviewer: Simon Topping Vibrant colours, bouncing movement and upbeat music greet the audience as we meet the peppy sisters of the Delta Nu sorority.  This is the exuberant start, of the silly, sparkling entertaining and vibrant, Legally Blonde. Nearing the end of its UK tour, this current ...