Tag Archives: Amanda Whittington

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Jacqui Honess-Martin Musical Director: Richard Reeday Movement Director: Jenni Jackson Reviewer: Janet Jepson In the 1950s and 60s, everyone knew a local girl who had ‘gone to stay with her auntie for a couple of months’. She would always return, with no sign of roses in her cheeks from fresh country air, but looking a bit ...

Writer: Amanda Whittington Directors: Jason Capewell and Alasdair Harvey Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Four disparate and apparently breezy ladies escape their humdrum lives in a fish packing company for a day, celebrating Pearl’s retirement by having a day at the races. During their day away, we find each has hidden depths as secrets are revealed. For each, the day is a turning ...

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Theresa Heskins Set Designer: Dawn Allsop Choreographer: Beverley Edmunds Reviewer: Ron Simpson Amanda Whittington’s gift for situational comedy/drama is seen at its best in Kiss Me Quickstep, now touring in an entertaining and well-judged production from the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme. The original idea is promising: follow three couples at the Amateur Ballroom Championships in Blackpool ...

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Theresa Heskins Reviewer: Matthew Bagnall “Who knows what really goes on in a marriage?” Blackpool. The home of traditional British holidays and now the British Ballroom Championships. This new play by Amanda Whittington (well known for Be My Baby among others) isn’t about dancing at all. Directed by Theresa Heskins in a co-production with Oldham Coliseum, ...

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Laura Jayne Bateman Reviewer: Phil Lowe Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955. She pleaded not guilty and offered no defence but her fate was sealed when she said in court and on oath “It is obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him.” The damning response was ...

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Gareth Tudor Price Reviewer: Ray Taylor When karaoke singer Teena White meets veteran club performer Vince Steel, both their lives are set to change. Life on the northern variety circuit is a tough existence and a harsh training ground but Vince sees Teena as his chance to reignite his showbiz career. They form the duo Satin ...

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Lucia Cox Reviewer: Brian Gorman A stifling hot evening in a jam-packed dark room is never a good thing. Unless you’re kept entertained, enthralled, and enlightened by a first rate company, that is. Under the quite wonderful high ceiling of The King’s Arms Theatre, which lent a Cathedral-like atmosphere to proceedings, the newly-formed Asphalt Roses Theatre ...

Writer:Alan Sillitoe, adapted by Amanda Whittington Director: Tony Casement Reviewer: Michael Gray   Sara Perks' splendid design instantly conjures up a grim world of postwar austerity, the grim industrial Nottingham where Sillitoe set his state-of-the-nation novel. The steel girders frame sliding doors and screens; before the action, six silhouettes come to life in a clever pastiche of movie titles. The ...