Tag Archives: Birmingham

It fell upon a time, befitting the British Establishment, to once and for all solve the endemic criminal fraternities’ disposition towards upsetting the equilibrium of The State through larcenous diversions - poaching a rabbit, stealing a loaf of bread, being Irish, American or Seditious - slagging-off whichever corpulent/mad George was currently squatting his fat rump on the throne. The answer ...

Writer: Alexis Michalik, translated by Jeremy Sams Director: Roxana Silbert Reviewer: Dave Smith Most people know the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, probably the most celebrated play in the French language. Written in rhyming couplets, it’s about how the physically unappealing Cyrano (he has a very big nose) helps a friend’s love life by writing his romantic letters for him, ...

Book: Harvey Fierstein Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper Director & Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Kinky Boots is bright, brash and brilliantly enjoyable. Based on the 2005 film of the same name, which was itself inspired by a 1999 BBC documentary, Trouble at the Top, Kinky Boots tells the story of how a traditional Northampton shoe factory reinvents itself ...

Writer: James Kettle Directors: Didi Hopkins and Selina Cadell Reviewer: Selwyn Knight When one thinks of David Tomlinson, one probably thinks of Mr Banks in Mary Poppins, for Tomlinson by then had already carved his niche playing, as he described them, ‘my dim-witted upper-class twit performances’. And when one hears that there’s to be a play celebrating the life of ...

Writer and Director: Lucy Bird Reviewer: Selwyn Knight By many measures, Kate is successful. She holds her own in an extremely competitive male-dominated office, doing her best to fit in, working long hours and swearing like a trooper – she’s even Johnno’s Best Man. But Kate is also socially inept and lonely; she might have it all professionally, but personally, her life ...

Directors: Matilda Dickinson and Adam Lloyd-James Reviewer: Selwyn Knight As Thoreau might say, Gregor is leading a life of quiet desperation: he is stuck in a job he hates, working long hours for a demanding boss and with little appreciation. He does it to care for his family: his father who has been too unwell to work for some years ...

Writer: David Mamet Director: Sam Yates Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Four glib and fast-talking salesmen are increasingly desperate to sell what is frankly undesirable real estate to unsuspecting prospects. Their worldview is concentrated on getting to the top of the office leaderboard and winning a Cadillac. They’ll do anything to clinch the deal. But their fates are also in the hands ...

Director/Choreographer: David Bintley Reviewer: Hannah Powell The folk tale of Beauty and the Beast is a familiar one of family, danger and love, shared by a vast number of cultures stretching across the breadth of the globe. After being caught trespassing and in return for his life, Belle’s father is forced to send his youngest daughter to live within the ...