Tag Archives: Bristol

Writer:  Enid Blyton Music and Direction: Emma Rice Reviewer:  Julia Beasley There’s the swot, the bully, the wimp, the joker, the tomboy, the dreamer, and the leader. Adapter and director Emma Rice has been faithful to the original Enid Blyton characters in this gentle morality tale of friendship at a girls’ boarding school. The premise of Wise Children’s latest musical ...

Writer/performer: Robin Dale Boon Reviewer: James McColl In his latest show, What Does Stuff Do? Robin Dale Boon asks the all-encompassing and important titular question. Through his inventive juggling, ping pong mastery, water-bending and philosophical leanings, the Circomedia trained Boon does his best to answer his own question by exploring the relationship between objects and people in a tight hour-long ...

Writers: Gary Barlow and Tim Firth Director: Matt Ryan Designer: Robert Jones Reviewer: Julia Beasley Getting naked for charity was a cheeky move by 11 female friends in North Yorkshire over 20 years ago. Modestly poised with sunflowers, teapots and currant buns,  their Women’s Institute nude calendar started life as a local controversy. It was all quietly subversive and heaps ...

Writer & Director: Tristan Fynn-Aidu-enu  Reviewer: James McColl London, the early Nineties. Black British culture is a dominant part of mainstream culture, with garage, jungle and soul music bubbling under the surface of the capital. Sweet Like Chocolate Boy, the latest play from writer & director Tristan Fynn-Aidu-enu, is a coming-of-age story spanning multiple decades and generations. Two young black ...

Writer: Dennis Kelly Music & Lyrics: Tim Minchin Director: Matthew Warchus Choreographer: Peter Darling Reviewer: Leah Tozer Just because I find myself in this story, it doesn’t mean that everything is written for me. Ah, the wisdom of children – the whimsical wonder and childlike delight that children can’t wait to outgrow and adults wish for once again is often ...

The Leeds Playhouse and Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol have announced recipients of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme (RTYDS) 18-Month Residency, placements they are hosting for the first time. The scheme seeks out the most talented theatre directors at the early stage of their careers and helps develop their skills and experience by placing them in theatres outside London. ...

Music: W. A. Mozart Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder (t: Jeremy Sams) Conductor: Damian Iorio Reviewer: Ivana Galapcheva It may have been played consistently for over 200 years, but very few times in its history has Mozart’s The Magic Flute seen its hero, Tamino, start proceedings by battling a giant lobster. Bristol’s Hippodrome provided the setting for Thursday’s performance, offering an intimate ...

Writer: Thomas Meeham Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Martin Charnin Director: Nicolai Foster Reviewer: Francesca Parker The classic rags-to-riches story has once again been brought to life on stage. Despite being set in New York at the time of the Great Depression, Annie is the anything but downbeat. The heart-warming tale of a young orphan whose life changed irrevocably after a chance encounter, ...