Tag Archives: James Atherton

Music: James Atherton Writer: Mike Kenny Director: Gilly Baskeyfield Reviewer: Sam Lowe The "Punch and Judy" style opening sees the actors peer their heads above the curtains onstage. That signals that we're off to the circus. Well, not just yet. The story begins with Pa, he has a job as a window cleaner (but he's terrible at it) so it's ...

Writer: Robert Louis Stevenson Adaptor and director: Theresa Heskins Reviewer: Jay Nuttall Artistic director Theresa Heskins writes in her programme notes that after consultation with focus groups of children as to what should be on their stage at Christmas the overwhelming consensus involved pirates, treasure and fights. And so, bowing to popular opinion, Treasure Island is in full production as ...

Writer: Andrea Dunbar Director: Kate Wasserberg Designer: Tim Shortall Reviewer: Ron Simpson Andrea Dunbar’s 1982 play, later enlarged into a film, is the stuff of legends. Still a teenager, Dunbar had already had an earlier play, The Arbor, staged at the Royal Court. Both took a disconcertingly frank look at life on Bradford’s Buttershaw Estate where Dunbar grew up and ...

Writer:  Andrea Dunbar Director: Kate Wasserberg Reviewer: Selwyn Knight It’s the early 1980s and Rita, Sue and Bob have a secret: after babysitting Bob’s children, Bob gives schoolgirls Rita and Sue a lift home but rather than go straight home they divert to a local beauty spot and each girl, in turn, ‘has a jump’ with Bob. Bob tells the ...

Writer:  Andrea Dunbar Director: Max Stafford-Clark Reviewer: Richard Hall In its special 50th anniversary season, Bolton’s Octagon theatre has teamed up with Out of Joint and London’s Royal Court Theatre to revive this classic 1980’s coming of age play. Playwright Andrea Dunbar was discovered by Max Stafford-Clark when he was running the Royal Court and was only 19 when she ...

Writer: Hans Christian Anderson Adaptor &Director: Theresa Heskins Reviewer: Carol Lovatt The Snow Queen is a fitting offering from the New Vic as the festive season begins to bite.  It is a play that encapsulates the iciness of the temperatures outside but within is the warmth of a story based on hope. The Snow Queen was written by Hans Christian ...

Writer: Geraldine McCaughrean Adaptor/Director: Theresa Heskins Music: James Atherton Reviewer:Katy Roberts As Oxford Playhouse's inaugural production, in collaboration with the New Vic Theatre, and after a refurbishment project spanning a total of three years costing £800,000, Peter Pan in Scarlet is the perfect show to fill this exciting and fresh new space. The show is adapted for the stage by ...

Writer: Geraldine McCaughrean Adaptor/Director: Theresa Heskins Reviewer: Carol Lovatt Everyone knows the story of Peter Pan, or so it seems. The story of a little boy who can fly and lives in Neverland along with other lost boys and Tinkerbell and her mischievous band of fairies. Peter’s days are spent making Captain Hook’s life as problematic as possible while creating ...