Director & Choreographer: Sir Matthew Bourne Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Reviewer: Victoria Bawtree The name Matthew Bourne is synonymous with innovation in dance and despite the fact that his original production of Swan Lake is now over 20 years old, the premise still feels contemporary and unique. This is story-telling that leaves its mark and allows its audience to re-live ...
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Book: Harvey Fierstein Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper Director & Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell Reviewer: Victoria Bawtree After a steady stream of Jukebox musicals, Kinky Boots – albeit based on the 2005 film – feels like a breath of fresh air. Lauper’s score is original and plays with different styles, from folk to rock and from ballad to gospel, each matching ...
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Director and Writer: Paul Hendy Reviewer: Dan English Pantomime is a Christmas tradition, yet almost becoming as traditional is the turkey on the table is the high quality of Canterbury’s festive offering, with the Marlowe’s production of Cinderella being no different. Boasting a cast of soap stars and Canterbury panto stalwarts, this year’s production of Cinderella delivers the high-quality pantomime ...
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Creative Director: Julius Green Reviewer: Victoria Bawtree Circus meets West End in this gloriously quirky and creative show. Performers from across the world are represented here with an endless variety of traditional and contemporary skills entwined. Impressively, what might have been a simple variety show becomes a unique and unified production through careful staging and storytelling. Apart from one specific ...
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Book: Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Victoria Bawtree This could be a show that splits its audience: those that know and love the film will likely be won over, but for those who don’t, the near-constant stream of 80s hits may or may not be enough to keep all onside. Douglas Day Stewart’s original ...
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Writer: Nick Stafford from the original by Michael Morpurgo Director: Marianne Elliott & Tom Morris Movement: Toby Sedgwick Reviewer: Neill Barston From the moment the opening sequences of War Horse play out in a rural Devonshire field, this remarkable work of theatre remains truly captivating. As its author Michael Morpurgo – who attended the Canterbury press night marking the 10th ...
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Writer: Willy Russell Director: Glen Walford Reviewer: Victoria Bawtree Willy Russell’s one-woman play, Shirley Valentine, is enjoying a revival tour, 30 years after its first performance. Despite being written and set in the 1980s, however, Russell’s monologue is still relevant today. Jodie Prenger plays the 42-year-old housewife from Liverpool who is trapped in a monotonous marriage with only “wall” to keep ...
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Writer: Sharon Byrne Director: Nicola Samer Reviewer: Amy Jane Smith Sharon Byrne takes us back to 1980s Dublin in new play Gutted, where a fish factory floor becomes the stage for three women’s stories of one life-changing night. Through alternating monologues, we experience the lives of Deirdre (Rose O’Loughlin), Dolores (Nancy Sullivan) and Breda (Lucia Mcanespie) – workers and women united ...
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