Tag Archives: Royal and Derngate

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: John Haidar Reviewer: James Garrington All too often productions which label themselves “innovative” and “revelatory” turn out to be anything but that – simply a recycling of old ideas with a relatively minor tweak here and there. While, as they say, there’s nothing new in theatre, this production of Richard III by Headlong could certainly never be ...

Writers: Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, based on the book by Paula Hawkins Director: Anthony Banks Reviewer: James Garrington Rachel Watson’s life is a mess. Divorced, she’s living surrounded by rubbish, a large number of empty bottles, and blank periods in her memory. She longs for a different life – a life of love and happy-ever-after, of a partner and ...

Music & Lyrics: Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus Book: Catherine Johnson Director: Phyllida Lloyd Reviewer: David Robinson There can be few better ways to beat off the January blues than a trip to Mamma Mia! the stellar feel-good musical, currently bringing some Greek island paradise sunshine to Northampton. There seems little evidence of the warmth folk feel for these classic ...

Writers: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields Director: Mark Bell Reviewer: Maggie Constable The Derngate houses this week, at the start of its U.K tour,  The Play That Goes Wrong, a wonderful piece of comic theatre which leaves its audience questioning the title; it should, surely have been ‘drastically wrong’! This is the play’s third year, with accolades aplenty, ...

Writer: Arthur Miller Director: Abigail Graham Reviewer: David Robinson The essence of an Arthur Miller play is that he boldly and regularly returns to his preferred themes: family, social responsibility and the pursuit of that all-American dream. Those keynotes are played loud and clear in this imaginative Royal & Derngate production of his 1949 classic. Death of a Salesman is ...

Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Director: Matthew White Reviewer:  Natasha Hegarty From the opening melody to when the riffs kick in, the audience is clicking its fingers in time with the familiar tune and The Addams Family: The Musical Comedy begins. Wednesday Addams has gone and done the most revolting thing she could ever do: she has fallen ...

Music: Alan Menken Lyrics: Glenn Slater Book: Cheri & Bill Steinkellner Director: Craig Revel Horwood Reviewer: Natasha Hegarty The plot of Sister Act: The Musical, is well known to those who have seen the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith. Club singer, Deloris van Cartier, witnesses a murder committed by her mobster boyfriend and is given witness protection ...

Writer: Eleanor Bergstein Director: Federico Bellone Reviewer: Natasha Hegarty Dirty Dancing isn’t so much a stage adaptation of the now classic 1987 movie starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze as the two lovers from different worlds, but almost a complete transcription. Set in 1963 when America was under the watchful eye of John F. Kennedy, Frances “Baby” Houseman (Katie Hartland) is ...