Director/Choreographer: Cressida Carré Designer: Richard Evans Musical Director: Dean McDermott Puppet Designer: Paul Jomain Reviewer: Janet Jepson It’s furry, funny, fuzzy, it’s naughty and it’s definitely one to see – welcome to Avenue Q. This is a musical unlike any other seen on stage. A group of extremely talented human performers tread the boards, but hardly anyone notices most of ...
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Writer: Willy Russell Director: Max Roberts Set and Costumes: Patrick Connellan Lighting Design: Drummond Orr Sound Design: David Flynn Reviewer: Janet Jepson Willy Russell is rightly famous for his strong female characters, usually arising from his tough working-class upbringing in Liverpool in the fifties. Born to a father who worked in a factory and a mother who went from nursing ...
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Writer: Inua Ellams Director: Bijan Sheibani Designer: Rae Smith Reviewer: Charlotte Broadbent Inua Ellams was inspired to write Barber Shop Chronicles after being handed a flyer in 2010 which detailed a pilot project aiming to teach barbers the rudiments of counselling. He went on to consider the cultural and historical significance of the local barbershop. Whether it be in south ...
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Writer: Simon Beaufoy Director: Rupert Hill Reviewer: Scott Matthewman The collapse of Northern England’s industrial heritage caused something of an existential crisis in the workers left behind. Simon Beaufoy’s 1997 film The Full Monty captured that feeling as it was happening, with his tale of a group of ex-steel workers who, desperate for some cash, become the world’s most improbable male ...
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Writers, music & lyrics: Gary Barlow and Tim Firth Director: Matt Ryan Movement: Lucy Hind Reviewer: Janet Jepson The Women’s Institute was set up in 1915 to bring together women from all walks of life, an organisation that claims to be based on the ideals of fellowship, truth, tolerance and justice. No mention of stripping off and posing naked with ...
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Book: Chris Bush Music and Lyrics: Richard Hawley Director: Robert Hastie Reviewer: Jim Gillespie Richard Hawley is as Sheffield as Henderson’s Relish – South Yorkshire’s gauntlet to Lea & Perrins – and he has mined the landscape of the city throughout his musical career, from the romantic crooning of ‘Coles Corner’ to the more strident strains of ‘Truelove’s Gutter’. Hawley’s ...
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Music: Philip Feeney Choreography & Direction: Cathy Marston Set & Costume Design: Steffen Aarfing Reviewer: Janet Jepson Queen Victoria has long been a fascinating subject to the modern British public. After all, her reign spanned more than 60 years, and her legacy lives on in numerous buildings, images and even attitudes and prejudices. The TV series telling the story of ...
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Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Version and Direction: Victor Smirnov-Golovanov Artistic Director: Ludmila Nerubashenko Choreographer: Marius Petipa Reviewer: Janet Jepson There is a certain magic in the air when a ballet is performed, and an evening at the ballet seems to hark back to that previous era of classic theatrical opulence and privilege. To properly partake in the experience, one feels ...
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