Book: Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: James Garrington Many movies have iconic moments, moments that linger in the memory long after the rest of the film is fading. An Officer and a Gentleman has one such moment – it may be over 35 years ago, but a lot of people will remember the final scene, ...
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Book: Peter Stone Music and Lyrics: Maury Yeston Director: Thom Sutherland Reviewer: James Garrington Is it possible to create tension in a show where everyone in the audience knows the plot and knows how it ends? Not easily you may think, but that is exactly what Maury Yeston and Peter Stone have achieved with Titanic – The Musical. The show tells ...
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Writers: Agatha Christie & Frank Vosper Director: Lucy Bailey Designer: Mike Britton Lighting: Oliver Fenwick Sound Designer & Composer: Richard Hammarton Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys Adapted from a 1934 short story Philomel Cottage, Agatha Christie wrote an unperformed stage version of the same name which itself was re-written as Love From a Stranger by actor and playwright Frank Vosper in 1936. ...
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Writer: W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan Director: Sasha Regan Reviewer: Cathy Swaby Gilbert and Sullivan’s uproarious satirical operetta Iolanthe is a must see this week at Brighton’s Theatre Royal, a somewhat miniature Savoy, the home of the 1882 original show, with its velvet Victorian interiors. Iolanthemay be antiquated but it is classic, and the mischievous references spark intrigue and tears of ...
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Book: Lorne Campbell (original book by John Logan & Brian Yorkey) Music & Lyrics: Sting Director: Lorne Campbell Designer: Fifty Nine Productions Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys Sting’s musical love song to his Tyneside homeland, The Last Ship, is in his own words to: “repay a debt” to the area he left early in his career. Starting life unsuccessfully in the US, ...
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Writer: Agatha Christie (adapted by Frank Vosper) Director: Lucy Bailey Reviewer: Joan Phillips Agatha Christie’s work seems to be enjoying a renaissance in the last few years. Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express had an all-star cast, while two recent BBC TV adaptations attracted critical and viewer’s acclaim and Lucy Bailey’s revival of Witness for the Prosecution is enjoying an extended London run. ...
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Writer: Rachel Wagstaff (adapted from the novel by Sebastian Faulks) Directors: Alastair Whatley with Charlotte Peters Designer: Victoria Spearing Lighting: Alex Wardle Sound: Dominic Bilkey Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys Rachel Wagstaff has gamely taken on the adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' sprawling, nearly 500 page novel Birdsong, turning it into a two hour 20 minute stage play. First seen in the West ...
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Writer: Anders Lustgarten (adapted from David Peace book) Director: Rod Dixon Reviewer: Joan Phillips If you are a certain age and if ‘the beautiful game’ is, as Bill Shankly put it, ‘more important than life or death’ then this is a play for you. Based on David Peace’s eponymous novel, The Damned United is the story of Brian Clough’s doomed ...
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