Tag Archives: Theatre

Writer: Ella Hickson Director: Dominique Chapman Reviewer: Richard Maguire If the directors taking part in the Directors’ Festival at The Orange Tree are the future of theatre, then we can expect some exciting times ahead. In the hands of Dominique Chapman, Precious Little Talent, a fast, fast-talking comedy about transatlantic relations, shines as bright as New York’s Chrysler Building.  On a rooftop in the city that never sleeps, 19-year-old Sam meets, improbably, an ...

Writer: Luke Barnes Director: Samson Hawkins Reviewer: Richard Maguire If only all new directors had the energetic vision of Samson Hawkins. He directs Luke Barnes’ new play, Katie Johnstone, as if it were an Olympic sport. His actors are athletes in this precise, tight production. And despite all the mess on stage, it’s as clean as a referee’s whistle.  Katie Johnstone is part of the Directors’ Festival running at the ...

Writers: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields Director: Mark Bell Reviewer: Bethan Highgate-Betts Mischief Theatre Company’s winner of the Best New Comedy at the Olivier Awards and the Whatsonstage Awards, The Play That Goes Wrong is on Broadway, in its fourth year in the West End and touring the UK. It seems its popularity knows no bounds as it’s award ...

Writer:  Robert Graves Director:  Fidelis Morgan Reviewer:  Richard Maguire This is an odd one: a ‘lost’ Robert Graves play which documents the aftershocks of war and, surprisingly, has two characters, one male and one female, struggling to come to terms with their homosexuality. Very funny and almost embarrassingly melodramatic, it’s difficult to label this play with a genre. Perhaps, as ...

Devised by The Pappy Show Reviewer: Katherine Kirwin What makes up a man; his heritage, his parents, his relationships, his strength, his heart, his abs, his endurance, his mind? Boys is a fun, cheeky, timely, physical, theatrical exploration of manhood performed by a talented cast of young men of colour. The show could be seen as a messy mix of ...

Devised by Clown Funeral Reviewer Katherine Kirwin Things We Chose to Save presents a near future in which we can record, store, replay and even sell memories at will. All of this is overseen by a magnanimous company who seek to change the world and prevent anything passing out of ‘living memory’ for the greater good of everyone’s collective memories. ...

Writer:  Daniel Keene Director:  Edwina Strobl Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Working in partnership with The Refugee Council, Boxman is the desolate story of Ringo, an asylum seeker sleeping rough in London. Ringo lives in a world of shadows, where invisible to passers-by he’s haunted by ghosts of the past. Boxman is a quiet and understated portrayal of loss. Eschewing the traditional narrative of ...

Writer: Boublil and SchÓnberg Music: Claude-Michel SchÓnberg Lyrics: Richard Maltby, JR and Alain Boublil Director: Laurence Connor Choreographer: Bob Avian Reviewer: Georgie Bird Cameron MacKintosh brings his revamped production of Miss Saigon to Theatre Royal Plymouth. Set during the Vietnamese war, it tells the story of orphan Kim, who is forced to work in a brothel but falls in love ...