Category: <span>Review</span>

Boy Out The City

Boy Out The City

Declan Bennett | Belgrade Theatre | Directed by Nancy Sullivan

Declan Bennett comes home to Coventry, delivering his blistering one man show in poetic style.

Boy Out The City
Boy Out The City
The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams | Belgrade Theatre | Directed by Atri Banerjee

Williams’ poetry pulses through Atri Banerjee’s beautifully staged production of ‘The Glass Menagerie’.

Bette & Joan

Bette & Joan

Anton Burge | OldburyREP Theatre | Directed by Paul Steventon-Marks

Hollywood blazes into life on the OldburyRep stage as arch-rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford battle it out on set.

Blue-Remembered-Hills

Blue Remembered Hills

Dennis Potter | Highbury Theatre | Directed by Phil Astle

Highbury Theatre’s brave decision to stage Dennis Potter’s brutal vision of wartime childhood pays off in a production which brings seven-year-olds to life in all their appalling glory. ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ may not be as familiar to audiences as ‘The Singing Detective’ or ‘Pennies from Heaven’ but this lesser-known play from the master of innovative television deserves to be seen.

Educating-Rita

Educating Rita

Willy Russell | Crescent Theatre | Directed by Fi Cotton

Willy Russell’s modern classic feels fresh and excitingly alive in the Crescent Theatre’s latest studio production.

Lord-Arthur-Saviles-Crime-Square

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

Constance Cox, based on Oscar Wilde | Lichfield Garrick Theatre | Directed by Lucy Dufaye

The wit and joy of Wilde’s language shines through in Lichfield Players’ latest production.

A short story first published in 1887, ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ contains so many of the ingredients audiences would come to love in the plays of Oscar Wilde. It may seem like beautifully phrased nonsense but simmering under the surface of this murderous tale are characteristic criticisms of the upper classes.

Les-Miserables

Les Misérables

Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg | Sutton Coldfield Town Hall | Directed by Georgia Young

Revolution is in the air at Sutton Coldfield’s Town Hall. Do you hear the people sing?

Musicals don’t come more famous than Boublil and Schonberg’s redemption story of Jean Valjean, the convict turned mayor at the centre of this epic story set in early 19th century revolutionary France. It’s a challenge for any company, requiring a huge cast, extravagant sets and containing some of the most famous songs in musical theatre. Sutton Coldfield Musical Youth Theatre Company absolutely smash it in this ambitiously staged production which had the opening-night audience on their feet for a richly deserved standing ovation.

Les Miserables
Poster-Duplicity-Beginners

Duplicity for Beginners

Ben Mills-Wood | Blue Orange Theatre | Directed by Simon Ravenhill

With murder in the mix, Ben Mills-Wood’s latest play delivers frantic farce with a difference in this latest ambitious offering from the Jewellery Quarter’s Blue Orange Theatre, directed by Simon Ravenhill.

Duplicity for Beginners
Abigails-Party

Abigail’s Party

Mike Leigh | Highbury Players | Directed by Ian Appleby

Mike Leigh’s classic is brought to life in all its comic darkness in Highbury Theatre’s latest offering.

DSTC-Midsummer-low-res-for-web

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

William Shakespeare | Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company | Directed by Matt Swan

Derby’s Markeaton Park proves the perfect setting for a delightfully comic production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Shakespeare’s classic tale of love, mischief and magic directed by Matt Swan.