30 January 2023 3*** Baz Lurmann’s 1992 film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ was made on a shoestring, but it has become a firm favourite and helped the world of ballroom dancing no end. Its story of an ‘ugly duckling’ achieving her dream as being a dancer with a more seasoned, but renegade partner is full of charm […]
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25 January 2023 4**** Trying to unpick Pinter’s ‘The Birthday Party’ could be a full-time job. A play of contradictions and of absurdity, of the mudane and of menace. A play where it’s difficult to believe anything you hear, but somehow, you become hooked by the writing and sucked into a world where the ordinary
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23 January 2023 4**** Nicolas Billon’s play found success in his native Canada and has since been filmed and become, curiously, a surprise and long-running hit in South Korea. This is the UK premiere production. A doctor in a mental health establishment has gone missing; the last person to see him was troubled inmate, Michael.
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Well, here we are again at the end of another year. The theatrical peak of which is this awards ceremony. Qualification for any award is based on the reviews written throughout the year. To acknowledge those in contention for the awards, nominations are listed in some categories, but not in all. The decisions of the
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JULY And so the summer continued back at the MANOR PAVILION THEATRE SIDMOUTH with GLORIOUS; Peter Quilter’s beautifully realised script about Florence Foster Jenkins. Directed with love and verve by Claire Evans this was a wonderfully entertaining and touching piece. Hilary Harwood excelled as Florence and Dominic McChesney was ideally cast as her husband. Notable
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20 December 2022 3*** When you sit down to watch a Crossroads Pantomime (formerly QDOS) you really know what you will be seeing – as they say, “it does what it says on the tin”. You know you will see beautiful sets and costumes, upbeat (often very loud) music, a spectacular moment or two, lots
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So, here we are again. Following a curtailed year of theatre going in 2021 I was full of enthusiasm to take in some super new shows and some returning old ones maybe. But we would have to see. 2022 has thrown up a whole variety of issues which means it won’t have been my most
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13 December 2022 2** Greek stories and myths are a ripe orchard to pick from when reaching out for plots, characters, themes and historical analogies and in THE DISSENT, writer, Libby Boyd does just that. Presented by Themis Theatre as part of Theatre Royal Plymouth’s LAB programme – a tremendous opportunity for young theatre-makers to
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5 December 2022 3*** The phenomenal success of the 1992 film Sister Act spawned a swift sequel (and another is on the way, or so I read recently) and it was only a matter of time before a stage musical would emerge – it’s the thing to do! This was realised in 2006 with the
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15 November 2022 5***** Matthew Bourne is a theatrical alchemist bar none. The skills of creator, director and choreographer are offered up in all their glory in this wonderfully entertaining version of the ballet set to Tchaikovsky’s music. Subtitled ‘A Gothic Romance’, Bourne takes the original fairy story and adds his own spin on the
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