22 August 2022 5***** The joy of the Summer Play Festival at the Manor Pavilion Theatre in Sidmouth is the juxtaposition of productions, widely differing in genre, being performed one after another. Witness the lunacy of JEEVES & WOOSTER from last week to the sublimity of BREAKING THE CODE this. Such variety is not handed […]
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16 August 2022 4**** It took 30 years before the classic film musical ‘SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN’ made it onto the stage when it premiered in London starring Tommy Steele and Roy Castle. Following closely to the film, the show re-creates many iconic scenes and is jam-packed with great songs and dance sequences. A complex
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15 August 2022 5***** PG Wodehouse was a one-off; his writings, particularly those featuring Bertie Wooster and his manservant Jeeves, are some of the daftest in all literature. Stage plays featuring the two are few and far between so this wonderfully original script by David and Robert Goodale, which was first staged in 2013, has
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8 August 2022 3*** When it comes to plotting a multi-layered thriller, they don’t come much better than Francis Durbridge and he remains popular, not least at the Sidmouth Summer Play Festival, where big audiences are the order of the day. Best known as a writer of radio and TV serials, he only produced a
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27 July 2022 3*** Despite the initial denials of the creators of DREAMGIRLS, there can be no doubt that it was heavily influenced by Motown and the music of Diana Ross, the Supremes and Berry Gordy. Set in the 1960s, the ups and downs, the quarrels and love lives of three singers is played out
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25 July 2022 5***** It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is still enormously popular. Adaptations for film, television and theatre abound with versions of her novels and pseudo-versions appearing regularly. It is a delight, therefore, to witness Tim Luscombe’s lucid and pacey version of ‘EMMA’ which takes us to the half way
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4**** 18 July 2022 Brandon Thomas’s obituary notice in The Times quoted him as saying “I hoped to go down to fame as a great actor. If I go at all it will be as the author of ‘Charley’s Aunt’.” Prescient words; the actor never made it big on the stage, but well over 100
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11 July 2022 5***** Disregard the power of Agatha Christie at your peril. At her best she is a theatrical powerhouse and in the hands of a director with nous and imagination can be a phenomenal stage treat. In this production, Jason Moore is just that director. First performed in 1958, THE UNEXPECTED GUEST was
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4 JULY 2022 5***** The extraordinary story of the soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, dubbed ‘the worst singer in the world’ was revitalised by the 2016 film starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant; this play, on the same subject, premiered in 2005 starring Maureen Lipman. The third show in the Sidmouth Summer Play Festival presented by
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27 June 2022 4**** Laughing out loud is one of the best tonics available and it’s free and makes you feel good. Finding the mechanism to provoke the laughs is not always easy. May I recommend ‘LUCKY NUMBERS’ by Mike Yeaman? The premise is simple. Nana lives with her somewhat dysfunctional family. She is getting
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