Cormac Richards

TOM, DICK AND HARRY – Manor Pavilion Theatre, Sidmouth

4**** 12 September 2019 Entering the auditorium, one is greeted with the strains of music from the ‘Carry On’ films – beloved of many, decried by others. To me, the tunes conjour up ludicrous plots, extreme characters, mad capers, campery, innuendo and saucy dialogue – this is not an accidental choice to set the scene […]

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THE KINGFISHER – Manor Pavilion Theatre, Sidmouth

4**** 5 September 2019 When first performed in the late 1970’s this lovely play was blessed with major stars on both sides of the Atlantic – Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson in London and Rex Harrison and Claudette Colbert on Broadway; a film followed with Harrison and Wendy Hiller.  Pretty good I would say. A

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DANGEROUS OBSESSION – Manor Pavilion Theatre, Sidmouth

3*** 23 August 2019 An effective stage thriller is pretty hard to pull off. When you only have a very small number of characters to play with it is even more tricky; ‘Sleuth’, ‘The Business of Murder’ are but two names that spring to mind as successful. ‘Dangerous Obsession’, by renown TV script writer N.J.Crisp

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DANGEROUS CORNER – Manor Pavilion Theatre, Sidmouth

5***** 11 July 2019 There is a very good reason why J.B. Priestley remains popular today – and studied by students and academics alike – he is a very good writer. ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a masterpiece of construction, and the gradual exposure of secrets which have a devastating effect on the characters, is simply

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THE PIRATES OF PORTISHEAD – Long Ashton Community Centre, Bristol

1* 7 July 2019 ‘Bristol Pantomime Productions Ltd are a new professional theatre company that tour around the UK producing high quality shows for children and adults alike’, so says a note in the programme for this production of ‘The Pirates of Portishead’. Having been invited to review this show – and I have no

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