Theatre Reviews

9 March 2022 2** The English writer Mary Norton is best known for ‘The Borrowers’, but it  is from some of her other books, that Disney chose to create their 1971 film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’. Sibling children are evacuated to the country and through some magic they are transported on adventures in a strange land […]

4 March 2022 4**** Founded in 2015 by the celebrated dancer and choreographer, Carlos Acosta, Acosta Danza was established to bring young dancers from Cuba to the fore and offer them opportunities to dance on the world stage. Dance Consortium are to be praised for bringing yet another amazing company to Plymouth and other UK

1 March 2022 5***** Nederlands Dans Theater is regarded as one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies and on the evidence presented by their current UK tour it is not difficult to see why. The UK is so fortunate to have an organisation such as the Dance Consortium which works with 18 regional theatres

23 February 2022 4**** Yasmina Reza’s blistering comedy of bad manners is brought vividly to life in a new production by OnBook Theatre at the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes, London. Two couples meet up to discuss their sons who have had a fight – one of whom has broken some teeth. A quiet, considered

22 February 2022 5***** In terms of imagination, C.S. Lewis’s was wonderful and weird and thrilling. It is no surprise that he was a good friend of the similarly creative J.R.R. Tolkein. Effective transference of their works has taken place on film and television but to see it come to life on stage is a

4**** 7 February 2022 The many millions of people who have read Dan Brown’s bestselling novel, or seen the film or both, will be intrigued as to how it can be transferred to the theatre. A stage version of ‘The Da Vinci Code’? It certainly piqued this reviewer’s interest. Adaptations are so tricky; you can’t

3*** 19 January 2022 For over twenty years the phenomenon that is the show ‘MAMMA MIA’ has played to millions of people throughout the world. The two Hollywood films have brought in many hundreds of dollars and been hugely successful. All that being so, the show has eluded me until tonight. Not that I have

4**** 21 December 2021 The front cover of the programme for Plymouth’s pantomime this year announces the title of the show and underneath the words ‘Everything You Could Wish For in a Panto’. A bold claim that. In these strange times as theatres struggle to ward off losing shows through outbreaks of Covid, it is

4**** 14 December 2021 Taking a classic story and re-working it is always something of a risk. The challenge being to bring the story to life in a new and interesting fashion whilst (generally) respecting the original. Sometimes, that original is more or less ditched to create some kind of Frankenstein’s monster, purporting to have

5***** 10 December 2021 Exeter-based theatre makers Le Navet Bete have become regulars at many theatres not least in their home-town. Back in the summer of 2021 as theatres were re-opening, it was this company who were ready and raring to go – lighting up the stages with their own unique madcap productions. Usually found