Theatre Reviews

______ 18 August 2025 ______ 5***** _____ In the wrong hands, a production of Philip King’s 1945 farce can be a disaster – when you have a director like Jonathan Hunt and his assembled cast at the Manor Pavilion, Sidmouth – it is an unalloyed joy! Farce relies on split second timing, full command of […]

______ 17 August 2025 ______ 4**** ______ A former resident of Fyne Court (now a National Trust property) was one Andrew Crossse whose fascination with electricity lead to experiments which would brand him as someone trying to play God. It is believed that one of his lectures was attended by Mary Shelley; the subject of

______ 15 August 2025 ______ 5***** ______ Jane Austen was never to see the publication of her final novel ‘Persuasion’; wracked by ill-health, she was aware she was seriously unwell while writing it. In his adaptation of the novel, Mark Healy, uses the story of Austen writing the book as a parallel to the life

______ 14 August 2025 ______ 3 1/2 *** ______ There can be no denying that ‘Hamilton’ has been a phenomenal success, gaining multiple awards across the world and now on its first UK tour.  The story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, is perfect for the purposes of dramatisation; the tale of a

______ 11 August 2025 ______ 4**** ______ Frederick Knott’s 1952 play, ‘Dial M For Murder’ is one of those unusual thrillers in that you know who did it and why from the start, the story is rather built around how and when the perpetrator will be caught out. The play started life as a TV

______ 9 August 2025 ______ 3*** ______ The scene is set so very well; a rustic rural house, the sounds of a French chanteuse and the realisation that we are in the build-up to the Second World War and then the mystery begins. Brian Clemens had a long and illustrious career – mainly as a

______ 31 July 2025 ______ 4**** ______ Alan Ayckbourn has written over 90 plays and doesn’t seem to be stopping. It is no wonder, therefore that occasionally you see one which has slid under the radar. ‘A Brief History of Women’, first performed in 2017 is just such a play. In fact many of his

______ 28 July 2025 ______ 5***** ______ And just like that the halfway point in the 2025 of the Summer Play Festival is reached. Six down and six to go. And just before a break for a week, the best production of the season so far. Telling the story of four businessmen on an outward

______ 24 July 2025 ______ 4**** ______ It is very much something to celebrate; the establishing of a new repertory theatre company and season. Following a successful launch with three plays last summer, Gilroy Theatre has returned to the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis for a five-week line-up with a company of twelve actors and

______ 22 July 2025 ______ 5***** ______ There is a scene in the first half of Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell which rather sums up the show; two young men meet on a park bench, coy, guarded, attracted to each other, they indulge in a routine of extraordinary complexity and intimacy, it is like a