Category Theatre

Gwen Dickey stars in new soul music spectacular Soul Legends

This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub

If Soul Legends is anything to go by, Salford just can’t get enough of that sweet soul music.

Created by the producers of Magic of Motown, Soul Legends is a two hour music spectacular which promises more soul classics than any other production...

Fiona Jane Weston pays tribute to Dame Angela Lansbury in new one-woman show

Like many film and theatre fans, I have grown up watching Dame Angela Lansbury. From AUNTIE MAME to MURDER SHE WROTE, Lansbury has graced our stage and screens for over 60 years. No surprise then that Fiona Jane Weston decided to make this remarkable woman the focus of her new one-woman show.

Coinciding with Dame Angela Lansbury’s 90th birthday, LOOKING FOR LANSBURY is a celebratory investigation into the life and work...

Photo Image: Jonathan Keenan

Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE is brought to life in new production directed by Caroline Steinbeis at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre

2015 is the centenary year of playwright Arthur Miller’s birth and director Caroline Steinbeis has brought his Broadway production of THE CRUCIBLE to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.

Written in 1953 by Miller as an indirect and ingeniously shrewd way to speak out against McCarthyism and the anti-Communist enquiries in America,...

This review was originally written for The Public Reviews

When Annie first burst onto Broadway in 1977, the brassy American musical won over hearts of theatre goers across the world with a record six-year run at the Alvin Theatre, scooping a Tony Award for Best Musical. Over 38 years later, the award-winning musical is continuing to thrill audiences in a stunning new production on tour in the UK starring Craig Revel Horwood as the tyrannical Miss Hannigan.

Set in 1930s New York during The Great...

This review was originally written for The Public Reviews

42 years after he shot to fame with his hit single The Show Must Go On, British singer-songwriter and 70s music legend Leo Sayer returns to the UK for a rare and much anticipated tour in support of his latest album Restless Years.

With 16 hit albums and 26 hit singles to his name, Leo Sayer is one of the most successful acts the UK has ever produced. Best known for his army of hits including One Man Band (1974), Long Tall Glasses (1974),...

Fiona Jane Weston pays tribute to showbiz legend Dame Angela Lansbury in new show

Stage and screen legend Dame Angela Lansbury turns 90 years old on 16th October and there is no better way to celebrate the life and work of this remarkable woman than with a show.

Written by Fiona Jane Weston and Patrick Lambe, Looking for Lansbury looks back at the life of stage and screen icon Dame Angela Lansbury. From Auntie Mame to Murder She Wrote, Dame Angela Lansbury has graced our screens for over 60 yea...

We Just Keep Going starts its three week run at the Hen & Chickens Theatre in Islington this week, starring Elle van Knoll, Hilary Tones, Sam Parks and Scott Westwood.

Written and produced by Elle van Knoll, We Just Keep Going is a touching play about love, family and the fraught relationship between mother and daughter. Watching her daughter Ruby (Elle van Knoll) grow into a young adult, Susan (Hilary Tones) must find a way to forge their fragile relationship before it’s too late...

AP Photo/Royal Shakespeare Company, Ellie Kurttz

Donna Kelly takes a look back at five of the most famous adaptions of Hamlet on film

With Benedict Cumberbatch currently treading the boards as the Danish prince at the Barbican, the word on everyone’s lips at the moment is Hamlet.

William Shakespeare’s tale of tragedy of murder and revenge in medieval Denmark is arguably the Bard’s most famous and most-discussed play and it’s not hard to see why.

For those who have never read (or indeed seen)...

Ambitious and convincing, Joe Newell reviews Jonathan Holloway’s grisly adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde

Jonathan Holloway’s grisly adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde returns to London for a short run at the Platform Theatre at Central St Martin’s.

This macabre and melodramatic portrayal of Jekyll & Hyde delivers some interesting twists to the classic we all know and love...

1956 Theatre are back with a contemporary take on the classic ‘whodunnit’

1956 Theatre has always been a little daring with their productions. In the past year, the ambitious theatre company has performed six impressive pieces of theatre, reworking classic texts like Great Expectations and Little Women, as well as performing two new pieces like Juke Box Baby and Wolf. No surprise then that the team are back with a brand-new original piece called Pudding Black.

Sharp, shady and tantalisingly sta...