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Theatre N16 – until 16 December.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

3***

Theatre N16’s last production at The Bedford is a boldly absurd and unsettling look at the impact of grief. Tom’s father has died, and Tom isn’t coping too well, so he digs up Dad and brings him home. Tom’s wife Katie finds out that she’s pregnant, but can’t bring herself to tell Tom once she’s seen Dad sitting in his armchair. As Dad slowly decomposes, the couple’s relationship rots as well, with Katie turning to drink to deal with Tom’s increasingly unhinged and obsessive behaviour.

Tim Crowther’s script is brisk and clipped, echoing Tom’s difficulties in expressing and dealing with his grief, with Tom’s sentences becoming increasingly unfinished, and Katie moving between ranting pleas for sanity and speechless horror as she watches Tom’s withdraw from reality. The dark humour plays well as visitors react to Dad’s presence with varying levels of acceptance, and the use of a large stickman drawing to represent the corpse is a neat touch, especially when Tom carries it around the stage with such care and reverence.

Deborah Bowness’s design – flat images of bath and bed on the floor and wall – lands to the cartoonish detachment from reality, along with Aaron Anthony’s ever watching presence as The Figure – part narrator, part stagehand – switching between multiple roles as visitors whose repeated, useless advice to “Hang in there, Tom” contrasts with Katie’s attempts to help Tom actually deal with his grief. The blackout between scenes become a little tedious, but add to the disjointed atmosphere of the story.

Natasha Pring is excellent as Katie, nailing her growing despair and helplessness; Damian Hasson tackles the difficult role of Tom with great energy. Keeping him just about sympathetic even in his most selfishly destructive moments, Hasson is particularly moving in the scenes where he acts out idyllic childhood scenes with his father’s corpse.

The play ends in a miasma of buzzing flies, with nothing resolved – which is appropriate for a story about an issue that is still not discussed enough and is not an easy fix. Dramatically though, it feels unfinished and abrupt, and a little disappointing for a play that begins with such promise.

Aldwych Theatre – until 3 February.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

Returning to London, but now plonking their legendary red stage in the swanky surroundings of the newly refurbished Aldwych Theatre, the La Soirée team prove that they can still throw one hell of a party.

With on stage seating and table service for the posh folks, and the red stage sitting in the stalls surrounded by chairs, the atmosphere, the fun club atmosphere is not lost in the theatre. Full of sauce and some mind-blowing skills, performers from all over the world showcase their weird and wonderful speciality acts. The line-up changes, with guest star appearances. Standouts on the night I attended were the Chilly Brothers on the Russian Cradle (nothing to do with Trump’s predilections, thankfully), and Mallakhamb India!, with feats of strength and agility that will leave you open mouthed. Lea Hinz’s grace and power on the aerial hoop is unbelievable in a beautiful act, and local lad LJ Marles is sublime on the aerial straps.

Cabaret Decadanse’s puppetry is outstanding, especially their wonderful diva act, and La Serviette stole the show with their brilliantly choreographed and cheeky number attempting to protect their modesty with towels as they danced naked. Definitely one for your granny to see – she’ll love it!

Daredevil Chicken and Amy G provide the comedy, with Daredevil Chicken doing things with a banana that can never be unseen, and a wonderfully crude quick-change act that will have you howling with laughter. Amy G makes the onstage audience slightly regret their decadence in her turns, giving her pipes (at both ends) a good airing.

This is a show best enjoyed with lots of good friends and lots of good drink – an evening of graceful beauty and joyful stupidity that will make you want to come back for more.

Blue Elephant Theatre 30 November – 1 December.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

Yuyu Wang’s one-woman show has the potential to be an outstanding piece of theatre. As it is, The Invisible is already a beautifully written and understated examination of identity and belonging. The simple set, with only a giant paper plane on the wall that doubles as a projection screen, and minimal props – paper planes, a phone and apples – mean that Yuyu Wang is the focus of attention for the entire hour’s running time. Wang has the intensity and charisma to carry this off in spades and her magnetic performance makes it easy for the audience to invest in this story, even though the storyteller never gives the character a name.

This anonymity is the thread of the play – Wang tells of the childhood in rural China spent dreaming of leaving on an aeroplane for exciting new destinations, and then the sense of longing for home when she finally achieved her dream of settling in London.

The loneliness of living in a big city can be overwhelming for anyone, but Wang’s portrayal of the isolation and otherness felt by Asian women is palpable in this intimate setting. The reversal of meaning for her floating paper planes – as a child, she floated them as wishes, now she floats them as moments when she feels invisible – is a powerful and emotional image. The loss of family roots and ties is brought home by Wang using her phone to project her face on screen, talking about her mother’s advice sent halfway around the world. The death of her grandparents, which is too painful to keep translating into English, is simply stunning, with Wang dropping her unemotional English tones to speak in her native tongue with huge emotion that crosses language borders.

There are some passages that are a little overlong, although their purpose is clear, with Wang running back and forth to convey the daily treadmill and effort to keep afloat in an unforgiving world, but there are also some magical moments, most notably when Wang turns her camera on the audience and projects their image onto the stage as she muses on the tininess of human life in the galaxy, and the difference an interaction with the people we rush past every day could make. The boundaries between performer and audience are torn down and the questions Wang asks stay with you as you walk from the theatre.

The invisible is a hugely promising piece, which I hope will continue to evolve and find the wider audience it deserves.

Leeds City Varieties – until 7 January 2018.  Reviewed by Dawn Smallwood

4****

‘Tis the season for the pantomimes and unsurprisingly City Varieties is hosting another Peter Rowe’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto. Following the success of Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin has begun its run and will run throughout the Christmas season.

Aladdin is a well known story with the production set in Ancient China and the characters’ lives become chaotic with the magic lamp, which the genie (Hannah Price) appears and hilarious consequences follow. The traditional elements which the audience expects in a pantomime is not missed such as the shouting out, the vocal disagreeing, the booing to the villainous Abanazer (Dan Bottomley) and laughing at outrageous scenarios instigated mainly by Widow Twankey (Justin Brett) and Wishee Washee (Kenny Davies). Children are entertained from beginning to end with maximum audience participation and the adults are regularly drawn to its lines, localised references and innuendoes particularly from Widow Twankey (Brett).

The music and singing are performed live with an onstage band in the background to well known pop, rock and soul hits, forming as musical numbers, which people are familiar with such as “I’m a Believer”, “I Will Survive”, “I Feel Good” and the finale’s “Dancing in the Streets”. The musical numbers fit appropriately to the characters’ personalities and the story’s plot. The talented cast, the majority doubling up as musicians, certainly put on a good show and the audience interaction and participation is at a maximum. The highlight must be the fun “boulder” fight in the second act between the audience and the cast. Huge balls are thrown high across the stalls auditorium and many participate.

Courtesy of the creative team, the staging is colourful and bright along with the costumes, particularly the outrageous ones Widow Twankey (Brett) wore, and the along with the lighting and sound including the hazy smoke and strobe lighting complimenting the production.

Like in similar vein to Shakespeare’s comedies, the story ends all well with Aladdin (Alex Wingfield) and the Princess (Grace Lancaster). This is a very good production and Aladdin guarantees an entertaining evening out for all ages and it’s a must see pantomime during this festive season.

York Theatre Royal – until Saturday 2nd November.  Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

3.5***

Northern Broadsides presents For Love or Money at York Theatre Royal as part of a national tour. This is Barrie Rutter’s swansong as Artistic Director, 25 years after he founded the company. This adaptation is a very Yorkshire take by Blake Morrison, based on the 18th century play Turcaret by Alain-René Lesage.

Set in 1920’s Yorkshire it’s a story of love triangles and greed. Rose (Sarah-Jane Potts), a young war widow, has lost all her money and now relies on the generosity of the older and besotted bank manager, Algy Fuller (Rutter), who is hiding a few secrets. She is leading him a merry dance, for her head and heart is elsewhere, in the hands of the scoundrel Arthur (Jos Vantyler), who is much younger and deceitful through and through. He plays Rose for as much money and gifts that have been bestowed upon her by Fuller.

Virtually everyone is pulling a con, the only real honest character is the plain speaking Marlene (Jaqueline Naylor), who is subsequently fired for her opinions. We learn that Fuller is guilty of embezzlement and Arthur wants to get some more of the action and manages to get his friend/dogsbody Jack’s (Jordan Metcalfe) feet under the table, working for Fuller. This makes for even more double crossing by all parties. After several plot twists, Fuller gets his comeuppance, with Jack and his girlfriend Lisa ( Kat Rose-Martin) being the real winners.

The simple but effective set tells it all, a chaise longue, a chair, but little other furniture, tired curtains and wallpaper with imprints of where hanging pictures once hung but have been sold off.

Potts plays Rose with a supposed innocence, languishing on the chaise longue, one of the very few pieces of furniture she has left, in the last dress that she possesses. Rutter pulls off the corrupt and self-righteous bank manager to a tee, believing himself to be untouchable. Some parts of the show used dance and movement and Vantyler really stood out here, he showed great physicality with his fluid movements and eccentricity. I also enjoyed Naylor’s portrayal of the opinionated housekeeper, short though it was.

I did struggle at times to fully understand the Yorkshire lingo, but this was only a minor glitch. Overall the show is full of wit and double entendre and thoroughly entertaining. The show ends on a great high with the whole cast doing the Charleston.

Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester – until 16 December 2017.  Reviewed by Marcus Richardson

3***

The European premiere of Little Woman took its place at the Hope Mill Theatre in Ancoats, Manchester.   The musical set in Concord and New York during 1869 follows the life of the March sisters, mostly Jo March who is aspiring to be a world renowned writer. The venue is something I must note, that feels like a beacon in the dark, gave me this quaint homely feel that fitted the production very well.

The show had a small but strong cast that features a good collection of performers who both can sing and act. The main character Jo played by Amie Giselle-Ward captured the adventurous and rebellious character so well with that sense of energy. We are given this whole imagery throughout the show which would make a beautiful painting and that’s how I can describe the production, very picturesque and calming to look at and experience.

The musical fits into an old timey feel with the setting of the 1860s mirrored in the songs and dances. You can see those classic musicals like Carousel and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers influenced in the performance. The songs did have something original about them though and didn’t seem replicated to other musicals.

Whilst I’m not overly a fan of musicals, I did enjoy going to watch this, however if you are a fan of classic musicals you will love it.

PHIL DANIELS TO LEAD THE COMPANY IN UK TOUR OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON’S 

DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE

Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Rose Theatre Kingston present

DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Adapted by David Edgar

Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Rose Theatre Kingston today announce that Phil Daniels will lead the company in the titular role of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde on a tour of the UK.

The production, adapted by David Edgar and directed by Kate Saxon, opens on 14 February at Rose Theatre Kingston with previews from 9 February and will then tour to His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen, Malvern Festival Theatre, Dartford Orchard, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Blackpool Grand Theatre, Wycombe Swan, King’s Theatre Edinburgh, Bradford Alhambra, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, before completing its run at the Darlington Hippodrome from the 14 until 19 May.

A twisted tale of nerve-jangling horror, this adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic gothic thriller stars Phil Daniels as both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

In a secret experiment, the upright and respectable Dr Henry Jekyll splits his personality into two, releasing the fiendish and murderous Edward Hyde.

As Hyde brings about mayhem, terror and death in foggy London, can Jekyll find a way to suppress his monstrous alter-ego, before it takes him over for good?

David Edgar is a Tony Award-winning playwright for stage, radio, television and film. His original plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company include Destiny, Pentecost (Evening Standard best play award), The Prisoner’s Dilemma and Written on the Heart. His RSC adaptations include The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, Nicholas Nickleby (Society of West End Theatres and New York Tony awards), and, most recently, A Christmas Carol. For the National Theatre he wrote Entertaining Strangers (starring Tim Pigott-Smith and Judi Dench), The Shape of the Table, Albert Speer and Playing with Fire. Other adaptations include Julian Barnes’s Arthur & George at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His other recent work includes Testing the Echo for Out of Joint and If Only for the Chichester Festival Theatre, as well as translations of Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo (with Timothy West, Birmingham Rep), Brecht’s Mother Courage (Stratford Festival, Ontario) and Ibsen’s Master Builder (Chichester Festival Theatre). He has adapted many of his plays for television and radio, and wrote the screenplay for Helena Bonham Carter’s first film Lady Jane. He founded Britain’s first postgraduate playwriting course, and has served as President of the Writers’ Guild.

Phil Daniels plays the title roles. For theatre his credits include King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre), Anthony and Cleopatra, Knight of The Burning Pestle (Shakespeare’s Globe), Les Miserables (Queens Theatre) and This House (National Theatre and Garrick Theatre). On television, he is perhaps best known for his role as Kevin Wicks in EastEnders. His other television work includes Zapped, Mooonfleet, Doctor Who, Rocks and Chips, New Tricks, Misfits, Outlaws, Waking the Dead, The Long Firm, Time Gentlemen Please, Holding On and Sex, Chips and Rock n Roll. For film, Access All Areas, The Hatton Garden Job, This House, Vinyl, Goodbye Charlie Bright, Chicken Run, Scum and Quadrophenia.

Kate Saxon directs. She has directed over 35 theatre productions, including the world première of John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, which opened in the US and then transferred to the UK, the first revival of Susan Glaspell’s Chains of Dew (Orange Tree), The Real Thing (ETT/West Yorkshire Playhouse), and the US première of Nine Parts of Desire (The Public, New York). Having been Associate Director of Shared Experience Theatre from 2000 – 2012, Kate is now one of a group of artistic associates running the company and has recently directed their tour of As You Like It. Kate is Chair of Stage Directors UK. She was Voice Director on Paramount’s animated feature film, Capture The Flag, which won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film 2016. Kate is currently developing a new film by Samuel Evans, working title Hold Me, and is one of 15 female TV and film directors chosen as one of the inaugural BAFTA Elevate group. For television, Kate’s work includes EastEnders. For video games, Kate directs Cinematics and titles include Mafia III, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture and Alien: Isolation, which between them have won 4 BAFTAs.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Listings

Rose Theatre Kingston

Friday 9 – Saturday 17 February

Press Night: Thursday 14 February

Box office: 020 8174 0090

www.rosetheatrekingston.org

His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen

Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 February

Box Office: 01224 641122

www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/events/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde

Malvern Festival Theatre

Tuesday 27 February – Saturday 3 March

Box Office: 01684 892277

www.malverntheatres.co.uk

Dartford Orchard Theatre

Tuesday 13 – Saturday 17 March

Box Office: 01322 220000

www.orchardtheatre.co.uk

Nottingham Theatre Royal

Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 March

Box Office: 0115 989 5555

www.trch.co.uk

Grand Theatre Blackpool

Tuesday 27 – Saturday 31 March
Box Office: 01253 290190

www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk

Wycombe Swan

Tuesday 3 April – 7 April

Box Office:  01494 512000

www.wycombeswan.co.uk

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

Tuesday 10 – 14 April

Box Office: 0131 529 6000

www.edtheatres.com

Bradford Alhambra

Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 April

Box Office: 01274 432000

www.bradford-theatres.co.uk

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

Tuesday 1 – Saturday 5 May

Box Office: 01902 429 212

www.grandtheatre.co.uk

Cambridge Arts Theatre
Tuesday 8 – Saturday 12 May

Box office: 01223 503 333

www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

Darlington Hippodrome

Tuesday 15 – Saturday 19 May

Box Office: 01325 405405

www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

Twitter: #JekyllPlay

Jonathan Kydd presents: