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Above The Arts Theatre  16 – 28 May.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

The Quentin Dentin Show is a wonderfully weird rock musical that takes a skewed and scathing look at the foibles of modern life.
Stagnating in a dead end relationship, Nat and Keith accidently summon the supernatural therapist Quentin Dentin to their flat. His methods are unusual to say the least, and just what is his hidden agenda?
The show starts quietly – as the audience takes their seats, the 3 piece band (Mickey Howard, Archman Wolfie and Henry Carpenter – writer, composer and musical director) plays waiting room muzak while 3 eccentric white clad chaacters explore the place like childlike robots. Nat and Keith are introduced, Quentin Dentin appears and the show explodes into one of the most unpredictable and insane hours of your life.
Quentin finds the couple two friends and makes them live out their fantasies – using only a battered old sofa as a prop, we are taken to art galleries, under the sea, and outer space – but nothing makes them happy, and nobody likes you if you’re not happy!
The story is basically bonkers, but brilliant – any show that includes songs about lemons, space (“there’s literally no pressure!”) and the ocean (that plays like “Under the Sea” on a bad acid trip), showcases the worst gold lamé suit ever created and makes everything that happened to Alice in Wonderland seem completely logical is a sure fire hit.
Luke Lane is phenomenal as Quentin. It’s as if someone distilled John Barrowman, Edmund Blackadder, Billy Graham, Jerry Springer and Marge Proops, added a gazillion blue Smarties and shook vigorously. He belts out his songs and is hysterical as he becomes more and more manic when his methods keep failing. His lines are delivered with sly and oily charm at first but soon he is threatening to insert stress eggs into Nat and Keith’s bodies, twitching and shouting “It’s not fascism if it’s good for you!”
Shauna Riley and Jamie Tibke are great as Nat and Keith – more an owner/pet relationship than two adults as he bounds around the set like a puppy. Felix Denton and Lydia Costello as Friends 1 and 2 are full of energy, very funny and pop up all over the place.
A fantastic production. You don’t need therapy to be happy, just go see The Quentin Dentin Show.

Theatre Royal, York.  Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

The Machine Stops, a dystopian novella written by EM Forster in 1909, is brought to life through Neil Duffield’s new adaptation, directed by Juliet Forster (no relation) and features a soundtrack composed by John Foxx, founder member of Ultravox.

Staged in the Studio of York Theatre Royal, with approximately 100 seats, creating a close and intimate ambience. In the middle of the stage sat a metallic climbing frame and a chair. This minimalistic set showed the dystopian nature of the performance.

In a post-apocalyptic world mankind now lives underground, each in their own individual unit, with no windows and no physical contact with anyone, everything is done through The Machine. Marcia Gray and Gareth Aled are the cogs in The Machine, acrobatically twisting and turning through the metal climbing frame, responding to Vashti’s commands. Both Marcia and Gareth showed their gymnastic capabilities to great effect, weaving through the frame. You certainly believed that they were The Machine.

We see Vashti (Caroline Gruber) taking centre stage communicating with others through The Machine via what can I only describe as a “tablet”. She is always “busy”, even though she never leaves her room, struggles to walk through inactivity, but seems content with her life. Her relationship with The Machine is the be all and end all in her existence. She is more of a machine than The Machine itself, just a piece of flesh, never moving from her chair.

On the other side of the world is her son Kuno (Karl Queensborough), pleading with his mother to come and visit, they have had no physical contact since birth. He longs to rebel against The Machine, explore above ground and breathe in the air, craving human contact. His performance shows great physicality and dexterity as he gets more desperate.

Needless to say things so go wrong and The Machine Stops!

This was 90 minutes of nonstop compelling theatre and it was great to watch. The cast of four proves that you don’t need a large cast to put on a great show.

To think that this was written over 100 years ago with notions of the computer technology, instant messaging and facetime we use today, showing the dangers of isolation and the effects upon society. It certainly sends out a chilling message.

York Theatre Royal until 4th June

The Point, Eastleigh – 8th & 9th June

New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth – 10th & 11th June

Platform Shift Festival, Budapest – 15th – 19th June

SUNNY AFTERNOON EXTENDS TO OCTOBER 2016

• Tickets on sale now for Olivier Award-winning show’s extra dates
• Show will celebrate two years in the West End in October
• Fifty tickets at £19.66 for every show in July, celebrating fifty years since ‘Sunny Afternoon’ topped the charts and England won the World Cup

Due to public demand, the multi-Olivier award-winning hit British musical SUNNY AFTERNOON has announced another extension to its West End run, until 29 October 2016. The extension will take the show’s West End run past the two year mark.

This summer will also see the 50th anniversary of the release of The Kinks’ hit singleSunny Afternoon, which was released on 3 June 1966 and reached Number One on 7 July 1966 – just as England were winning the football World Cup.

To mark this anniversary, 50 top price tickets for every performance in July will be on sale for £19.66.

The critically-acclaimed new musical tells the story of the early life of Ray Davies and the rise to stardom of The Kinks. It has established itself as a firm favourite with audiences and critics alike since it opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in October 2014, and it begins a UK tour at the Opera House, Manchester, on 19 August 2016.

Ray Davies said: “I am delighted that Sunny Afternoon is extending in the West End and starting the national tour, playing many of the same venues The Kinks played on the road. Every time I visit the West End show I see people discovering it for the first time with the performances going from strength to strength.”

Danny Horn (Doctor Who; The Dead Dogs) plays Ray Davies, with Oliver Hoare (Antony and Cleopatra, Chichester) as Dave Davies, Tom Whitelock (Times Square Angel, Union) as bassist Pete Quaife and Damien Walsh (Dreamboats and Petticoats) as drummer Mick Avory. At certain performances, the role of Ray Davies will be played by Ryan O’Donnell(Romeo and Juliet, RSC; Quadrophenia).

Full cast: Jason Baughan, Niamh Bracken, Christopher Brandon, Harriet Bunton, Alice Cardy, Oliver Hoare, Danny Horn, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Megan Leigh Mason, Jay Marsh, Ryan O’Donnell, Stephen Pallister, Charlie Tighe, Gabriel Vick, Damien Walsh and Tom Whitelock. Understudies: Alice Cardy, Lia Given, Lloyd Gorman, Vicki Manser, Kay Milbourne, Nick Sayce, Robert Took, Alex Tosh, Robbie White.

Sunny Afternoon was the best performing show at the 2015 Olivier Awards, winning four awards.  The production won Best New Musical, Ray Davies won for Outstanding Achievement in Music, John Dagleish won Best Actor in a Musical and George Maguire won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.

Fifty years ago this year, The Kinks were sitting at Number One in the UK charts with their single ‘Sunny Afternoon’. The band’s popularity has not faded since the 1960s, with crowds of all ages filling the Harold Pinter Theatre night after night.

Featuring some of The Kinks’ best-loved songs, including You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset and Lola, Sunny Afternoon shows the music of The Kinks is still as popular as ever, more than 50 years since the band’s rise to fame.

Following a sold-out run at Hampstead Theatre, this world premiere production, with music and lyrics by Ray Davies, new book by Joe Penhall, original story by Ray Davies, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether and choreography by Adam Cooper, opened at the Harold Pinter theatre on 28 October 2014. Lighting is by Rick Fisher, sound by Matt McKenzie and the Musical Supervisor and Musical Director is Elliott Ware.

The official cast recording album, produced by Ray Davies at his Konk studios, is released on BMG Chrysalis and is available to buy at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunny-Afternoon-The-Kinks/dp/B00NH8O7LU.

Sonia Friedman Productions commissioned Joe Penhall in 2011 to write the book based on Ray Davies’s original story. The company developed the production over the next four years, assembling the creative team and cast that presented Sunny Afternoon in 2014 at Hampstead Theatre under the direction of Edward Hall, and now at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

Ray Davies is an influential and prolific rock musician and was co-founder and lead singer and songwriter for rock band The Kinks, and later a solo artist. He has an outstanding catalogue of hits from the earliest 1960s to the present day with estimated record sales in excess of 50 million. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television.

Joe Penhall is an award winning playwright and screenwriter. Plays include Some Voices(Royal Court), Blue/Orange (National Theatre and West End), winner of Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards, Olivier Awards and at the Critics Circle, and Dumb Show,Haunted Child and Birthday (all Royal Court). Screenplays include Enduring Love and The Road.

As Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre, Edward Hall’s productions includeWonderland, Sunny Afternoon, Raving, Chariots of Fire, No Naughty Bits, Loyalty andEnlightenment. As Artistic Director of Propeller, his work has toured worldwide, played the West End and Broadway and has won numerous awards both in the UK and overseas. Other theatre work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre), Edmond with Kenneth Branagh (National Theatre), Macbeth with Sean Bean (Albery), The Constant Wife (Apollo), Julius Caesar (RSC), Henry V (RSC) and The Deep Blue Sea (Vaudeville). Television work includes Downton Abbey, Spooks and Kingdom.  Edward is an Associate of the National Theatre and the Old Vic.

Hounded Theatre in collaboration with the Ugle Collective present:

CAST ANNOUNCED FOR THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF AT THE DRAYTON ARMS

Waterloo East Theatre 11 May – 8 June.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Trashy and triumphant, The Great American Trailer Park Musical is a must see.

Country and soft rock influenced songs, hysterical lyrics, choreography that includes every cheesy move you’ve ever seen on MTV – what more could you want? With an irreverent script, a plot that could well be from a daytime movie, and a cast of characters including every stereotype you can think of living in a trailer park, this show is simply a blast.

Jeannie (Jemma Alexander) and Norbert (Adam Vaughan) have a big wedding anniversary coming up and he wants to take her out to celebrate, the problem is, Jeannie hasn’t set foot outside their trailer in Armadillo Acres for 20 years. While Jeannie is trying to overcome her phobia, Pippi (Sabrina Aloueche) moves in next door, and begins to get very close to Norbert. But Pippi’s boyfriend Duke (Josh Dever) is coming to find her… and he’s high on magic markers!

The story is told by the Girls, Betty (Rosemary Ash), Pickles (Jodie Steele) and Lin – short for Linoleum “Cos My momma gave birth to me on the kitchen floor” (Michelle Bishop).

The entire cast are amazing – no weak links at all, with fantastic voices, lovely harmonies and superb comic timing. Ash, Steele and Bishop are a brilliant team, bouncing off each other and generating belly laugh after belly laugh. Jamie Alexander steals the show as Jeannie – rocking the bad wig and nightie whilst belting out heartfelt country tunes that feel familiar until you hear the ridiculous lyrics.

David Nehls’ music and lyrics are wonderful, with lots of catchy tunes you’ll be humming on the way home. Betty Kelso’s script is full of spectacular one-liners and the cheesy plot turns are predictable, but they’re meant to be. There’s even a dream sequence about a TV chat show that makes Jerry Springer’s guests look sane. This is mickey taking with love. The only thing missing was a guest appearance by Otis Lee Crenshaw.

This is a fabulously funny musical that you HAVE to see.

Leicester Square Theatre 16 – 21 May.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Words, Words, Words is a stunning piece, written and played brilliantly by Lowri Amies.

The death of her mother leaves Lowri without a script for her life. She can only express herself using lines from Shakespeare, and is unable to find her own words to express her grief.

Amies’ writing is beautifully crafted, interweaving Shakespearean speeches with her own despairing words, and finally linking the seven stages of man speech with the seven stages of grief. In some hands this could get a little pretentious, but she deftly weaves in references like Wallace and Gromit to illustrate some points, reminding the audience that this is the story of a modern life. There were lots of laughs of recognition from the audience as Amies spoke.

Amies’ exploration of grief and language is wonderful. Her face lights up as she talks about childhood memories with her beloved Grampy, and the expertly delivered lines from Macbeth, Hamlet, and many more, illustrate the torment Amies feels as she struggles to react in the way society expects. If you don’t phone your parents after seeing this, then you have a heart of stone.

Amies exudes passion and intelligence, and this deeply personal piece is well worth seeing.

BUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY

www.bucklandtheatreco.com / @BucklandTheatre

• BUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR SOME GIRL(S) AT PARK THEATRE

• CHARLES DORFMAN WILL PLAY GUY ALONGSIDE ELLY CONDRON AS SAM, ROXANNE PALLETT AS TYLER AND CARLEY STENSON AS BOBBI

• SOME GIRL(S) BY NEIL LABUTE WILL PLAY FROM 14 JULY UNTIL 6 AUGUST

• TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT WWW.PARKTHEATRE.CO.UK
  

Following their debut production Miss Julie, Buckland Theatre Company has today announced casting for Some Girl(s). Written by multi Tony Award nominated Neil LaBute, Some Girl(s) will be Buckland’s first play in PARK90 at the Park Theatre, London which will be the company’s home in 2016. Some Girl(s) will play 14 July – 6 August with a press night on 19 July.

Charles Dorfman (Guy) will star alongside Elly Condron (Sam), Carley Stenson (Bobbi) andRoxanne Pallett (Tyler) with casting for Lindsay to be announced in due course. Some Girl(s)will be directed Gary Condes with set and costume by PJ McEvoy, lighting design by Joe Price, Sound Design by Andy Hinton and casting by Anne Vosser. Tickets are on sale now atwww.parktheatre.co.uk.

Guy is desperate to clear his conscience before he gets married to his beautiful bride to be. Sohe sets off on a psychological and physical journey across America, to make amends with four old flames. With a blend of honesty, humour and heart, this riveting, and ultimately liberating, dark comedy is a perfect parable of modern relationships.

Elly Condron will play Sam. Elly trained at Drama Centre London and graduated in 2013, her subsequent theatre credits include Jane Eyre (National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic), Spokesong(Finborough Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Smooth Faced Gentlemen, Greenwich Theatre) andMacbeth (Rift Theatre, site-specific). On screen, Elly has appeared in Wasp for which she won best actress at the Filmout San Diego film festival and in Eastenders.

Charles Dorfman will play Guy. Charles studied Theatre at Trinity College Dublin and the Beverly Hills Playhouse in Los Angeles, Theatre Credits include Miss Julie (Etcetera Theatre),Taking Steps, Dangerous Corner, and Wuthering Heights (all Manor Pavilion Sidmouth). On screen Charles has appeared in Myrtle (dir. James Alexandrou), The Show (dir. James Alexandrou) and Present (dir. Joe Ballerini).

Roxanne Pallett will play Tyler. Roxanne’s previous stage credits include Rock Around The Clock(UK Tour), The Vagina Monologues, Ladies Day (both Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Satin ‘n’ Steel (Oldham Coliseum), The Rocky Horror Show (UK Tour) and On The Piste (UK Tour).Roxanne played Jo Stiles in ITV1’s Emmerdale and her further TV credits include Waterloo Road,Casualty, and Crime Stories. Roxanne has also appeared in films such as It’s A Lot, Devil’s Tower, The Violators, Wrong Turn 6 and Habit.

Carley Stenson will play Bobbi. Carley’s previous theatre credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (UK Tour), Spamalot (Playhouse Theatre), Shrek The Musical (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), [Title of Show] (Edinburgh Assembly), Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre), Aida (Opera House, Manchester), Grease (Palace Theatre, Manchester) and Remembering Diana (Her Majesty’s Theatre). Carley is also well-known for her long running role as Steph Cunningham inHollyoaks and has also appeared in Holby City and Suspects.

In advance of Some Girl(s), Buckland Theatre Company will also hold a series of free readings examining the compelling work of Neil LaBute. Beginning with Reasons To Be Pretty on 13 June at Henry Wood House, Buckland will also present The Shape of Things, Fat Pig and This Is How It Goes.

Buckland Theatre Company was founded by Artistic Director Charles Dorfman. Miss Julie at Etcetera Theatre was the company’s debut production in their 2016 season of classic and modern texts. Following Some Girl(s) in Park90 at the Park Theatre, Buckland Theatre Company will stage LUV by Murray Schisgal which will run from 8 December until 7 January.

Sonia Friedman Productions and Eleanor Lloyd Productions
present the Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production of
1984
By George Orwell
A new adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan

Previous company of 1984 at Playhouse Theatre. Credit Manuel Harlan.

@1984ThePlay
#1984play

• Casting announced for summer season at Playhouse Theatre
• Rehearsals have started with an entirely new cast for third West End run
• 1984 returns to the Playhouse Theatre from 14 June – 3 September 2016
• 101 seats for every performance will be available for £19.84

An entirely new cast has started rehearsals for Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s adaptation of 1984. The cast for the hit West End production of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece will be: Rosie Ede, Andrew Gower, Joshua Higgott, Richard Katz, Anthony O’Donnell, Daniel Rabin, Catrin Stewart and Angus Wright alongside Eve Benioff Salama, Cleopatra Dickens,Amber Fernee and India Fowler who will alternate the role of Child.

Also making up the company, as understudies: Ingrid Schiller, Gerard Gilroy and Thom Petty.

Following a sell-out international tour, the critically and publicly acclaimed production of 1984will return to the Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End this summer. George Orwell’s canonical work, adapted by Olivier Award-winner Robert Icke and Olivier Award-nominee Duncan Macmillan, will preview from 14 June 2016, with the press night on 28 June 2016.

Now seen by over a quarter of a million people, this Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production premiered at Nottingham Playhouse in September 2013. Since opening, 1984 has played to packed houses at the Almeida Theatre, as well as throughout its two West End runs and in performances across the globe during national and international tours.

April, 1984.13:00. Comrade 6079, Winston Smith, thinks a thought, starts a diary and falls in love. But Big Brother is always watching.

The definitive book of the 20th century is re-examined in a radical, award-winning adaptation exploring surveillance, identity and why Orwell’s vision of the future is as relevant now as ever.

1984 is directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan with Daniel Raggett, set and costume is designed by Chloe Lamford, with lighting designed by Natasha Chivers, sound designed by Tom Gibbons and video designed by Tim Reid.

George Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, is one of the most influential novels in recent history, with its chilling depiction of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind-control.  Its ideas have become our ideas, and Orwell’s fiction is often said to be our reality.

Rosie Ede (Mrs Parsons) previously appeared in When We Are Married and Side by Side by Sondheim (both Bristol Old Vic), Crime At Blossoms (Brewhouse Theatre Taunton), Aladdin(Greenwich Theatre), The Bacchae and Blood Wedding (both for Royal & Derngate Northampton). Ede’s television and film credits include Doc Martin (Sky), My Family (BBC), Peak Practice (Carlton), Call The Midwife (BBC) and Finding Neverland (Miramax).

Andrew Gower (Winston) will make his West End debut in 1984, his previous stage work includes The Conquest of the South Pole (Rose Kingston) and Terror Tales (Hampstead Theatre). Gower is best known for his roles as Dr Andrew Mullery in Monroe, Gilbert in The Village and further on screen appearances in Outlander and Capital.

Joshua Higgott (Syme) has previously been directed by Robert Icke in Oresteia (Almeida/ West End), The Alchemist (Liverpool Everyman) and Romeo and Juliet (ADC Theatre). Higgott’s other theatre work includes Shakespeare in Love (West End), Regeneration (Royal & Derngate Theatre), Birdsong (UK Tour), Twelfth Night (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Two Gentlemen of Verona (US Tour/ ADC Theatre) and Julius Caesar (European Tour/ ADC Theatre). His film credits include The Machine (Red & Black Films), which won Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival in 2013.

Richard Katz (Charrington) has been an integral member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and Complicité. He has performed in and devised many shows for these companies including Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors and The Winter’s Tale, andThe Master and Margarita, Measure for Measure and The Noise of Time respectively. Katz’s other numerous theatre credits include Richard II and Nell Gwynn (both Shakespeare’s Globe),War Horse (National Theatre), Faustus (Royal & Derngate Northampton) and The Hanging Man(Improbable). His work for television includes The Honourable Woman, Privates, Blessed (all BBC), The Passion (BBC/HBO) and Black Books (both Channel4).

Anthony O’Donnell’s (Parsons) rich career boasts an impressive range of work at the National Theatre includes The Captain of Kopenick, The Shaughraun, Bartholomew Fair, Ghetto, The Miser, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Under the Milk Wood, The Way of the World, The London Cuckolds and President of an Empty Room. He has also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Donmar Warehouse.

Daniel Rabin (Martin) has worked extensively with Shakespeare’s Globe, appearing in Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, King John, Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Anthony and Cleopatra and Holy Warriors. Other stage work includes Oedipus (Nottingham Playhouse/Spoleto Festival),Ignorance (Hampstead Theatre) and Blue Remembered Hills (Chichester Festival Theatre).  His television credits include Game of Thrones (HBO), The Royals (E!) and Holby City (BBC).

Catrin Stewart (Julia) returns to work with Headlong, having played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet(UK Tour), directed by Robert Icke. Recent stage credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Clywd Theatre Cymru), The Jew of Malta and Love’s Sacrifice (both Royal Shakespeare Company), The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic) and Mametz (National Theatre Wales). On screen Stewart is known for the recurrent role of Jenny Flint in Doctor Who (BBC), Emma Morris in Stella (Sky) and appearing in Misfits (Channel 4).

Angus Wright (O’Brien) previously worked with Robert Icke in Oresteia (Almeida/ West End).Wright’s vast body of theatre work includes The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic), in Twelfth Night/ Richard III (Globe Theatre/ West End/ Broadway), Privates on Parade (West End), The Master and Margarita (Old Vic), The Cat in the Hat (Young Vic/ National Theatre) and The Seagull, A Dream Play and Three Sisters (all National Theatre).  For television, he recently played Angus in Peep Show (Channel4) and further credits include Jekyll and Hyde (ITV), and Being Human, Waking the Dead and Hotel Babylon (BBC). His film credits include Jack Ryan (Paramount),Maleficent (Disney) and The Iron Lady (Pathé/ Film4).