York Theatre Royal – until 9 June 2018

Reviewed by Marcus Richardson 

4****

I went to see Birdsong at the York Theatre Royal, a tale of conflict, love and friendships. The play is set during World War 1 leading up to the battle of the Somme. The play looked at the men who dug tunnels underneath enemy lines to set explosives. Jack Firebrace is the energy of the group and leads the other diggers as the father of the group, as he seen sleeping on the job by lieutenant Stephen Wraysford, a man getting closer and closer to the one he loves in grace.

The actors had a big job in working with the play which gripped the audience at at points the audience was just stunned with silence. The actor who played Jack, Tim Treloar, did a fantastic job at making the audience laugh and creating a warming environment even though it was very clear that they were in trenches and at war. Stephen Wraysford was played by Tom Kay, the lieutenant is first seen as cold and distant but thought out the place we learn more about his superstitious views and his reading of entrails, Kay did a very good job at giving the performance just the right amount of emotion, going in between past and present we see two different character a man in love and a man at war, his ability to switch in an instant is interesting to watch and done seamlessly. The whole cast worked so well together you felt the bond that each character had on stage from the friendships in the trench to the lovers in France. Working with such an emotional performance the whole cast knew what they were doing and did it well.

The costumes were very realistic, true the time and those not in uniform suited characters very well. The set was clever in creating the feel of trenches and tunnels with the use of a single wood support arch during scenes when in the tunnels and dim lighting on the action while the rest of the stage is in black. When going in back in time to when things were better, the lighting had a warmer glow and the stage was manipulated with a wall that had the insides of house one one side, during these scene it didn’t feel like that 2 minutes ago it was used a battle field. One of the most shaking parts was how demanding the explosions were, it scared the audience and rumbled the building, most explosions happened in the tunnel and a dash of colours were used on the back of the stage, this was very effective in the dark and really worked in showing how powerful they were.

The show flew by and there wasn’t a moment where I wasn’t engaged with the action on stage. The emotion of the audience was played with in such a masterful way, and while we had the sense of war, I for one enjoyed looking into the life of the Tommys. I would recommend it to anyone obviously it’s not suitable for young kids but the play was both educational with a look into life for soldiers and interesting to watch.

By Sabrina Fancy

The new Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway smash hit musical The King and I comes to London’s West end June 21st for a 14 week run before touring Asia.

This 4 time Tony award winning show stars the queen of musicals Kelli O’Hara, who won a Tony award for her portrayal of Anna. The Oscar and Tony nominated Ken Watanabe reprises his role as the King of Siam.

This classical musical tale is set in the 1860’s Bangkok, follows the King of Siam who wants to change how he is perceived by the world. He hires Anna, a refined Welch widow to educate his royal children and many wives in the ways of the west. The King and I, follows a culture moving into modernity and change, which threatens the kingdom along with the tempestuous relationship that develops between the King and Anna. The secondary plot is a budding love story.

I was able to attend an informal rehearsal where I was treated to some of the musical performances with the cast, included ‘Getting to know you’, ‘I have dreamed’ and ‘Shall we dance.’ I was blown away and am looking forward to seeing the King and I at the London Palladium which is looking to be quite possibly the musical of the year!

Salisbury Playhouse – until 23 June

Reviewed by Sharon MacDonald-Armitage

4****

Based on the golfing stories of PG Wodehouse and adapted by Jon Glover and Edward Taylor, Salisbury Playhouse production of Love on the Links, directed by Ryan McBryde is a hoot of an evening out. Set in Surrey’s Woodhills Golf Club, just far enough away from London.

Set in the club’s “19^th Hole” Love on the Links opens with The Oldest Member (Michael Fenton Stevens) snoozing in his armchair by the fireplace. Partaking in his favourite tipple, a White Horse and Malvern, which he never seems to pay for, he is the driving force of the play narrating the various woeful love stories to Jack (Adam Jackson-Smith) who is enamoured with Daphne Cartwright and struggling to find a way to win her over. His anecdotes and manipulation of the various characters ensures the stories are amusing and eventually all link in. He even engages with the audience drawing them into the narrative like an old friend; probably to gently scam another drink!

The set by James Button cleverly conveys the feeling of a traditional golf club with its wood panelling, corner bar and leather chairs. So much effort has gone into the detail including the carefully placed props and costume additions, that you could easily see yourself buying a quick snifter from the bar. The use of a leather sofa without a back is intriguing until you see how it takes on a life of its own when the actors begin to use it across the stage.

With the cast rushing around playing various roles linked to The Oldest Member’s stories, it is nothing short of comical. Lily (Jenna Boyd) is hilarious and is seamless with her comic timing; her sideways glances and fluttering eyelashes paint a thousand words. Gloria (Tiffany Graves) is a perfect pairing with Lily; a very jolly hockey sticks ebullient gal!

The silly slapstick upper class humour is peppered by the downright earthiness of barman Fitt (Tim Frances) who is well aware of the nature of the stories The Oldest Member narrates. With Asser (David Shelley) and Turnbull (Rob Witcomb) proving a fine pairing with Lily and Gloria there is nothing but an evening of fun ahead.

If PG Wodehouse is your thing, then you will not be disappointed and even if it isn’t there is still much fun to be had with this show

DREAMGIRLS 
Savoy Theatre, London 
Dreamgirlswestend.com

• The final performance of Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre will be on January 12th 2019, prior to a UK tour with full dates to be announced in due course.

Sonia Friedman Productions announced that Dreamgirls, which opened in December 2016 at the Savoy Theatre to widespread critical acclaim, will give its final performance on Saturday 12th January 2019, completing a run of more than two years. Details for a forthcoming UK tour will be announced in due course.

Dreamgirls is Directed and Choreographed by Olivier and Tony Award®-winning Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Aladdin and Something Rotten!), with Set Design byTim Hatley, Costume Design by Gregg Barnes, Lighting Design by Hugh Vanstone, Sound Design by Richard Brooker and Hair Design by Josh Marquette. The Musical Supervisor isNick Finlow, the Orchestrator is Harold Wheeler, with Additional Material by Willie Reale.

Meet The Dreams – Effie, Lorrell and Deena – three talented young singers in the turbulent 1960s, a revolutionary time in American music history. Join the three friends as they embark upon a musical rollercoaster ride through a world of fame, fortune and the ruthless realities of show business, testing their friendships to the very limit.

With Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen and Music by Henry Krieger, the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett opened in 1981 and subsequently won six Tony Awards®. The original cast recording won two Grammy awards for Best Musical Album and Best Vocal Performance for Jennifer Holliday’s ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.’ In 2006 it was adapted into an Oscar winning motion picture starring Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx.

Moya Angela, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Brennyn Lark and Marisha Wallace are appearing with the support of UK Equity, incorporating the Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity.

Swarovski is delighted to be the Set and Costume Design partner for Dreamgirls, bringing to life the incredible visions of Tim Hatley and Gregg Barnes. Over one million Swarovski crystals have been incorporated into the production, adorning 275 costumes and 3 crystal curtains.

Full information on performance schedules can be found on the official website.

The Original London Cast Recording of hit West End musical Dreamgirls is available via Sony Masterworks Broadway.

 

LISTINGS:

Savoy Theatre, Strand, London WC2R 0ET

Performances

Monday to Saturday evening performances at 7.30pm

Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances at 2.30pm

Box Office

Website:         Dreamgirlswestend.com
Telephone:     0844 871 7687
Prices:             From £15
At every performance there will be 125 accessibly priced seats for £25 or under available in advance, including 15 £20 Front Row Lottery tickets available on the day exclusively through the TodayTix app.
In addition, under 25 year olds can purchase £25 tickets every Tuesday performance.

Website – Dreamgirlswestend.com
Twitter handle – @DreamgirlsLDN
Facebook page – DreamgirlsLDN
Instagram account – DreamgirlsLDN
Hashtag – #DreamgirlsLDN

pluck. productions in association with Park Theatre present the World Premiere of

Alkaline 

By Stephanie Martin

Directed by Sarah Meadows

A Story About Faith, Friendship and Fear

10 July – 04 August 2018 | Park Theatre

 

‘People love being in control, don’t you think? But you can’t control something you don’t understand.’

 

pluck. productions in association with Park Theatre are proud to present the world premiere of Alkaline by Stephanie Martin, which is set to be performed at Park Theatre from 10^th July – 4^th August 2018. Alkaline is a play about faith, friendship and fear, but at its heart a story about female friendship, shining a light on painful endings and new beginnings. The play also explores ideas surrounding British identity and who chooses to define it, questioning whether we dare to be different in today’s society. Alkaline follows pluck. productions’ most recent production, Birthday Suit, which played to critical acclaim and was nominated for three Off West-End Awards. 

Alkaline is directed by Sarah Meadows, and stars Claire Cartwright, Nitin Kundra, Reena Lalbihari, Alan Mahon and EJ Martin.

Sophie and Sarah have been best friends forever. Sophie is newly engaged to her fiancé Nick and wants to celebrate. Sarah also has a new fiancé, Ali, and some more big news – she has recently converted to Islam.

One hot summer evening the two couples have a get together. Sophie is desperate to meet Ali and even more desperate to rescue her drifting friendship with Sarah. Sophie also wants to ask Sarah if she’ll take off her hijab for Sophie’s wedding – a headscarf ‘just won’t quite go’ with the other bridesmaids, and Sophie likes things to match. It’s all going well (ish) until an uninvited guest arrives with some news that turns the evening – and the couples’ lives – upside down.

The role of Sarah will be played by returning Park Theatre actress, Claire Cartwright, whose theatre credits include What Would Quentin Do? (Black Lives, Black Words, Bush Theatre), The Mousetrap (West End), A Christmas Carol (Pleasance Theatre), Macbeth (UK Tour/Pleasance Theatre), Thark (Park Theatre), The Pitmen Painters (National Tour and West End), and Henna Night (Pleasance Theatre).

 

Nitin Kundra plays Sarah’s fiancé, Ali. Nitin’s extensive theatre credits include Too Clever By Half (Royal Exchange Manchester/Told By an Idiot), 66 Books (Bush Theatre), The Swan (National Theatre), There Is A War(National Theatre), Make Me A Martyr (Finborough), Facts on the Ground (Live Theatre) and The Black Album(National Theatre), with television credits including Count Arthur Strong (BBC), Boy Meets Girl (Tiger Aspect), EastEnders (BBC), Edge of Heaven (ITV), Silent Witness (BBC) Celebrity Juice (Talkback Thames), Coronation Street (ITV), Emmerdale (ITV), Doctors (BBC) and Casualty (BBC).

Reena Lalbihari plays Aleesha. Her theatre credits include Faustus (Headlong), Madame de Sade (Donmar Warehouse), One Night Fran (Hen and Chickens), Dubailand (Finborough) and Pole Factor (Vaults Festival), television includes Day of the Triffids (BBC); EastEnders (BBC) and The Bill (Talkback Thames).

Alan Mahon and EJ Martin play dinner party hosts, Nick and Sophie. Alan’s theatre credits include If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You (Old Red Lion), Hamlet (Tobacco Factory), King Lear (Helix, Dublin), The Waste Ground Party (The Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Into the Woods (The Lir) and Twelfth Knight (The Lir Academy). EJ’s credits include Joy (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Boxed (The Vaults), Birthday Suit (Old Red Lion), A Room with a View (Theatre Royal Bath and UK Tour), The Last Tycoon (The Arts Theatre) and In Lipstick (The Arcola).

 

 

Scamp Theatre present
The Scarecrows’ Wedding
Based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BX
Saturday 21st July – Sunday 2nd September 2018

The truly heart-warming adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestselling book, The Scarecrows’ Wedding, returns to Leicester Square Theatre. Bursting at the seams with Scamp Theatre’s inimitable style (Stick Man), this award-winning production promises wit, drama, and wedding bells as you’re invited to Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay’s glorious wedding day

Betty and Harry are excellent scarecrows (they scare a lot of crows). Harry loves Betty, and Betty loves Harry, so they decide to get married and Harry sets off to search for their wedding day essentials including a dress of feathers, a bunch of flowers and a necklace made from shells

However, when the farmer notices he is missing a scarecrow, he replaces Harry with the devilishly smooth but dangerous Reginald Rake. Dashing, daring and ever so cool, can Reginald persuade Betty that he is the scarecrow for her? Will Harry make it back in the nick of time before Reginald ruins their special day?

Director Eva Sampson comments, I’m delighted that The Scarecrows’ Wedding will be returning to Leicester Square Theatre this summer, especially as Scamp have such a wonderful and longstanding relationship with the venue. It’s a great opportunity for us to bring this lovingly made folk musical to new audiences and share Harry and Betty’s epic love story!”

★★★★ Enchanting and hilarious. Bags of sheer family fun (The Stage).

Feel / Feel/More / Reading Gaol

Feel : June 17th/18th, King’s Head Theatre

Feel/More : June 10th/11th, King’s Head Theatre

Reading Gaol : July 23rd – August 2nd, Theatre N16

London Fringe theatre company Proforca present three of their shows this Summer: their debut piece of new writing, Feel, and the five response pieces to it, Feel/More, play the King’s Head Theatre in June, followed by Reading Gaol, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s final work, at Theatre N16 in July/August.

***** “extraordinary (…) hops between being ingeniously witty and soul-wrenchingly moving” The Spy in the Stalls on Feel

In Feel, two couples struggle with saying what they feel in a world where love can be swiped on a whim and the path of your whole life is determined by the delay of just one train. Feel is a search for fulfilment, second-hand love and the hope of one day becoming something better than you are – because sometimes, to follow your heart you have to give it away to someone else. Feel/More is a response piece to Feel, with five new monologues touching on the themes within, five new characters tackling the same stories.

**** “brilliant – the deep message will make you ask yourself questions” London Theatre Reviews on Feel

These revivals will be followed by a restaging of Proforca’s new piece Reading Gaol: an exploration of the deprivation of liberty experienced by prisoners at the turn of the Century. Combining Wilde’s orginal Ballad of Reading Gaol with brand new pieces of writing and physical theatre, Reading Gaol explores oppresion, censorship and conformity in our increasingly conservative society, from the grime of Victorian England to the forests of Africa and back.

Proforca Theatre Company’s mission is to create great theatre performances which challenge, confront and engage audiences. Artistic Director David Brady says: “After receiving critical and audience acclaim for both Feel and Feel / More during our March runs, we are delighted that our adventure for both of these shows continues. These two shows showcase the amazing acting talent from early stage actors as well as really fierce new writers with a point of view we are pleased to champion. We’re also thrilled to be able to present a brand new re-working of our production of Reading Gaol in a fantastic new space at Theatre N16 which serves as a busy but brilliant climax to a fantastic six months for the company.”

 

Title Feel / Feel/More / Reading Gaol

Playwright Feel: James Lewis

Feel/More: Fergus Church, Harriet Lambert, James Lewis, Simon Marshall

and Stephanie Silver

Reading Gaol: Catrin Keeler, James Lewis, Simon Marshall, and Erin Read

Director David Brady

Producer Proforca Theatre Company

Performance Dates Feel: June 17th – June 18th 2018, 7.30pm

Feel/More: June 10th – June 11th 2018, 7.30pm

Reading Gaol: July 23rd – August 2nd 2018, Monday – Wednesday, 8.30pm

Running Time Feel: 110 mins (incl. interval)

Feel/More: 75 mins (no interval)

Reading Gaol: 110 mins (incl. Interval)

Venue Feel / Feel/More : King’s Head Theatre, 15 Upper St, London N1 1QN

Reading Gaol: Theatre N16, 5 Ashley Road, London N17 9LJ

Ticket Price Feel: £18/£15 (concessions)

Feel/More: £15/£12 (concessions)

Reading Gaol: £14/£11 (concessions)

Box Office King’s Head Theatre (kingsheadtheatre.com) Theatre N16 (lineupnow.com/event/reading-gaol)

Links Proforca Theatre Company website (proforca.co.uk)

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford – until 9 June 2018.

Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert

4****

A Broadway producer has sex with rich old widows to raise money, then puts on a merry musical about Hitler which he hopes will fail … With its swastikas and tapdancing Stormtroopers, The Producers might come as a shock to audiences that don’t already know it. It will be familiar to many though, as a 1968 cult film by Mel Brooks, which he turned into a hit Broadway musical in 2001, and then a film of the musical in 2005.

Deliberately outrageous, part slapstick, part satire, peppered with surreal moments and cultural references – all this is a huge challenge for the multi-talented young artists of Guildford’s Performance Preparation Academy.

Directors Lewis Butler and Nick Charters ensure that the ensemble’s energy and enthusiasm are at full throttle throughout, but the first half felt strained at times, as the cast sometimes seemed to be battling with their soundtrack. The show’s age may be a problem too: things that were provocative and anarchic in the 1960s can seem clichéd now. It’s in the second half that the evening really hits its stride, with the ‘Springtime for Hitler’ show-within-the-show, and the unravelling of the producers’ plan.

Jordan Harrison is strong as producer Max Bialystock; Jordan Newman is convincingly naïve as his accountant Leo Bloom. Keeley-May Clarkson seemed uncertain at first as the Swedish assistant Ulla, but in the second half especially had all the necessary presence and glamour. Charles Camrose also blossomed in his role as the super-camp Hitler. Jack Oliver made an elegantly nervy Carmen Ghia, and Carys Gaylor was appealingly quirky in her various appearances. The ensemble dancing is impressive throughout, and costume designer Louise Pieri gives us a splendid array of barmy outfits.

This was a show of two halves: three stars for the first, but four for taking flight after the interval.