Richmond Theatre – until 6 April 2024

Reviewed by Alec Legge

5*****

My first visit to the Richmond Theatre in Surrey, which is a lovely Grade 2 listed theatre in the heart of Richmond, overlooking The Green, a large grassy area. Once inside this 840 seat venue which is 125 years old, this year, the décor is as one would expect for a theatre built in the last part of the 19th century and is beautifully preserved.

So to the play itself which is a comedy based on the Alfred Hitchcock film of the John Buchan book ‘The 39 Steps‘. This is a much loved spy thriller and I wondered how it would adapt to being a comedy.

However right from the opening scene the show was fast paced and side-splitting funny. It was obviously well rehearsed and the use of portable scenery to add to the comedy was marvellous.

The actors were splendid; with Tom Byrne as Richard Hannay, giving a first class performance as the stiff upper lipped, pencil mustachioed, Englishman caught up in a spy plot and being wanted by the police for a murder which he did not commit.

Safeena Ladha was a tour de force playing three parts, Pamela, Annabella and Margaret. Her performance was sublime as the upper class, blonde, Pamela who gradually fell in love with Hannay,also the smart seducer, whose murder at Hannay’s flat and whose dying scene ends up with her falling horizontally on Hannay’s lap with a knife in her back and Hannays reaction was hilarious. Her third character, Margaret, the shy wife of a crofter, in mop cap and pigtails made her unrecognisable as the other two parts she played.

Eugene McCoy and Maddie Rice played so many parts that it is hard to list them all. They included spies, policemen, detectives, crofters, hoteliers and train passengers. Their possibly best scene being as the Memory Man and his assistant. The Memory Man being used by the spy ring to remember the state secrets as a means to getting the secrets out of the country. The scene at the London Palladium where the evil Professor and head spy shot the Memory Man while he was on stage and his denouement was uproarious.

All in all this show was the funniest I have seen for a very long time, the acting superb, the laughs coming every few seconds, the use of portable scenery such as doors on wheels and used for exits and entrances and windows moved about the stage, climbed through as though getting in and out of places, it was all so hilarious. Even though it was so funny the original plot of The 39 Steps was recognisable throughout.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show and would recommend it highly which is why I have rated it at 5 stars. Well deserved!

Hull New Theatre – until 6th April 2024

Reviewed by Dawn Bennett

4****

Opera North brought Director Tim Albery’s revival of Cosi fan tutte to Hulls New Theatre last night. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music with the libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte was brought to life by the very talented cast and Orchestra of Opera North who were conducted by Chloe Rooke.

Set in 18th century Naples Cosi fan tutte (or as it translates “they’re all the same”) tells the story of two sisters Fiordiligi (Alexandra Lowe) and Dorabella (Heather Lowe) and their lovers Guglielmo (Henry Neill) and Ferrando (Anthony Gregory). Philosopher Don Alfonso (Quirijn de Lang) bets the two young men that the women will not be faithful to them if the opportunity arises, the friends are convinced that they will be and they agree to follow Don Alfonsos instructions for 24 hours. The women are told that Guglielmo and Ferrando must leave for war immediately and of course they are very upset. Don Alfonso bribes the women’s servant, Despina (Pasquale Orchard), to introduce two foreign suitors to the women. The sisters don’t realise that the men are in disguise and they are in fact Guglielmo and Ferrando. The sisters are shocked by the men’s advances and quickly reject them. Despina again tries to get the woman to give the men a chance and they start to admit they are starting to feel attracted to them little knowing that they falling for their sister’s real-life love.

What follows is the sisters being conflicted in their feeling towards their lovers who they think they have gone to war and the two new suitors. We see the men thinking that women are “all the same” as they both admit their feelings have changed towards them. The sisters are ready to marry their new lovers when the news comes in that Guglielmo and Ferrando are coming home from the war, the sisters panic and then the men reveal themselves as being the foreign suitors all along. Don Alfonso wins his bet and Despina has to admit to the women that even she was taken in by the two men’s disguises.

There were only six cast members on the stage and a special mention must be made to Pasquale Orchard who played Despina. She is normally part of the chorus and took the part due to illness of the original cast member. She was brilliant and her diction, singing and acting were first class.

Opera North are a very talented company, everything came together to make this into a must-see production for any Opera fan.

DRAMATIC, SUSPENSEFUL AND RIOTOUSLY FUNNY – THE 39 STEPS VISITS NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL

For the first time in eight years, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning comedy, The 39 Steps, is to tour the UK, where Newcastle Theatre Royal (Tue 9 – Sat 13 Apr 2024) will be the first stop outside of London.

John Buchan wrote the book in 1915 and Alfred Hitchcock turned it into a classic spy film in the 1930s, but the producer of the stage version of The 39 Steps Edward (Ed) Snape of Fiery Angel Productions feels, despite being set in 1935, the story very much resonates today.

He smiles. “But the best thing of all is that this version is a comedy and I think people want that more than ever now. They want to laugh. It’s a story with suspense and drama but also absurd, wonderful comedy.”

Patrick Barlow, who did the play’s side-splitting adaptation and whose acting credits include Shakespeare in Love, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Nanny McPhee, A Very English Scandal and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, feels theatregoers will also relate to the hero Richard Hannay, saying: “He has a realisation of what a dangerous world we’re in and that we have to be really careful of people bullying us, totalitarian states and so on. That might make it sound deadly serious but I hope it’s also riotously funny. It’s madcap and very fast-moving but with heart.”

The play has toured to 39 countries and played to more than three million people around the world.

“It’s hard to come up with countries that we haven’t visited,” Ed says proudly. “At one point it was the most performed play in North America in one year apart from Shakespeare. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? And it’s something that you can bring anyone to, from age eight to 80.”

At the centre of the story is the stiff-upper-lipped, gung-ho, pencil-moustached everyman Hannay, who is mistakenly drawn into a world of dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women as he flees for his life. One of the many clever twists is that Hannay is an innocent man on the run from the bad guys. “They’re the villains, not him,” Patrick points out.

Ed agrees, “Here is a man who feels the world is against him and he’s got to prove his innocence. He thinks of himself as unlovable, then he falls in love and finds that actually he is lovable.”

There’s another clever twist to the production: one actor plays Hannay while three other performers take on the 139 characters swirling around him. Barlow, who acts as well as writes, marvels: “I have watched from backstage and the actors rush on and off, bang into each other, props are taken off and props are brought on. It’s done very, very fast and everybody is acting very seriously as if they know exactly what they’re doing, which isn’t always the case. The joke is they’re always a bit thrown by the next scene.”

Snape laughs. “And the audience is on the edge of their seats wondering not only about the story and the spy thriller, but also how on earth these four actors are going to do all of this in one evening. And that’s the joy of The 39 Steps – the spectacle of it all and four actors doing the near-impossible.”

It retains the 1930s setting and costumes and features some of the original score from the Hitchcock film. “So you’re transported into it as if you’re actually living in a movie,” says Patrick of a play that also includes a few nods to other films directed by the Master of Suspense. “I’m not going to say what they are but, if you’re a Hitchcock buff and you see the show, you’ll spot them for sure.”

How does Patrick balance comedy with suspense in the script? “Well, as long as both engines are running, as long as there are some really funny moments and funny lines in it and as long as it really is genuinely, nail-bitingly scary, which this definitely is, then that’s how we keep the balance going.”

The production hasn’t toured the UK since 2016 and Ed believes the timing is just right for its return. He smiles again. “As I say, more than ever we want to laugh, and I guarantee The 39 Steps will deliver on that promise.”

The 39 Steps plays Newcastle Theatre Royal Tue 9 – Sat 13 Apr 2024. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.

Following the announcement of our Romeo & Juliet cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company.

This must stop.

We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment.

We will continue to support and protect everyone in our company at all costs. Any abuse will not be tolerated and will be reported.

Bullying and harassment have no place online, in our industry or in our wider communities.

Our rehearsal room is full of joy, compassion and kindness. We celebrate the extraordinary talent of our incredible collaborators. The Romeo & Juliet community will continue to rehearse with generosity and love, and focus on the creation of our production

A statement from The Jamie Lloyd Company:

Following the announcement of our Romeo & Juliet cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company.

This must stop.

We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment.

We will continue to support and protect everyone in our company at all costs. Any abuse will not be tolerated and will be reported.

Bullying and harassment have no place online, in our industry or in our wider communities.

Our rehearsal room is full of joy, compassion and kindness. We celebrate the extraordinary talent of our incredible collaborators. The Romeo & Juliet community will continue to rehearse with generosity and love, and focus on the creation of our production

Photos from The Gala Night of The 39 Steps

Guests included Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Maime McCoy (co-star of ITV’s Van Der Valk and starred as Milady in BBC’s The Musketeers), plus the writer of The 39 Steps, Patrick Barlow (as an actor he has appeared in Shakespeare in Love, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, French and Saunders, Murder in Suburbia, Absolutely Fabulous, Nanny McPhee, Jam & Jerusalem and A Very English Scandal) and influencer Michael J Hardwick.  There are also photos of the cast – Tom Byrne (Prince Andrew in The Crown and Bridgerton), Safeena Ladha, Eugene McCoy and Maddie Rice (took over from Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the stage show of Fleabag and TV credits include Fleabag, Stath Lets Flats, Ten Percent, The Other One, I Hate You and the all-female sketch show Flaps) – and producer Ed Snape (director of Fiery Angel).Patrick Barlow’s hilarious adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic spy thriller ran in London’s West End for nine years, finally closing in 2015.  It won the Olivier Award and What’s On Stage Award for Best Comedy in 2007.  It also took Broadway by storm, winning two Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award in 2008.  The play, with its quintessentially plucky spirit and dashing sense of British fun, has toured to 39 countries and played to over 3 million people worldwide.

The play follows the incredible adventures of our handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women.

This wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller features four fearless actors, playing 139 roles in 100 minutes of fast-paced fun and thrilling action.

The UK Tour will continue through to 3 August 2024.

Photo credit Piers Allardyce

Arcola Theatre – until 20 April 2024

Reviewed by Celia Armand Smith

2**

Born into an immigrant family on the fringes of the film industry, young Nicholas Cohen dreams of playing Superboy in the new Superman film being made by a family friend. This sparks the dream of becoming a filmmaker. What follows is a life of TV and low budget horror films. But this life is seemingly not satisfactory to Nick, he wants to win an Oscar and he has an idea for a short film that could be his ticket to the bright lights of Hollywood. So off he goes to mix and mingle with the great and the good (not named but sort of named) with mixed and often absurd results. Promises are made and broken, however a short film is eventually made. Is Oscar-worthy though?

Life with Oscar is an ambitious attempt by Nicholas Cohen to portray approximately 30 different characters from his life in one 70 minute production. Cohen, as writer and performer, displays keen observational skills and his ability to sustain high levels of energy is impressive, however it all somehow falls a bit flat.

As the play progresses, the narrative loses a bit of momentum despite Cohen’s frenetic stage presence. It is all a bit overwhelming. There is a lot going on in this performance, and I’m not sure it’s completely convincing. All of characters are easily identifiable, but some of them don’t feel fully realised and seem a bit redundant anyway.

Cressida Brown’s production of Life with Oscar is filled with ambition and boat loads of potential, but ultimately it falls short. Nicholas Cohen certainly has a magnetism, but it isn’t enough to sustain this multi-character show. There are entertaining moments, and the storytelling is great albeit frenzied. The play ends with Cohen returning from LA, and making the short film he set out to make. Is it Oscar-worthy? Unfortunately I don’t think I care enough to find out.

Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton – until Saturday 6th April 2024

Review by Amanda Allen

5*****

If I’m honest I didn’t enjoy the book so I was not sure I was going to like the stage adaptation, how wrong could I be. From the first scene I was captivated by the telling of 17 year old Piscine Patel’s life story. Starting out in India in 1978, the Patel family run a Zoo. His magical childhood was so well demonstrated with the beautiful puppet butterflies fluttering about the stage. The introduction of the larger animals and the stage setting for the zoo was absolutely magical. The stage and costume design by Tim Hatley was truly inspired, simple but effective, evoking the feel of a warm climate far away and the never ending sea scape of being lost at sea. The puppet animals were handled so well that you just didn’t notice the puppeteers who brought them to life and gave them such brilliant animation you could tell exactly what they were thinking. The background sound effects designed by Carolyn Downing completed our transportation to a different world.

The adaptation of Yann Martel’s best selling book by Lolita Chakrabarti, didn’t shy away from the more unpleasant aspects of the story with Richard Parker, the Tiger, eating the Goat, Mr Buckingham (surely the best name for a goat) quite early in the first scene, an indication of what was to come later in the story. The grizzlier aspects of the lifeboat journey were brilliantly demonstrated with excellent use of puppets and props leaving the audience in no doubt what was happening to the Zebra and Hyena on board the lifeboat. All this was supported splendidly by some of the most effective lighting and video imaginary I have seen on stage, congratulations to Tim Lutkin and Tim Deiling lighting designers and Andrzej Goulding Video designer.

Pi Patel, played by Divesh Subaskaran was absolutely outstanding, surely an actor to watch out for in the future. He was on the stage for the entire performance, he captivated the audience with every word and move. I have never seen such a young actor embody the persona of their character with so much quiet stage presence. He showed us the life of Pi so completely and fully the audience were totally invested in his story. I can only imaging how exhausted he must be after each performance. Apart from being on stage and remembering all your words for almost 2 hours there was the added challenge of a very physical performance, climbing up ship’s infrastructure, balancing on the edge of a lifeboat, clinging to the end of a bed, running about on stage, I was worn out just from watching him. The energy and aerobic ability of Pi and the puppeteers was amazing.

The supporting cast were equally accomplished, I particularly enjoyed the simmering animosity between the Canadian consulate representative Lulu Chen played by Sharita Oomeer and Mrs Okomoto the ships insurance investigator played by Lilian Tsang. With them almost coming to blows over how Pi was being interrogated in the hospital after his time lost at sea. As Pi himself said “there are many improbable stories but as with the lottery someone always wins”.

Asking the hard questions about religion and life the story explored our relationship with organised religions. With Pi attending a Church, a Mosque and a Temple because they were all in the same street and making the observation that they were all versions of the same thing. With science running through the explanation of so many things in the story we are left asking as many questions as the tale answers and still left questioning our own beliefs at the end of it. Which version of the lifeboat story do we want to believe? As Pi himself says “Choosing doubt is like choosing immobility as a mode of transport”.

If you can, I urge you to go and see this. It may not change your life but it will make you question many aspects of it.

GAYNOR FAYE ON BRINGING THREE GENERATIONS TOGETHER WITH THE SYNDICATE

Star of stage and screen Gaynor Faye and her son, Oliver Anthony join the cast of the world premiere UK stage tour of The Syndicate, written by Gaynor’s mother, Kay Mellor, as part of its premiere UK tour.

The smash-hit, critically acclaimed BBC One drama of the same name was a family affair long before it burst onto television in 2012, although written and produced by titan of TV Kay Mellor, her daughter Gaynor Faye was the series script editor.

“I just knew that it was going to be a hit because she captured the whole arena of what winning the lottery and such a substantial amount of money brings to people – both the good and the not so good!”

Gaynor tells of how her “Mum writes for people, not accolades. The people who watch her shows are the people she relates to, the people she champions and admires. She encapsulates them and shows what it is to be a normal, every day person.”

When it aired on BBC One with a cast including stars Timothy Spall and Joanna Page, Kay Mellor’s The Syndicate was a huge hit and went on to enjoy success with three more series. “At times it’s funny, at times it’s dramatic or moving, but the key thing is that everyone can see themselves in her characters and that’s why people love her work.” Gaynor adds.

The first series has now been adapted for the stage by Kay Mellor in what was her final venture into theatre before her untimely death in 2022. She had already asked Gaynor to co-direct the project with her, and now the actress is going it alone in a move that she confesses has been rather daunting.

Gaynor says, “Mum’s shoes are big ones to fill, but I understand what her vision was for this production because I have been by her side from the very beginning. I’m excited for everyone to see it.”

Adding to the family feel of The Syndicate is the news that Gaynor’s son, Oliver Anthony, has joined the cast in the role of Jamie. He believes having three generations of one family involved in the show brings a unique experience for audiences: “There’s real heart to this show, there’s a lot of love for it, it just feels special.”

Oliver shares his grandmother, Kay, had been mentoring him for the last four years, and as someone who knew how hard the industry could be, had said she saw potential in him.

“She took me under her wing and really helped me learn the business both in front of the camera and behind. To now be involved with the stage show, and Gaynor, my mum directing it too, it just feels special. I have so many wonderful memories of my grandmother, every day beside her was a dream.”

Such is the success of Kay’s writing that her stories have become a hit on the stage as well as the screen with the hugely successful stage adaptions Fat Friends – The Musical, which played to sell-out audiences at Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2018, and Band of Gold, which, like The Syndicate, were also collaborations between Kay’s company Rollem and theatre producer, Josh Andrews.

The Syndicate star cast also features Samantha Giles (Emmerdale) and Brooke Vincent (Coronation Street) and tells the story of five supermarket workers whose lottery syndicate numbers come in just as their jobs and livelihoods are under threat. Will a share of the jackpot make their dreams come true or their nightmares a reality?

More information can be found here. Tickets can be found here

DAVID IAN FOR CROSSROADS LIVE

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

BARRY AND FRAN WEISSLER

ANNOUNCE
FURTHER VENUES

FOR THE 2024/2025 UK AND IRELAND TOUR OF

THE MULTI AWARD-WINNING

OPENING AT THE

MILTON KEYNES THEATRE

ON 12 OCTOBER 2024

David Ian for Crossroads Live in association with Barry and Fran Weissler are delighted to announce further dates for the 2024/2025 UK and Ireland tour of the multi award-winning musical CHICAGO. The tour will open at Milton Keynes Theatre on 12 October 2024. Full tour schedule below. Casting to be announced soon. www.chicagothemusical.com/uk-tour

Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, CHICAGO is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today’s tabloids.

Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, CHICAGO’s sexy, sassy score includes the show-stopping songs “Razzle Dazzle”, “Cell Block Tango”, and “All That Jazz”.  Winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, CHICAGO is the longest running American musical in Broadway and West End history.

Since it opened in New York in 1996, CHICAGO has played in 38 countries worldwide, and been performed in English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, French, Danish, Japanese and Korean.  Worldwide it has been seen by an estimated 34 million people, grossed over $1.7 billion has played over 33,500 performances.

CHICAGO, which is based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.  The 1996 Broadway revival of CHICAGO was choreographed by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse, directed by Walter Bobbie, and produced by Barry and Fran Weissler.