Krapp’s Last Tape (Leeds Playhouse) Verdict: Buggy has Beckett taped Rating: Dr Blood’s Travelling Show (touring; imitatingthedog.co.uk) Verdict: Schlock horror in the car park Rating: Say a prayer for Leeds Playhouse. After opening last year following a £16 million makeover, they ran straight into lockdown. And just when they thought it was safe to come … Read more
Apollo 13: The Dark Side Of The Moon (originaltheatreonline.com) Rating: Verdict: One giant leap for a theatre The 39 Steps (Maltings Theatre, St Albans) Rating: Verdict: 39 steps in the right direction Houston, we have a problem.’ It was one small sentence for a man; but one giant hitch for Mission Control when, 50 years ago, … Read more
Playing Sandwiches/Lady of Letters (Bridge Theatre, London) Verdict: Imelda nails it Rating: Rating: An Evening With An Immigrant (Bridge Theatre) Verdict: Charm offensive Rating: Pippin (Eagle Garden Theatre, Vauxhall) Verdict: Hippy dippy psychedelia Rating: There has been something missing from Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues, which continue to file into the Bridge Theatre like Noah’s … Read more
Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic Live Stream via TicketCo) Rating: Verdict: A tasty return The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (blackeyedtheatre.ticketco.events) Rating: Verdict: Saucy split personality drama Remember when putting on a show seemed relatively straightforward? Theatre director Emma Rice and her faithful company of actors, called Wise Children, have had Covid tests and … Read more
Incidental Moments Of The Day (YouTube) Verdict: Nelson’s column draws to a close Rating: Credo (iPlayer/nationaltheatreofscotland.com) Verdict: Signing off in style Rating: WE’RE not out of the woods yet, as far as Covid is concerned, and there may be more woods on the way — like those that came to meet Macbeth at Dunsinane. But … Read more
The Shrine/A Bed Among The Lentils (Bridge Theatre, London) Rating: Verdict: Playlet noir Rose (hopemilltheatre.co.uk) Rating: Verdict: Beattie’s brilliant Denonement (traverse.co.uk) Rating: Verdict: Armageddon outta here Stories are often changed by the context in which they are told. And in the context of Covid-19, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues — originally written for TV in the … Read more
Sleepless (Troubadour Theatre, Wembley) Verdict: So-so in Seattle Rating: Diehard romantics like me will recall, fondly, Sleepless In Seattle as the Nineties romcom that broke all the rules. It starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as two lovebirds on either side of America who don’t meet until the final scene of the film. Now the … Read more
Summer Spectacular (Hippodrome Circus, Great Yarmouth) Verdict: A great Bank Holiday splash Rating: Circus Berlin (Lodmo or Country Park, Weymouth, and touring) Verdict: Berlin or bust Rating: Hanky on head or brolly in hand, where better to spend the August Bank Holiday than at the great British seaside? And where greater than Great Yarmouth itself, … Read more
Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London) Rating: Verdict: A religious experience Camelot (Garden stage, The Watermill Theatre, Newbury) Rating: Verdict: A trifle tame Henry V/The Merry Wives Of Windsor (The Maltings Open Air Theatre Festival, St Albans) Rating: Verdict: Low-rent fun For much of its 50-year history Jesus Christ Superstar has been … Read more
Albion (BBC4 on Sunday at 10.10pm and then on iPlayer) Rating: Verdict: Stage epic falters on the small screen The Comedy of Errors (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester) Rating: Verdict: Jolly slapstick in the sun Fanny and Stella (Garden Theatre at the Eagle, Vauxhall, London) Rating: Verdict: Lewd Carry On Cast your mind back, … Read more