Telling the lesser-known tale of German movie star Marlene Dietrich, this cool production is both heartwarming and side-splitting. Mixing Drag, cabaret, songs and… duty? together, Peter Groom creates for us the icon anew. Dietrich: Natural Beauty, tells a tale that is both revelling in the bygone golden age of Hollywood and bogged down in the filth and horror of the ...

Imagine if Urinetown and Little Shop of Horrors had a baby while the sounds of Nashville and New Orleans blared into the night, well that’s Hadestown! Spinning the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice into a post-depression 1920s world provides a fresh perspective and an electric performance. There’s funk, fun and Greco frolics in this highly original, highly stylised ...

Henrik Ibsen‘s classic play The Wild Duck is reinvented for a modern time, and with a modern style. The evergreen issues that underline the story stand out even more because of the new face it presents. This production oozes with intelligence, beauty and guts – a slow burner, but a show bobbing on a sea of its own questions. It is ...

Traditional Irish dancing; the springing, the fiddling, the stiff upper bodies, and stony faces. As someone who knows very little about this cultural phenomenon, I jumped at the chance to watch Colin Dunne exploring Tommy Potts’s (one of Ireland’s cult fiddle players and composers) music. What I hoped for was a show that explained both his history and the roots ...

A romp through the Regency and a tryst with the Tudors; reveling in the salacious, unseen and tumultuous lives of the queer folk of the past and present has never been so much fun. “Lord” George Hicks and Josh Cockcroft’s innovative, highly amusing and utterly arch tale of gay history has an understandably esoteric audience spellbound. But never fear, those who ...

Doilies and deception, surveillance in the 60’s, and more cups of tea than the Great British Bake Off. Pack of Lies is a moving play based on a true story, focusing on the way political turmoil and distrust can poison a seemingly perfect suburban friendship. Deep within the tunnels of the Menier Chocolate Factory, we suddenly emerged into a full ...

Moving sheets billow, and the waves begin to look as although they are dancing as we stare out to sea. So the stage is set for this nautical themed dance piece set in a far-flung lighthouse. But as always with matters close to tide, there is more than just fog in this story. Point of Echoes treads that difficult line ...

“I am here to repair”, calls out our lead, surrounded by the sun-drenched desert. His story is entrapped by its own ideas, aesthetically interesting, but thematically stunted. The Prisoner is a strange fairy tale with an uncertain didactic message and a pace that confounds logic. Written by the legendary Peter Brook and Marie-Helene Estienne, and with stars such as Donald Sumpter, ...

Lip gloss and murder, a deadly concoction. One that Heathers brews up with camp, infections and gleeful enjoyment. The adaptation of the cult classic ‘80s film zips with wit, humour and some knockout performances. It is both original and unexpected. With this mix of sickly sweet and sour, the musical only loses a small amount of the film’s telling irony, ...

A life dreamed of, yet built using sand that can be easily crumbled into the sea. With Fabric, we have an insight into a story far too familiar and a fate far too common. The issues discussed are ever-present, but what I am most interested in is does a gripping subject matter make a good play? Do good intentions create ...