Louise Penn

The Lilian Baylis Theatre and associated spaces next door to Sadler's Wells is full of chatter and excitement on day 2 of the Dance Digital film festival. With short films, documentaries, social media pieces, and VR experiences, alongside networking and mentoring opportunities for professionals, this offers a creative space to enjoy, explore, and engage with dance.

If you know the Shakespeare play this dance version is inspired by, you'll be on board with this truncated romp through the key scenes - murder, marriage, mousetrap, nunnery, church, closet, madness, death. Masilo's early death in 2024 gives her final work a power through the lens of grief.

Ana Inés Jabares-Pita's set feels familiar and clearly defines time and place: The Departure remains in the 1960s; Making Arrangements moves into the 1970s, where a woman could choose to live independently; Four Sisters is in the materialistic 1980s, where 'greed is good'. The changes of style in the music are notable, from the almost folk-style melodies of The Departure to the discordance of Making Arrangements and the patchwork of Four Sisters—all in all, an enjoyable evening highlighting women creators and changing social attitudes.

Mary, Queen of Scots, is a remarkable piece of work, offering pointed comment on the place of women in the sixteenth-century court and on the mythology that casts Mary as a martyr. With striking visuals and compositions, it is an original and modern take on a familiar part of history.

To Maury With Love at Theatre Royal Drury Lane celebrated composer Maury Yeston’s 80th birthday with songs from Titanic, Nine, and Grand Hotel. Featuring the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, the charity concert supported Bowel Cancer UK, delivering strong performances despite limited context and minor technical issues overall.

Opening the London Handel Fetsival, this flawless presentation of Saul was a celebration of Handel that set the tone of the performances to follow. The acoustics in the hall were exceptional, with clear enunciation throughout and a sense of occasion.

Classical Mixtape: A Live Takeover is part of the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary programme. Aimed at the under-30s audience, who are underrepresented at the venue, the event offered a casual, relaxed and social approach to classical music. However, a brilliant concept sadly fell short in organisation and execution.

BIGRE/'Fish Bowl' is a glorious, inventive display of comedy clowning with the ability to engage and surprise. The timing is impeccable and the reactions sublime. It's quite silly, but it also has an emotional heart running through it as these three characters find a way to coexist in the same space.

In Mrs President, an overuse of technical gimmicks reveals the lack of a cohesive, structured script. Mrs President is ultimately a frustrating and disjointed experience, with little insight into the woman it wishes to rehabilitate. In creating the famous photographs of Mary Lincoln, almost exactly in costume and pose, there is no scope for dramatic licence or invention.

Lovers Actually takes the mick out of everyone's love-hate Christmas film, Love Actually, in a show written by Neil Hurst and Jodie Prenger. Following on the heels of last year's Homo Alone, this show seasons the festive fun with a side of sauce. The musical aspect is fully embraced with lively choreography from Kim Healey. Ultimately, Lovers Actually is a cheeky nod to the naughty nineties, but there's a bit too much going on for it to leave us fully satisfied.

A delightful 'first ballet' aimed at children, Northern Ballet's Little Red Riding Hood offers a twist on the old tale of the hungry wolf and the sweet little grandmother. The importance of kindness and friendship is more important than the shock value in this version, which displays more sweetness than savagery.

This musical of 50 First Dates tones down a lot of the crude humour found in the film, and produces a very safe piece of entertainment. It's an accomplished work on the whole which should attract fans of the rom-com genre or feel-good musicals in general.

Michael McKeever's play mixes fact, gossip, and invention in a spicy drama that offers a biting comment on the grime behind the glitter of Hollywood. John Partridge is superb as Billy Haines, both a smooth charmer and a crumpled defeatist.The Code is a very artificial play in many ways. It gleefully regurgitates snark and gossip and treads a line where folks have to 'put on a show' within a show.

Every Brilliant Thing, now on in the West End, never be the same show, so it could be watched 10 times, 100 times, a million and still reach deep into the heart of you. It won't be for everyone. It may come across as over-sentimental or simplistic to some. I'm not one of those people.

The Genesis has been astonishing audiences across the globe with its showcase of trust and spectacle. For just over an hour, the Copenhagen Collective take over the Peacock Theatre with 16 top-class acrobats, assembled from across the world. The Genesis is a show of equal opportunities and diversity, with female bases lifting, and male flyers move with grace. Sensational, profound, and very human.

This timely revival of Philip Ridley's first play, The Pitchfork Disney, brought back to the London stage by Lidless Theatre, Zoe Weldon and King's Head Theatre Productions, marks a major moment in the partnership between Lidless and Ridley.  The Pitchfork Disney is no less relevant and revolutionary today as it was in 1991. This is a remarkable revival that cries out to be experienced.

This intriguing and contrasting programme of folk songs and dances offers the woodwind, brass, and percussion sections of the orchestra to shine, and the virtuosity of the trombone soloist is a true treat. With work by Vaughan Williams, Tippett, Arnold and Grainger complemented by a concerto by Schuller, this concert offers both familiar and experimental pieces for those seeking something beyond the traditional classical music path.

This programme of music seems to thrive on themes of togetherness, resilience, and support that may have also influenced the Russian composer at the mid-point of his life, the Hungarian maestro nearing the end of his, and even the bright young man setting out to shake us the music scene in Europe to excess. Will Mäkelä be the next young man to rock the foundations of the classical world? Wait and see.

The Gathered Leaves has been away from the stage for a whole decade, but still intrigues. As each metaphorical leaf falls, we can’t help but keep watching thanks to the skill and commitment of the writer, director, cast and all involved. A theatrical treat. With topics such as autism, dementia, racism, infidelity, and mortality threaded throughout The Gathered Leaves, there is much to explore and absorb in this play. It feels real without ever being forced or preachy.

Bringing Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra back to the BBC Proms, last night’s concert offered a programme of Beethoven’s 'Symphony No. 7 in A major' alongside Bartok’s dark one-act opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.