UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 18

BWW Review: FRIENDSICAL, Worthing Pavilion Theatre
by Fiona Scott - October 05, 2019

It's been 25 years since a certain coffee shop-loving troupe appeared on our TV screens. FRIENDSICAL: A Parody Musical About Friends, written and directed by Miranda Larson, is a love letter to that sitcom series so many know and love. After debuting at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it is m...

BWW Review: THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, Crucible, Sheffield
by Ruth Deller - October 03, 2019

This adaptation of Giles Foden's novel takes us into the heart of Idi Amin's regime...

BWW Review: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
by Jo Fisher - October 02, 2019

If any show proves that physical comedy is timeless, it's One Man, Two Guvnors, which brings a subversive 18th-century Italian comedy onto the 21st-century stage, and then promptly pushes it down the stairs to uproarious laughter....

BWW Review: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, Nelson Mandela Primary School and RSC Swan Theatre
by Gary Naylor - October 02, 2019

This Merchant of Venice is aimed at schoolchildren and it's a fantastic experience for them. It's also pretty good for anyone, whether a 100+ Shakespeares veteran like me or a first-timer....

BWW Review: AMELIE THE MUSICAL, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
by Jo Fisher - October 01, 2019

Almost twenty years after she charmed hearts on the big screen, Amélie is taking to the stage in a bid to change lives and spread joy in the smallest of ways, with the biggest of hearts....

BWW Review: MACBETH, Royal Exchange Theatre
by Emma Kershaw - October 01, 2019

It's a story of love, war and one of the greatest tragedies ever told. Macbeth has returned to Manchester for a run at the Royal Exchange Theatre. However, there is a slight difference: Macbeth is played by a woman....

BWW Review: ANDY PARSONS: HEALING THE NATION, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
by Jo Fisher - September 29, 2019

At a time of confusion, uncertainty and political chaos, never has there been more to talk about; and never has our country needed more reason for light relief and laughter. Fresh in its first week, Andy Parsons brings his Healing the Nation tour to Nuffield Southampton Theatres....

BWW Review: KING JOHN, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
by Gary Naylor - September 28, 2019

King John's themes are horribly present in today's febrile political climate making it exactly the right time to revive one on Shakespeare's less performed plays....

BWW Review: A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, York Theatre Royal
by Sarah Ryan - September 26, 2019

Arthur Miller's modern classic A View from the Bridge is faithfully revived in this co-production between York Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton....

BWW Review: ONCE UPON A TIME, Tobacco Factory Theatres
by Alice Cope - September 26, 2019

Once upon a time there lived two storytelling brothers, their younger sister and a very silly story. This hilarious and nonsensical fairy tale adventure, bursting with absurd jokes and physical comedy, was brought to the Spielman Theatre of the Bristol Tobacco Factory by Gonzo Moose, known best for ...

BWW Review: THE WOMAN IN BLACK, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
by Jo Fisher - September 25, 2019

There are possibly no four words more chilling to the avid theatre-goer than The Woman in Black. Having taken the West End by storm, Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's classic ghost story is now haunting theatres around the UK on its tour, after celebrating its thirtieth birthday this y...

BWW Review: BIANCA DEL RIO: IT'S JESTER JOKE, Wembley Arena
by Vikki Jane Vile - September 23, 2019

Accurately reviewing Bianca del Rio's It's Jester Joke tour is perhaps one of the most challenging reports I've ever had to write. That's because so much of what I witnessed was quite frankly, and delightfully, unrepeatable. ...

BWW Review: REASONS TO STAY ALIVE, Crucible Studio, Sheffield
by Ruth Deller - September 19, 2019

Starkly beautiful scenery and strong performances drive this Sheffield Theatres and English Touring Theatre adaptation of Matt Haig's popular memoir....

BWW Review: TWO TRAINS RUNNING, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
by Jo Fisher - September 19, 2019

It's Pittsburg, 1969, and the city's Hill District is far from the vibrant, bustling, jazz-soaked African-American neighbourhood it was in its prime. August Wilson's Two Trains Running brings a shabby diner in this threatened community to life, offering a window onto the lives of seven irregular reg...

BWW Review: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF), Bristol Old Vic
by Shane Morgan - September 14, 2019

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that if you produce Jane Austen, especially in the South-West, then it is to be as authentic, as earnest and as close to traditional BBC magnificence as possible. Then along came Tron Theatre Company and Blood of the Young and shredded that truth until it was...

BWW Review: LIT, Hightide Festival, Aldeburgh
by Gary Naylor - September 12, 2019

Lit is an astonishing debut play from Sophie Ellerby telling the tale of Bex, a teen adrift in a world full of threats with wit, wisdom and overwhelming humanity. Eve Austin is in award-winning form as the girl on the edge....

BWW Review: MALORY TOWERS, York Theatre Royal
by Sarah Ryan - September 11, 2019

After a sparkling debut last year with an adaptation of Angela Carter's Wise Children, Emma Rice's company of the same name returns for its second outing with another literary classic - Malory Towers....

BWW Review: RUST, Hightide Festival, Aldeburgh
by Gary Naylor - September 11, 2019

Rust takes us into the lives - the other lives - of Daniel and Nadia, having an affair, but not quite able to leave their real homes at home....

BWW Review: HEDDA TESMAN, Minerva Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre
by Gary Naylor - September 10, 2019

Hedda Tesman transports one of theatre's great roles into the present day, but Cordelia Lynn's script never quite lands....

BWW Review: TWO TRAINS RUNNING, Royal And Derngate
by Verity Wilde - September 06, 2019

A slice-of-African-American-life in 1960s Pittsburgh comes to life at Royal and Derngate...

BWW Review: THE STRANGE CASE OF JEKYLL & HYDE, Jack Studio Theatre
by Gary Naylor - September 06, 2019

This take on the familiar tale brings out many of the subtleties of its source material and has much to say about today's world. It is a little too long though....

BWW Review: HELLO AGAIN, Union Theatre
by Gary Naylor - September 04, 2019

Hello Again is lovely to look at and a wonder to hear, let down only by a slightly half-hearted approach to the messy business of sex....

BWW Review: I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI, Grimeborn, Arcola Theatre
by Gary Naylor - September 03, 2019

Gary Naylor sees his last show at this season's Grimeborn, an Italian opera based on the original sources of Romeo and Juliet sung with tremendous panache....

BWW Review: HOTSPUR/PIERROT LUNAIRE, Grimeborn, Arcola Theatre
by Gary Naylor - August 30, 2019

FormidAbility's unique approach to integrating those with disabilities on either side of the fourth wall enhances two pieces that prove tricky for the uninitiated to appreciate fully....

BWW Review: TREEMONISHA, Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre
by Gary Naylor - August 28, 2019

You know Scott Joplin is a genius, but having that conformed by this wonderful, uplifting, yet shocking opera, is a delight and a privilege. Beautifully performed too....