UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 38

BWW Reviews: SOUL, Royal and Derngate, May 27
by Verity Wilde - May 29, 2016

SOUL is billed as the untold story of Marvin Gaye - but it's really a dysfunctional family drama, with one participant who happens to be famous....

BWW Review: FLOWERS FOR MRS HARRIS, Crucible, Sheffield, May 23 2016
by Ruth Deller - May 26, 2016

Clare Burt shines as an ordinary woman with a big dream in Daniel Evans' goodbye to Sheffield Theatres....

BWW Review: JACKIE THE MUSICAL, New Alexandra Birmingham, May 2016
by Emma Cann - May 25, 2016

We took a trip back to Planet Seventies at the New Alexandra Theatre as Jackie the Musical swept into town. Based on the book by Mike James, Jackie the Musical follows a forty-something divorcee as she stumbles across her old collection of Jackie magazines and once more seeks their advice about fash...

BWW Review: A SUBJECT OF SCANDAL AND CONCERN, Finborough Theatre, May 23 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 25, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a fine revival of a play that was of its time in the buttoned up, pre-Beatles 1960s, but has much to say to audiences in 2016....

BWW Review: MADE UP, Birmingham Rep Theatre, May 17 2016
by Jenny Ell - May 18, 2016

Birmingham-based company Stan's Cafe have been creating new theatre for 25 years. After successes such as The Just Price of Flowers and The Cardinals, they return to the Rep with their brand new and original production - Made Up. In collaboration with the theatre, Made Up is a story told through a s...

BWW Review: THE JAMES PLAYS, The Lyceum, Sheffield, May 7-8 2016
by Ruth Deller - May 17, 2016

The touring production of Rona Munro's Scottish historical trilogy is an epic achievement....

BWW Review: LAST OF THE BOYS, Southwark Playhouse, May 13 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 14, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a play that covers some old ground in old and insensitive ways and concludes that it wasn't the best choice of what was available....

BWW Review: WIPERS, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, May 12 2016
by Jenny Ell - May 16, 2016

Inspired by the true story of the first South Asian recipient of the Victoria Cross, soldier Khudadad Khan single handedly held off advancing enemy troops at the battle of Ypres (or Wipers) in the First World War, whilst a group of British and South Asian soldiers took refuge in a disused barn. Ishy...

BWW Review: THE LOVERS OF VIORNE, The Theatre Room, May 11 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 12, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a strange, unsettling but fascinating play set in 1960s France, but it could be anywhere any time....

BWW Review: DEVILISH, Landor Theatre, May 10 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 11, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a new musical which gets plenty right - and one or two things wrong!...

BWW Review: KING LEAR, Richmond Theatre, May 9 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 10, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a Lear that resonates more through its political themes than its psychological or sexual elements - and sends a message to us all before the upcoming Referendum....

BWW Review: SAUCY JACK AND THE SPACE VIXENS, King's Head Theatre, May 5 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 06, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a much performed cult musical that does its best work in the songs and the memories it brings forward....

BWW Review: RICHARD II, Arcola Theatre, May 3 2016
by Gary Naylor - May 04, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a Richard II for today which succeeds largely, if not totally, in its contemporary staging....

BWW Review: BAD JEWS, New Alexandra Theatre Birmingham, May 3 2016
by Jenny Ell - May 05, 2016

Family gatherings and occasions are frequently tarnished by disagreements; none more so than at weddings, christenings and funerals when extended families are often brought together. Joshua Harmon's play Bad Jews takes place following a family funeral and an heirloom belonging to the deceased is bei...

BWW Review: DORIAN GRAY, Old Joint Stock Theatre Birmingham, April 22 2016
by Jenny Ell - April 25, 2016

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BWW Interview: Director Samir Bhamra on BRING ON THE BOLLYWOOD
by Jenny Ell - April 22, 2016

With the rise of shows like Bombay Dreams and the smash-hit West End musical Bend It Like Beckham ushering in a new dawn for the British musical, the nation's appetite for Bollywood spectacle shows no signs of slowing. It is from this rich cinematic culture that life-long Bollywood fan and Theatre D...

BWW Review: CLOCKS 1888: THE GREENER, Hackney Empire, April 20 2016
by Gary Naylor - April 21, 2016

Gary Naylor sees an occasionally brilliant, occasionally confused new opera about life lived against the clock in the 19th century East End of London....

BWW Review: GATSBY, Union Theatre, April 19 2016
by Gary Naylor - April 20, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a production that loses its way as a result of forgetting that the most important things to get right in musical theatre are the voices....

BWW Review: DARKNET, Southwark Playhouse, April 18 2016
by Gary Naylor - April 19, 2016

Gary Naylor sees an ambitious and, at times, genuinely interesting play that ultimately fails to achieve its potential....

BWW Review: OUT OF THIS WORLD, Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre, April 15 2016
by Gary Naylor - April 16, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a very strange revival of a 1950s Broadway show saved by some fine singing and sensational songs....

BWW Review: LEGALLY BLONDE, Curve Theatre Leicester, April 14 2016
by Jenny Ell - April 15, 2016

Legally Blonde the Musical has had an array of productions all over the world since its 2007 Broadway opening. Based on the 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon, the story of love, faith and pushing past stereotypes has being capturing the hearts of theatregoers ever since. Famous for its outstandin...

BWW Review: TIME OF MY LIFE, Brockley Jack Theatre, April 14 2016
by Gary Naylor - April 17, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a smart revival of a Nineties Ayckbourn comedy that gets through some tricky theatrical challenges to deliver a funny and thought-provoking play....

BWW Review: TWELFTH NIGHT, Birmingham Rep, April 12 2016
by Emma Cann - April 13, 2016

Devised at breakneck speed in just ten days by a company renowned for anarchic, divisive work, Filter's Twelfth Night was always destined to be a curious beast. Indeed, from the second the audience steps into the Birmingham Rep, it is clear this is going to be no ordinary Shakespeare. We appear to h...

BWW Review: TO KILL A MACHINE, King's Head Theatre, April 12 2016
by Gary Naylor - April 17, 2016

Gary Naylor sees a new take on the stroy of Alan Turing, the war hero and computer scientist whose sexuality led the state to bring him down....

BWW Review: AMERICAN IDIOT, Manchester Palace Theatre, April 5 2016
by Adrian Bradley - April 06, 2016

Green Day's American Idiot had the punk rock band's fans out in force for the band's rock opera - even if the staged version of the 2004 concept album was a little less than the sum of its parts....