Suzie Kennedy - Review

Crazy Coqs, London

*****

Suzie Kennedy

So much more than just a tribute act, Suzie Kennedy, when she assumes the persona of Marilyn Monroe, breathes a brilliantly vivacious life into one of the 20th century’s most inconic and enigmatic women. And in this year that marks the centenary of Monroe’s birth, Kennedy’s act takes on even greater significance.

From the moment she stepped into the spotlight in London’s intimate Crazy Coqs venue, Kennedy not only sang those numbers most associated with Monroe, she inhabited the star’s style – her script and audience interactions never letting the character drop, not for one second.

Kennedy’s hour-long setlist was a celebration of songs that defined not just Marilyn’s life but possibly and even more importantly, the impact that she made not only in her short lifetime but in the decades since then. Of course the classics were there and as Kennedy wrapped her mellifluous vocals around I Wanna Be Loved By You, My Heart Belongs to Daddy and (later in the act) Happy Birthday, she became that immortalised Hollywood idol.

I Was Born This Way (in a neat touch, duetted with Lady GaGa tribute artiste, the excellent Lallie Burns) along with a soulful solo (by Kennedy) of I Am What I Am defined the day’s Pride credentials, as Kennedy spoke (as Marilyn) sincerely and above all knowledgably, about Monroe’s troubled life.

Kennedy brings a sincerity to her act that transcends her sublime performance skills, showing a profound respect to Monroe that only imbues her otherwise stellar performance. An eclectic choice of songs supports this deep understanding. The Leslie Gore classic You Don’t Own Me (delivered complete with its sublime key change) brings a charged profundity to the evening, while Charlene’s I’ve Never Been To Me comes across as though it could almost have been inspired by Marilyn Monroe. 

In 1962 and aged just 36, Marilyn Monroe’s life was tragically cut short. The tragedy of her death is  reflected in Kennedy's final act, where following Over The Rainbow a song steeped in heartbreak for so many reasons, she silently slipped away from the stage. Paul Rahme her talented musical director then took over the mic with a powerfully poignant delivery of Elton John’s song from 53(!) years ago, Goodbye Norma Jean.

Notwithstanding the sadness, Kennedy makes sure the show ends with a bang, returning from the wings, costumed-changed and shimmering in sparkles to deliver another of Monroe’s signature tunes, from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.

Sparkling entertainment – Suzie Kennedy defines the legacy of Marilyn Monroe.

Arcadia - Review

Duke of York's Theatre, London

*****

Written by Tom Stoppard

Directed by Carrie Cracknell

Isis Hainsworth

Arguably the zenith of Tom Stoppard’s all encompassing genius, Arcadia is a play that bends time to explore the intriguing complexities of maths, physics and art.

We meet the Coverly family on their country estate, firstly in the 19th century and latterly, some generations later, in the present day. Thomasina Cloverly is from the 1800s a gifted thinker who Stoppard aligns with the mathematical geniuses of her time. Aged just 16, her character is combination of precocious intellect fused with sexual curiosity. Played by Isis Hainsworth, hers is a masterful performance. Also striking from that era is Seamus Dillane’s take on Septimus Hodge, tutor to Thomasina. As the unseen Lord Byron drifts in and out of the narrative, Stoppard crafts a richly woven tapestry.

Fast forwarding to the modern era where the latter-day Coverlys are visited at their still-standing country pile by warring academics Bernard Nightingale (Oliver Chris) and Hannah Jarvis (Nikki Amuka-Bird). As the pair clash over the finer points of Lord Byron’s life and romances, Nightingale is ultimately and deliciously exposed as a pompously self-opinionated arse, all making for great theatre and as the 21st century family, aided by computer, uncover the genius of Thomasina’s mathematical theorems, the drama becomes electrifying. A further mark of Stoppard’s craft is that throughout both the story and the centuries that it spans, there is a beautifully penned undercurrent of lustful desires, both consummated and frustrated.

Carrie Cracknell has helmed her production, that hails from the Old Vic magnificently. Stoppard created the piece to let the historical timelines segue seamlessly and Cracknell directs her cast with a perfectly placed accuracy. Alex Eales's set design of concentric revolves beneath suspended spheres emphasises the metaphysicality of Stoppard’s creation.

Three hours (including interval) makes for a long haul, but it’s worth it. Rarely is such brilliant writing so beautifully performed.

Runs until 12th September

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

The Ladyboys of Bangkok - Review

 The Sabai Pavilion, London

**

Beneath a pink, pulsating, (and when the bass is turned up, throbbing) big top erected on Shepherds Bush Green, The Ladyboys of Bangkok are strutting their stuff nightly during the show's London residency. 

In an evening that always promised more than was to meet the eye, perhaps if the tent had even been half-full (it was at far, far less than 25% capacity on the night of this review) then maybe all those mimed disco classics, pyro effects and laser beams that sliced through the haze might have complemented a party vibe. As it turned out, the evening felt more like an end-of-the-pier show on a rainy bank-holiday afternoon, rather than the tittilatingThai-themed treat of a cabaret and floor show that the marketing material had suggested.

The cast were troupers - playing to a virtually empty marquee while sporting immaculate make up and (occasionally) sparkling costumes they kept their smiles throughout. It was only a wonder that Queen’s Show Must Go On was not included in their pre-recorded backing set.

The two stars are for the Ladyboys’ sheer bravado and balls.

Runs until 12th July - then on tour and in Edinburgh

To Kill A Mockingbird - Review

Wyndham's Theatre, London

****

Written by Aaron Sorkin

From the novel by Harper Lee

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Richard Coyle

Bartlett Sher’s stunning revival of Harper Lee’s classic fable returns to the West End for a 12-week residency at the Wyndham’s.

Set in Alabama in the 1930s, in America’s segregated and highly prejudiced Deep South, Lee’s tale is one of oppression, racism and resentment, contrasted with a heroic stance on enlightened and principled legal thinking fused with compassion and the finest family values.

This site rarely seeks to draw comparisons but Richard Coyle’s performance as Atticus Finch demands one. Gregory Peck’s Oscar-winning take on the role (in Robert Mulligan’s 1952 movie) has been defined as one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema. In a performance of breathtaking resonance and character, Richard Coyle redefines Finch, more than matching Peck’s genius. Returning to the role that he created in the production’s original London iteration, Coyle captures Finch’s complex morality and kindness in a performance that is perfectly weighted and nuanced, delivering arguably the greatest transition of an iconic character from screen to stage. For Coyle’s performance alone, one should buy a ticket. 

Sher's work on a London stage has never been so assured or perfectly pitched, where he has assembled a formidably flawless company. As the narrator / Greek chorus of the piece, Anna Munden is Finch’s adolescent daughter Scout. Together with her brother Jim (Gabriel Scott) and their friend Dill  (Dylan Malyn in an extraordinarily brilliant stage debut), the three teenagers serve to advance the evening's litany of cruel injustices, be they social as well as racial.

The cast boasts other supporting gems. Aaron Shosanya is magnificent as Tom Robinson, a black cotton-worker falsely accused of raping the white Mayella Ewell (Evie Hargeaves). Hargreaves similarly masters her challenging role, capturing the impact of the abuse and neglect that she has been subject to by her father Bob (Oscar Pearce playing a despicably ignorant redneck, in a performance that is as brilliant as his character is evil). Richard Dempsey is terrific as prosecuting counsel Horace Gilmer, while Stephen Boxer’s Judge Taylor is another modest role, perfectly performed. Andrea Davy is terrific as Calpurnia, Finch's black housekeeper who frequently holds up a mirror to his frailties.

Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation is masterfully penned – but is too long, especially in the first act. Where the visual impact of a movie scene can describe a story’s canvas in a second, dramatic narrative is a more laboured process. Lee’s original is a rich narrative, the details of which are not easily condensed into the confines of a theatre and there are moments when the story’s otherwise beautiful momentum, flags. At just over three hours, the play is a long-haul. Kander & Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys, a musical also centred on racial injustice in the 1930s American South together with the flawed legal systems of the time, made its point as powerfully in just 90 minutes

Long maybe, but this is powerful theatre and a display of the finest acting in town.

Runs until 12th September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Jazz Cabaret in Hampstead

Come along on Sunday 5th July at to The Marigold Session, a jazz-infused cabaret hosted by Anoushka Cowan and Elijah Lifton, with special guests, actor Christopher Biggins, and writer Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors).

Jazz, songs, duologues, comedy, discussion.

Two shows at the Circle & Star Theatre, Hampstead, NW3

Cyrano - Review

Noel Coward Theatre, London

*****

Written by Edmond Rostand

Adapted by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson

Directed by Simon Evans

Adrian Lester

Anyone who has ever been in love knows the impossible rollercoaster of feelings it brings: from the silly, adorable goofiness of sweet beginnings, to the nuanced hesitation of self-reflection and the gushing warmth of love — and sometimes, the salty taste of a tragic end. The Royal Shakespeare Company’s new adaptation of the classic French play Cyrano de Bergerac, originally written by Edmond Rostand in 1897, offers all that and more: a wild combination of Greek comedy and tragedy.

At the centre of the story is the iconic Cyrano de Bergerac, played by Adrian Lester. A poet, soldier and philosopher whose words are as sharp as his sword, but despite his charm and wit, Cyrano carries a paralysing insecurity about his appearance, feeling unworthy of the woman he secretly loves: Roxane (Susannah Fielding). As a long-standing friend of Cyrano’s, charming and sharp-tongued herself and recently widowed from her old husband who she had been forced to marry, Roxane longs to be dazzled by raw, breathtaking love.

As Cyrano finds himself watching Roxane fall for the dashingly handsome Christian de Neuvillette (Levi Brown), a man with the looks if not the brains that Roxane demands, he becomes the voice behind another man’s wooing, ghostwriting his rival’s terms of endearment, desperately hoping to provide the love that he believes Roxane deserves.

Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson’s adaptation — Evans’ second encounter with the play, having directed it around 20 years ago — provides a thrilling tale, crafted not only by an outstanding cast of actors, but also by a thoughtful balance between modern and classical language. The hilarious dialogue made the whole theatre laugh uncontrollably, while the emotionally moving monologues were full of romantic, rhythmic pathos.

The immersive staging, using the whole theatre with actors suddenly appearing among the audience adds to the evening’s effective comedy. Grace Smart’s stage designs are also remarkable, moving the audience smoothly through time and places, from Cyrano’s theatre to the battlefield.

In the original play, Cyrano says he has won, on a bet, a private orchestra for a day. Quite wittily, in Evans’ version, the band has apparently decided to stick with Cyrano for much longer. The gloomy yet obedient musicians quietly appear and disappear on the theatre’s balconies, on the stage and behind him, providing a heartwarming mixture of comic moments and a subtle echo of Cyrano’s feelings, sometimes before the character himself is able to acknowledge them. Outstanding amazing work from the band of actor-musicians and the composer Alex Baranowski.

There are no weak performances in the large cast of this big-hearted, bittersweet play. Lester is mesmerising and convincing as Cyrano, moving virtuously from impressive action fighting scenes to upbeat comedy and then to raw emotion. Brown, as Christian, reveals a great comic gift too. Fielding crafts Roxane as a believable character, goofy and vulnerable, allowing us to see her through Cyrano’s loving eyes and to care for her deeply too. 

This is a masterful production that tells of insecurities overshadowing even the greatest of loves — a familiar pain that makes this story so timeless.

Reviewed by Florit Shoihet

Runs until 5th September

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Sinatra The Musical - Review

Aldwych Theatre, London

****

Written by Joe Di Pietro

Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall

Joel Harper-Jackson

The song, dance and music in Sinatra The Musical is world-class entertainment. A ‘juke-box’ show that threads together most of Ol’ Blue Eyes’s most recognisable numbers, for those who love Sinatra’s style, flair and voice, the evening is one of sublime talent.

Joe DiPietro’s book charts Sinatra’s life from around the 1940s over a handful of decades, peppering the timeline with hit after hit, each loosely woven into the narrative.

What makes this show soar however is not so much DiPietro’s book, as the legacy of Sinatra’s work, breathed into life at the Aldwych by Joel Harper-Jackson in the title role. Harper-Jackson is sensational in both tone and presence, and if you’re lucky enough to catch a split-second glimpse of his profile from the side, the resemblance to Sinatra is uncanny. The show’s creatives have played a smart move (for the most part) in how the songs are deployed through the evening. Opening with All Of Me (that proves to be a mini-motif of the evening), a novel twist sees Come Fly With Me used as the musical backdrop to Sinatra bedding his way through Lana Turner (Becky Anderson), Judy Garland (Jenna Innes) and Marlene Dietrich (Allana Taylor).

These women were of course bit-parts in Sinatra’s life, with the most influential females turning out to be his mother Dolly (Jenna Russell), first wife Nancy (Phoebe Panaretos) and his subsequent wife Ava Gardner (Ana Villafane). This talented trifecta are handed juicy solos across the show, with Villafane shining in Nice And Easy Does It, Panateros making heartbreaking work of In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning, while Russell along with Marty Aguire as her hubby Marty, sparkles in You Make Me Feel So Young. On the night of this review Sylvie Regan was Little Nancy, who sang with an enchantingly commanding presence.

If there is a criticism of the show it is Joe DiPietro’s wafer-thin book, the years playing out with a bland predictability. Aside from Russell’s fiercely matriarchal mamma, there is barely any humour at all, the mark of the perfect juke-box musical being that it can carry one’s interest in between the songs. There are moments during the dialogue when the evening drags. We already know that Sinatra was a serial womaniser with links to the Mob – Di Pietro sheds little new light on the singer’s journey. And deciding that Sinatra should sing The Way You Look Tonight to Little Nancy as she prepares to accompany him to the Academy Awards is the absolute depth of sugary, cutesy, kitsch albeit beautifully sung.

Those looking for Sinatra's classics will not be disappointed. That's Life and My Way bookend the interval, while New York, New York is gifted to the audience as a singalong number during the finale.

Kathleen Marshall directs and choreographs with flair, while Dave Rose’s 17-piece band are sensational (and don’t forget to stay for the exit music when each band member riffs a stunning solo!)

Lavish production values and oh, those magical songs!

Booking unti 10th April 2027

Photo credit: Brinkhoff-Moegenberg

Barnum - Review

RichmondTheatre, London

***

Music by Cy Coleman

Lyrics by Michael Stewart

Book by Mark Bramble

Directed by Jonathan O'Boyle

The cast of Barnum

After a spectacular run at Newbury’s Watermill two years ago, while this innovative actor-muso take on Coleman and Stewart’s classic musical still showcases fabulous talent, the show has lost some of its Big Top magic on the road.

Lee Mead is P.T.Barnum and to be fair, much like Matt Rawle before him, he’s a convincing king of flim-flam. Mead sings wonderfully and leads his show with an authentic enthusiasm. Not just vocally, Mead’s takes on There Is A Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute and The Colours Of My Life are magnificent, but his acting too is a blast with a stunning tight-rope act to close the first half.

Supporting Mead are original cast members including Monique Young as Charity, Barnum’s wife and Penny Ashmore as Swedish Nightingale (and Barnum’s mistress) Jenny Lind. Both remain exquisite, Young still breaking our hearts with her take on The Colours Of My Life.

But while the circus skills are breathtaking throughout and the actor-muso take on the score, delightful, the demands on one’s imagination that made General Tom Thumb and Jumbo the Elephant seem so glorious at Newbury, seem little more than bona-fide baloney when squeezed into the cramped confines of Richmond’s proscenium arch. 

If you want to see Barnum because you love the songs, then you won’t be disappointed.

Runs until 27th June, then on tour

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England - Review

Garrick Theatre, London

***

Written by Alex Hill

Directed by Sean Turner

Alex Hill

The real-life lunacy of one England fan in 2021, who did indeed insert a lighted flare between his buttocks, was the inspiration for Alex Hill's fictional drama. In this one-hander, Hill plays Billy, a young man used by Hill so the production notes advise, to explore toxic masculinity.

Hill's writing is vivid and his performance throughout the 75 minute one-act piece sensational. His energy - and ability to adlib where necessary - are hallmarks of a production that has been honed in the harsh intimacy of the Edinburgh Fringe. Hill plays Billy, a Wimbledon fan, who we follow through his drug and alcohol-fuelled football fanaticism and hooligan violence, through his relationship with a girl that we know is doomed to failure from the outset and ultimately to the incident with the flare.

Notwithstanding Hill's terrific acting, his characterisation is far too stereotyped. Billy is portrayed as an uneducated white working class male, with Hill inviting us to laugh (sneer?) at the young man's lack of sophistication.

Of course we do not know the real journey that 2021's idiot to perform such a dangerous act, with Hill's writing being disappointingly cliched in its narrative. Fo an audience member with little or no knowledge of football, seeing this play is only likely to deepen pre-existing prejudices about the beautiful game.

After three successful years at the Edinburgh Fringe and a brief UK tour, Alex Hill's play made a one-night appearance at London's Garrick Theatre before crossing the Atlantic next month for a 10-night run in New York.

A cliched script, albeit stunningly performed.

Performing at Soho Playhouse, New York from 8th - 18th July

Photo credit: Rah Petherbridge

Beshert - Review

*****

Written by Gary Enkin

Directed by Lewis Rose

2025 - 19 minutes

Anton Lesser and Kit Rakusen

Winner of the 2025 Pears Short Film Fund award, Beshert is a perfectly crafted 20-minute drama. Set in Leeds, Oliver Simon is approaching his barmitzvah while having been set a Care In The Community assignment from his school to visit an elderly resident in a local care home. On stumbling into the curmudgeonly Mr Pinsky the most charming and touching friendship evolves between (the unbeknownst to Oliver, dying) Pinsky and the convincingly awkward adolescent.

To say much more about the plot would spoil things and it’s only a short movie anyway, but what shines out from Beshert is its beautifully worded script from 70 year old newcomer(!) Gary Enkin that touches on moments of powerfully poignant tenderness while completely swerving sugary cliché. The relationships are played out with authenticity – with Pinksy’s final scene offering the most exquisitely understated depiction of hope emerging from devastating sadness. 

Of course it is not just the script. The young Kit Rakusen is Oliver while the venerable and accomplished Anton Lesser plays Pinsky, the spark between the pair proving electrifying. As Pinsky coaxes Oliver into embracing rather than resenting his barmitzvah, so too does the young boy re-ignite a spark of warmth and compassion in the old man. 

Lewis Rose directs with perfectly pitched nuance, and the whole affair is graced by a score from the always talented Erran Baron Cohen.

This movie is not just beshert, it’s beautiful.

Photo credit: Joanne Davidson

Desperate Scousewives - Review

Theatre Royal, St Helens

****

Written and directed by Lynne Fitzgerald

The cast of Depserate Scousewives

Desperate Scousewives is a warm, gritty and filthy comedy that is proudly Liverpudlian. Written and directed by Lynne Fitzgerald (who also performs as one of its cast of four) it is set around the streets of Liverpool, mainly situated on the street where the characters' four terraced houses nestle side by side. 

Vanessa (played by Samantha Alton) is getting married the next day. Her fiancé is currently banged up in Walton Prison and we learn that Vanessa in fact has never met her intended – rather he has proposed to her based upon the topless photos that she had posted to her Only Fans account. Fitzgerald’s writing proudly embraces the familiar scouse stereotypes of being thieving, workshy benefit scroungers. Indeed, were the play to have been written from outside the city it would have been damned for being bigoted. But her humour is wickedly sharp too. When one of her characters refers to being “on the Jumanji – it’s knock-off Mounjaro”, the moment is comedy gold. 

Lynne Francis is Tricia, the outsider – who initially earns the contempt of the other three due to being ginger, from Manchester and most shamefully of all, working for her living in gainful employment rather than living off DWP handouts. 

Completing the quartet is the star-billed Crissy Rock who plays Lily. Bringing some scouse gravitas and wisdom, Lily is the foursome’s matriarch – but she also sits at the play’s darkest core. We learn that both Tricia and Lily have been the victims of domestic abuse, with Fitzgerald choosing to end the first act with a harrowing monologue from Lily detailing the violence suffered at the hands of her misogynist partner.

Act two descends into classic farce, much of which involves the well-tested gag of a corpse being moved from location to location. It all becomes extremely far-fetched, however Fitzgerald never lets the energy levels flag. 

The Theatre Royal St Helens was packed, with Desperate Scousewives being received with massive applause, gasps of pain at the tough moments and roars of laughter as every gag landed perfectly. It is rare that a play can blend eye-wateringly funny smut, with a message about domestic abuse that is truly painful to listen to. That Fitzgerald accomplishes this says much for her skill as a writer.

On tour, click here for dates

Photo credit: David Munn Photography

War Horse - Review

National Theatre, London

*****

Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo

Adapted by Nick Stafford

Directed by Tom Morris

Revival directed by Katie Henry

The cast of War Horse

London’s South Bank is seeing yet another throughbred equine revival. As Peter Shaffer's Equus plays downstream at the Menier, the National Theatre's Olivier stage welcomes the return of War Horse where it premiered some 20 years ago. Michael Morpurgo’s richly layered yarn about the cruelties of war as seen from the perspective of a Devon-born horse has proved to be one of the National’s most successful productions, having not only toured the globe, but also been translated into a Steven Spielberg movie. Seeing the play back between the Olivier's gaping jaws however is a reminder of just how stunning good storytelling can be when the core narrative is strong and the theatrecraft deployed in its telling, is world class.

War Horse is the simplest of tales. The chestnut foal Joey is trained by a young Albert in a touching relationship of love for the animal and the richness of rural English history. As Joey grows into a full size Hunter, war breaks out and Albert's beloved horse is nefariously sold to the British Army. Albert, too young to sign up, lies about his age and ships out to the French battlefields, dreaming of being reunited with Joey.  Amidst this powerful narrative we are also introduced to another Hunter, Topthorn, with Morpurgo's yarn following the horses and the horrors of war that they are (and in real life, were) forced to endure.

The story's landscape is vast (possibly, in a slightly overlong second-act, too vast dare I say it) but with an enormous company and ingenious projections, the tale is beautifully told.

However, whilst the acting throughout is top-notch, War Horse is famous for the puppetry deployed in (almost literally) bring Joey and Topthorn to life. On the night of this review the three puppeteers animating Joey were Felicity Donnelly, Matthew Lawrence and Lewis McBean, while the team responsible for Topthorn were Rianna Ash, Michael Larcombe and Rafe Young. Toby Sedgwick returns to the production as the Director of Movement and Horse Choreography, and what Sedgwick coaxes from these six talented performers almost defies belief. The visionary genius of the Handspring designed puppets, leaves one gasping at the almost effortlessly realistic portrayal of the horses that these performers create. Theatre, and movement in particular, does not get better than this!

Even more uplifting, again on the night of this review, was to see the packed audience that filled the vast auditorium include a number of school parties. In a world of addictive screen usage and stories endlessly being told via CGI and AI, for these young people to witness such flawless practical theatre and movement being delivered so simply and yet so perfectly, with no digital assistance whatsoever, only added to the evening's beauty.

Runs until 30th July 2026

Photo credit: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

Allegra - Review

Richmond Theatre, London

****

Written by Peter Quilter

Directed and choregraphed by Stephen Mear

Maureen Lipman

In a play that will touch the hearts of many, Maureen Lipman plays Allegra, a woman of senior years who, through conditions that are unstated in the script but clearly recognisable, is losing her connection with the world around her. Frequently disappearing into her own private world of song, it matters not whether dementia or Alzheimer’s is her diagnosis, rather that Allegra is a woman of remarkable mental energy who is finding her world increasingly confusing.

Quilter offers three foils to Allegra’s vivacity: her brother Ronen (John Middleton), her Czech carer Anna (Elizabeth Bower), and PC Rogers (Bailey Patrick) the local cop who’s tasked with challenging Allegra over her singing that has been complained about as a public nuisance.

The strength of Quilter’s writing lies in its deliberately unsophisticated charm. The action as it plays out is simply defined, in a dialogue peppered with neatly timed gags that all land perfectly. Throw in a liberal measure of songs that stretch back over the years - and how Allegra, who may not remember that she had only seen her brother barely two hours ago, but can remember lyrics and tunes that date back decades - and one realises the perceptive depth of Peter Quilter’s script.

There are hints of Quilter’s Glorious! - about Florence Foster Jenkins - in the story, as well as a hint of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest as Allegra reluctantly subjects herself to the medication imposed upon her by the Court.

More than just the writing however, it is Lipman who takes this story of simple charm, lifting it into an evening of simply stated drama, that’s also rather wonderfully sung. In a performance of powerfully poignant presence and poise, she captures not only Allegra’s comic eccentricities but, almost heartbreakingly, her fragile vulnerabilities too.

The musical backing may be prerecorded, but Lipman’s singing, often a-capella, is thrillingly glorious, truly live, and possibly one of the finest performances to be found. That the lyrics of Take Me Out To The Ball Game are also projected on screen, encouraging an audience singalong, only adds to the evening’s magic.

Stephen Mear directs his first play (albeit one with music and some neat choreography of course) and he has helmed a hit, unlocking a beautifully nuanced story of simple humanity.

Prepare to laugh and cry - Allegra is exquisitely crafted theatre.

Runs until 13th June, then on tour before playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

High Society - Review

Barbican Theatre, London

*****

Music and lyrics by Cole Porter

Book byArthur Kopit

Additional lyrics by Susan Birkenhead

Based on the play "The Phildadephia Story" by Philip Barry

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Julian Ovenden and Helen George

In a glorious whirl through the Great American Songbook, Rachel Kavanaugh’s take on High Society is an immaculately cast revival of Cole Porter’s deliciously frothy yarn.

Drawn originally from the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story, the story opens with divorcee Tracy Lord on the eve of her marriage to George a rather nondescript accountant. Mother Lord and younger sister Dinah are flapping supportively as Dexter, Tracy's dashingly suave ex who still holds a torch for her, turns up as a surprise arrival at the family home for the weekend. Her hitherto estranged father Seth, a disgraceful womaniser also arrives unexpectedly. Lob in a couple of journalist lovebirds and a drunk Uncle Willie and the stage is set. What makes this 2026 revival of such a ridiculously improbable story take flight however is the genius of marrying Cole Porter’s cracking songs to one of the finest character-driven casts in town.

Helen George leads the line as Tracy, the delightfully ditzy and over-privileged heiress who opens the show with the title number, goes on to learn the power of forgiveness and redemption (OK, there is a heart to High Society’s bonkers storyline), making equally fine work of some classily duetted numbers as the story unfolds.

Julian Ovenden plays the dashingly divorced Dexter, a man who is gifted the lion’s share of the show’s songs which he duly smashes out of the park, hit after hit after hit. You Do Something To Me and Once Upon A Time are his softer solos, while his spectacular duets of Be A Clown with Uncle Willie (Nigel Lindsay) and Well, Did You Evah? with journalist Mike (Freddie Fox) take the Barbican's roof off.

Lindsay gets a further chance to show off his singing chops, closing the first half with a spectacular Now You Have Jazz. Matching Ovenden for sheer vocal power and beauty is the always brilliant Carly Mercedes Dyer as Liz (the other aforementioned journalist). In act one Dyer deftly duets with Fox in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? , but it is after the interval, with her mellifluous take on I’ve Got You Under My Skin, that she re-defines this song as her own.

The final singing accolade of the night has to go to David Seadon-Young as George. This accomplished performer has, at Leicester’s Curve over the past two years, perfected the style of the reserved, clipped gentleman whose complexities are unlocked, firstly as Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and more recently as Georg Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Seadon-Young channels his mastery of this particular style of character into, on this occasion, the far more shallow and two-dimensional George. It’s a modest (albeit critical) role to fill, with only one decent solo to perform, All Of You. Nonetheless he is yet another of this production’s gems.

So much for the songs - the show’s gags have been honed to perfection. All of the above-mentioned actors together with the stellar Felicity Kendal as Mother Lord and Malcolm Sinclair as Seth are terrific, hitting their marks with pinpoint precision and making sure that every gag lands just as intended.

Stephen Ridley's 16-piece band are a blast, Anthony Van Laast choreographs his company of 28 with flair, Tom Rogers’s sets, while designed for the road tour that the show will shortly set out on, is suitably glamorous, while Jon Morrell’s costumes are a fusion of both pastels and vivid brilliance. And as ever, Howard Hudson’s lighting plots enhance the whole affair.

High Society is an evening of pure theatrical pleasure.

Runs until July 11th, then on tour

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Atonement - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Written by Ian McEwan

Adapted for the stage by Christopher Hampton

Directed by Adam Penford

Miriam Petche

Ian McEwan’s Atonement takes an act of intimate deceit, exploding it across years and battlegrounds into a landscape of epic romance and consequence. It only took six years for McEwan’s 2001 novel to be translated into an award-winning movie and it is screenwriter Christopher Hampton who has returned to this modern classic, this time adapting the tale for the stage.

McEwan’s story as first published was a lavish depiction of wealth, class, deceit and its consequences, as well as a study on the power of the written word. To condense such an opus into two hours on stage (including interval) is a challenge that by its very nature sees corners cut from McEwan’s brilliant original. That being said, Hampton nonetheless fashions a stimulating drama that preserves much of the essence of this richly complex yarn.

We meet the young Briony Tallis in the 1930s. A precociously gifted young teenager with a vivid imagination, as the course of a misconstrued day in her family’s Surrey mansion unfolds, Briony tells a damning lie that sees her sister Cecilia’s lover Robbie ultimately jailed for a crime that he did not commit.

Isabella Dempster plays young Briony, who the story follows from adolescence into her early adult years. Dempster ages cleverly, with her youthful impetuousness evolving into a more considered maturity as the guilt of her deception weighs increasingly heavy upon her. Miriam Petche and Jasper Talbot are respectively Cecilia and Robbie, both delivering performances of heartbreaking poignancy. Theirs was a love barely requited, the two actors capturing the human complexities of their pain in moments of theatrical excellence. The story’s epilogue features a brief appearance from Jessica Turner as the elderly Briony, in terminal decline from vascular dementia and expounding upon her lifetime of atonement. Having been only very recently cast into the role following the unexpected indisposition of the originally cast Sian Phillips, Turner’s work is outstanding.

Atonement as a narrative depends upon a classy design brief, with Chichester veteran Anthony Ward delivering exquisite settings and costumes. A combination of practical ingenuity and slick projections transfer the action across southern England and war-torn northern France, while the costuming, notably Cecilia’s stunning green dress, critical to a focal point of the story, is outstanding.

Only on at Chichester for two more weeks, one can only hope for the show to transfer. Atonement is an evening of tragically beautiful theatre.

Runs until 20th June

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Review

Watermill Theatre, Newbury

****

Written by Ian Fleming
Music & lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Directed by Paul Hart

Me Ol' Bamboo danced in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It is bold and visionary to stage Chitty Chitty Bang Bang within the intimate confines of the Watermill’s 200-seater auditorium, but much like the magic that transforms the car in Ian Fleming’s classic story, so too has Paul Hart’s production of the show spread its wings in one of the most gloriously imaginative productions to be seen this year.

Christian Edwards plays Caractacus Potts, the widowered inventor who has clearly been an inspirational and principled, if somewhat maverick, father to children Jeremy and Jemimah. On the night of this review the Potts kids were played by Francis Adams and Auora Breslin who were both flawless in their portrayal of these cute kids who are wise beyond their years.

The show’s classic love story is the understated romance that blossoms between Caractacus and the confectionery heiress Truly Scrumptious (Lydia Louise) and it is a credit to this production that the tender humanity that sits at the core of the story is so delightfully picked out. Without veering into cheesy sentimentality, the strong familial love that binds the Potts clan together is beautifully portrayed.

Even more remarkably, not only was the versatile Edwards the face behind West End Producer, a man with whom I shared many an interval conversation over the years, but Louise is making her professional debut in this show. Based on the quality of this performance, a stunning career awaits her.

The show’s carefully crafted comedy is top-notch. Sam Pay as Boris and Alexander Zane as Goran, the two bungling Vulgarian spies, have honed their timing to perfection. And from a musical perspective Zane, the onstage MD in this actor-musician show, delivers some exquisite percussion on the glockenspiel during act two’s Doll On a Music Box. The other half of the evening’s hilarity is delivered by Samuel Morgan-Grahame as Baron Bomburst and Mairi Ikegami as his wife, the Baroness. These two nail their lampoonery to perfection, taking the scripts gags that, like a pantomime, are aimed at both the young and the not-so-young in the audience and delivering them immaculately.

The star of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will always be, to use the vernacular, a car that’s more than spectacular, and the Katie Lias's designs for the Watermill do not disappoint. In a neat turn of staging that sees the audience de-camped half way through act one into a fairground marquee for a choreographed treat of Me Ol' Bamboo, on returning to the theatre, the magically powered car has been brought on stage and hidden under dustsheets (think of that chandelier in Phantom…). And of course, as the story unfolds, the car first drives, then takes to the sea, before finally, before our eyes, soaring into the skies with the Potts family and Truly all aboard.

Fabulous family theatre!

Runs until 13th September

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

The Shawshank Redemption - Review

Richmond Theatre, London

***

Adapted by Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns

Based on the short novel by Stephen King

Directed by David Esbjornson

The cast of The Shawshank Redemption

There is always a risk in adapting an iconic film for the stage. Based (like the movie) on Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, there was the possibility that Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns might have found their own unique interpretation, inviting the film’s fans on a different and exciting journey. After all, this is an emotionally loaded, years-long story with several interesting characters and it could have been approached differently.

Their play however does not go far enough, forcing the audience into endless comparisons with the 1994 Hollywood classic. By itself this is not necessarily a bad thing, indeed some fans might find it amusing material to chew over. But the play does a disservice to the film and to King’s core strength as a writer: his ability to generate genuine empathy even for the most heinous criminals. And that is, by itself, a sort of crime.

The Shawshank Redemption pulls us back to the late 1940s, to an American prison in Maine full of hardened criminals. That in itself makes for an interesting experience to watch in 2026. An all-male play — a theatrical man cave, if you like — where one can dive into thought-provoking themes of masculinity, sexual harassment among men, the power of friendship and the adherence to hope in the face of blatant injustice. But as the play struggles to plant the seeds of empathy deeply enough, there are very few brief moments of catharsis in which the emotional involvement overshadows the grim, casual mention of the reasons why many of these men are in prison in the first place (usually the murder of women in their lives).

Ben Onwukwe, as Ellis ‘Red’ Redding, steps confidently into the big shoes of Morgan Freeman as the main narrator, delivering his own effortless interpretation of one of the story’s most beloved characters. Onwukwe’s Red, as a resourceful and well-connected prisoner, provides a good mixture of heart and comic upbeat, while showing us the gentle forging of a brave friendship with the prisoner Andy Dufresne, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite his professions of innocence. Joe McFadden’s Dufresne, however, struggles to bring to life the unforgettable, nuanced character of the wise, confident and yet alien nature of his character that the story requires. Instead, his Dufresne comes across as fragile and almost neurotic — which does not quite fit the story arc.

Elsewhere, Samarge Hamilton as fellow inmate Rico provides well-measured comic relief, Kenneth Jay as the elderly prisoner Brooksie, enthrals the audience in one of the most emotionally gripping scenes, while Bill Ward charismatically plays the corrupt and ruthless Warden Stammas.

The evening’s flaws include distracting inconsistencies in the actors’ American accents, together with the director’s struggle to mirror the passage of time. The clever use of changing musical fashions adds authenticity to the story, but does not serve well enough as the main indicator of passing time inside the prison walls.

With a running time of more than two hours, while The Shawshank Redemption makes for entertaining theatre, it might simply be easier to grab your remote control and drift back into Freeman’s familiar narration once again.

Reviewed by Florit Shoihet

Runs until 6th June

Photo credit: Jack Merriman

The Nova Exhibition Comes To London

A burned out car wreck, recovered from the Nova site  (c)Nova Exhibition

October 7th 2023 saw Hamas terrorists from Gaza enter Israel to murder 1,200 souls and take a further 250 hostage. At the time of the terrorist attack the Nova Music Festival, a celebration of dance and trance was in full swing just a few miles from the Gaza border.

As the sun rose on that terrible October day, the terrorists swarmed the festival massacring 413 predominantly young people and taking 44 hostages. Many hundreds more were wounded leading to the Nova Festival becoming perhaps the bloodiest of that day’s countless atrocities.

This week the Nova Music Festival Exhibition opened in central London. A remarkable tribute to that day’s victims, the exhibition  “06:29AM – The Moment Music Stood Still”, conceived and curated by artist Reut Feingold, offers a thoughtfully created recreation of aspects of both the festival itself, alongside deeply respectful displays of the day’s unimaginable barbarity.

Arriving at the exhibition, visitors are first ushered into a short movie screening describing the essence of the festival. The joy, happiness and exhilaration as the young people danced the night away is vividly recreated. As the sun rose over the Negev that morning, the carnival was to become carnage and visitors to the exhibition leave the screening room to enter what has been recreated as a typical festival campsite.

Trees and sand make up the room’s landscape, with individuals’ festival pop-up tents amidst the palms, all strewn with the messy mundanity of young people camping out for a couple of days … books, magazines, tubes of toothpaste, a backgammon set…the usual clutter. It’s a brilliant creation, for nestling within these tented collections of discarded personal trivia – all genuine artefacts, recovered from the Nova site – are video displays and mobile phone screens playing looping clips of the day’s violence in actual footage that had been recovered by the IDF from both the terrorists’ Go Pro cameras and the victims’ mobile phones. Within the clips the deceased have been treated with respect, these harrowing rolling extracts being blurred where necessary so as not to identify the victims.

A wall, lit by flickering memorial candles, displays pictures of all the victims – on another wall, images of those taken as hostages. Some of the names are familiar to us from events of the last 2 1/2 years. Above all, it is the sheer number of these beautiful young people, cut down as they danced, that is chilling. And that they were all someone’s child or sibling or parent reminds us all of how fragile and precious their lives were.

Other tableaux in the exhibition tell of the nightmare of that day – burned out car wrecks; an immaculately recreated festival bar, complete with a credit card swipe machine that we are all familiar with, only this one bears a bullet-shattered screen; and tables and tables of the victims’ shoes, sandals and clothes. To the side of the exhibition, a small room documents the rape and sexual torture that the terrorists inflicted that day. The heartbreak is overwhelming.

And yet, amidst this devastation, my visit to  “06:29AM – The Moment Music Stood Still” also offered a truly humbling glimpse of the finest in humanity. Travelling with the exhibition are a group of remarkable volunteers, each prepared to share their own experiences of the impact of what happened at Nova that day and in the months following.

Amongst the dozen or so of these noble individuals, I spoke to Taryn Thomas, a student from Stanford University in the USA and who had flown in to London from California that morning. Taryn is neither a Nova survivor nor a relative. Rather, she is an example of the power of the exhibition to effect change.

Up until 2024 Taryn had been a prominent and outspoken leader of pro-Palestinian rallies on campus. When the Nova Exhibition came to Los Angeles, the production team extended an open invitation to students to come and see it for themselves. Taryn came. She spent three hours inside and came out changed.

Taryn told me: “I was a part of the pro-Palestine encampment at Stanford University. October 7th of 2023, I was a sophomore and I think what kind of drew me to the movement was a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose.

And fast forward, one of our protests had definitely gotten out of hand and caused about $700,000 in damages. 12 students had received felonies having spray-painted disgusting things such as “Death to Israel, Death to America” And I think that was my first time thinking that I just didn’t understand how this was liberating Palestine or saving anyone. And so I took a step back from the movement because so many students were suspended. And then, months later in October of 2024, I received an email inviting non-Jewish students to visit the Nova Exhibition.

I had heard about this festival, and I went with the purpose of looking for Zionist propaganda. I went with a closed mind and I thought I knew what I was going to see. I was looking almost to validate and strengthen my position as I looked for the Zionist lies. So I went, and I saw all of my assumptions being broken. I was just completely astounded by how horrific the events were.

And this was my first time ever seeing the October 7th footage and this was like a year later.

So I went in looking for propaganda and there was none. The exhibition didn’t argue with me. It showed me kids my age being hunted and I could see myself in them and that could have been me at a music festival dancing, and then fleeing for my life the next moment.

I read the goodbye messages and the last “I love yous” and I just felt like my heart broke. One of the main things that made me open my eyes was the audio clip of the terrorist calling his dad to celebrate that he had killed 10 Jews. And these were the ‘Palestinian martyrs’? This was ‘the resistance’ that we were calling for ‘by any means necessary’? This was who we were supporting? I couldn’t rationalize and even understand the actions of what I was witnessing.”

I asked Taryn what the impact had been upon her life, of so fundamentally changing her perspective on the pro-Palestine movement?

“It’s been incredibly hard. I lost pretty much every single friend that I had. I went to Israel in 2025 and posted about it and my best friend asked, “Is this you?” And I was like, “Yeah, do you want to talk about it? ” And she immediately blocked me.

I thought there would be an argument or a fight and I was wishing that had happened, I thought I would be given a chance for a conversation. Unfortunately, the pro-Palestinian ideology has people so wrapped up in it that they attach their identity, their morals, everything. And if you dissent at all, you’re persecuted socially. It’s like a social suicide.

It started with my best friend and then it turned into my classmates who posted on their social medias that I’m a genocide apologist and calling me a spineless loser. And it was really hard because I knew them. Of course, that’s their tactic, to shame and to silence. Any dissent, or question is to risk your social life.

And I think especially for every college student, that’s your whole world. It feels existential. And so I think going through that and losing that many people, I don’t know, but I feel like for every person I lost, I gained. I was welcomed with open arms in the Jewish community in ways that I would’ve never had imagined. I was invited to Shabbat dinner at Chabad and Hillel and made two of my best friends.

I just never knew that our movement was hateful. We had JVP [Jewish Voice for Peace. A left-wing, grassroots, activist antizionist organization in the United States composed of Jews who advocate for Palestinian rights and the liberation of the Palestinian people] alongside us and so I thought this was what Jews thought. I came to realize how antisemitic our movement was and how antizionism is antisemitism.”

I asked Taryn how she thought it may be possible to enlighten more people, particularly young people, who currently hold the misguided beliefs that she had once shared?

“I think it’s going to be an uphill battle. It is sad that it took me so long, but without people welcoming me with open arms, I wouldn’t be here today. And so I think there’s a silent majority that are scared to speak up, scared to admit that they were wrong, or they made a mistake. So if we want people to be deradicalized, we need to build an off ramp and let them know it’s okay to change your mind and to have nuance”.

"06:29AM – The Moment Music Stood Still” is an astonishing and, sadly, unmissable exhibition. It stands not only as humbling documentary evidence and witness to the diabolical terrorism of Hamas on October 7th, it also frames a narrative of hope for the future. It is only in London for six weeks, but just go. If you are already familiar with the events of October 7th, still go – the exhibition will teach you more.

But even more importantly, take someone with you who has yet to learn of the horrors of that day.

The exhibition runs until 5th July 2026. You can buy tickets here