UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 3

Review: POP UP PUPPET CINEMA, Exhibition Centre Liverpool
by Sarah OHara - May 13, 2024

At the first Comic Con Liverpool event of 2024, Pop Up Puppet Cinema delighted audiences with performances of two iconic films - Back to the Future and Jaws....

Book Review: A SENSE OF THEATRE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BRITAIN'S NATIONAL THEATRE, by Richard Pilbrow
by Cheryl Markosky - May 13, 2024

In the summer of 1962, Sir Laurence Olivier invited lighting designer Richard Pilbrow to 'sort out the bloody awful lighting' at Chichester Theatre two days before it opened. Pilbrow replied there was nothing he could do in so short a time. 'Well, you're no bloody use, are you?' Olivier quipped....

Review: WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, Theatre Royal Windsor
by Gary Naylor - May 09, 2024

Landmark show creaks at the edges, but gets its share of laughs in this highly accomplished touring show...

Brighton Fringe Review: WHOA MAMA!, Spiegeltent, Bosco Theatre
by Caroline Cronin - May 09, 2024

The strapline for Stephanie Ware’s WHOA MAMA! had me intrigued – a one woman comedy about a 40-something woman and her choice to remain childfree. There’s certainly no shortage of rhetoric on this subject, particularly on social media where the childfree “movement” has a real chokehold. But the conc...

Review: VANITY FAIR, Open Bar Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - May 09, 2024

Pub garden theatre specialist Open Bar Theatre has returned for a spring season with a deft and slightly chaotic version of William Thackeray's Vanity Fair. Dealing with the fortunes of two young women, the story explores early 19th-century English society, specifically how money and ambition can de...

Review: TIM RICE: MY LIFE IN MUSICALS, Liverpool Playhouse
by Sarah OHara - May 07, 2024

Currently on tour across the UK, Tim Rice: My Life In Musicals is two hours of musical theatre bliss that you will never forget....

Review: A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL, Salisbury Playhouse
by Cheryl Markosky - May 01, 2024

What can be more cheering on a dreary, wet evening than seeing a jolly Alan Ayckbourn comedy?...

Review: MACBETH IN CINEMAS, Filmed at Dock X
by Alice Cope - April 29, 2024

An intense and well filmed release of an atmospheric production of Macbeth. Showing in cinemas from 2 May....

Review: BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF, Liverpool's Royal Court
by Sarah OHara - April 25, 2024

Following its sold out run in 2023, Boys from the Blackstuff has returned to Liverpool’s Royal Court, before the show transfers to the National Theatre in London and Garrick Theatre in the West End....

Review: SILENCE, Birmingham Rep
by Laura Lott - April 24, 2024

“Old friends in the morning, then wanting us dead in the afternoon”, says one of the men in Silence, repeating the line over and over. Decades after the event, he still can’t understand the speed at which hate and violence ignited in the wake of the 1947 Partition of India....

Review: CALENDAR GIRLS, The Mill at Sonning
by Mica Blackwell - April 22, 2024

Unlike Firth’s decision to stretch out the film’s first half for the musical, confusingly ending it on the long-awaited calendar photoshoot, his play adaptation allows the audience to see the impact the calendar has on the outside world and the women’s personal lives....

Review: LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - April 21, 2024

Spring brings renewed energy into the year. There isn’t a better moment for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s recently appointed Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey to launch their vision for the organisation. Led by a big name that will attract new audiences who are probably younger ...

Review: DIVERSITY: SUPERNOVA, De Montfort Hall, Leicester
by Laura Lott - April 17, 2024

It's hard to imagine what more an audience could possibly want from a dance show than what Diversity provide in their current tour Supernova. There are stunning, tightly choreographed dance routines, impressive production values, up-to-the-minute technology, music loud enough to reverberate through ...

Review: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Watermill Theatre
by Mica Blackwell - April 17, 2024

Much Ado About Nothing is a quintessential Shakespeare farce: mistaken identities, intertwining romances, betrayals and deception all wrapped up with a neat little bow by the end. The same can be said for the screwball comedies that dominated 1930’s and 40’s cinema, so it’s no surprise why Tom Wentw...

Book Review: THE ACTOR AND THE SPACE, Declan Donnellan
by Cindy Marcolina - April 13, 2024

His first publication went viral (once again, in a way) when Mr Jeremy Strong of Succession fame featured it in his GQ interview about his essentials, saying he swears by it. Declan Donnellan succeeds at describing the indescribable, putting the ephemeral art of acting on paper in another gem of a b...

Review: THE PROMISE, Birmingham Rep
by Laura Lott - April 10, 2024

New play The Promise, which has its world premiere at Birmingham Rep this week, looks at the intersectionality of dementia and deafness through the experiences of one family, and highlights the urgent need for more understanding and care options. ...

Review: THE 39 STEPS, Richmond Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 05, 2024

Mix a classic spy novel with the genius of Alfred Hitchcock, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps. With a history spanning over 100 years, John Buchan’s 1915 novel was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock which then went on to become a stage play in 1996, adapted again in 2005 by Patrick Barl...

Book Review: 100 THEATRES: PORTRAITS OF THE PLAYHOUSE
by Louise Penn - March 22, 2024

The book showcases a variety of venues worldwide, from ancient to modern, from the smallest travelling theatre in Rome to one of the largest in New York. Paul Tracey's paintings capture the spirit of the playhouse in all its grandeur and mystery. It is all about the images, with the briefest of text...

Review: CLUEDO 2, Theatre Royal Brighton
by Caroline Cronin - March 20, 2024

Written by BAFTA Award winners Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, this play can be viewed as a standalone...although if you're a fan of the board game, there are enough in-jokes to keep you satisfied....

Review: A SONG FOR ELLA GREY, Liverpool Playhouse Theatre
by Sarah OHara - March 18, 2024

Pilot Theatre, the company behind the critically acclaimed Noughts & Crosses, return with their latest production, A Song For Ella Grey, which is a unique and engaging retelling of the ancient Orpheus Myth....

Review: RICHARD, MY RICHARD, Shakespeare North Playhouse
by Sarah OHara - March 13, 2024

One of the best plays you will see this year, Richard, My Richard is an outstanding first production from Philipa Gregory....

Review: BEN & IMO, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
by Kat Mokrynski - March 11, 2024

Written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Erica Whyman, Ben & Imo tells the story of the composition of Benjamin Britten’s (Samuel Barnett) Gloriana with musical assistant Imogen Holst (Victoria Yeates) over a period of nine months in the coast town of Aldeburgh. The play is based on Ravenhill’s BBC...

Review: A FAMILY BUSINESS, Omnibus Theatre
by Kit Bromovsky - February 26, 2024

In a world shadowed by the persistent threat of nuclear war, A Family Business presented by China Plate and Staatstheater Mainz, delivers a poignant and immersive exploration of the human narrative behind the struggle for nuclear disarmament. ...

Review: DISCO PIGS, Alphabetti Theatre
by Bryony Rae Taylor - February 22, 2024

Enda Walsh’s abrasive, poetic two-hander, Disco Pigs is a bullet-train ride of extremes. Two 17-year-olds, Pig (Ben Gettins) and Runt (Amy McAllister) are best friends born just seconds apart in the same hospital. Hurling their angst at each other (and the audience) for just under an hour, the pair ...

Review: U.ME: THE COMPLETE MUSICAL, BBC Sounds
by Cheryl Markosky - February 21, 2024

The Pandemic and its consequences, especially on 20- and 30-somethings, are explored in the BBC's world premiere of U.Me: The Complete Musical....