UK Regional Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 6

Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Chichester Festival Theatre
by Gary Naylor - July 18, 2023

The annual CFT summer blockbuster delivers West End quality again at considerably more affordable prices - time to book a train or set the satnav...

Review: THE LION KING, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - July 14, 2023

The Lion King isn't an easy show to take on tour, but you needn't worry that this is a pared down version. The touring production brings with it more than 230 different puppets, around 50 cast members and 100 crew, and the same impressive sets that you'll see in London and on Broadway....

Review: FLYING DUTCHMAN, Grand Junction
by Michael Higgs - July 14, 2023

A mixed beast that roars when it comes to the music but is ultimately let down by issues surrounding the conception and dramaturgical realisation....

Review: CHESTER MYSTERY PLAYS, Chester Cathedral
by Sarah O'Hara - July 06, 2023

Originally performed in Chester as early as 1375, The Mystery Plays have been performed every five years in the city since 1951, with a cast of 150 actors, singers and musicians of all ages staging the 2023 production in the historic setting of the city’s beautiful cathedral....

Review: ROMAN HOLIDAY, Theatre Royal Bath
by Cheryl Markosky - June 21, 2023

Olivier-award winning director Jeremy Sams lights up the stage with a fast-paced show. For anyone not convinced by turning a Fifties film into a musical today, Roman Holiday is more relevant than you’d think....

Review: FRANK AND PERCY, Theatre Royal Windsor
by Gary Naylor - June 15, 2023

Two men bond over a shared love of dogs and discover they have rather more in common than first appears....

Book Review: DRAMA GAMES FOR EXPLORING SHAKESPEARE, by Alanna Beeken
by Cheryl Markosky - June 14, 2023

Must-have, dip-in, flick-through book to help make Shakespeare's plays fun for actors, students, directors and teachers...

Review: ASSASSINS, Chichester Festival Theatre
by Gary Naylor - June 11, 2023

Blazing new production of strange and unsettling musical that leaves you with much to consider...

Review: GYPSY, The Mill At Sonning
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - June 05, 2023

One thing is certain in the world of theatre: there will always be revivals of Gypsy. The combination of Arthur Laurents' layered book, Jule Styne's razzmatazz-filled score and the incisive, character-driven lyrics by Stephen Sondheim has made the show an enduring hit....

Review: NOTFLIX THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL, Luna Park, Caravanserai, Brighton Fringe
by Caroline Cronin - June 02, 2023

Touting themselves as 'The Spice Girls of improv', the team behind Notflix the Improvised Musical certainly knew how to inject some zig-a-zig-ah into the Brighton Fringe as they took the stage in Luna Park at the Caravanserai site this week....

Review: MISCHIEF MAKERS: PETER PAN GOES WRONG - BROADWAY PART 1, Podcast
by Kat Mokrynski - May 31, 2023

Who broke their foot the last time they were in Peter Pan Goes Wrong? What was it like to work with Neil Patrick Harris? What are American audiences like versus those in the UK? Mischief Makers: Peter Pan Goes Wrong - Broadway Part 1 answers all of these questions and more!...

Review: HEAD FIRST ACROBATS: GODZ AND ARRR WE THERE YET?!, Brighton Fringe Spiegeltent
by Franco Milazzo - May 30, 2023

Nudity, profanity and hilarity: Head First Acrobats present a new holy trinity in Godz as well as an exciting children's show in Arrr We There Yet?!...

Review: GLAD TO BE DEAD at R-Bar, Brighton Fringe
by Paige Cochrane - May 23, 2023

Each year Brighton Fringe is home to some of the UK theatre scenes wildest and most unique performances. Make It Mine’s offering is Glad To Be Dead, a cycle of monologues from gothic horrors most notorious characters, waxing philosophical and lamenting their own misfortune, all wrapped up in one hou...

Review: GODOT IS A WOMAN, Old Fire Station, Oxford
by Katie Kirkpatrick - May 19, 2023

In their Fringe hit Godot is a Woman, Silent Faces theatre company explore Beckett and his estate’s refusal to allow women or non-binary people to perform his most famous play through a series of skits and spoofs on the play itself. The show is initially framed through a phone call to the estate whi...

Review: CYMBELINE, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - May 12, 2023

Entertaining from first to last, this less well-known play sparkles for three hours and finishes with a heartfelt plea for harmony...

Review: THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER, The Watermill Theatre
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - May 10, 2023

The ever enchanting Watermill Theatre in Newbury could hardly have hoped for more atmospheric weather to mark the opening night of their latest show, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. The distant thunderclaps and bucketing rain seemed perfectly placed to instill a disquieting mood as the audience arrive...

Review: THE BOOK OF WILL, Queen's Theatre Hornchurch
by Gary Naylor - May 05, 2023

Crowdpleasing production based on the printing of Shakespeare's plays (harder than you think!) makes for a diverting and pleasant couple of hours in the theatre...

Review: WUTHERING HEIGHTS, Royal & Derngate
by Mickey-Jo Boucher - May 02, 2023

For what it's worth, I think Emily Brontë would probably love this new production of her then controversial 19th century novel, Wuthering Heights. ...

Review: THE SILENCE AND THE NOISE, Streaming
by Louise Penn - April 18, 2023

Raw, brutal, twisted, and full of rich wordplay, this play makes its political points and highlights a relationship which uses regret, mistakes, and teasing to hide what is really happening at its core. It is less the star-crossed young lovers of Shakespeare than the smack-stained children of a mode...

Review: HAMNET, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
by Franco Milazzo - April 17, 2023

What’s in a name? That which we call William, Hamlet or Anne still smells as sweet when we see their historical origins in this adaptation by Lolita Chakrabarti of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel....

Review: THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - April 14, 2023

The theme song to Nickelodeon's super-popular animated series SpongeBob SquarePants encourages you to tune in 'if nautical nonsense be something you wish', and nautical nonsense is definitely what's on offer in this madcap but good-natured musical....

Review: PETER PAN, Reading Rep Theatre
by Imogen Usherwood - April 12, 2023

This new adaptation is a playful and charming take on a classic story, but its complexity may not be suitable for very young children...

Review: JULIUS CAESAR, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
by Gary Naylor - April 07, 2023

Touring production of play that explicitly warns of the dangers of politics as practised today loses focus by adopting a curious set of priorities...

Review: VISITORS, Watermill Theatre
by Mica Blackwell - April 05, 2023

Barney Norris wrote his debut play Visitors when he was only twenty years-old. Following its 2014 premiere at the Arcola, it garnered critical acclaim and earned Norris a Critic’s Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. Following a national tour and Off-West End run at the Bush, Norris returns a...

Book Review: MY SHAKESPEARE - A DIRECTOR'S JOURNEY THROUGH THE FIRST FOLIO by Greg Doran
by Cindy Marcolina - April 04, 2023

Doran’s latest book gives a revelatory and revolutionary breakdown of the canon in a way that works for both the professional and uninitiated....