My first ever visit to The Hen & Chickens Theatre , was to see Late, A Cowboy Song,  written by Sarah Ruhl and produced by T. Regina Theatre Co.   The synopsis of the show said: Mary, always late and always married, meets Red, a lady cowboy strumming songs outside Pittsburgh city limits. With Red, Mary tastes a freedom she’s never had, and begins a search for the recipe. Meanwhile, her husband, Crick, buys abstract paintings with borrowed money.   This instantly gave the imp

Daniel’s Husband is a play written by Michael McKeever and directed by Alan Souza. I was both surprised and delighted to be invited to the Press Night at Marylebone Theatre. As you take your seat you are greeted by the view of a stylish apartment, boldly decorated in blue and green (my favourite colours, so maybe I’m a biased when I say I loved the colour scheme).  I particularly liked the sloped roof which instantly gave the impression of a stylish – likely outrageously exp

Photo by Lucy Hayes I was invited to review The Magic of Christmas  at Brick Lane Music Hall, and I was keen to see it, partly because of its festive nature but also because I had never been to this venue before and I was interested to see what it was like. Brick Lane Music Hall today is located – not on Brick Lane, as it was in its original form – but in Silvertown, in what is also known as St Mark’s Church. This building is such a good choice; when you walk through the door

I was invited to review Leading Voices LDN’s Fresh Off The Score Winter Edition at the Union Theatre, and told it was going to be a concert of seasonal songs from new and emerging British and UK-based theatre writers, many of which had been written especially for the evening. It was a pleasure to attend this sold-out event. The members of the choir burst onto the stage in a flash of red and black, and their opening song – Where the Wind Blows  (from Bear Left  by Ollie Mills)

I was invited to review Doughnut Drive , a new comedy-thriller play by Finella Waddilove, and it appealed greatly as I enjoy thrillers in book form more than any other genre. The play began with a stage void of any set or props apart from a table with a glass of water on it.  This was a clever way to focus the mind as without any other distractions, it instantly became a reference point and made you wonder why this was present.  Bex (Sarah Parkins) then delivered a speech as

Cast of Dick Whittington. Photo by Craig Fuller. I was invited to review Dick Whittington at the Oxford Playhouse and initially was not sure about going to a pantomime. However, I went along and I can only say it has validated my aim to be open minded this year about the types of show I see. First thing first, I must mention the programme (my publishing experience means I do notice these things!).  The paper is a really high quality but on top of the details of all the people

A week after my first visit to Etcetera Theatre, I returned to see Hands On , a new play by Valia Katsi, directed by Nasia Papadopoulou and produced by Amy Shields. Anastasia Thiras during the pre-show Walking through the door, we were individually greeted by a character (Anastasia Thiras) who handed each person a small gift and she then spoke to a few people in the audience. At this point it became clear she was some kind of psychic medium, and this was such an engaging star

I was invited to review The Window Project  at The Etcetera Theatre.  This was my first visit to this venue, and it was lovely to see a full house. Created by Nikos Lekakis and Amalia Paschalidi who also performed the show, The Window Project began with them on stage, seemingly unsure what they (or we) were meant to be watching.  After the comment “I think we are the show” the characters decided to create something between themselves. Production photograph by John Kolikis Wit

A View from the Bridge  by Arthur Miller is currently playing at Oxford Playhouse, and I went along to review the show on the first night. Directed by Rosie Morgan-Males and produced by Labyrinth Productions, the synopsis of the show is as follows: This award-winning play follows Eddie Carbone, a Brooklyn longshoreman whose world unravels when his wife’s Italian cousins arrive illegally. As his niece Catherine falls for the charming Rodolpho, Eddie’s protectiveness turns poss

I was invited to review Verbal Diary  way back at the start of May, when this hobby of mine was in its infancy.  The show sounded interesting and quirky to me, so I was glad to have been invited. When I walked into the theatre space, the first thing I noticed was a huge book on stage. During the show, the pages of this enormous diary (created by John Bulley, Ash Whiting and Dave Taylor) were turned, revealing new set backgrounds to suit the narrative. What a brilliant piece o

The Laramie Project  is a piece of contemporary verbatim theatre that was originated by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project after the brutal murder of a 21 year old gay man, Matthew Shepard, in October 1998. From transcripts from more than 200 interviews with the people who live in Laramie, this dramatic recreation of events was created.  Knowing the events that were going to unfold in front of you were based in reality had an impact before the play eve

Screaming, Crying, Throwing Up, Begging to be Loved (Yikes)  was written and performed by Alex Osborne and co-directed by Blake Stratso and Madisyn Mugavero. The play begins with our narrator entering her bedroom, after leaving an unseen character in her living room while she sorts out the mess she's left the room in earlier. Previously discarded clothes were picked up and thrown behind a curtain in haste. This instantly brought back memories of Sarah and Karl in Love Actuall

Ryan Craig’s adaption of Emma  by Jane Austen is a Theatre Royal Bath production with fitting timing as part of a celebration of Jane Austen’s 250 th  anniversary. I was invited to review the show at Oxford Playhouse. I have a vague memory of seeing a film version of Emma quite a few years ago but I am by no means an expert on the story as I have not read the book.  Seeing an adaption probably suited me more than some as I was not comparing the play to the book. I did recall

During the second day of Musical Con 2025 I achieved some of what I set out to do but not all of it.  This was because I spent most of my time at the Main Stage watching what was going on and taking quite a lot of photos of the performances. The day started with a talk about The Lion King  with some of the performers and crew talking with Henry Calvert and sharing some inside information about the West End production. Did you know that they use 232 puppets in each show?  Hard

Leyton Williams at Musical Con 2025 I feel hugely honoured to have been gifted a ticket for Musical Con 2025 – massive thanks to Chloe Nelkin Consulting for this – should I admit I was so excited when I heard, I had a sleepless night? Probably not, but there you go. This was my first visit to this event, so I really didn’t know what to expect but having loved musicals for as long as I can remember, I knew it would be my sort of thing. The queue opened at 8am –  I didn’t make

I was invited to review Willy Witches  by Mardy Cow Theatre, and the press information led me to believe this would be an amusing show to see.  This was the synopsis:  Willy Witches is based on a little known myth during the English witch trials when men hallucinated their “manhoods” falling off. And because it was 17th Century England, of course witches got the blame! We follow four women as they navigate this epidemic in their village, trying to make it out the other side w

Breaking the Code is a new production based on Hugh Whitemore’s book, with an additional new epilogue by Neil Bartlett.  I was excited to be invited to Oxford Playhouse to review this piece, as I already knew a fair amount about Alan Turing and the codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War 2, but was hoping to find out more about the man himself. I had the added bonus of attending on an evening where there were both captions, and a post-show talk.  But more on those lat

The Party Girls – written by Amy Rosenthal - is a Marlowe Theatre Production, directed by Richard Beecham, and I was delighted to be...

I was invited to review the premier of Project: Walter , and the information I was sent about the show gripped me instantly, so it was an...

This week I found myself heading to the Golden Goose  theatre to see The New Rep’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream , the last...