Monday, 16 March 2009

LIVE FROM LEICESTER SQUARE: MISS POLLY RAE AND HER HURLY BURLY GIRLYS
Leicester Square Theatre
whatsonstage.com

Following the demise of the Soho Revue Bar, cabaret is looking for a new home. Miss Polly Rae and her Hurly Burly Girlys have decided to take their brand of vintage burlesque onto the stage of the much larger, and more mainstream, venue of the Leicester Square Theatre - Live From Leicester Square is their weekly, late-night, Friday residency...
http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8831237226713

Friday, 13 March 2009

OBAMA ON MY MIND
Hen & Chickens
Camden New Journal

Less talk, more action – a criticism levelled at many a politician, and something this musical comedy could certainly learn from.
It all started so well. A lively opening number lampooning Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment, with a perky Sarah Palin in a pig-suit, whipped me up into a positively American state of euphoria.
Half an hour later, and only three songs in, silk purses and sows' ears were springing to mind. Let’s hope Obama’s honeymoon period lasts a little longer...
http://www.thecnj.co.uk/review/2009/031209/theatre031209_02.html

Monday, 9 March 2009

AUSTENTATIOUS
Landor Theatre
whatsonstage.com
(Image courtesy of Michael McAdam)

Austen purists should probably avoid - if they haven’t left by the interval, then Elizabeth Bennet’s climactic, New York-based tap-off with her Pirate Queen sister Lydia, will surely send them running back to their texts to double-check the footnotes...
http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/offwestend/?p=1089#more-1089

Thursday, 26 February 2009

ONCE A CATHOLIC
Upstairs at The Gatehouse

Camden New Journal

Catholic guilt is all the rage at the moment. Having recently watched Meryl Streep’s pursed performance in Doubt, I was looking forward to some lighter convent-school capers in Once a Catholic. Unfortunately, I think I laughed more watching Doubt...
http://www.thecnj.co.uk/review/2009/022609/theatre022609_02.html

Saturday, 21 February 2009

Monday, 16 February 2009

MR WRIGHT IS ALL WRONG
The London Paper

My mother is obsessed with surnames. It’s the first question she’ll ask about my ­latest hot date. To her, it’s right up there with having good prospects, your own home and nice shoes – and rightly so. No, not because it conveys a certain class or ancestry, or even because it goes well with my first name, but because it could have a major impact on the future of my children...

http://admin.thelondonpaper.com/talk/columnists/the-columnist/eileen-strong-takes-a-closer-look-at-the-school-register

THE CARAVAN
Royal Court Theatre
whatsonstage.com

The prospect of spending a cold February evening in a caravan was not an appealing one, even if it was parked in the salubrious area of Sloane Square. The Caravan is a documentary theatre piece on the UK’s 2007 floods, performed in a slightly shabby caravan, to a cramped audience of just eight...
http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/offwestend/?p=1029
CASANOVA
King's Head Theatre

Camden New Journal

It’s a wonder the Carry On team never turned their attention to the true tale of the notorious Casanova. Not only does it have great alliterative potential, but the exploits of the 18th-century philanderer are ripe for such treatment...
http://www.thecnj.co.uk/review/2009/021209/theatre021209_01.html