REVIEW: Urinetown, Apollo Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Jenna Russell

Urinetown Apollo Theatre 5 Stars “What kind of a musical is this??!” cries Little Sally The good kind. Susannah Clapp (for the Guardian) described Miss Saigon as “a show that flaunts the notion of liberal sympathies, while cruising on commerce.” This got me thinking, Miss Saigon aside, about how this all too apparent paradox operates throughout theatre – bubbling at the very core of it, and of all art. Theatre, with its passionate, imaginative, liberal-minded practitioners with something important to say, is monopolised by those who can afford to produce the work in the first place, and then experienced by those who can afford the ticket prices. Theatre is reserved for the wealthy, particularly in the west end. But is the door permanently shut? Perhaps not. For me, there are two types of musical: commercial ones and less commercial ones. Most of the time, you know what to expect from … Read more

INTERVIEW: Richard Marsh – Author and Actor

Richard Marsh

Edinburgh hit ‘Wingman’ is set for its next stint at the Soho Theatre; E.L. Hardy interviews writer & actor Richard Marsh.    It was the final day of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I had one more job to do before boarding the overnight Megabus back to reality. All packed and puffy eyed, I walked into the Pleasance Dome for what was to be the last time this year and was greeted, as ever, by the unmistakable whiff of chlorine. The Dome’s comfy booths (a key feature of this year’s Fringe, for me anyway) were now smeared with crusted beer spills, but fortunately the coffee, like its theatre, was as good as ever. In fact the first exchange I had with Richard Marsh on this particular day, included me confessing to just having finished off a Cappuccino the size of my head. Richard politely agreed – “Gosh, yes you have, … Read more

Interview: Vicky Graham on Breeders at the St James Theatre

Breeders review St James Theatre

Just a few days prior to the opening of Breeders, by Ben Ockrent at the St James Theatre, producer Vicky Graham talks to us about what this project means to her, and why she has chosen producing as her way of contributing to the future of theatre. Why Breeders? “Breeders was first presented to me as a germ of an idea at the end of last year. Ben Ockrent (a writer I’d known since my time at Theatre503) had been asked to donate his sperm to a lesbian friend and her partner who wanted to start a family, and, in deliberating if and how he might help, identified a great premise for a play. I pitched the still embryonic idea to Stage One a month later, and when we were shortlisted, I commissioned the play. Fortunately for us, Breeders was selected at the end of March to open the One … Read more

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel: From 1945 to 2014 in a single hit

Morphic Grafiti's production of Carousel at Arcola Theatre

  Is a kiss with a fist better than none? Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel: From 1945 to 2014 in a single hit I know what you want me to do. You want me to write a review – to churn out something interesting and witty about Morphic Graffiti’s production of Carousel at the Arcola. And yes, I can attempt to satisfy you in that to an extent – lest I fail entirely in my role as reviewer/critic/ writer, or whatever it is you wish to call me. I can tell you about the space – a space that, when entered, inspired involuntary and audible gasps from its unsuspecting audience (somewhat attributable to the humidity, sure, but mostly due to the theatre’s radical transformation), the band perched high overhead preparing to chirp, and more ropes, pulleys and levers than PGL. Stuart Charlesworth’s design is simple and yet sumptuous, suggestive rather than … Read more

REVIEW: The Drowned Man – A Hollywood Fable ✭✭✭✭✭

Punchdrink presented The Drwoned man - A Hollywood Fable

Punchdrunk, since forming in 2000, have unabashedly muddied the theatrical waters and, in this mega collaboration with The National Theatre, have redefined the form and its capabilities entirely. So, go. Marvel. Dance. And if you don’t come out with shoes full of sand, bark in your hair, drowning in sweat and emotionally exhausted, then you’re not doing it right.