Livestream - Gifted I’ve seen quite a few pantomimes over the years, and if I’m being honest, I’d gotten quite used to the formula; a classic fairytale, in most cases, the princess and the prince, a dame, the clumsy always the bridesmaid never the bride best friend and the villain. It’s something that we are used to, families go into a pantomime knowing what to expect, and sometimes, these classic pantos can, in my opinion, feel a little tired. Jokes can feel overused, and a

Kylie. Bananarama. Donna Summer. Rick Astley. It’s a throwback of mammoth proportions, hit after hit, a dance party here and a dance party there. That’s Stock, Aitken and Waterman, the song writing record producing machine that brought us such hits, and now combined with a brand-new tale from writer/director Debbie Isitt (the brains behind Christmas hit Nativity and its sequels, admit it you love them all), there’s a new jukebox musical in town, and it’s one that is a guarant

Worth the wait?   Sometimes, no matter how big a fan you are of something, there can be a part of that something that simply escapes you, and it can take some time to find it. As you may be aware, I am a huge fan of all thing’s mischief theatre, and I’ve seen a lot of it. The Play That Goes Wrong (23 times and counting), The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, Magic Goes Wrong, Groan Ups, Good Luck Studio and Mischief Movie Night. But there has been one Mischief Theatre production t

At the Edinburgh Fringe, you don’t have to look very hard to find a show that involves at least some element of improv, and over the years some now rather well-known theatre companies have made a name for themselves doing just that; Showstopper! The Improvised Musical and Mischief Theatre to give you just a couple of examples, now legends in the world of improvisation. But now, I firmly believe that you can add another company who have proven themselves to be experts in the a

Punctuation can make all the difference and can be incredibly important when it comes to naming something, after all it is punctuation that takes a classic story by Oscar Wilde and gives it a new title in the case of this production. And with an ellipsis and a question mark, Wilde’s story of nobility’s search for entertainment and escape from triviality becomes Say It Again Sorry’s ‘The Importance of Being… Earnest?’, a show that takes the story and twists it, mixes it delici

‘This is not fiction’. This is the phrase that covers the posters for ‘I, Daniel Blake’, the new stage adaptation of Ken Loach’s 2016 film of the same title. When the film, which depicts the life of Dan as he battles against the state, jumping through hoops as he is declared fit to work against doctor’s orders, was released it was commented upon in the house of commons, where politicians declared it a work of fiction. But in today’s world, where there are more food banks than

Okay, hands up, I’ll admit. I am one of those people who has never really ‘got’ Shakespeare. The language has always been a struggle for me, and I was always worried that I wouldn’t understand it but here we go, I decided to finally give it a go with the Stafford Gatehouse’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, the first indoor production in the history of the Stafford Shakespeare Festival. With the action transported to Athens, under the direction of Sean Turner (The Play That Goes

Heartbreak, grief, treacherous journeys, loss, war, mental health and the process of seeking asylum, a hard-hitting combination that may be difficult to convey in a way which people would be able to understand and relate too, but these are all topics that are bravely and sensitively covered in the stage adaptation of Christy Lefteri’s number one best seller ‘The Beekeeper of Aleppo’. Driven from their home by war and threats upon their lives, married couple Nuri (Alfred Clay)

Many adults these days would be able to look back at their childhoods and say that they can remember settling down to watch the adventures of Winnie the Pooh and his friends in The Hundred Acre Wood and would probably remember the warm fuzzy feelings that came with it. Even now, the famous honey loving bear is just as popular, with today’s children still being drawn into his world. And now, Pooh, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Piglet and Christopher Robin have made

It’s not very often that the vast majority of the people in a room together can admit that they’ve had the same or even very similar experiences, it’s not very often that the vast majority of audience members for the same production can watch and say that they’ve been there, they know those feelings, they can relate. But here we are, it happened. After all, no matter what someone has gone on to do with their lives, they can all say the same thing. They all went to school, the

Oh look, what a shock. She’s writing about a mischief show again. But let’s be honest here, is that really a surprise? Mischief Theatre has something that just keeps on dragging me back, and the most addictive of the lot for me, ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. People may, and do, ask me why I keep seeing it, how on Earth I am not bored of it yet and I give the same answer every time. How can I get bored of something that is different every single time. Different cast combinations

It’s a Disney classic and a family favourite, delighting all ages for many years and consistently raising the bar for the type of special effects that can be achieved in a live stage production. ‘Mary Poppins’, the world’s most magical nanny, with her technicolour adventures, fantastic stories, and mystical ways, has been a stage hit since 2004, enjoying London and New York success and popular tours. It swooped back into the West End, back into the Prince Edward Theatre in 20

The act of turning movies into musicals is commonplace these days, and over the years a number of musicals have gone the other way, jumping from the stage onto screens up and down the country. From Mamma Mia to Dear Evan Hansen, I’m sure that I am not the only one thinking that sometimes stage musical movie adaptations work and sometimes they don’t. The latest stage production to receive the silver screen treatment is Roald Dahl’s Matilda the musical, and let’s say this strai

As of June 2022, there were three hundred and eighty-three seven hundred thousand podcast listeners around the world, with that number expected to rise to four hundred and twenty-four million by the end of the year. Listening to podcasts is now the hobby of many, and the types of podcasts you could listen to are seemingly endless. From family life, true crime, comedy and sports, there’s something for everyone and now there is a new podcast flying out into the world, combining

When you think of Mischief Theatre images of slapstick hilarity, showbusiness-y attempts gone wrong, and the now globally known Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society spring to mind and as much as we love this and it has been a great success for the company, recent years have seen Mischief branch out to new things. ‘Groan Ups’ saw the company step away from the old school slapstick and towards more wordplay and some more serious topics and with their newest offering ‘Good Luck, St

Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, performer and producer Shôn Dale-Jones brings ‘Still Floating’ to the Theatre Royal Plymouth, revisiting his award-winning show ‘Floating’ from 2006 and twisting it with a present day tale of returning home and exploring how things have changed. In 2006, Dale-Jones played his on-stage alter ego Hugh Hughes in ‘Floating’, telling the surreal and comical tale of Anglesey floating away from the mainland, becoming an independent land under the rul

“This is good Christopher. It’s very exciting. I like the details. They make it more realistic.” – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time proves to still be a heart-warming, raw and relevant production. Adapted from Mark Haddon’s award winning novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time follows the story of a neurodiverse fifteen-year-old, named Christopher Boone. After discovering his neighbour’s murdered dog, he sets out to solve the mystery and fin

It’s safe to say that Mischief Theatre have well and truly earned their place amongst the elite when it comes to comedy, with hit shows ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, ‘The Comedy about a Bank Robbery’ and ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ under their belts as well as a much-loved BBC sitcom ‘The Goes Wrong Show’. If we look back to the lighter days before the dreaded C-Word came into our lives, the team at Mischief were awarded a yearlong residency at the Vaudeville Theatre where they prem

They say that laughter is the best medicine, and after everything that we have been through over the last two years, we have been searching for laughter here, there, and everywhere to put a smile on our faces and distract us from the near constant barrage of bad news. Throughout 2020 and last year, theatre has been fighting against the odds to not only get back on stage but to keep us all entertained from the comfort of our own homes and when it comes to laughter, we have a l

Pantomime is big business for the theatre industry, and a special part of the festive season for many families. And after the last couple of years of enforced closures, regulations and last-minute cancellations, panto came back this season with all guns blazing, with bigger sets, bigger costumes and all the theatrical magic that we have all been missing so much. Up and down the country, classic fairy tales have been given the pantomime twist with dames, dancing, and dastardly