Since its publication on this day in 1813, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has had countless stage and screen adaptations and has gained international recognition as one of the most famous love stories around. In today’s modern age, you may call it a will they, won’t they tale of mismatched lovers with its settings of grand country estates, beautiful period costuming and its tale of dropping one’s own pride and not being too judgemental of others. Over the years, its popula

Production images of Jack Baldwin, Laurence Pears and Charlie Ives, rehearsal image of Charlie Richards. in 1993, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park was the peak of technical achievement in movie making, crammed full of special effects and action sequences beyond much of what had been seen before. Now, with such advances in technology, it would be easy to look back at it and call it basic in comparison, and most would probably agree with you. But that basic-ness here lights a

Photos of a previous cast. Okay, hands up, I’ll start this with some brutal honesty. Me and the works of the great William Shakespeare have never really got on. Throughout school, I was never shown any of it beyond that Romeo and Juliet movie, and never had the opportunity to experience it live in my time as a student. I was simply presented with pages of text and expected to understand, leading to me always struggling with the wordy complex language and leaving me with a fe

The Orient Express, the train described as ‘Poetry on Wheels’ is stuck in a snow drift, trapping its passengers in a cold, dark claustrophobic warren of narrow corridors and sliding doors. The conductor is trying to contact a rescue team, the train company manager is trying to keep spirits high, and a world-famous detective is trying his best to keep his head down and get to London in a hurried response to an emergency telegram. But when a passenger is found brutally murdered

20 years ago, Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’ opened at the National Theatre, and a classic was born. The show become a launch pad to stardom for many of its original cast members including Dominic Cooper, James Cordon, Sacha Dharwan, Russell Tovey, Jamie Parker, Andrew Knott and Samuel Barnett, whilst, in its own right, became famous for being a stark look at the education system through the positives and negatives of examinations and knowledge for knowledge’s sake.   20 y

Picture the scene. It’s a murder mystery play. Written by Agatha Christie. Already a recipe for success, just look at the mega power that is ‘The Mousetrap’. But wait, it’s a courtroom drama, and it’s being performed in London County Hall’s Council Chamber, giving the sense of a real court room. Ladies and gentlemen, I think that we are on to a winner here. This is ‘Witness For The Prosecution’.   Christie herself named ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ as her favourite play and

Back in London for the first time since 2015, Patrick Barlow’s hit comedy The 39 Steps has recently taken up residence at the Trafalgar Theatre where it continues to delight with its small cast, low budget tale of espionage.   This adaptation of John Buchan’s spy novel along with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film adaptation tells the tale of Richard Hannay (played by Tom Byrne), a civilian left bored at home who finds himself drawn into the world of spies after meeting a beautiful

Things move very quickly at the Fringe, and the action is thick and fast with shows coming and going all over the place. Of course, you do have some shows that return to the festival on a yearly basis, but I think that it may be a rather difficult job to find one that has a history as vast of News Revue.   Now in its 45th year, News Revue is a current affairs parody show that sees a cast of four, accompanied by a talented musician, play a multitude of well-known figures from

A theatre nestled in the arches under a railway bridge seems an appropriate home for a show about a train journey, and ‘Cockfosters’ at The Turbine Theatre is exactly that. James (Sam Rees-Baylis) and Tori (Beth Lilly) board the Piccadilly Line at Heathrow for the long 38 stop journey to Cockfosters, and along the way meet a cacophony of fellow travellers, from man-spreaders, buskers and partygoers to sports fans and tourists. This hilarious Rom-Com has had a number of sell-o

What is it really like to be a performer in musical theatre? What really happens backstage? What do the cast members really think of each other and think of their audience? Well, if you would like to know the answers to these important burning questions and would like them set to fun, catchy show tunes, then look no further then Alexander S. Bermanges ‘I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical’, playing at Gilded Balloon at the Museum. This production is a deep dive into the world o

I love a murder mystery. I’ve seen a fair few on stage, ‘The Mousetrap’, ‘And Then There Were None’, ‘Witness For the Prosecution’ and yes, I do call ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ a murder mystery. I am that person who delights in shows such as ‘Midsummer Murders'’, ‘Vera’ and I will admit to watching ‘Death in Paradise’ on repeat. Safe to say, I’m a fan, and that is what brought to a show that I saw last year at the Fringe ‘It’s a Mystery’, a celebration of all things Murder My

There are many many different genres and types of shows available to see at the Edinburgh fringe but take a stroll down the royal mile and I can pretty much guarantee that you will end up with at least half a dozen flyers for various improv shows. Coming from a girl who absolutely loves a good improv, the range of choices in the genre at the festival can be a little overwhelming. There are musicals, hospital drama, murder mystery, crime scene investigation, the list could go

What do Titanic, Pretty Women, Dirty Dancing, Beaches, Legally Blonde and The Notebook all have in common? Well, they all fall into the genre of movies that have come to known as Chick Flicks and you may think that there is not much more to them than being crowd pleasing entertainment for a girl’s night, but that is where you are mistaken.   Enter KK Apple and Kerry Ipema, the double act behind ‘Six Chick Flicks’, (...or a Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beach

Unless you have filled up your diary far in advance, a trip to the Edinburgh Fringe can be filled with off the cuff decisions as you find yourself with hands full of flyers and surrounded by walls of colourful posters advertising the multitude of shows on offer. And with so much going on, plans can change at the last minute and hidden gems may suddenly present themselves.   Picture the scene, after a few days escaping it under greyish skies and a ferocious wind, the heavens o

There are some big questions floating around in the world: what is the meaning of life? Why are we here? What came first? The chicken or the egg? To name but a few. And, of course, that big question on everyone’s lips. Is a Jaffa Cake a cake, or a biscuit? Well, let us turn to Gigglemug to tell us the answer to that one. Based on the famous 1991 court battle between McVities and HMRC, Gigglemug’s A Jaffa Cake Musical takes the trial, packs it full of fun catchy songs, squeeze

Car chases, secret weapons, hidden villainous hideaways, schemes and the battle between good and evil; all things that we are associate with the classic spy genre, and Spy Movie The Play (written by Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey) takes all of that and flips it on its head in a hilarious love letter to spy movies that will have the whole family in fits of laughter. Meet Albert Cabbage (Matthew Howell) and his team as they aim to present the greatest spy movie ever mad

If there is anywhere that is constantly evolving and growing, it’s London. New buildings here, a new train line there, people coming and going in a constant hustle and bustle, one day into the next. There isn’t much that stays the same, there isn’t much that withstands the test of time. Away from the monuments, away from anything protected by some law, it is easy to say that most of London’s past is hidden away under the sheen and shine of new modern adaptations to the ever d

Meg (Victoria Serra) is nine months pregnant, worrying about the future of her unborn child. She doesn’t know what to expect, she doesn’t know what this creature is going to be. She’s read all the parenting books, but doesn’t know what the reality of all of it is. She gives birth to a seal, but doesn’t know what kind. Is it prey, like the Harp Seal, or is it predator, like the Leopard Seal? Is she the mother of a defenceless innocent, or the mother of a villain? Walking a fin

In a world where acceptance, understanding and kindness seems to be dwindling, a musical that tells the story of a young man trying to be their truest self, set against a backdrop of inner-city Sheffield, where inclusivity is in short supply, is as important as ever.   Based on the BBC3 documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ tells the story of Jamie New, ‘the boy so nice he came out twice’. Unlike his Year 11 classmates who dream of popstar sup

With shows like Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, Endeavour, and Vera still proving as popular as ever on television, it’s no wonder that murder mystery seemed to be a popular choice at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. After all, everyone loves a mystery, a puzzle, the question of who done it, but with A Highly Suspect Murder: Murder at the Movies, this wasn’t your average sit back and enjoy theatre production. No, here the audience themselves become the detective and you ar