Review: Short Film Triple Bill – Upcycled, Composting, Night Shift.
A divergent mixture of cinematic pleasure with the first two of the trio linked and the final being a science fiction geek fest.
Archives: Reviews 0
Reviews
Review: St Nicholas Yohei Nakajima, Miho Sanou Viola/Piano Recital
A terrific, indeed unique opener to 2025 concerts here.
Review: The Devil May Care
Do see this particularly for an outstanding performance from Burrows and an exceptionally fine one from Woodhouse. This adaptation remains an exhilarating reminder of what a difference a century makes.
Review: The Devil’s Mark: The Story of the Scottish Witch Trials
A devilishly good response and retort to the trauma and significantly ill-use of women of the past by an emerging theatre company who are using their community in the best way possible.
Review: Belly of the Beast
Belly of the Beast should be a set text in schools. And should definitely tour there.
Review: Relief Camp
A play that vividly portrays the clashes between ethnic communities in Manipur as the tragic culmination of a long history of subjugation by colonial and state powers.
Review: Pinocchio
A traditional panto which may lack in personnel, makes up for in huge personalities that delights and gives gallus gusto.
Review: Treasure Island
First-rate youth theatre, creatives and cast excel: detailed, funny, not to be taken over-seriously, then quite a bit more so.
Review: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
Frecknall has re-thought and refreshed one of the great, and classically-framed American dramas. And made it classic.
Review: Zinnie Harris, Douglas Hodge, Johnny McKnight 101 Dalmatians The Musical
A perennial tale in essence makes this a Christmas must and New Year resolution: for all of us under ten in the holidays.
Review: Glitch in the Myth
A timeless archetype reimagined through a woman's perspective, capable of resonating with audiences everywhere
Review: Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal
To cap it all members gave an impromptu carol service too: flashcarol. Fine and rather affecting.
Review: Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal
A revelatory concert of wind players, fine Beethoven and Bach too.
Review: Helen Edmundson (adaptor) Anna Karenina
With Diane Robinson’s team there’s a vibrant retelling, superbly produced
Review: Goodbye Erdogan
A deeply engaging show about a small man overwhelmed by the seismic changes in modern Turkish society.
Review: Rumpelstiltskin
A high voltage, thoroughly entertaining version of Rumpelstiltskin without a Grimm face in the house.
Review: Ballet Shoes
A paean to wonder and possibility, dreaming to some purpose. Like other winter growths, this should prove a hardy perennial, evergreen as the book.
Review: Happy Days
I’ve never seen a Winnie more ordinary, one without those strange transcendental inflections. Catherine Humphreys isn’t flat: she rises to anguish, though it’s one of realism. I’m still not quite sure what’s been removed. But I’m very glad I’ve seen it.
Review: Agleyum Cliyopatrayum
An original blend of physical theatre and Indian ritualistic elements conveys the unconscious emotional worlds of two archetypal female characters.
Review: Sara Farrington A Trojan Woman
An acclaimed pocket tragedy which yet carries Euripides’ weight in Farrington’s framing, it more than touches the heart: it snatches it and hands it back as a sad and angry consolation.
Review: The Box of Delights
The finest Christmas box imaginable, and the go-to for a seasonal show. If you can get in.
Review: Shakespeare in Love
The mystery’s in the ensemble, the production, its bewitching leads. It’s a mighty reckoning in a little room.
Review: Sam Holcroft Rules for Living
Season’s Greetings for robots. It interrogates a therapy many believe works. More than worth seeing in this first-class NVT cast and production.
Review: Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art
An essential, raging and ranging collection of works flashing with humour and teeth, flecked with harrowing stories and above all love for a humanity the establishment wishes us to other and consign to tragedy. A must-see.
Review: Stranger Than the Moon
Essential for anyone interested in Brecht or 20th century drama, it’s far more: starkly entrancing, then engrossing over 110 minutes.
Review: Now That’s What I Call a Musical
The cast grab this by the scruff of its shoulder pads and make us love them. A must-see.
Review: Twelfth Night
Tom Littler again brings an intimate, wintry music to middle Shakespeare: it’s his unique gift. Never sour, never sweet without salt, and with very few reservations, a definitive close-up Twelfth Night.
Review: Ruari Conaghan Lies Where It Falls
Ruari Conaghan has nowhere to hide in every sense. He exudes the charismatic of 100 watts cosplaying a glowing 40, then hits you between the eyes
Review: John Collins Organ Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
Another Collins gem. And so much more music, and composers of whom we've never heard. We are luckier than we can realise.
Review: Napoleon: Un Petit Pantomime
A sure-fire miniature epic, spanning history and damn lies. Sublimely written and with a superb cast both seasoned and fresh, the finest concentration of panto this season.
Review: {Title of Show}
Delicious, certainly, truly witty and fast-moving, never indulgent about self-indulgence, this is a sure-fired soufflé
Review: Berniya Hamie Piano Recital St Nicholas Church
We will be hearing much more of Berniya Hamie in future
Review: The Real Black Swann: Confessions of America’s first Black Drag Queen.
An astonishing story of the first gay activist.
Review: My Fanny Valentine: Rebirthed
Megan Juniper is the Disney Princess of Gynaecology in this hilariously funny mix of stand-up comedy, musical theatre, and vagina facts.
Review: Other Side Comedy
A collection of up-and-coming comedians from London take the stage with great humor, stories, and jokes.
Review: Sexy Rude Harp Concert
Across an hour of original (and quite rude!) songs and stories, Sexy Rude Harp Concert presents one woman’s journey to get railed, among other things...
Review: JESTATION: An Immersive Drag Cabaret
Following the tragic death of her lover, faded cabaret performer Madame Mirage puts on one last show against all the odds. But with an alien invasion occurring in the city above, it's only a matter of time before her show takes a turn for the bizarre...
Review: CULT of the Information Superhighway
Brought to you by your favourite Gothenburg-based drag cult of kings, queens, and creatures, CULT of the Information Superhighway is here to plunge you into a the depths of the digital.
Review: Women Who Blow on Knots
As fine a realisation as anyone could manage. The immediacy, cries, reveals are inherently theatrical and precious. A must-see.
Review: Dementia the musical
A fascinating exploration theatrically of the condition of dementia, a very important topic to many within Scotland.
Review: Burnt-Up Love
One of the very finest three-handers I’ve seen for a long time, Burnt-Up Love refuses to judge and nor will anyone left reeling after seeing this. Stunning.
Review: Love in Action
This production alters not just our perspective on Nagasaki, but in a switchback of Russian, Japanese, even American cultures is something of a fission. Noda’s metaphor blazes with spectacle and irony. A must-see.
Review: 1984
This is the fleetest most theatrical version I’ve seen for some time. Telegraphic in its conveying a nightmare world, it nevertheless does so by lightning strokes.
Review: The Welkin
The sheer acting catches fire: not a weak link. With their most ambitious production ID triumph. There’s nothing like them at full stretch.
Review: Men Don’t Talk
A vital piece of advice wrapped in the right delivery mechanism for an age, and ages, that needs it more than ever.
Review: The Ungodly
The Ungodly which playwright Joanna Carrick also directs is different, and special. No wonder it transfers to Off-Broadway next spring. An outstanding piece of theatre.
Review: Autumn
This is a partially bewitching production and it might send you back to the novel or quartet
Review: Alas! Poor Yorick
Almost a play in three acts...but strangely, rivetingly not. Ridiculusmus put the shovel into Shakespeare.
Review: The Wild Duck
This production carries one truth that refreshes: strip all the directors’ concepts and editing, and for once truth will set Ibsen, and ourselves as free as it imprisons its characters. Outstanding.
Review: Gigi & Dar
Compelling and unanswerable, it’s more humane than recent history in several parts of the world allow. Setting it in 2016, Josh Azouz knows history itself has been overtaken. Highly recommended.
Review: Dear Evan Hansen
In Ryan Kopel and Lauren Conroy two future stars are born within a first-rate cast led by the exquisitely moving Alice Fearns; and Kopel with such a range is someone whose next role will probably surprise even him. Two and half hours blaze by like a first date. Outstanding.
Review: Beryl Cook: A Private View
A further triumph in Kara Wilson’s groundbreaking fusion of words and paint.
Review: Sussex Musicians Club
This is special, commemorating the life of pianist, choral conductor educator and above all musician Muriel Hart (1924-2023).
Review: Salomé
Dramatically this is the most creative response I’ve seen live. Here, a director’s reach should exceed their grasp, or what’s a production for.
Review: Eurydice
Stella Powell-Jones coaxes provisional miracles from her cast and space. The medium’s playful, even fun. The message though is bleak; and love is still in the letting go.
Review: Meet Me at Dawn
An aching, unflinching look at what we might face. Yet few seek to live through such a pact as bestowed here. A Greek gift. Unmissable in the south east.
Review: The Cat and the Canary
An exceptional ensemble delivering a delirious twist on a tale that truly deserves it. Unmissable.
Review: The Events
A combined production of community and profession which shows why both should have a mutual dependence upon each other.
Review: Evelyn Harrison and Zhanna Kemp-Dashkovskya St Nicholas Church Recital
Evelyn Harrison is a remarkable and underusing artist with a very time that never falters; and Zhanna Kemp-Dashkovskya a loyal and gifted accompanist often seen on the Brighton circuit.
Review: Re:Incarnation
Powerhouse Afrodance celebrating the creative energy of Lagos, presented by Dance Consortium
Review: Giant
Giant is both a magisterial debut and a landmark work for braving a terrain littered with - as Tom says - "booby traps... And surprise surprise - boom."
Review: Coriolanus
Certainly a Coriolanus blazing with extrinsic relevance, it brings clarity to a play that can seem an unmitigated grey
Review: St Nicholas Ellie Blackshaw Solo Violin Recital
Ellie Blackshaw’s a vital, rapt performer and composer on the Brighton and south east scene.
Review: Janie Dee’s Beautiful World Cabaret
Who could object to its urgency, or its starry messenger? A gem.
