Reviews

‘excellent fun, very moving, funny, charming’ ★★★★ Nicole is a very sweet, very young girl growing up in Wigan, whose mother dies way too early, leaving Nicole with a mound of responsibilities, a funeral to manage, and a love of Northern Soul. Her mother was a regular attender at the Wigan Casino, dancing through all-niters to the silky tones of Freda Payne and James Carr. She passed that passion on to her daughter. Natasha Cottriall wrote the piece and also plays Nicole. She plays a variety of other characters as well, with more abrasiveness than her portrayal of Nicole, but with similar warmth and affection. She is an impressive performer and a delicate, effective writer. She is directed by Hannah Tyrell-Pinder in an intriguing set made of amps and speakers, all concealing treasures to help tell the story. This is excellent fun, very moving, funny, charming, and well acted and staged. A small treat that runs until September 20 th . Box office https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/god-save-my-northern-soul/ Written and performed by Natasha Cottriall, Directed by Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder Photo credit: Mark Senior

 ‘beautifully written, exquisitely acted, repugnant show’ ★★★★ Vermin is a complicated little play. Not in staging, that’s really simple – two actors, two kitchen chairs, no set, minimal lighting effects. The complications come with the audience reactions. In the fullest sense of the word, this play is repulsive. The male character, Billy, expresses his O. C. D. by acts of appalling cruelty to animals, lovingly delineated by Benny Ainsworth. The writing does a fantastic job of making the acts vivid, Benny Ainsworth brings out the joy, the achievement felt by his character in a deeply impressive fashion, and it is horrible. Superb stage-craft, vivid nausea. It’s a ride. Mr. Ainsworth is paired with Sally Paffett playing Billy’s wife Rachel. Their romance was triggered by seeing a suicide in action at a railway station, but impending motherhood softens Rachel. Her journey is derailed by a difficult birth experience, wincingly well related by Ms. Paffett, and thereafter the couple’s response to other creatures takes different directions, leading to disagreements. This is a beautifully written, exquisitely acted, repugnant show. Go to enjoy a fine piece of theatre, stay away if you are not up for nastiness. Triptych Theatre in association with Park Theatre presents: Vermin by Benny Ainsworth | Directed by Michael Parker Park Theatre On till 20 th September. Box Office https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/vermin/ Actors: Benny Ainsworth and Sally Paffett

“queer rom com mystery will keep you guessing.” ★★★ ½ Set to a cool soundtrack, we’re in a laundrette with two glowing machines centre stage. All manner of smalls are festooned around, spectral and fluttering, all light coloured, white and beige. Kitt, pretty, confident, and American, knows everything about the laundrette, like how to deal with sticky washing machine doors and takes it upon herself to help Kitt, a spiky haired brash Irish artist with odd socks, and a wired energy. Before you know it, these two are connecting over an errant thong: flirting, divulging, revealing, and what starts as a straightforward lesbians-in-a-laundrette-romcom slides into something stranger, more mysterious and compelling. Do these two know each other? Were they involved once? How come Noel already knows things about Kitt including her name? And why does Kitt seem to suffer from kind of sequential amnesia? “What will you do with your fifty minutes?” asks Kitt, engagingly performed by Zofia Zerphy who also wrote the piece. Fifty minutes is the length of the wash cycle – and 55 minutes is the length of Spin Cycle. While the conversation starts cute and kooky, discussing art practice, they are soon sharing stories of their pasts and former relationships, getting closer, touching. While Kitt is from a privileged background, living on an inheritance (which does beg the question why doesn’t she own a washing machine?) Noel, performed by Rhiannon Bell is working class and was disowned by her family when she came out. She’s full of righteous anger and an aching heart. These two couldn’t be more different yet they seem to be magnetically drawn to one another. There are no clear-cut answers in Spin Cycle, but lots of ambiguity to keep an audience thinking and questioning. Is it a dramatic analogy about how different people deal with memory and traumatic past events? For some, colours fade, for others, they slip into the whites and turn everything pink. Is this laundrette in another dimension? Or is it some kind of existential purgatory where grief and loss, can be washed away - or relived in an endless cycle of pain? With fresh, contemporary direction by Bethan Rose, Spin Cycle, part of SE Fest is bought to you by Berserk Theatre (An Average Family; How to Urn a Living) a company that spotlight queer international voices. It turns out, you can cover quite a lot of ground in fifty minutes. Spin Cycle, Part of SE Fest 2025 at Bridge House Theatre and Jack Studio Theatre Producing Company: Berserk Theatre, run by Zofia Zerphy Writer: Zofia Zerphy Director: Bethan Rose KITT: Zofia Zerphy NOEL: Rhiannon Bell Technician: Corvus René Photography: either Niamh Cunningham or Bethan Rose

‘Whimsical rather than overblown but this works surprisingly well to bring the story to an emotive end.’ ★★★★ Billed as Gaetano Donizetti’s classic gothic opera, audiences might have expected melodrama, gore, dark sets and romantic clothing. So, it is rather surprising to see that the costumes are present day, and the set is simple in the extreme. The show is whimsical rather than overblown, but this works surprisingly well to bring the story to an emotive end. Who in the audience would not feel sorry for the guilt racked Edgardo? The story is less simple, based on Walter Scott’s 1819 historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor and first performed in 1835. It involves a matter which much intrigued families in the day, finding a suitable partner to marry. Here in Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo. Unfortunately, her brother Enrico is anxious to save the family from their financial problems by marrying her off to the wealthy Arturo. The problem is exacerbated because of a family feud between Edgardo and Enrico. In short, it all ends in tragedy. The programme helpfully tells the tale scene by scene and the words are on screens around the auditorium, so audiences need not miss any nuance of the show. The plainness of the design leaves the story to be centre stage, with a rather rustic quality. Laurence Panter on the piano particularly has some fun, with trills and emphasis here and there, it seems to add the occasional exclamation mark. Beren Fidan, as Lucia, has the most tremendous task which she accomplishes well. Her role, with such high notes often sustained, must require immense skill and then she also has the talk of ‘going mad’. This is cleverly achieved with the help of a rope of light which is coiled and embedded in a raised platform. This flexible rope becomes a part of her inner turmoil. The highlight of the opera (for me at least) is the wedding scene with the brother Enrico seeming to be marrying Arturo himself and even signing the vows in place of his sister. A masterly stroke, comic and sinister at the same time. Eamonn Walsh as Arturo plays his role well, with camp vanity and arrogance. The costuming for this section adds much to the sense of conniving manipulations with flounces and frills contrasting with the simple white dress for the bride. Albeit a really terrible dance section, it is a fascinating interpretation. So, to the final scene, to tenor Jack Dolan as Edgardo, who has such a beautiful quality and tone to his voice. His anguished solo is utterly convincing, with the sense of guilt, remorse, loss, all deeply conveyed. Another success for Grimeborn Festival of chamber Opera. Alas, this is the last show, but we must hope that Barefoot Opera will be back next year with another offering. Photography: Matthew Johnson Barefoot Opera presents Grimeborn Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor Composed by Gaetano Donizetti Directed by Rosie Kat ARCOLA THEATRE 9 September – 13 September 2025 BOX OFFICE https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/lucia-di-lammermoor The Company Beren Fidan Lucia Philip Smith Enrico Jack Dolan Edgardo (9, 10 & 12 September) Davide Basso Edgardo (13 September) Alistair Sutherland Raimondo Eamonn Walsh Arturo Laurence Panter Normanno Gaetano Donizetti Composer Rosie Kat Director Laurence Panter Musical Director Jenny Miller Dramaturg Fenna de Jonge Designer Lucy Mulgan Double Bass Lydia Kenny Saxophone Laurence Panter Piano Alistair Sutherland Accordion

‘It’s a fascinating play with real characters whom you believe in and care about – even Hitler.’ ★★★★ “A group can only be excited by an excessive stimulus. Anyone who wishes to produce an effect on it needs no logical adjustment in his argument; he must paint in the most forcible colours, he must exaggerate, and he must repeat the same thing again and again.” Sigmund Freud, 1918. There’s some evidence that, as a child in Austria, Adolph Hitler used to wet his bed. There’s very strong evidence that his father, Alois Hitler, was a strict disciplinarian with a filthy temper, who beat his son mercilessly. And there’s anecdotal evidence that Hitler’s mother Clara considered taking him to see the eminent Jewish Viennese psychiatrist Dr Sigmund Freud. What if she had done it? Would history have been different? That’s the question that occurred to the famous television comedy writing team of Marks and Gran, and from this comes one of the best counterfactual plays I know, Dr Freud Will See You Now, Mrs Hitler. They begin by painting a picture of the Hitler and Freud households at the turn of the century, and then bring them together to create a fascinating and completely convincing relationship. Right from the start there are a few knowing asides to an audience to which all this is history. “Does he complain of tiredness and lack of living space?” Freud asks Mrs Hitler. I will not tell the rest of the story, because wondering what happens next is one of the joys of this play, but the discovery that Freud used to spend his summers in Berchtesgaden, later the site of Hitler’s country home, was gold dust to Marks and Gran. There are moments to treasure. In Vienna after the first world war, Freud takes Hitler to coffee, leaving the cash for the bill on his saucer as he leaves, and the impoverished Hitler steals the waiter’s tip. And there are uncomfortable insights, such as the quote at the top of this review, which comes from Freud’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego – a book which, in the Marks and Gran version of history, Freud shows to Hitler. It’s a fascinating play with real characters whom you believe in and care about – even Hitler. It’s well executed by the resident director at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Isaac Bernier-Doyle, who has assembled an excellent six-strong cast, without a weak link anywhere. But of course the show stands or falls with the actors playing Freud and Hitler, and the chemistry between them. Jonahan Tafler is a marvellous Freud, all Viennese kindness and generosity spilling over sometimes – as his wife points out – into complacency. Sam Mac is a splendid Hitler, brittle, nervy, over-sensitive and utterly self-centred. A fine play with a strong cast, it’s well worth the trip to Highgate Village. Dr Freud Will See You Now, Mrs Hitler by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, Upstairs at the Gatehouse 12 – 28 Sept 2025 BOX OFFICE https://upstairsatthegatehouse.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173663994/events/428721796 Produced by Chromolume Photo credit: Cromolume

‘The decision to locate much of the story in a city boxing ring is impactful.’ ★★★ Flywheel Theatre, Old Red Lion Theatre’s current resident company, are turning the wheel on repertory theatre. Their current endeavour is to produce six classic plays in six weeks with six actors. Each week a new classic is presented and, concurrent to that, they begin rehearsals for the next—it’s no easy feat. On the 10 th of September I watched their take on, possibly the most classic of the classics, Romeo and Juliet. Whilst London traffic teemed outside with tube strikes throwing the city into frenzy, the audience assembled to watch another city in frenzy: Fair Verona. Staying true however to their promise of ‘bringing fresh ideas to ancient stories’ the Verona that we see on stage is not 16 th century city walls and Palazzo’s but a city boxing ring in an unclear time period—modern but not named. Our famed feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues are delineated, with a nod to pop culture, in pink and blue and the casting of our star-crossed lovers and their company, is gender neutral. Juliet, played by Charlie Woodward, is in pink and Romeo, played by Shanice Petilaire, is in blue. The other members of these households are also identified by either pink or blue costuming apart from Friar Lawrence (Sinead Davies) whose neutral costume colour nods to the character’s sympathies to both families and attempts to turn the tragic tale around. Directed by Benedict Esdale, also the Artistic Director of Flywheel, this modern take on our well-worn story of star-crossed teenage lovers has much to like: the maverick and frenetic Mercutio is played with deft humour and brilliantly bold lewdness by Gabe Lumsden whose death becomes a blow to the whole audience. Nonetheless his presence, along with that of his nemesis Tybalt (Rachel Bardwell), continues on stage even after their respective deaths as they sit like ghostly spectre’s looking onto the action. The decision to locate much of the story in a city boxing ring is impactful, a subtle and ever-present reminder of the hostility involved in the family feud. These two lovers from two different households on two very different sides of the fence are risking much more than just their hearts. Unfortunately, the brutality of this setting is not quite matched with the staged boxing matches which appear more theatrical and stylised than believable in their tussle and punches. Somewhat in keeping with this less-than-adverse atmosphere is the apparent joy of the colourful costumes: our central characters wear bright boxing silks—beautifully made long shorts and robes and their fellow troubadors are also bedecked in the same bright colours though in clothing choices not afforded quite the same thought and attention as our Romeo and Juliet. Overall the production, though to be credited for its fresh take on this very well worn tale, somehow falls short on delivering the tragic end note of its finish. The sucker-punch in this pugilistic play unfortunately doesn’t land the blow but the dynamic staging and bold choices make it a worthy match for any opponent. FLYWHEEL THEATRE REPERTORY SEASON at Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington 2 September - 11 October The Rover by Aphra Behn September 2-6 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare September 9-13 Lysistrata by Aristophanes September 16-20 The Lodger after Marie Belloc Lowndes September 23-27 Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw September 30 - October 4 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe October 7-11 BOX OFFICE https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/flywheel-repertory-season.html Romeo - Shanice Petilaire Friar - Sinead Davies Mercutio - Gabe Lumsden Juliet - Charlie Woodward Tybalt - Rachel Bardwell Nurse - Joe Stanley Prince - Suraj Shah Director - Benedict Esdale Assistant Director - Katy Livsey Set & Costume Design by Rebecca Ward Lighting Design by Brett Kasza Photography - Miranda Mazzarella

‘Pure chaos, in the best way’ ★★★ Pushing forward the frontiers of British improv, Merely Players add a novel new element to the typical night out at the theatre as they embark on a week-long serial-adventure centered around their progress in the strange and wonderful world of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). In case you weren’t aware, D&D is a tabletop role-playing game that places players into strange and exciting fantasy worlds reminiscent of Tolkein’s Lord Of The Rings. Plenty of rules dictate some of what they can and can’t do in these worlds but an improvisational heart lies at its centre; how they go about each interaction is left up to them while the structure of the session is managed by another player called the Dungeon Master (DM) who typically has a firm plan in mind for how the session will go, which rarely survives contact with the enemy. It’s a healthy and exciting premise for a show then, and as with a typical session of D&D so much rests on the chemistry of the players themselves. To this extent Merely Players have it in the bag; everyone in the team, from the humble monk to the seductive bard, play into type with relish and easily get you on board with their madcap antics. Ambitiously featuring a new quest every night, most of the fun comes from things going wrong. For the quest I was in attendance for the action centered on a spooky haunted house where, try as they might, the Dungeon Master was unable to keep the players along a predictable path and they often defied and subverted the challenges laid out before them, including some ghostly Jenga. This bizarre and lighthearted antagonism was pure chaos in the best way, and gave the show as a whole some wonderful energy. Things do need some work however; the runtime in its current form feels clunky with the pacing quite all over the place and the ending feeling quite rushed. This is to be expected of both a new show and of anything improvised, but the troupe would do well to really decide on the kind of rhythm they intend their sessions to find and work on nailing that as reliably as they can. Overall it’s a concept and a group dynamic that, while in need of a bit more bashing out and refinement, so clearly has the perfect ingredients for a great show. Once at the top of their game you won’t want to miss them. Time to Go runs at Canal Cafe Theatre from the 8th – 13th September 2025 Box Office https://canalcafetheatre.com/our-shows/time-to-go/ Written & Directed by Max Aspen Performed by Ellen Constable, Emily Sawtell, Jacob Cesar, Austin Hayes & Oliver Towse Box Office Reviewed by Harry Conway

‘If you like Gilbert and Sullivan, you’ll love this.’ ★★★★★ If this young man expresses himself in terms too deep for me Why, what a very singularly deep young man this deep young man must be! The late, great Tom Lehrer, as fanatical a Gilbert and Sullivan fan as ever lived, used to quote these lines to the students to whom he taught maths at the University of California, as a warning against using complicated language when simple language was available. They come from Patience, one of the best and most underestimated of G&S operas, which has the trademark G&S noise and bombast and wordplay, some of their funniest characters, a plot as absurd as any they ever invented, and one of the best patter songs they ever wrote. It’s being revived in the perfect venue, the lovely, old-fashioned, dilapidated Wiltons Music Hall, by the masters of G&S in small spaces, the Charles Court Opera Company. It’s directed by Charles Court’s talented artistic director John Savournin, who has done more than any other living person to bring G&S to a new generation. The result is the funniest, liveliest, cleverest, most joyful show I’ve seen for years. There isn’t a weak link in the cast. Matthew Kellett hams up the part of the pretentious poet and aesthete Reginald Bunthorne magnificently – he is never knowingly understated. I don’t believe anyone has ever done the great patter song better, describing his modus operandi: “You must lie upon the daisies and discourse in novel phrases of your complicated state of mind./ (The meaning doesn't matter if it's only idle chatter of a transcendental kind).” Matthew Siveter is wonderfully vain, handsome, narcissistic Archibald Grosvenor – “a trustee of my beauty” as he puts it – who naturally has to get the girl, Patience (Catriona Hewitson - tuneful and eager and heartwarming and absurd, describing herself as “plain, homely, unattractive.”) Bunthorne’s three female admirers, played by Meriel Cunningham, Jennie Jacobs and Catrine Kirkman, are melancholy, predatory, and hysterically funny – by the end of the show, one of them had only to walk on stage to have the audience laughing. Their three suitors - whom we first meet in soldiers’ uniforms – are easy prey, and in the end, when they appear in what they think is casual clothing, utterly absurd, and Matthew Palmer, David Menezes and Dominic Bowe almost manage the impossible feat of making them believable. With Savournin directing, there are bound to be some clever and amusing dance routines. Musical accompaniment by David Eaton is what it should be - minimal, a background to the words and the singing. But the set, for me, was the star of the show. In a small theatre, and with very limited funds, it posed a problem for designer Simon Bejer, which he solved magnificently. An ordinary bar sits at the back of the stage, authentic, as he says, “down to the smallest detail” – but the cleverness lies in the fact that it’s on a raised portion at the back of the stage. When the action moves to the area in front of it, we can see they have left the bar. The simplicity of the bar contrasts, as Bejer writes, with the vanity and absurdity of the clothes worn by Bunthorne and his three admirers. I am not sure I would have realised, if it wasn’t it the programme, that this was goth-inspired, but it’s magnificently over the top. If you like G&S, you’ll love this. If you don’t, give it a try anyway – it’s a production that could worm its way into your heart. Photography: Craig Fuller WILTON’S MUSIC HALL PERFORMANCES TUESDAY 9 SEPTEMBER to SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2025 Tue - Sat 7:00PM / Thurs & Sat matinee 2:00PM TICKETS £10 – £28 BOX OFFICE 020 7702 2789 and online at https://www.wiltons.org.uk Director: John Savournin Musical Director: David Eaton Choreographer – Damian Czarnecki Designer Simon Bejer Lighting Designer: Aaron J Dootson CAST Catriona Hewitson, Jennie Jacobs, Catrine Kirkman, David Menezes, Matthew Siveter, Matthew Palm, Matthew Kellett, Meriel Cunningham, Dominic Bowe

‘a great piece of writing dealing with a tricky subject in an honest way; perhaps accidentally more relevant today in the shadow of covid …’ ★★★★ The first London revival of RC Sherriff’s psychological mystery marking 50 years since his death. David Preston, played by Sam Ellis returns home from work one evening to the dismay of his wife. Mrs. Preston, Bridget Lambert, informs him that he has been missing for twenty four hours. She envelopes the audience in a blanket of nervousness, worry and uncertainty for the rest of the play, expertly setting the scene for what balances between the examination of tragic mental repercussions of war and a comedy. What happens are a humorous mixture of who-done-it and a mystery of the missing day, the misunderstandings that might arise from telling innocent fibs, and a more serious look into common attitudes of the time towards trauma. The main character was an Air Raid Patrol warden during World War Two and at one point had a narrow escape from a bomb blast. The confusion it caused in his life when it re-manifested itself as amnesia takes him by complete surprise. Andrew Williams as Dr Sparling gives his professional opinion and goes some way to explaining how it could affect him mentally. In a time when there was more stigma attached to involvement with psychiatrists or psychologists, and counseling was not as freely available the writer is taking on a subject which was not very often approached at that time. He does it in an interesting way using Major Wilson, played by Karl Moffatt to throw humour and suspicion at the situation by suggesting that there might be something fishy going on, though he is more concerned with the loss of money from his club. Though it can be seen as a comedy many people at the time of its writing could relate to it because those around them would have been injured in the war. This brings an eerie feeling to the proceedings, nervously broken by the addition of more humour by Greg Fitch as Inspector Hemingway. Indeed Williams, Moffatt and Fitch bring a degree of subtlety to the play that saves it from getting too heavy. All three of them give good performances and the idea of piling in the minor characters to constantly add to the confusion works very well in this play. The more sober issues of the missing money and how Preston will escape his predicament are ever present. Jeremy Todd as Mr. Petherbridge the solicitor deals with one by maintaining a sense of reality in a play which without this anchor to reality might have crumbled into a farce. But this doesn’t happen and showing a professional skepticism to the amnesia by going through his normal police procedure Hemingway also helps out. Maddie Croft as Peggy Dodson appears near the end giving an accomplished performance to explain the whole misunderstanding. The set was a reflection of the physical wreckage of the buildings damaged during the blitz that happened during World War Two and a metaphor for the psychological wreckage of the people who were involved in the war, traumatized or injured in any other way. There was good use made of set and props which depicted a typical middleclass semi-detached house of the period. People may have been more used to putting up a front in those days and the façade of the ‘stiff upper lip’ compelled many to carry on regardless and try their best to ignore what had happened to them. Sam Ellis showed a man and his reactions to an adverse situation caused by past trauma which he had buried in his subconscious by trying to suppress it at the time. When it eventually affected him his initial reaction was that it was something that was not troubling to him and so he continued to fight his way through. After the whole episode was resolved we see him completely crack up, sadly still unable to fully expose his vulnerability to even his wife. This was really a great piece of writing dealing with a tricky subject in an honest way; perhaps accidentally more relevant today in the shadow of covid and our increasing familiarity with the issues. A brilliant choice of production and a very well presented play. HOME AT SEVEN 2nd – 20th September Tabard Theatre, 2 Bath Rd, Chiswick, London W4 1LW Tues – Fri 7:30pm, Sat 6:00 pm £23.50 – £19.50 (concs) | tabard.org.uk | 020 8995 6035 BOX OFFICE Company information Director and producer Claire Evans Writer R. C. Sherriff Set designer David Fitzhugh Lighting designer and DSM Marta Fossati Costume designer Janet Huckle Production assistant Jack Cavendish Production artwork Carla Evans Finance and co-producer Alasdair Evans Marketing photography Jonathan Constant Promotional Videography Miranda Evans Production Photography Yuchu Zhao Cast Maddie Crofts, Sam Ellis, Greg Fitch, Bridget Lambert, Karl Moffatt, Jeremy Todd, Andrew Williams