Tezza's Theatre Place

Skin Deep the Musical Feather Fan There are two things that unite pretty much every single person on the planet. The first is that we all have a body and the second is that there is something about that body that we would like to change. No matter how perfect everyone else may think our body is, there is something that, us is not right. Now if I were to list everything that I dislike about my body then this would be the longest review in the history of reviewing. However, maybe we should all take a deep breath, relax and just enjoy what we have. That’s the central theme of Lambco Productions new show  Skin Deep the Musical  which I saw at the Stockwell Playhouse. Skin Deep  is an in-depth and extremely entertaining study of human attitudes to their bodies. Hosted by Diana Diamonte (Shani Cantor)  Skin Deep  takes the audience and Diana’s boys – Dan (William Frazer), Max (Adam O’Shea), Phil (Nick Brittain) and Richard (Daniel Timoney) – on a tour of the vari...

l-r Holly Sumpton, Matt Hunt, Samuel Fogell. Photo credit Robert Workman Between 1950 and 1966 actor-manager Brian Rix ran a series of plays in the West End. Because of their location and the type of play they were, they soon became known as the ‘Whitehall Farces’. Now, since those days, the Whitehall Theatre has changed its name to the Trafalgar Studio and, whilst there are still many farces along the road in Whitehall, there hasn’t really been any play as successful as Brian’s five were. However, as Mark Twain once didn’t say, reports of the death of farce are grossly exaggerated and a stone’s throw from Whitehall, in the Criterion Theatre, farce is alive and extremely well in Mischief Theatre’s  The Comedy About a Bank Robbery . Set in 1958 Minneapolis City,  The Comedy About a Bank Robbery  tells the story of Mitch Ruscitti (Matt Hunt) and his accomplice Neil Cooper (Samson Ajewole) as they set out to rob the crookedest bank in the most crooked town in America of...

Ever think about retirement? I must admit I am starting to and face the prospect with absolute dread. I know some people look forward to giving up work and spending the halcyon days of their lives in a relaxed and carefree way in the company of friends and loved ones. That was certainly the plan for the couple in Adrian McLoughlin’s play  The Golden F**king Years  currently being presented by Vital Signs Productions & Andrew Livingstone Productions at the Brockley Jack. On a sun-drenched balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, two people sit. Gordon (Adrian McLoughlin) and Helen (Deborah Maclaren) have been married for 18 years and are now retired. They spend their days relaxing in their apartment, drinking gin and reading – and their nights at the local bar. The couple don’t have a hectic life. After all, they aren’t as young as they once were – Gordon is nearly 70 – so obviously their pace of life has slowed down. In fact, Gordon seems happy to drink his way through ...

Front Adrienne Warren (Tina Turner), back Francesca Jackson (Rhonda Graam). Photo by Manuel Harlan On November 26, 1939, Anna Mae Bullock was born at Poindexter Farm on Highway 180 in the small town of Nutbush, in Haywood County, Tennessee. For those that don’t recognise the name, my advice is to get yourselves down to the Aldwych Theatre where the story of the girl who grew to be a megastar is being told in the world premiere of  Tina . Tina  is the story of how young Anna Mae (Claudia Elie/Serena Mukuna/Reya-Nyomi Brown), abandoned by her mother, Zelma (Madeline Appiah) and is brought up by her maternal grandmother GG (Lorna Gayle). As Anna Mae (Adrienne Warren) gets older, GG realises it is time for her to leave Nutbush and head for the lights of St Louis to be reunited with her mother and sister Alline (Aisha Jawando). There, Anna Mae went to the Club Manhattan and met a singer/songwriter/bandleader by the name of Ike Turner (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) who signs her ...

Ruthie Henshall as Mama Morton in CHICAGO – credit Tristram Kenton The Prohibition era was not necessarily the shiniest of moments in American history. Bootlegging, speakeasies and organised crime all increased during the nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages that ran from 1920 to 1933. Stil, there is one bright spot, and that is that without prohibition, we would never have had the John Kander and Fred Ebb’s wonderful  musical   Chicago  which has recently been revived at the Phoenix Theatre. Chicago  is the story of the pursuit and fragility of fame as we follow the story of two notorious women accused of murder. Vaudeville performer Velma Kelly (Josefina Gabrielle) is charged with murdering her sister and husband and Roxie Hart (Sarah Soetaert) facing trial for the murder of her lover Fred Casely (Chris Warren Drake). Roxie is terrified but the matron of the jail “Mama” Morton (Ruthie Hen...

Patrick Baldwin. Cécile Leterme, Christophe Grégoire, Camille Cayol I love the fact that theatre is so much more than just a proscenium arch and a stage. Immersive, site-specific, promenade, there are so many ways in which a play can be put on to entertain an audience. For example, at the Barbican, Cheek By Jowl productions have brought their version of  Périclès, Prince de Tyr  by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins. In a very blue hospital ward, a man (Christophe Grégoire) is lying in bed. Although a radio is playing, the man appears to be in a coma. He is being looked after by a Doctor (Cécile Leterme) and two nurses (Guillaume Pottier and Martin Nikonoff). As he lies there, the man’s family (Camille Cayol, Valentine Catzéflis and Xavier Boiffier) come in and sit with him. All though is not as it would seem, and in a series of switches between the reality of the hospital room, and the journey of Périclès he travels a world of pirates, magic and double-crossing to f...

You Can’t Take It With You – Photo Credit Sedos Photos As Harper Lee stated “ You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family ” I bet every one of us has thought/said that at some time in our lives. Your family always knows the best way to embarrass you – especially at the wrong time, and can always be relied on to do something when least expected that will remain seared into your friends’ brains forever. The bad news is that this is no new thing as a trip to the Bridewell Theatre to see George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s  You Can’t Take It With You  will prove. Alice Sycamore (Izzi Richardson) is nervous. She has met and fallen in love with Tony Kirby (Graeme Langford) a wonderful man at her office – well he is the son of the president of the company, Anthony W. Kirby (Craig Karpel) – and has decided that it’s time he met her family. For most people, this would be trauma enough but for Alice, it’s even worse as her family is, to put it mildly, a little e...

The White Plague – Audience Immersive theatre is one of the most difficult to describe in a review. Probably more than any other type of theatrical production, immersive theatre is exceptionally personal to the person experiencing it. So it is with the latest immersive theatre show to hit London, but I will try my best to give you an idea of what it is like to live through  The White Plague  at the Landor Space. Things start off nice and gently when you arrive and are given a name tag which describes something about you – mine was ‘mauve jumper – and then go up the stairs to receive your opening briefing and whiteout goggles. Ah yes, this performance is experienced with the loss of your sight. The premise is that a mysterious and contagious virus which causes the population to go blind starts to spread. The government panics – as they often do – and takes immediate action by locking all the affected populace into an internment camp. And that’s really all I can tell y...

Lovebites Australia has given this country many things that we have taken to our heart – Skippy and Kylie to name but two. And now, they have sent us another export to keep us entertained in the shape of Theatretripp Productions who have brought their critically acclaimed show  Lovebites  to the White Bear Theatre. Lovebites is a combination musical and revue where the four performers (Charlie Bowyer, Alasdair Melrose, Ariane Sallis and Jessica Tripp) under Musical Director Tim Shaw, tell seven different stories of love and romance. In the first half, the show demonstrates how love can appear, not only when least expected. but in the oddest of places. So there are stories about Facebook, film stars, book clubs, retail, plumbing, a wedding and wishful thinking. Each story is told by its own song – composed in many various styles by Peter Rutherford and James Millar – and sung either as a solo, duo, trio or quartet by the cast. In the second half of the show, we get to revis...

Laura Rogers & David Haig in Pressure. Photo by Robert Day Any time you fancy doing something that involves leaving home, what do you do? You check the weather. Be it, watching a forecast on the TV, hearing it on the radio, checking on your phone or reading it in the paper, we all rely on a dedicated team of forecasters to let us know if the BBQ is on or if we are sitting in watching Bad TV this bank holiday. Now, for a moment turn your thoughts to the forecaster. If they get it right, then nobody remembers, but if they get it wrong, then they are never allowed to forget it – Michael Fish’s 1987 hurricane for example. Ultimately, we rely on the weather forecast most days to decide what we will wear or where we will be going. But imagine if you need to know the weather before going ahead with something not just important but which could ultimately change the course of human history and just think about what it would be like to be the person tasked with producing that forecast. Tha...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/199366/victim-exploring-life-inside-a-womens-prison-review/ Louise Beresford in Victim In this, the hundredth anniversary of woman’s suffrage, there is a lot of soul-searching going on in the world. Companies are publishing their gender pay gap analysis and also looking at the gender split at the most senior levels. Finally, it is being recognised that men and women should be treated equally even though, quite often, women can be the stronger of the two sexes. And strong women are at the heart of Martin Murphy’s one-act play  Victim  at the King’s Head Theatre. Victim  is set in a women’s prison with two protagonists, a prison officer and a life prisoner who has a finger in a lot of pies. Both women are very intrigued by the arrival of a new prisoner, one whose crime both amazes and disgusts everyone who knows why she is there. Prisoner and warder come into contact a lot but the officer is experienced and knows about keeping the r...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/199309/review-love-me-now-tristan-bates-theatre-london/ Gianbruno Spena, Helena Wilson and Alistair Toovey, Love Me Now, credit of Helen Murray Has dating ever been easy? Years ago, finding the elusive Mr/Ms Right was apparently fairly simple. Everyone stayed in the same area they were born in and would either marry someone they had grown up with or someone they met at work – in the 1970s it was estimated 25% of people married someone they first met in the workplace. Nowadays, it should be really simple. There are dating websites and dating apps aplenty. In fact, you don’t even need to want to start dating, there are apps where like-minded people can meet to enjoy the simple pleasures of each other’s company. However, in Michelle Barnette’s new play  Love Me Now  at the Tristan Bates Theatre, it may be a case of being careful what you wish for. The play revolves around three people identified only as A (Alistair Toovey), B (Helena Wils...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/199172/cardboard-citizens-presents-cathy-by-ali-taylor-soho-theatre/ Cardboard Citizens Cathy: Pamela Raith Photography Over fifty years ago, the BBC aired a play that changed many people’s perception of the homeless. Of course, things were different then and such a play would no longer have the same relevance it once did, would it? Well, I’ll let you be the judge of that after you go and see Ali Taylor’s  Cathy  at the Soho Theatre. Cathy (Cathy Owen) is a typical East End mum. Although single, she does everything she can to keep a roof over her and daughter Danielle’s (Hayley Wareham) head. She has a nice place to live around the corner from her dad’s nursing home and works hard, on a zero hours contract, to keep body and soul together. Unfortunately, she is behind with her rent but that is OK as the old lady that owns the flat is a family friend. A visit by the nephew of the property owner brings Cathy down with a bump and moves her...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/199034/liza-pulman-sings-streisand-a-wonderful-cabaret-performance/ Liza Pullman sings Streisand Of all the iconic divas that have graced the stage and recording studios, Barbra Streisand is probably one of, if not the most famous. With a career spanning over five decades, she has recorded nearly 40 albums, appeared in 18 films, won 8 Grammys and 3 Academy Awards. I could go on listing Streisand’s achievements but there are only so many hours in the day. This is one special lady and it takes a very talented performer to do justice to Streisand’s wide-ranging back catalogue and make them their own. Luckily such a performer exists in the shape of Liza Pulman and I was lucky enough to get a taster of her show  Liza Pulman Sings Streisand  this week. The show isn’t a biographical documentary about Streisand’s life, nor is it Pulman doing an impression of the singer. It is a wonderful cabaret performance of some of Streisand’s songs. Some a...