Tezza's Theatre Place

Up at the Palladium, you will find the ultimate in family Christmas entertainment. With a huge budget, huge sets, an orchestra and more stars than there are in the heavens. Yes, it’s panto time and  Goldilocks and the Three Bears  are safely ensconced until January. However, a stone’s throw from the LP, is another panto. It’s smaller, has fewer star names and, as they themselves say, little budget. But going by my visit to the Karma Sanctum Hotel, to see  Jack and His Giant Bigstalk , I think I know which of the two pantos I prefer. In the village of Doggin On the Hill, Dame Trot (Edward Denny) lives with her son Jack (Alex Guersman). Jack is the epitome of a pantomime hero – handsome but a trifle dim. Not the brightest of individuals, he makes up for it by being a loving son to Dame Trot and a wonderful best friend to Daisy the cow (Ben Felton/Alex Reid). He is also a young man who has noticed stirrings in parts of his body and a fluttering in his heart, especially when in the pre

You can get overwhelmed by the amount of Christmas themed shows currently in theatreland, so it’s quite nice when a venue decides not to mount a traditional style production for their festive offering. So, it was with great pleasure I headed off to the Jack Studio Theatre for  The Invisible Man . A mysterious stranger (Shaun Chambers) has arrived in the quiet English village of Iping and taken up residence in the Coach and Horses, presided over by Mrs Hall (Matthew Parker). The stranger, whose name is Griffin, is indeed mysterious. Muffled up with a broad brimmed hat, dark glasses and a ‘kerchief covering the lower part of his face, Griffin, is impatient to have his things brought up from the station. As he explains to Mrs Hall, Griffin is an experimental investigator, and his luggage contains equipment for his work. He also emphatically tells her that he does not like to be disturbed when he is working and that he had been in an accident that left his eyes weak and sensitive. Intr

LtoR Emily Cairns, Matthew Kellett & Meriel Cunningham in THE NATIVITY PANTO. Credit Bill Knight. One of the highlights of the festive season is the annual trip to Islington to the King’s Head Theatre for the latest Charles Court Opera Christmas production. This year, CCO present their thirteenth festive boutique pantomime and have decided to pull out all the stops by tackling the story that started it all with  The Nativity Panto . I’m not going to go into too much detail but the story concerns a couple – Joseph (Matthew Kellett) and Mary (Meriel Cunningham) Christmas, who have slightly different goals in life. Joseph is trying to invent a substance that will get his sleigh, pulled by Rudolph the reindeer (Emily Cairns), to fly and Mary wants a baby. It sounds simple enough, but, in the hands of John Savournin (director and scriptwriter) and David Eaton (original songs and Musical Director), a simple tale becomes something spectacular. The addition of a good old pantomime vi

A scene from My Brilliant Friend Part 1 centre Catherine McCormack – image by Marc Brenner. Some stories cannot be told in a single sitting. Think Harry Potter. The last book was made into two films and the ‘The Cursed Child’ is two plays. The reason I’m mentioning this is because after seeing  My Brilliant Friend Parts 1 and 2 , at the National Theatre, it struck me that making one book into two plays is hard enough but April De Angelis must have really had their work cut out in converting the four books in Elena Ferrante’s ‘Neapolitan Novels’ into two individual shows. My Brilliant Friend  concerns the friendship of two ladies. When we first meet them Lenù Greco (Niamh Cusack) and Lila Cerullo (Catherine McCormack) are 8-years-old and living in a run-down area of Naples where poverty and small-time crime families are the name of the game. They bond over an incident where they swap dolls and then toss them through a grille into a cellar belonging to the local loan shark. Somehow, t

Paul McEwan. Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost. Unicorn Theatre. Photo Manuel Harlan Halloween may be over, but the festive season is often a time for a haunting or two – think Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. One story of things that go bump in the night is Oscar Wilde’s  The Canterville Ghost  currently having a spooky outing at the Unicorn Theatre. American diplomat Hiram Otis (Nana Amoo-Gottfried) is a happy man. He works for the US State Department and lives in a nice part of New York State with his celebrated interior designer wife Lucretia (Beth Cordingly) and children – inventor Washington (Nathaniel Wade), keen gardener Virginia (Safiyya Ingar) and the mischievous film-making twins, Stars (Mae Munuo) and Stripes (Rose-Marie Christian). Their lives are good and their days are full. However, that is about to change as Hiram’s bosses have decided to post him, and therefore his family, to England. Otis crosses the pond first and sets about finding a house for the family to live

Crisis, What Crisis, The Colab Factory, Courtesy of Owen Kingston 1979 was a pivotal year in the life of British politics.  Following what has become known as the Winter of Discontent, Margaret Thatcher tabled a vote of no confidence in the Labour government under Prime Minister James Callaghan.  The government lost the vote, there was a general election which swept the Conservatives into power for the next 18 years. One has to wonder what would have happened if the government had won and the election put off for a while the Labour party and unions got together and sorted things out.  Well, thanks to Parabolic Theatre, with their immersive production  Crisis? What Crisis?  At the Colab Factory, you now get the chance to play with and maybe even change history. It is the night of the ‘No Confidence’ vote and you, along with other parliamentary advisers, have been invited to an old government control centre to discuss what can be done to avert a loss for the Prime Minister and the tri

REPUTATION – Jeremy Secomb as co-artist Freddy Larceny with his “mols” – Photo Donato. Ever wonder where writers get their ideas from? I have to admit I often do. Often, after seeing a really good film, I wish I could write like that. Dream up characters, bringing them to life, putting them into some scenario and have that play out to a, hopefully, logical conclusion. Alas, my writing skills aren’t up to that so, I will have to think of another method to get that Oscar for Best Screenplay. I’m not the only person to think like this as you will find out if you take a trip to The Other Palace in Victoria where new musical  Reputation  is receiving it’s premiere. 1935 and the USA is starting to emerge from the Great Depression. Well-dressed but obviously dodgy Freddy Larceny (Jeremy Secomb) has a story to tell. For a while, Freddy had built up a reputation as a Hollywood screenwriter coming up with marvellous stories that were eagerly picked up by Louis B, Sam, The Warners, etc and turne

A Kind of Loving In some ways it’s very difficult to imagine the UK back in the 1960s. But this was a decade where socially and morally the country really began to change. Ideas and standards which had been accepted as the norm for generations started to be questioned, and behaviour which would have been deemed wholly inappropriate before started to be acceptable. However, social change takes a while to filter out to everybody and if you were a lad in the early 1960s then there were rules and you were expected to follow them. This is the heart of Stan Barstow’s 1960 novel  A Kind of Loving  which was turned into a film, TV series and now, with a new adaptation by John Godber, a play being presented at the Jack Studio Theatre. Victor Brown (Adam Goodbody) is a twenty year old Yorkshire lad from a traditional working class background. His dad (David Kerr) is a miner and his mum (Maggie Robson) rules the house and her three children, all of whom have ambitions to move up the social sca

Tickle the Musical Peter Davies How do you feel about tickling or being tickled?  After all, as babies and children, tickling is a part of life, and many a youngster has been reduced to a helpless mess of giggling by a good old tickle. As you get older, there comes a point where it is not necessarily felt as appropriate to tickle or be tickled. However, if you were to Google the words “ competitive endurance tickling ” you will find a plethora of websites covering the subject. You will also find details of a 2016 documentary by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve. The reason I’m talking about this is because the documentary has now spawned a new musical by Chris Burgess called  Tickle  which I recently saw at the King’s Head Theatre. In a boring, run-down town, Chris (James McDowall) and Callum (Ben Brooker) are bemoaning their lives.  Chris is hoping to get into university while Curtis has nothing more exciting to look forward to than night shift at a local kebab house.  As the two boys

Ghost Stories – Caretaker As the nights draw in, thoughts turn to the autumn and winter celebrations. Right now, that means Halloween and for those of you that like a bit of a fright in your life, I can offer you no better play that  Ghost Stories  at the Ambassadors Theatre. This is a show where, rather like  The Mousetrap  next door, they ask the audience to keep the secrets and I can fully understand why. As plays go, whilst not being truly immersive,  Ghost Stories  is a production that needs to be experienced. Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman have written a fascinating set of stories. The tales are linked together by parapsychologist Professor Phillip Goodman (Simon Lipkin) who has recorded each event and provides his own, more down to earth, ideas of what happened to elderly night watchman Tony (Garry Cooper), wayward teenager Simon (Preston Nyman) and city financier Mike (Richard Sutton). And there is nothing to fault in this production. I both love and hate horror stories and t

Up Pompeii! – Frazer Hines (Ludicrus) and Cleo Rocos (Suspenda). The British have always had a real affinity for smut. From saucy seaside postcards through to the “ Carry On ” movies, there is something about a double entendre and risqué gags that appeals to the British sense of humour.  One of the true masters of this form was a comedian by the name of Frankie Howerd. One of Frankie’s biggest hits was a TV show called  Up Pompeii! . And 50 years since the show was first aired, Spiteful Puppet Entertainment have brought it to life again with their audio revival, and I was lucky enough to attend the recording at the Shaw Theatre. Using a new script by Barnaby Eaton-Jones, with Daniel McGachy and Iain McLaughlin,  Up Pompeii!  is the story of Lurcio (David Benson) head slave to Senator Ludicrus Sextus (Frazer Hines), his wife Ammonia (Madeline Smith) and their children Erotica and Nausius (Rosa Coduri and Jack Lane). The family and their household live in Pompeii in the shadow of the

Jaimi Barbakoff (Rachael) in Appropriate at the Donmar Warehouse. Directed by Ola Ince and designed by Fly Davis. Photo Marc Brenner According to Hercule Poirot, the most likely time for one family member to kill another is during the Christmas holiday. Whilst I’ve never felt the urge to kill any members of my family over the Yuletide period I can understand his reasoning. However, any family get-together is fraught with potential danger and this is the central theme to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play  Appropriate  at the Donmar Warehouse. In a lovely old plantation house in Arkansas, the Lafayette family is gathering following the death of their father to settle the estate. Frank (Edward Hogg) and his girlfriend River (Tafline Steen) enter the old home via the window. Frank has been estranged from his family for many years due to some major personal issues in his life, and is hoping to arrive before the others. What he doesn’t know is that his older sister Toni (Monica Dolan) and her

It’s not often that a promotional video attracts me to a particular show but, having watched the one for  What Happens Next Will ____ Your ___  at the White Bear Theatre, I knew I had to go and see the production. Two men on the roof of a 28-storey building. At first glance, they couldn’t be more different. Alex (Ryan Whittle) is dressed in a ‘smart casual’ way that suggests a lot of work has gone into his look. From his nicely tidy hair to his amazing shoes, he is every inch a young man of a certain status. By contrast, the other man Darren (Chris McCurry) looks like a down at the heels working-class fellow. Not only is there a contrast in their looks, but they also seem to be appreciating the roof-top locale in different ways.  Darren is sat, fairly relaxed watching Alex who seems very nervous, pacing up and down, adjusting his clothing and continually checking his phone.  Darren tries to strike up a conversation with Alex who distractedly explains that he is in the building for

Charles Darwin: Collapsing Creation Few books have had such a profound effect on the history of mankind than that published in 1859. It expounded a theory that was not only revolutionary but also ran deeply at odds with the religious beliefs of the time. The book was called “On the Origin of Species” and the life of its prime author are the subject of Arthur Meek’s play  Charles Darwin: Collapsing Creation  which is receiving its European premiere at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre. The play takes place over a period of years following the voyage on HMS Beagle and sees an invalid Charles Darwin (Gavin Harrington-Odedra) in his home being tended by his loving wife Emma (Paula James) while he works on his theories of the development of life on earth. Also in the household is Darwin’s servant/friend from his Beagle days, the irrepressible Joseph Gardner (Richard Houghton-Evans) who assists Charles in his research. A frequent visitor to the Darwin’s home is another friend from the Bea