Tezza's Theatre Place

Mother Goose Cracks One Out I’ve been reviewing just over four news and so far I’ve attended over 700 shows. Not a bad number but, in all that time, I’ve never managed to get to one of the famous Above the Stag pantomimes. However, this year, that is no longer true, as I attended the 2018 offering  Mother Goose Cracks One Out . In the generic northern mill town of Rugburn – Yorkshire side of the Pennines – Mother Goose (Matthew Baldwin) a kind-hearted hairdresser, runs her business assisted by her reluctant but dedicated son Gay Tommy (Liam Woodlands-Mooney). The two of them are very poor because Mother Goose is not only useless with money but is also very generous, giving away haircuts to the needy – which seems to be everyone – and generally being a bit of a soft touch. Her landlord and squire of the town Amos (Christopher Lane) is demanding his rent as he needs the money since his mill is not doing well. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be anyone happy in Rugburn, except mayb...

Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club – Photo by PBGstudios In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee came up with one of the most quoted sentences of all time. “ You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family, an’ they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge ’em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t .” Most people only know and use the first part of the quote, especially if a member of their family has exasperated them – I use it all the time about my brothers – but, in writing these words, Harper has perfectly summed up the central theme in Jonathan Harvey’s 1995 play  Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club  which has just opened the Above the Stag Theatre. At No 15 Rupert Street, hairdresser Shaun (Tom Whittaker) is living a good old life. He is happily cohabiting with his girlfriend Juliet. His life isn’t bad. The business is doing OK and his home life is good. Well apart from the fact that Juliet has had to go to Barbados for a fe...

Beautiful Thing: Credit PBGSTUDIOS If you ever want to wind up a twenty-something, then the best thing to do is let them know how close they are to being a quarter of a century old. Twenty-five years is, in the life of a person, not that long at all, but in the lifetime of a play, the twenty-fifth anniversary is a perfect opportunity to give it a spectacular revival, and that is exactly what the team at the Above the Stag Theatre have done with their new production of Jonathan Harvey’s  Beautiful Thing . On a typical post world-war Thamesmead council estate in South East London, there are three flats next to each other at the end of one of the walkways, From the outside, these are nothing special, looking exactly like the rest of the building and the estate that surrounds them. But inside, there is a seething mass of stories and emotions ready to be let loose. In the first, there is Leah (Phoebe Vigor) a young girl, recently expelled from school, who spends her days listening ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/186632/review-lord-dismiss-us-above-the-stag-theatre/ Lord Dismiss Us Top L-R David Mullen Lewis Allcock Bottom L-R Jonathan Blaydon Joe Bence Joshua Oakes-Rogers Matthew McCallion – Photo by PBGSTUDIOS How many times did you get told as a child that “School Days Are The Best Days Of Your Life”? I’m sure for some people this is very true. Personally, I’m not so sure that I agree with the phrase. For most children and adolescents, the final few years are probably a horrendous time as their hormones kick into overdrive, they sit their various exams and have to make a life setting decision on what to study at university. That’s a lot of pressure for anyone to take but just imagine if, during this period, you had also found out that not only were you not going to be considered normal by society at large but were about to embark on a life that was totally illegal. That’s the fate awaiting some of the boys at quintessentially English public school Weath...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/171584/review-when-harry-met-barry-above-the-stag-theatre/ There are many things that theatre can do for its audience. Sometimes, it will educate, sometimes raise awareness or start a conversation and sometimes it will simply provide a very entertaining distraction from the world outside. The latest example of the latter type of show is  When Harry Met Barry  which has just opened at the Above the Stag Theatre in Vauxhall. TV celebrity chef Harry (Brandon Gale) is fed up with ‘love’. Although he is tall, handsome and runs a successful Soho restaurant, he basically only meets men who seem to think a relationship means they stay overnight and nothing needs go deeper than that. And then, one day, while sitting in a coffee shop minding his own business, Harry meets flamboyant design student and scene queen Spencer (Austin Garrett). The two of them seem to hit it off immediately and after a couple of coffees, Harry is not alone anymore. Over...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/168738/uk-premiere-southern-baptist-sissies-del-shores-review/ Southern Baptist Sissies Above the Stag is a theatre that specialises in putting on LGBT+ shows. I’ve been there a couple of times previously and seen some very well produced and very funny plays about gay life. So, I was really looking forward to another visit last night to see their latest show, the European premiere of  Southern Baptist Sissies  by Del Shores. This is the story of four people emerging from childhood and becoming adults. These boys are all from the great state of Texas – the ‘buckle’ in the bible belt – and all are regular attendees at their small town Baptist church presided over by a real old fashioned ‘wrath of God’ style preacher (Stephen Parker). The four boys are all really good friends who each bring something different to the group. So, there is preacher’s son Mark (Jason Kirk) the thinker, TJ (Daniel Klemens) the brawn, Andrew (Hugh O’Donnell) ...