Tezza's Theatre Place

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/196211/review-the-tempest-brockley-jack-studio-theatre/ The Tempest at Brockley Jack Studio Theatre Cole Porter famously wrote “ Brush up your Shakespeare, Start quoting him now, Brush up your Shakespeare, And the women you will wow ” nice words but for the Controlled Chaos Theatre Company fairly pointless as they present their all-female version of William Shakespeare’s  The Tempest  at the Brockley Jack. I’m sure you know the basics of the story. Prospero (Jo Bartlett), rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda (Michelle Pittoni), have been stranded for twelve years on an island after Prospero’s brother Antonio (Shereener Browne) – aided by Alonso, the King of Naples (Orla Sanders) – deposed him and set him adrift. Gonzalo (Alma Reising), Prospero’s friend and the King’s counselor, had secretly supplied their boat with the essentials of life, including some of Prospero’s prize books. On the island, Prospero has caused his ...

Since July 2014, I've seen and reviewed 588 shows altogether.  2017 was a fairly quiet year with a total of 132 shows visited by yours truly. So, in the best traditions of end of the year ideas, here is my list of the top 10 shows that I've seen this year.  Please remember, this is my list not anybody else's and if you don't agree with the pick, well, what can I say? 1. Priscilla Queen of the Desert,  Bridewell Theatre This story of friendship and hope took two drag queens and a trans woman from Sydney to Alice Springs, in a big pink bus. Along the way, the met new friends and face rampant homophobia. SEDOS brought every element of the show together beautifully, and to a standard that you would expect to see in the West End. Sold out virtually as soon as it was announced, this was the ‘must see production of the year. 2. La Cage aux Folles, New Wimbledon Theatre This is was a touring production of a show that demonstrates the importance of family a...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/170476/review-2-become-1-kings-head-theatre/ 2 Become 1 (c) The Other Richard Everyone has their favourite musical age. For me, as a child of the sixties and being a bit of a late starter, popular music reached its zenith in 1984 and has been going downhill ever since. For the newer generation then the nineties were where the music happened and, if you fancy learning about love, girl power and the music of the nineties then I would heartily recommend you get yourself along to the King’s Head Theatre and see  2 Becomes 1 Jess (Natasha Granger) is in her old dressing gown and crying like there is no tomorrow. In fact, for Jess, it feels like there really will be no tomorrow as she has just split from her boyfriend. Luckily, rather like Bridget Jones, Jess has a strong support network round her and after leaving countless supportive messages on her answerphone, the gang decide it’s time to do something about her situation. Jess’ friends make a...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169948/posh-review-pleasance-theatre/ Posh – Photos by Darren Bell Societies and clubs abound all over the place. Most universities have a plethora of clubs available to provide somewhere for like-minded folk to congregate and cogitate. Clubs can be based on a shared interest – The Dr Who Appreciation Society for example – or on a common connection. Indeed, at Oxford University there is a club that is exclusively aimed at those with wealth, potential power and connections. Known as the Bullingdon Club which, although being ultra exclusive, has become quite notorious over the last few years. So notorious in fact, that Laura Wade wrote a play based on its supposed exploits in 2010. The play is called  Posh  and a new version has just opened at the Pleasance Theatre, It is a pleasant afternoon in a private club in Westminster and Guy Bellingfield (Amani Zardoe) has popped in to have a word with his Godfather, Jeremy (Sarah Thom) an MP an...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169841/collide-theatre-tejas-verdes-review/ Tejas Verdes – Photo credit: Konstantinos N. Papaoikonomou Over the last couple of years, Collide Theatre have produced some quite fascinating and surprising work that I have been lucky enough to review. So it will come as no surprise that I jumped at the chance to review their latest production  Tejas Verdes  at the Ugly Duck. Tejas Verdes is an old hotel in Chile that was one of the locations used by The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) to hold and torture ‘enemies’ of the Pinochet regime. The narrative by Fermín Cabal – translated by Robert Shaw – follows the story of a young girl by the name of Colorina arrested for being a Marxist. Told with a series of monologues, we meet Colorina herself, a cellmate, the person who betrayed her to the authorities, an army doctor and a UK lawyer defending Pinochet. Each has their story to tell, and their version of events to recount and e...