Tezza's Theatre Place

LEAVE A COMMENT Our Country’s Good Transportation was a horrific punishment in many ways. People convicted for, what would be today, the tiniest crimes were taken from their families and friends, stuck on a ship for months, travelling in appalling conditions and then dumped in the colonies to serve out their time which could be anything from a few years to the rest of their lives. Not just that but when they got to the colonies, there were none of the trappings of a civilised country. Everything was rough and ready, living in tents, limited food and horrendous punishments for any misdemeanors, inflicted by, on the whole, rather brutal members of the army forced to be moved from their comfortable billets and look after the prisoners. For some, the worst aspect of life in the penal colonies was a lack of anything to do. But in Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 1988 play  Our Country’s Good  at the Bridewell Theatre, both the convicts and the guards definitely find ways to pass the ti...

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...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/193347/bitches-down-under-review-above-the-stag-theatre/ January must be the most depressing month in the calendar. Christmas is over, the decorations are down and everywhere is looking drab and boring. The weather is awful and the credit card bills for the festive season have arrived. The best thing to do to escape the January blues is to take a holiday somewhere hot but, if your wallet won’t quite stretch to that then the next best thing is to share someone else’s holiday. So, I would recommend that you get yourself down to the Above the Stag and join the folks for  Bitches Down Under . The plane has barely touched down at Sydney airport before Drew (Liam Nooney) and his fiancé Garth (Ethan Chapples), along with their favourite “fruit Fly” Pam (Hannah Vesty) are in a bar at Bondi Beach. This holiday is very special for Garth and Drew as not only is it their first visit to Mardi Gras but afterwards they are flying off to New Zealand – P...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/189516/priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-review-bridewell-theatre-london/ Sedos Priscilla Winter is definitely with us. It’s cold, windy and the shops are full of Christmas tat. This is the time of year that the world needs something spectacular to bring a bit of happiness and raise the spirits. And, right now, the brightest show in town is  Priscilla Queen of the Desert  which has just opened at the Bridewell Theatre. Sydney, Australia and drag queen Mitzi Mitosis (Richard Upton) needs a break. Luckily, he has received a phone call from Marion (Natalie Harding-Moore), the manager of the Alice Springs Casino. Among other things, she wants Mitzi – real name Anthony “Tick” Belrose – to come and perform at the casino. Tick leaps at the idea and ropes in fellow drag queen Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Ian Thiele-Long) and Trans woman Bernadette (Alexander McKinven) to join him on the epic 1,723 miles (2,773 kilometres) journey. Bernadette and Felic...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/178230/briefs-close-encounters-underbelly-festival-southbank-review/ Briefs Close Encounters: credit Kate Pardey Well the big purple cow may have gone up north for a while but that doesn’t mean the fun is over on the South Bank and taking up residence in the Spiegeltent for the next twelve weeks are a group of talented chaps from Australia who plan to totally blow your mind as they take you to a galaxy far, far away. Welcome to  Briefs: Close Encounters. Sometimes you can gauge the type of show you are about to see by the audience. And the first thing to notice about this group was how excited they were. The queue to get into the tent started about half an hour before the doors opened. Lots of very excited looking people stood laughing together waiting to be let in. Once in, people who had seen the Briefs boys before headed to their favourite seats while everyone milled around – all the seating is unallocated. My companion and I managed to ...