Tezza's Theatre Place

June is world-wide Pride Month and here in London, we end the month with the start of London Pride week, which culminates in the annual Pride in London parade. This year, my London Pride week started with a visit to the Southwark Playhouse where  Full Disclosure Theatre  were putting on a new writing night of eight short plays revealing the naked and entertaining truths about LGBT+ life. The evening started off with  Converting The Preached To  by Niall Urquhart, directed by Louis Catliff. As we took our seats we were welcomed by our Preacher (Linus Karp) who shook hands and said hello to as many as possible. He then proceeded to introduce us to Robert (Ikky Elyas), a new member of our gay conversion therapy group who started to explain his reasons for joining much to the consternation of the Preacher and apparent delight of Dennis (Pedro de Senna) a normally quiet member of the group who blossoms under Robert’s influence. Converting The Preached To  was ...

Simon Lipkin as Martin, Laurence operated by Hugh Purves and Charlie Brooks as Tamora in All in a Row. Photograph: Nick Rutter It’s not often a play causes so much controversy – even an online petition to have it pulled – before it even opens. But this has been the case with Alex Oates’ production  All in a Row  which has received its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse. This is the story of Tam (Charlie Brooks), Martin (Simon Lipkin) and their eleven-year-old son Laurence (Hugh Purves (Puppeteer). Laurence is severely autistic. His autism is so bad that he can only communicate in a series of grunts and a form of sign language and, in addition to his parents, needs the assistance of a paid carer, Gary (Michael Fox). The parents love their son and cope with his condition in their own way. Tam is a high flying entrepreneur and motivational speaker who likes to relax with a glass of wine at the end of the day, while Martin is a stay-at-home dad who allows his mind to ...

Andrea Miller, Emily Jane Kerr, Christian James, Tori Allen-Martin, Prince Plockey and Christopher Lyne in H.R.Haitch (Credit of Nick Rutter) Back, in the midsts of time, royal weddings were so easy. The reigning monarch would check their progeny and marry them off to another monarch’s child thus securing alliances and securing their own future. Love was never a feature of the deal but if it happened between the youngsters then that was just an added bonus. Nowadays, prince and princesses of the realm, lead a more normal life. They go off to school, university and then jobs. They get to meet and mix with, ordinary members of the public and, who knows, maybe they even get to fall in love all by themselves. This then is the central premise behind  H. R. Haitch  which recently opened at the Union Theatre. London 2011 and revolution is in the air. The coalition government has fallen and there is a new party in charge under a new Prime Minister Nathan (Prince Plockey). One of ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/198412/review-old-fools-tristan-bernays-southwark-playhouse/ OLD FOOLS – Frances Grey (Viv) Mark Arends (Tom) Photo Nat James Photography Remember in school being taught that “ For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction ”? Although this is Newton’s third law of physics, I believe that, in reality, it is applied in many walks of life. For example, it often feels that as soon as something positive happens in my life, then along comes a big fat negative to even it out. The effects of this law certainly apply to the couple in Tristan Bernay’s play  Old Fools  at Southwark Playhouse. Old Fools  is the story of Tom (Mark Arends) and Viv (Frances Grey) and their lives together from their first meeting until final parting. Theirs is a pretty ordinary tale really. They meet, fall in love, get married, have a child and after a lifetime of unforgettable experiences, look set to spend their twilight days together watching the s...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/192760/review-this-story-of-yours-white-bear-theatre/ David Sayers as Baxter and Brian Merry as Johnson in ‘This Story of Yours’ – © Lesley Cook Headshots Often, when I go and see a show, part of the fun is trying to work out the ending as the story progresses. Sometimes though, the audience knows exactly what is going to happen at the end. For example in John Hopkins’  This Story of Yours  currently at the White Bear Theatre. The end is directly referred to throughout. In a dark sitting room, Detective Sergeant Johnson (Brian Merry) is sitting alone knocking back the whisky. In fact, he is drowning in it and is not so much three sheets to the wind as totally hammered. He attempts to put a record on the record player but fails to coordinate and ends up making so much noise that he wakes his wife, Maureen (Emma Reade-Davies) who tentatively comes in to find out what has upset her husband. Johnson explains that earlier that evening he ...

https://www.lastminutetheatretickets.com/londonwestend/review-bananaman-the-musical-at-southwark-playhouse/ Bananaman The  Musical  – Matthew McKenna (Bananaman) Photo by Pamela Raith Ever dreamed of being a Superhero? Yep, me too. I would love to wake up one day transformed from my normal weeble-like body into a man of muscles who can fly, save the world and generally be loved and admired by everyone. However, as they say, be careful for what you wish for. A point that is nicely demonstrated in  Bananaman The Musical  receiving its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse. Living in 29 Acacia Road – possibly one of the most boring roads on the planet – geeky teenager Eric Wimp (Mark Newnham) dreams of excitement. Unfortunately, the most exciting thing in Eric’s life is finding out what strange combination of ingredients his mother (Lizzii Hills) has put together for his lunch. School life is no better for Eric and about the only positive in his life is his friend...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/178118/review-of-dessert-at-southwark-playhouse/ Dessert: L-R Stuart Milligan, Teresa Banham, Graham Turner – photo credit Catherine Ashmore As the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6, verses 9-10 “ those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. ” Yet, we all do want money. Millions are spent every week on various lotteries. The strange thing is, that wherever we end up on life’s rich list, there is always someone who we envy for having more. And occasionally this envy can spill over into action as demonstrated by Oliver Cotton in his play Dessert at the Southwark Playhouse. In a rather nice country house, four people are enjoying a dinner party: Sir Hugh Fennell (Michael Simkins) and his lovely w...

http://www.carnstheatrepassion.com/review-henry-v/ I n 2015, Antic Disposition celebrated the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and the 100th Anniversary Battle of Loos in Northern France with a production of Henry V which I saw in Temple Church. Two years later and they are back with a cathedral tour of the play which I was lucky enough to catch at Southwark Cathedral. Photo Credit Scott Rylander Using a play within a play format, this version of Henry V begins in a field hospital in France in 1915 a group of French and English patients decide to put on a version of Henry V. Shakespeare’s play takes place 500 years earlier and concerns the young King Henry (Rhy Bevan) being maneuvered by his court to take up some dubious claims to Dukedoms in France. Following a visit from the Herald Montjoie (Marious Hesper) who brings, shall we say, a less than complimentary reply to Henry’s demands from the French Dauphin (Dean ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/164161/review-promises-promises-southwark-playhouse/ Neil Simon writes the book, Hal David writes the lyrics and Burt Bacharach writes the music. Put all this together and what do you get? A Tony award-winning musical that goes by the name of  Promises, Promises  that has returned to London and taken up residence at the Southwark Playhouse after an absence of nearly 50 years. Chuck Baxter (Gabriel Vick) is a junior accountant in a large insurance company. Although a lowly, often overlooked individual, Chuck has aspirations to climb the ladder to executive level. Unfortunately, his life isn’t living up to his dreams until one day, one of the executives (exec) finds out that Chuck rents a studio bachelor pad on West 67th Street, and asks to borrow it, so he can take his lady friend there for a spot of ‘afternoon delight’. Chuck, in his eagerness to ingratiate himself with the higher ups, agrees and soon news of the local bolt-hole spre...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/163247/review-fiona-doyles-play-abigail-the-bunker/ Abigail at The Bunker – Tia Bannon and Mark Rose – Image courtesy of Anton Belmonté “ Some enchanted evening you may see a stranger. You may see a stranger across a crowded room. And somehow you know, you know even then….. ” and so the song goes on. Often it is true as well. Two people meet, something clicks and something starts between them. All well and good you might think. But people are complicated things. Everyone comes loaded with a trolley full of luggage behind them which affects their relationships in profound and sometimes quite unexpected ways. Not sure if I’m spouting a load of drivel here? Well, pop along to The Bunker and the world premiere of Fiona Doyle’s play  Abigail  then decide. A man (Mark Rose) and a woman (Tia Bannon) meet. There is a distinct difference in age between them but despite this, there is an obvious attraction between them. They get involved in a rel...

http://www.lastminutetheatretickets.com/londonwestend/jest-end-review-waterloo-east-theatre/ If you are a fan of musical theatre, then seeing a show on the  West End  is your holy grail. Unfortunately, it is not a cheap hobby and with some top ticket prices over one hundred pounds, catching all of the top shows may be more of an aspiration than a possibility for many people. However, there is an answer. Simply nippity pop along to the Waterloo East Theatre where the talented team from  Jest End  are back in residence and ready to run you through virtually every show you could really hope to see – including a couple that haven’t made into town yet. So, how to describe this two-hour romp through the world of the musicals? I could take the easy way out and just say that it’s awesome but that would actually be understating just how good it is. The four-strong cast – Jemma Alexander, Adam Bailey, Bronte Barbe and Daniel Buckley – perform twenty-nine numbers whos...