In 1770, whilst visiting Bologna on the first of his European tours, the musician and author Dr Charles Burney attended a concert given by the 14 year old Mozart, who just four years earlier Burney had also heard play in London. “….The little man is grown considerably but is still a little man. He has …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The Princess and the Pea’ which is at The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 29th June. Forty-five minutes of pure joy! A fable in the making, this little show – for little people – will go down in the history of The New Vic as the one that everybody …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The Syndicate’, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Saturday 22nd June and touring. It’s just not fair when The Lottery is won by criminals! And that’s not a spoiler…because it’s evident very early on in Kay Mellor’s gritty comedy that the bad guys are going to win the loot. But in …
Life of Pi – review by Chris Eldon Lee – is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Saturday 11th May This is the most spectacular piece of theatre I have had the very great pleasure of seeing at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn … since the day it opened. It starts modestly with a single bed on an …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Hotbuckle’s “Pride and Prejudice” … which is touring widely … including Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on May 29th and 30th. What’s the difference between Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy? Answer : a piece of Velcro …. and some extremely fine acting. In an instant, actor Tomas Mason transforms himself from one character …
The beach is bleak at Seaton Carew. Something unspeakable is poisoning the crabs. A looming Freeport – developed to mitigate the economic strangulation of Brexit – spoils the view. And somewhere under the grey waves of the North Sea lies a wrecked ship, haunted by a mythical Mariner who claims the souls of the dead. …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Ladies Down Under’, which is at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 30 March. Does loads of money make you happy? Or just afford you a better standard of sadness? That question is hidden away somewhere in Amanda Whittington’s bittersweet sequel to ‘Ladies Day’. Having won £500,000 pounds on …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews the Shropshire Youth Theatre’s production of ‘The Winter’s Tale’ which continues at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn tonight (14th March 2024) With the possible exception of the RSC, not many adult theatre companies would have the confidence to tackle Shakespeare’s infamous ‘problem play’. Written late in his life, its unusual in that the …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Vamos Theatre Company in ‘Boy On The Roof’, which is touring widely and winds up in Worcester on March 8th and 9th. You can always rely upon Vamos to come up with something new … and there are a fair number of big surprises in this current show. They have pushed …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Do I Love You’, which is at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 3rd February, and touring. A gentleman in, I imagine, his early 70s eased himself into the seat next to mine. He was big, bald and a conversationalist. “I was into ‘Northern’ big time,” he told me. …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, which is at Theatre Severn until Sunday 7th of January “Well, we’ll have to do it again then, won’t we. OOOH!” … as they have been doing now for a dozen years. This is the twelfth time that Evolution Productions have brought Brad Fitt and his fabulous …
Chris Eldon Lee review “Eric’s Pride and Prejudice”, which is at The New Victoria Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 9th December. I’ve been to a couple of David Graham’s Christmas shows before – and to preserve my credibility as a supposedly professional critic, I have been tempted to wear a false beard and dark glasses …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The Nutcracker’, which is at The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 27th January. Imagine a picture-perfect Christmas scene, Victorian of course. A parlour is lit by flickering amber oil lamps … with a beautiful, traditionally dressed tree in the middle that reaches right up to the ceiling. Its sweeping …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Constant Companions’ which is at the New Vic Theatre in Newcasle-under-Lyme until Saturday 4th November. My absolute favourite Ayckbourn plays are the ones in which he toys with time and introduces Androids to highlight human inadequacy. In ‘Constant Companions’ he does both. This very morning Rishi Sunak has been speaking about …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews the revival of Astley’s Astounding Adventures, which is at the New Vic in Newcastle-Under-Lyme until Saturday 21st October. Oh! What a Circus! Oh! What a show! Five years ago, The New Vic at Newcastle under Lyme produced a show to beat all others. It was stupendously skilful, hilariously funny, and breathtakingly …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Macbeth’, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Saturday 16th September. It was good to welcome professional Shakespeare back to the main stage at Theatre Severn and to see the stalls filled with attentive students. What Daniel Taylor Productions gave them was a crystal clear, no nonsense, version of the Scottish …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Brian Friel’s “The Faith Healer” which is at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 9th September and then tours widely, including Wolverhampton Arena Theatre on October 24th. I love Theatre-in-the-Round. It is quite simply the most natural form of theatre there is. Without the complications of wings and sightlines and …
Chris Eldon Lee review ‘The Killing of Sister George’, which is at The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 13th May, “The sacrificial cow descends the white spiral staircase.” I doubt if that final stage direction actually concluded the script that the German-born playwright Frank Marcus wrote in 1965, but this new production is …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Hotbuckle Theatre’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ which is touring widely; including Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on May 10th and 11th, Condover, Ironbridge and Lilleshall. Sixty stalwart souls squelched through stair rods of rain to witness the premiere performance of Hotbuckle Theatre’s latest production. And the warmth of the show soon dried them off. …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Northern Broadside’s “Quality Street”, which is at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 25th March and then touring. Rather like a box of chocolates, this production of J M Barrie’s ‘Quality Street’ is stuffed with rattling good surprises…making it one of the most enjoyable ‘Northern Broadsides’ productions I have ever …