Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Blue Orange’, which is at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday 16th February This very timely revival of Joe Penhall’s expose of the failings of the mental care system at the turn of the Millennium comes with a Director’s health warning … very little has changed in 20 years. Young African Caribbean …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The House on Cold Hill’, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Saturday 9th February Peter James has an enviable reputation for writing ghostly novels that are so true to life (or death) that they could almost happen. Shaun McKenna has now adapted four of them for the stage and this …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews “Sherlock Holmes, The Sign Of Four”, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Friday 25th January. The recent television modernisations of Sherlock Holmes – with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role – are spectacularly terrific … but they are not the real thing. This, however, is. Blackeyed Theatre has taken the …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Mother Goose’, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Sun 6th January. What! No Wedding? Surely not! Mother Goose is certainly an unusual Christmas entertainment. In producer Brad Fitt’s hands, it is very much a Proper Panto…but memories of the ancient Greek morality tale lie very close to the surface – …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Dick Whittington, the Puuurfact Rock ‘N’ Roll Panto, which is at Theatre Clwyd until Saturday 19th January. The annual shining light that Peter Rowe set ablaze at Theatre Clwyd all those years ago … is burning even more brightly this Christmas. Writer Christian Patterson, director Zoe Waterman, choreographer Will Tuckett and …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Wind In The Willows’, which is at The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until January 26th. It is the most charming of children’s tales in English literature and this is the most successful stage adaptation of ‘The Wind In The Willows’ I have seen since Alan Bennett’s iconic 1990 National Theatre …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Hot Lane’, which is at the Spode Works at Stoke-on-Trent until Saturday 24th November. It was called Hot Lane, I suppose, because of the kilns. But the heat is ‘on’ in Deborah McAndrew’s latest period drama because of the scandal. Why has a long-gone war widow suddenly returned and who is …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Henry V’ which is at Theatre Severn until Saturday 10th November. This is an imposing, percussive, production, reminiscent of the kind of Shakespeare seen at the Old Vic in the 50s. Fine, upstanding actors – clearly spoken and colourfully costumed – performing in a bare, black-curtained box and letting the words …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Northern Broadside’s production of ‘They Don’t Pay, We Won’t Pay’, which at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyne until Saturday 10th November and touring. This the most screamingly funny and savagely biting adaptation of a Dario Fo farce I have seen in a very long time. Deborah McAndrew pours salt into …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Beautiful Thing’, which is touring to the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 3rd November. Life has moved on a great deal since the play ‘Beautiful Thing’ was premiered in 1993. When Jonathan Harvey wrote it, our gay community was reeling in the wake of the emergence of Aids. People …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Hotbuckle Theatre’s ‘Jane Eyre’, which is touring to Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on November 15th and 16th. If you can believe a school girl with a beard, you can believe anything. That is what Hotbuckle Theatre are supremely good at. Using their audience’s imagination to the utmost, they have recreated an entire …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Thick as Thieves’ which is at Theatr Clwyd in Mold until Saturday 27th October. How lovely it is to see Siwan Morris back on stage at Theatr Clwyd and how beautifully matched she is by Polly Frame in this taunt two hander that burrows deep into what must be a woman’s …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews “Lord of the Flies”, which he saw at Theatr Clwyd in Mold and which is now at Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre until Saturday 3rd November This is no Saint Trinian’s. Nor is it a straight ‘Lady of the Flies’. Whilst the whooping and the hollering in Emma Jordan’s all-female production of Nigel …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Better Off Dead’ and ‘Joking Apart’, which are in rep at The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until October 27th. The great news is that this year’s new Alan Ayckbourn play is absolutely splendid. After around 80 dramas, he has finally placed centre stage the subject he knows best. Himself. Algy …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Rebus : Long Shadows’ which is at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday 6 October and touring throughout the autumn It seemed a strange decision to put Rebus on stage. It’s worked a treat with Poirot of course and Ian Rankin has laudably decided to write a new story rather than recycle …
Paul Higgins reviews ‘Atlantic Ladies’ which can be seen at the Market Drayton Festival Centre on Thursday 4 October Funny and poignant, uplifting and inspirational, Chris Eldon Lee’s ‘Atlantic Ladies’ is a triumph of theatrical storytelling. This inventive production is more than an entertaining show, it is an event marking an achievement of three …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Queens Of The Coal Age’, which is at the New Vic in Newcastle Under Lyme until Saturday 29th September. It must have been tough being Anne Scargill; married to the man they called ‘King Arthur’. I interviewed him once – in his office in Sheffield – where I found him kind, …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The Comedy About A Bank Robbery’, which is at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday 8th September. Having hilariously mauled the ‘Who-Dun-It’ and ‘Panto’, Mischief Theatre has now sunk its claws into crime. ‘The Comedy About A Bank Robbery’ will scarcely disturb the trade descriptions act. It does exactly what it says …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews the ‘Titanic, Honour and Glory’ exhibition, which is at Shrewsbury Museum until Sunday 30th September It seems to me we all have a personal connection with the Titanic. The sinking of the trans-Atlantic liner is such a tragic story, it touches all our hearts…and has done so, long before James Cameron …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Ladies’ Day’, which is at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 28th July. Tony Christie is looking and sounding as good as ever. His mane may be silver – he is 75 – but he is lithe, trim and sprightly and trots around the Wolverhampton stage, shiny suited, as if he’s just …