Chris Eldon Lee reviews CATS, which is at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 30th March 2013 “Okay. Here’s the pitch. The idea is to write a musical with no dialogue and with an enormous and rather expensive cast who dance non-stop for two hours. It’s going to be based on a handful of challenging poems …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Heather Gardner’ which is at Birmingham Old Rep until 28 March 2013. Birmingham Rep’s writer in residence Robin French has taken one of his (and my) favourite Ibsen plays, Hedda Gabler, and written what he calls a ‘cover version’ – Heather Gardner. The plot remains largely the same (though somewhat abridged) …
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Chris Eldon Lee review “The Human Race” and “A Mother’s Ransome” which can be seen at Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre on Thursday 21st March. One of the fringe benefits of Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn is the Walker studio where Shropshire’s community groups can experiment with theatrical ideas and new writing. Owen Lewis’s Portable Theatre Company returned there …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews Northern Broadsides “Rutherford and Son” which is at the New Vic in Newcastle-Under-Lyme until Saturday 16th March 2013 By rights, Barrie Rutter should be extinct by now. But Britain’s last great actor- manager defies the decades and keeps coming up with pertinent plays and powerful performances. He himself is not the …
Chris Eldon Lee reviews a new stage production of the Brother Cadfael story “The Virgin in the Ice”, which is at Wolverhampton Grand until Saturday 9th March and is due at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn in October. I recall sitting by Shropshire’s Edith Pargeter (alias Ellis Peters) at the press preview of Carlton TV’s version …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Educating Rita’, which is as Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold until Saturday April 6th. I was wondering if ‘Educating Rita’ would have dated in the 33 years since Willy Russell wrote it. Academia, surely, has moved on and (hopefully) drunken tutors are more summarily dismissed these days. To me the writing …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews “A Friend Within The Gates” by Janet Wantling, available in CD audio format from the Red Balloon Book Shop in Ludlow and Burway Books ( www.burwaybooks.co.uk ) in Church Stretton. Eighty minutes ago I knew nothing of Edith Cavell. Now I am full of admiration for her. Her heroism within war …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘High Society’ which is at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 2 March (and at Birmingham Hippodrome in May). I was too young to notice if ‘High Society’ broke the Musicals mould in the 1950s but seeing it for the first time this week it’s clearly not a typically brash Broadway show. …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews “The Thrill of Love” which is at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-Under-Lyme until Saturday 9th March. This is a beautifully crafted piece of compelling theatre; a classy example of cast, directors and designers all singing from the same song sheet to create a moody insight into the tormented mind of …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews Shropshire Youth Theatre’s production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn till February 23rd. From the moment Lucio Gray (as Theseus) strides onto the stage and takes command of proceedings, you know you’re in for a night of confidence and clarity. There is barely a weak link in this …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Rape of the Fair Country’, which is at Clwyd Theatr Cymru until Saturday 9th March. Watching ‘Rape of the Fair Country’ is a bit like doing the London marathon. Everybody seems to be running, it’s longer than you think, it gets much tougher towards the end and you’re exhausted when it’s …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews the UK stage premiere of Philip Pullman’s I Was A Rat which is at Birmingham Old Rep until March 2nd and at Salford’s Lowry and Hereford’s Courtyard Theatre in May. There are some moving and beautiful moments in this refreshingly clever production. Teresa Ludovico, artistic director of Bari’s Teatro Kismet in …
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Chris Eldon Lee reviews “Go Back For Murder” which is at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 9th February and then Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn from the 15th to 20th July 2013. The line “You look just like your mother!” comes in uncommonly handy in “Go Back For Murder”, as the highly versatile Sophie Ward plays both …
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Conrad Nelson as Graham Photo by Andrew Billington Chris Eldon Lee reviews “Talking Heads”, which runs at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme until February 16th 2013. I met Alan Bennett once, at a writing seminar in London. An aspiring playwright asked him what he thought of the latest crop of young writers and he …