The Woman in Black has reached its 30th Anniversary at the Fortune Theatre and I went along to find out what I was missing all this time. The show is partially a show within a show. It tells of Arthur Kipps who wants to tell his tale about his journey to Crythin Gifford to sort the affairs of his client Alice Drablow
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Vincent River is a one act play by Philip Ridley. It tells of 2 strangers, Anita and Davey who meet in Anita’s new home for the first time. Davey reveals to Anita that it was him who found her son’s dead body, a victim of a hate crime. As these two strangers get to know each other the layers of
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Emilia is a new play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm which is set in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. It tells of Emilia Bassano who was a writer and passionate advocate of women’s rights. The play follows her throughout her life, including how she became mistress of Henry Carey, her relationship with Shakespeare, the birth of her children and publication
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“I won’t leave until you don’t need me anymore.” Max Porter’s prize-winning, bestselling debut novel is brought vividly to life by Enda Walsh’s visionary adaptation of a portrait of a man’s struggle with grief in the aftermath of his wife’s sudden death. When Dad (Cillian Murphy, Inception and Peaky Blinders) loses his wife in a sudden tragic accident, he has an
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Abigail’s Party is a play very firmly set in the 1970’s with cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks served up, talk of house prices being £21,000 and numerous references to the musical choices of the day it is very much of it’s era. The play unfolds in Beverly and Laurence’s living room as new neighbours Angela and Tony along with
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It comes as a sobering discovery to those of us of a certain age to realise that the first television broadcast of Dad’s Army was over fifty years ago. Frequent repeats of the nine series produced have exposed successive generations to this classic sitcom. It still has the power to amuse to a not insignificant extent owing to character recognition,
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With promotional material for The Messiah boldly announcing “three towering talents” playing a cast of thousands in “the funniest and most magical Nativity you will ever see”, the bar for my expectations was set very high. Patrick Barlow’s play, has evolved over the 35 years since its first incarnation – it has been a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, been
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An Honourable Man If you are a writer of political dramas, you can do one of two things. You can take a broad-brush approach, eschewing detail and making grand points about totalitarianism or dictatorship or whatever, without bothering much about details of parliamentary procedure or campaign finances. The idea is that the terrible things that unfold in the drama could
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The Greater Game at Waterloo East Theatre The Greater Game is a play by Michael Head based on the real life story of the Leyton Orient tea who were the first football team to enlist together to fight in the first world war. It tells of the firm friends and heroes both on and off the pitch, William Jonas (Steven
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Private Peaceful at the Orchard Theatre Private Peaceful arrived at The Orchard Theatre in Dartford as part of it’s UK Tour with perfect timing in the lead up to Remembrance Day and the 100th year anniversary of the end of world war 1 and wow! What a way to remember. This dynamic revival following its highly successful run at the
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