"Adult Child/Dead Child" by Claire Dowie

Nottingham Playhouse Ensemble

Just from the title itself, you'd think that this is going to be a pretty depressing play, but, although the play deals with depression and mental illness, this is one play that really makes you think about your children, for those like me who have kids, and what they may be thinking.

The 12 actors of varied ages all play the one character, un named and could be either male or female and they tell the story of what that child thinks and sees in her own mind, the way the child's parents treat, or mistreat them. The child is unloved, twisted by the world and unable to make herself understood, until she gets a friend called Benji, an imaginary friend who causes all sorts of trouble and whispers things in the child's ears and tells the child what to do. The whispers turn into shouts and screams and the child finds it really difficult not to say no to Benji.

It all seems to partly stem from "The Lady" who shows kindness to the child, a kindness not shown by the child's parents, but when the lady moves away, the child again feels dreadfully lost and expresses the loss by outbursts of anger.

The parents don't understand and end up taking the child to a children's psychiatrist, which ends up having the child sectioned because of Benji.

There is a very powerful message by the end when the child, who has now grown up, replaces Benji with an actual companion and seems to settle with the replacement.

it's an incredibly candid view of mental illness from the eyes and mouth of a child and is a real educational eye-opener, wonderfully, and almost poetically written by Claire Dowie. A powerful, moving and dark story of the challenging path from childhood to adulthood which we all aren't privy to.

Jake Brindley, Maggie Burrows, Jessica Hardy-Turner, Katy Knight, Zoe Lamb, Bryn Leadbetter, Rachel MacDonald, Tania MacDonald, Oran McGuire, Noor Osman-Britton, Rachel Ross and Carolyne Willow are the cast. Brilliant orators and picture painters with the script with great talent for mime. There's a lot feeling and emotions expressed with the role of the child and at times you wanted to reach out and just give them a collective cuddle in a fatherly type of instinct. You could feel the hurt they were going through, and what parent wouldn't want that hurt to stop?

Directed by Allie Spencer and Amanda Hall, assisted by Jake Brindley and Jessica Hardy-Turner, I can only imagine that this can't have been the easiest of plays to direct,and possible not the easiest to perform either, but what a powerful piece of drama this is to present.

Listening to the soundtrack of this hour-long piece of drama, there's been a careful selection of songs to accompany the piece. From the joyous freedom of Madness' "Our House" to the Eurythmic's track "Here Come The Rain Again" which when you listen to the lyrics, fits in with the storyline of "Adult Child/Dead Child" perfectly in so many ways. very apt choices.

Sensitive lighting design , as well as the sound, was the responsibility of Will Welch.

After the success of last year's production of "Animal Farm", this is another success to add to the list for the Nottingham Playhouse Ensemble, and a play which will stir the old grey cells.

"Adult Child/Dead Child" is on at the Nottingham Playhouse Neville Studios until Friday 13 May 2016 and is definitely one to see.

"The Importance Of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde.

Nottingham New Theatre.

The NNT is a little hidden goldmine which continually throws up gorgeous little gems such as this show. So many talented people.

Jack Worthing, the show's protagonist and is the guardian of 18 year old Cicely, the granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew, who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby.

For years, he has also pretended to have an irresponsible black-sheep brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life of a sort that requires Jack to rush off to his assistance.Ernest is merely Jack’s alibi that allows him to disappear for days at a time and do as he likes.

Jack is in love with Gwendolen, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon falls for Cicely when he visits Jack at his country pile, unbeknownst to Jack. But throw into the mix Gwendolen's aunt, Lady Bracknell, the matriarch figure of the play, it's a wonder anyone wants to get married,

It's a story that have themes that are relevant today, class, deceit, marriage values, as well as shallowness.

It's my favourite of Wilde's plays. It's great fun and fluffy. I've seen several versions of the play and all have been different, and again this production had a fresh feel about it. I always felt that Wilde wrote the play to be performed over the top and that has been picked up, I think, by the director Nathan Penney and has presented a play where the acting is OTT, and boy does it work so well, really bringing out the comedy of the script and the farce elements. This is Nathan's debut as a director and he does an amazing job with "Earnest".

George Waring (John Worthing) has a wonderfully mobile face, so expressive and his plummy accent twinned with his facial work outs are just an absolute joy to watch.

James Curling (Algernon), also creates loads of comedy, often by his insatiable hunger and love of cucumber sandwiches and muffins, not all at the same time. he has a great delivery of lines, and even managed to cover up a slight amnesia moment with his lines thanks to a muffin.

Emma Summerton (Gwendolen), was wonderfully upper clarss, and her scenes with Chrissy Couquin (Cecily) after they first meet and create great confusion between Jack and Algernon and the two "Earnests". Chrissy also ramps up the "bratty" eighteen year old, again to brilliant comedic value.

Izzie Masters (Lady Bracknell) was an absolute hoot. her looks of absolute shock and horror were wonderful, pulling rank at every opportunity. i was a bit worried about poor James though when he got whacked over the head by Lady Bracknell's walking cane; you could hear the crack of either the cane or James' skull. A wonderful role and played for maximum laughs by Izzie. The line of the play "A handbag" was delivered with complete disbelief and i for one loved Izzie's version of the character.

Iona Hampson (Miss Prism), Cicely's tutor who also is the key to the whole "Earnest" issue, again is a calculated comic piece well acted out.

Making his debut for NNT is Neil Ganatra (Dr Chasuble), a suitably restrained performance for a man of the cloth but a nice debut role for Neil.

Darcey Graham (Merriman) is the servant to jack and Cicely, and who can blame her for a little snigger at the action, I was surprised that some of then others didn't crack at least a smile at the comedy unfolding around them.Self control held in, this was another good supporting role in the cast.

I'm not saying I've left the best to last because all the cast were just so brilliant in their individual roles, but Algernon's put upon servant lane, played by Joe Hincks, just cracked me, and many other audience members up completely. Every time he appeared on stage. his eye-rolling and exasperated sighs were a lesson in upper class comedy. Every thing that was asked of him seemed to be so below him and so menial. His bored expressions and raised eyebrows were just wonderful, and though I loved every character, and actor in the play, Lane was my favourite. He reminded me of the likes of Stephen Fry and Barry Howard for their pomposity. Classic.

Great sets and apt props, and I loved the scenery for the garden section, designed by Jess Donn. Wonderful costumes, which is another of NNT's strengths. brilliantly directed by Nathan Penney who extracted every drop of comedy from Wilde's rich script, ably assisted by producer Ross Brisk. Another debut for NNT as producer. Lovely simple and subtle lighting design by Ben Woodford.

One of my favourite productions of the year so far, and I've seen many excellent productions all over the place this year. Another wonderful production to add to the ever increasing list of NNT's wonderfully entertaining and varied roster of successes.

You can see "The Importance Of Being Earnest" at the Nottingham New Theatre on the Nottingham University campus until Saturday 14 May 2016. Please go if you love a laugh, and let's face it, who doesn't?

"Breakfast At Tiffany's" by Truman Capote

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Back in 1961 when the film was made starring Audrey Hepburn as Holiday (Holly) Golightly, I imagine it would have caused quite a stir because of Holly's many male friends who pop round at any time of the day or night, well you get the gist of what I mean.

Originally the character was described as a naive and eccentric cafe society girl, Holly is far from naive, eccentric maybe but definitely a society girl who has a love of male company.

The original film was initially received very positively and the song from the film, "Moon River" won two Academy Awards for the Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

At most this is a very nice way to spend a couple of hours in a theatre. The story is of course about Holly's latest journey from her last husband, "Doc"; her running away to find her next conquest, which she finds several of and ends up flying off to marry Jose in Brazil. Along the way she makes a good friend in the upstairs tenant, a writer, who she names Fred, after her brother. In the film the tenant is called Paul.

There's more controversy with Paul/Fred as there are hints at his sexual preferences, or is it just for money?

There are certain similarities with Holly and Sally Bowles in "Cabaret", and as "Breakfast At Tiffany's" came first, it makes you wonder if Holly was an influence.

Holy is played by ex "Inbetweener" Carly, aka Emily Atack, and surprisingly, this role is her debut stage role. Loved the attitude from Emily as Holly. i think naive is not a word I would use to describe Holly because Emily plays the role as a very self assured and strong young woman. There's no doubt that Emily can sing, after all her parents are Keith Atack, who was one quarter of 70's boy band Child, and recently left The Illegal Eagles, and her mum is singer/impressionist and TV presenter Kate Robbins.You can see where Emily gets her gorgeous looks and vocal talents from.

Fred is played by ex "Downton Abbey" actor Matt Barber. Matt also acts as narrator and carries the pace of the show. A very energetic performance and there's not many times when he is actually standing still.

You may also recognise Joe, the barman, who is played by Victor McGuire from "Trollied" and, if you're as old as me, can remember him playing Jack in the brilliant comedy "Bread" and Ron in "Goodnight Sweetheart".

A very talented bunch of ensemble actors fleshed out the story.This also included Bob The Cat, who is a veteran of TV and film roles and even has it's own twitter site! And yes, it is a cat!

As you can imagine the make up, and costumes are amazing, although the iconic image of Audrey Hepburn's Holly isn't in this production with Holly keeping her blond locks.

The sets were really impressive, as was the lighting and a crisp clear sound, and an equally impressive array of props, but would Holly have drunk out of plastic wine glasses?

Directed by Nikolai Foster, who is a very well known name in the world of theatre, he upheld the classy feel of the film and kept it nice and pacy.

The play is a wee bit dated but it is what it is, a couple of hours of escapism entertainment with some wonderful stylish retro clothing on show. This is no reflection on the cast though because they made this play the enjoyable event it is.

"Breakfast At Tiffany's" is on at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 14 May 2016.

"Little Shop Of Horrors" by Creatio

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

This is the first production from the recently formed Creatio. Recently formed they may be but there is a great wealth of talent and experience behind the name.

"Horrors" is the story of Seymour who works for Mr Mushnik in his florist in Downtown Skid Row with assistant Audrey. just as Mr Mushnik is about to throw in the towel due to bad business, or no business to be precise, Seymour introduces a new plant he has dubbed Audrey 2, which has particularly gruesome dietary needs.

Seymour, the hapless geek of an assistant is played by a newcomer to me, Tom Stanley, who has ventured to Nottingham from his usual thespian stomping ground of Derby. I'm so glad he did because he was perfectly cast in the role. The gentle comedy came naturally to him and what a great voice he has, showcasing the light and shade of the role as well as his vocal talents.

Audrey, the dizzy punchbag of a girlfriend to Orin, the sadistic dentist, added a fizz to the proceedings. Great fun to watch and another strong vocal performance, Once more beautifully highlighting the light and shade of the vocal spectrum of the soundtrack. Katy Freeman showed sensitivity and optimism with songs like "Somewhere that's Green" and her duet with Seymour on "Suddenly Seymour", just two favourites from a wonderfully memorable soundtrack.

What can i say about Adam Guest who played Mr Mushnik that i haven't said in the past. Adam really makes every role his own. Not so long ago he was Manuel in Encore's production of "Fawlty Towers" and now he's mastered the Jewish sense of humour. i loved the little Jewish mutterings when cursing Seymour, which added just that little bit extra comedy to Mushnik's character. Great comic timing and a great voice to boot. Adam is a well seasoned performer who is a boon to any show he appears in.

Orin, the dentist, was played with enormous sadistic glee by Jack Readyhoof, a role I can only imagine he loved playing from the way it came over on stage. Loved the song "Dentist" and the sado-erotic spin he gave it.

Audrey 2, aka the plant, is a difficult role to undertake. Even though you don't see the actor working this giant puppet, there's a lot at stake here for the production as Milly Shawcross, who operated the giant man-eating creature has to get her timing spot on to make it look like the voice is coming from the plant, and she did a cracking job.

The voice of Audrey 2 was provided by Phil Stanley. A wonderful deep, soulful, chocolate-dripping big old voice he has as well. That plant had soul oozing from it's every root and leaf which really got the sap rising in a way that baby bio wouldn't be able to match.

The 60's chanteuses created a lovely retro musical feeling from the doo wop age. Georgie Bond, Laura Jones, Aine O'Neill-Mason, Rebekah Fearn, Eleanore Mallinson and Laura Jacobs are the lovely ladies with the voices, the attitude and the great 60's outfits.

Jo Walker, Ray Elliott, Josh Birchall, Alex Richardson, Laura Tracey, Kheenan Jones and Andrew Bould create the ensemble. Kheenan also donning the assistant director hat and Andrew doubling as stage manager.

Directed by the incredibly hard-working Matt Powell, who also made appearances on the screen in various roles throughout the evening has done it again, another success under his belt. Well deserved as well because he really does live and breath theatre and his passion for the art is evident, and he still remains one of the nicest guys in amateur theatre.

Martin Lewis makes his musical directorial debut after spending several years on the stage, he takes the reins below stage. I actually thought the soundtrack was recorded to start with until i started to read the programme because the sound was practically perfect. A talent that may have lay dormant for martin has, thankfully surfaced. i hope that this will not be the last venture into musical direction for Martin.

Charlotte Richardson was the lady behind the choreography. Not a foot was put wrong with the classic 60's style moves. Brilliant job.

Great set, brilliant fun costumes and a nice use of projected images and films added that little extra to the production. Crystal clarity of sound and great lighting by the Nottingham Arts Theatre technical crew.

Matt Powell has surrounded himself with some of the best crew and actors for this show and that really shows in what is nothing less that a professional show.

This is, as I said, Creatio's debut and knowing what is to come I can only say that I am very excited about what is coming for the rest of this year. Matt has set his bar very high but I have every faith that the bar is going to be met and pushed even higher with his next two productions.

"Little Shop Of Horrors" ends on Saturday 7 May 2016 at the Nottingham Arts Theatre, so don't leaf it to the last minute, stem that urge and beat a root to the theatre for a real treat this weekend, but don't forget.......Don't feed the plants!!!

"Great Expectations" by Inspire Academy

Nottingham Council House.

The setting for this Charles Dickens' classic gothic novel couldn't have been more suited to the beautiful Grand Ballroom of the Nottingham Council House.

One one side was the enigmatic Miss Havisham in her chair and the other side of the ballroom was Pip's family home, making the several trips to and from the two places seem distanced, giving a realistic and spacial feeling to the scenes.

Young Pip (Carter Pateman) meets Magwitch (Luke Boyden-Jones) and arranges to get files for him to release himself from his chains. A real nasty piece of work, and Luke really threw himself into the role perfectly, not holding back with the threats to the terrified Pip.

Later Young Pip is summoned by Miss Havisham (Maisie Caro) up to the house and he meets Young Estella (Lily Widdowson) who berates him and tries to make him cry, which he refuses to do. He goes back to his family, Mr and Mrs Joe (Adam Brookes and Fran Hess), a wonderfully mismatched couple, but then again opposites attract, so they say.

It is arranged for the elder Pip to live in London as a gentleman and he is looked after, monetary and property-wise by Jaggers (George Bartram) who's a prominent lawyer who represents Miss Havisham as well as Pip's benefactor.

When the now adult Pip (Kurtis Lowe) visits Miss Havisham again he falls for the now adult Estella (Maddie Storey). Estella announces she is to be married to Bentley Drummie (Jack Staples) which enrages Pip.

Pip later discovers that Magwitch is his real benefactor, after Magwitch enters his life again. He and Estella again meet when he returns to the ruins of Satis House and she asks for his forgiveness and they are united.

Director Luke Gell, and assistant director Fran Hess, have created a beautiful piece of theatre, full of atmosphere, keeping loyal to the story. Obviously there are things that would have been difficult to stage, like Miss Havisham's death by fire, but you didn't need to see it and the trimmed story didn't seem to affect the flow one bit.

The sensitive lighting created blocks of performing space, splitting the large area which gave the impression of cinematic scenes fading in and out before your eyes. The haunting celtic music added to the periodic ambiance. Both light and sound created by Lewis Jones. Even down to the cast having bowls of water to create the sound of the water lapping around the boat showed the thought that had gone into creating just the right atmospherics.

The acting from everyone was amazingly good. The diction from George Bartram as Jaggers was incredibly mature and authoritative and i loved the OCD of constantly washing and drying his hands showing incredible attention to detail,

Maisie Caro was actually quite scary as Miss Havisham. The incredible concentration and pompousness shown in her face was wonderful to behold. Again, a great maturity beyond her years, and only came out of character when taking the final bows to smile broadly.

Everyone showed this maturity and none more than young Carter Pateman as young Pip. You believed the terror he felt when he first met Magwitch, and you also felt on edge with Luke Boyden-Jones' portrayal of the early Magwitch.

Pip the elder had a dual role as narrator while young Pip's story was being acted out, and Kurtis Lowe's performance shows that he has a credible future as an actor.A confident and strong leading man.

Other cast members were Tamara Hirst (Biddy/Molly), Conor Beastall as Jaggers clerk Wemmick, an under rated role but played with great panache, and Charley Carter (Camilla). Everyone of them gave a brilliant performance.

I read the book at school but seeing such a wonderful performance as I had the pleasure of, made this classic just that little bit more special. The whole feel was hauntingly good. The calibre of actor coming up through the ranks of Inspire Academy is phenomenal if these are anything to go by,

You've one more chance to catch this classic masterpiece performed by Inspire Academy on Friday night at the Nottingham Council House.

"Benefactors" by Michael Frayn.

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

Benefactors is set in the 1960s and concerns an idealistic architect David and his wife Jane and their relationship with the cynical Colin and his wife Sheila.

David is attempting to build some new homes to replace the slum housing of Basuto Road and is gradually forced by circumstances into building skyscrapers despite his initial aversion to these. Sheila becomes his secretary but is she helping him or the other way around?

Written in 1984 it was the recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award for the Best New Play for that year, but does the play stand up over 30 years later?

For me, it didn't and it's no "Noises Off", which is the play Michael Frayn is known for. It's a very different kettle of fish as this play, although I found plenty to smile about, the comedy seems to be written in quite ad hoc, whereas "Noises off" was an out and out comedy farce.

"Benefactors" is a very wordy play about a fairly serious subject and the cast do a sterling job with a good sense of timing which makes for a fast paced presentation.

Trev Clarke and Clare Choubey play the Kitzingers, David and Jane. This couple are a true couple and by that I mean that they are wholly believable because they argue and shout but they stick by each other throughout.

Dawn Price and Robert Chilton play the Molyneuxs, Sheila and Colin. They are the couple who at first seem to be the solid couple but turn out to be very different by the end of the play.

There are some very good character roles played out by all four and you find yourself having the biggest sympathy for Sheila, whose confidence grows and grows in the second act. A nice "grower" of a role for Dawn.

All four actors presented their characters with great strength but for me I didn't feel the story was a strong enough one, but this is only my opinion, Maybe I was spoiled with Frayn's "Noises Off" which I absolutely loved to bits,

A tribute to director Marcus Wakely, Trev, Clare, Dawn and Robert though for bringing out the comedy in the play and especially for dealing with the wordy script, which did make for an interesting aural experience.

"Benefactors" is on at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 7 May 2016 in the studio theatre upstairs.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by The Royal Shakespeare Company.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

When you're the Royal Shakespeare Company you can take a few risks with Shakespeare and that is what they did with this production. It was like hearing your favourite song done in a completely different way. All the words and the structure was there, just done in a different way.

Set in the mid 1940's, just after the war, the setting matched that era complete with a rather grand, but dusty looking piano, which is where we first meet Puck.

Lucy Ellinson (Puck), looked like a throwback from the days of silent cinema and the inspiration being Chaplin, which fitted in because Puck was presented as the naughty, mischievous clown of the piece.

Lucy was absolutely brilliant in the role, even venturing into the audience, climbing over the first couple of rows and relieving one audience member of a pack of crisps, taking one and giving the rest away. How naughty was that? Then again why were noisy crisps being eaten in the theatre? mmmmm! Serves them right I say!

The cast consisted of 18 professional actors along with 6 amateur actors and 10 local school children (Tuesday night were from the Ambleside Primary School and Hempshill Hall Primary School).

The amateur actors from The Lovelace Theatre Group in Hucknall were excellent and you would not be able to tell the difference from the professionals. Becky Morris (Bottom), Linda Mayes (Quince), Jen White (Snout), Tom Morley (Starveling), Daniel Knight (Flute) and James McBride (Snug) played the Mechanics and presented their play with great comic timing and panache. every one of them shone from the stage and well worthy of the standing ovation they received at the end.

The professionals weren't too bad either. OK, they were better than that, With such a fairly big cast, I won't name check them all as they all delivered the standard that you'd expect from such a prestigious company as the Royal Shakespeare company. A brilliantly funny and different twist with some excellent comic timing from both professionals and non professionals.

You know that saying that less is more, well this can be applied to the sets because while there was no magic forest, not a tree in sight, apart from the twig that Snout carried, you didn't need to see the forest, it just wasn't needed. you knew it was there, you didn't have to see it. And that's the magic of the theatre.

Music wise we were treated to a fairy band of only four who made the music sound as if there were more than the four.

A wonderful fresh direction from Erica Whyman (RSC) and Pat Richards (Lovelace Theatre Group) ensured maximum laughs and complete enjoyment of the Bard's best comedy.

Choreography for the piece was beautifully designed by Sian Williams. Loved the contemporary costumes, courtesy of supervisor Gayle Woodsend and a crystal clear sound design by Andrew Franks.

Yet again, every time I get to see Shakespeare, I always feel that more and more people should be just a little less afraid of experiencing the magic of his writing. A packed audience on opening night shows that maybe more people are warming to Stratford Bill's works and enjoying an evening of top class entertainment from more than 400 years ago.the only other entertainment that is still as popular after 400 years is Ken Dodd!

"A Midsummer Night's Dream - A Play For The Nation" is on at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 7 May 2016. You won't regret seeing this comedy for all classes and all ages.