"Jack & the Beanstalk"
Nottingham Theatre Royal.

All three pantos in Nottingham this year have really upped their game, and strangely enough also seem to be shorter in length than last year. Whether that is the case I'm not sure but if not, the time flew by with each panto.

There are three stars billed in the panto at the Nottingham Theatre Royal, but there are two other very well known names waiting to slither down that beanstalk.

Chico plays Jack and I knew it wouldn't be too far into the panto before his big hit was dusted off and revisited, and we found out that it really was Chico Time. He hasn't aged a bit since his X Factor days and is living proof that you don't have to win the X Factor to carve out a successful career, you just need to have the X Factor, which he most certainly has. He was swashbuckling fun to watch as the hero of the day.

Tony Maudsley was wonderful as Dame Trot. His several costume changes have been more than he has done in the past but he looked magnificent at every change. Constantly reminding us of his role in the hit TV comedy "Benidorm",

From the Benidrm Babe T Shirt he arrived on stage with to the end nod to the TV show, again a great bundle of saucy fun, the sauce obviously calmed because of the kids but there were a few cheeky double entendres for us bigger kids to enjoy. I also loved his opening musical number which took you back to the days of the music hall.

I knew that Paul & Barry, The Chuckle Brothers, would be good fun. What I didn't expect was just how good they really are live. You think that they are stalwarts of kids TV but they are clever, they are so much more than that. Playing to their strengths of childish comedy, they also occasionally strayed into sauciness with the aid of a cucumber and a very comical X Factor audition piece by Barry, as Barry Trot, which certainly revealed more talent than we may have seen before!

They also got rid of the kids on stage section or the tired old audience participation "12 Days Of Christmas" musical number seen for the last couple of years and gave us a very funny "Goldilocks and The Three Bears" section with members of the audience. Fresh and funny. i have now revisited my Chuckle Brothers fan status, and my teenage son also chuckled along with me.

Gemma Buckingham was the gorgeous Princess Apricot, the love interest for Jack, and if you squint a bit, she don't half look like a younger Kylie Minogue, and she can carry a tune as well.

Princess Apricot's father, King Crumble was played by Ian Gledhill with some nice flirty interaction with Dame Trot.

The first of two surprises came in the shape of West End star Sarah Earnshaw as The Spirit Of The Beans. This woman has an amazing voice, as you'd expect, but she is also a brilliant performer, again, what else would you expect.

Finally, we come to the baddie of the panto, Fleshcreep, and he was really good. I love the villainous parts because they are so much meatier and Daniel Boys, yet another big West End star was just fantastic . The complete look of lascivious glee in his eyes as he prowled the stage, berating and threatening the audience members was the meat to this panto gravy. Daniel is hardly recognisable with his jet black long hair, moustache and beard, but when he sang to open the second act, his wonderful voice resonated into every nook and cranny in the theatre.

There was a nod to the "Phantom" in his opening of Act two with Daniel but I also felt that the whole show leaned more towards the West End than in previous years and, as a musical theatre fan, I loved the style and panache.

The ensemble collection of the younger and elder teams were, as always absolutely en pointe, and it's always great to see choreography, by Paul Robinson, performed this good by the age ranges.

It goes without saying that the sets are amazing, as are the costumes, wigs, lighting and sound, though there were times when the orchestra was slightly louder than the singing, maybe a tweak on the mics? But I'd be very petty to let something like that affect the enjoyment of a panto of this standard.

There's a fluorescent section and a 3D section, produced by Whizzbang 3D Productions, which worked so very well in this panto as jack and the crew ventured around the Giant's kitchen. It has to be seen to be believed just how effective this added extra can be to theatre. it's been seen before in pantos but, in my humble opinion, this was the best I've experienced.

I was also really impressed with the research done by the writers of the panto who included the names of many areas of Nottingham within the storyline, really making the panto localised.

The Theatre Royal Orchestra, musically directed by Allan Rogers were superb. i couldn't believe that only five musicians produced that swell of sound.

Brilliantly produced and directed and very slick and tight with great pace, which could be the reason why the time seemed to fly by.It's a giant success that will have you (s)talking about this show and chuckling for ages after you leaf the theatre and gone home.

"Jack & The Beanstalk" is bean performed at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Sunday 15 January 2017 ( P.S. there was no spelling mistake in this last sentence).

"Alice In Wonderland"
Derby Theatre.

This is a new adaptation by Mike Kenny of the Lewis Carroll classic book. You sometimes wonder about adaptations and how far they will go, but no need to worry with this one.

The story is all there but it's told from a more up to date and conventional start where Alice is a school girl on the morning of her exams. Her mother is calling for her to wake up and letting her know just how important the exams are to her.

She awakes and is on her way to school, trying to remember everything that she needs for the exam, books, pen, pencil case, books.....calculator, when the bullies set upon her, but fortunately the teacher intervenes. The exams start and in a swirl of dizziness, the exam master, Mr Buck, evolves into the March Hare and the rest of the magical story begins.

It's a lovely pre Christmas piece of theatre for all ages with a very modern feel which is aimed, primarily at the school child age. With an aerialist section to emulate the falling down the rabbit hole by Alice, the revolving stage and several mini Alices to hand to get her through the right doors to the garden, this show is an absolute treat.

A wonderful revolving set which also provides part of the backdrop to several of the scenes; the set being the design of Neil Irish, who also did an amazing job as the costume designer. as you know this story is outlandish and therefore the costumes have to match that description.

There's also a very effective cinematic backdrop which gives an altogether bigger and freer feel to the musical as well as giving the feeling of dropping down the hole and being magically whisked off to another dimension. This being the design of Barrett Hodgson.

The cast are just amazingly good fun to watch and Dominic Rye who plays the Mad Hatter is wonderfully quirky. Abby Wain, who plays Alice is also a very gifted actor, singer, dancer as well as aerialist, which for those who don't know is when you dangle from a massive silk scarf from the roof and do marvellous aerobatic things with it.

The rest of the cast covered quite a large age range and the kids in it were simply adorable. The way they worked that stage in the choreography numbers (Kitty Winter) shows an incredible maturity and confidence.

The whole cast worked smoothly as one company and much as I'd love to highlight several of them, I just found that they all worked as equals and there was no one who stuck out for being any better than the rest. A rare thing with such a large cast.

The music is created by the actors themselves on stage and covered several musical genres.Ivan Stott wrote the original music which meandered from Madness style singalongs about the baby, to a gangsta rap piece, through to gorgeous Irish lilting melodies and a rock number by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. I wish the soundtrack was available to buy as a constant reminder of the show.

The lighting design by Emma Jones was perfect in every way and added to the magic of the musical. Very atmospheric.

Directed by Sarah Brigham, she kept the ship tight but pacy; just what was needed when part of your audience is at that age where concentration is not uppermost.

What is there not to like about this show? Well if there was anything, I certainly couldn't find it. At just under two hours, with break, this show is the perfect all family alternative to pantomime.

"Alice In Wonderland" is at Derby Theatre until Saturday 7 January 2017, so don't leave it too late!

“As You Like It” by William Shakespeare.
Nottingham New Theatre.

The play features one of Shakespeare's most famous and oft-quoted speeches, "All the world's a stage", and is the origin of the phrase "too much of a good thing".

Rosalind (Grace Williams), the Duchess Senior's daughter, is kept at court as a companion to her cousin Celia (Daniella Finch), Duchess Frederica's daughter. Both Duchesses played by Emma White.

Orlando de Boys (Hugo Minta), has been kept in poverty by his brother Oliver (Edward Marriott) since his father's death. Orlando decides to wrestle for his fortune at Frederica's court, where he sees Rosalind and they fall in love.

The Duchess banishes Rosalind, fearing that she is a threat to his rule. Celia, refusing to be parted from her cousin, goes with Rosalind to the Forest. For safety they disguise themselves - Rosalind as the boy Ganymede and Celia as his sister Aliena - and persuade the fool Touchstone (Eric Crouch) to accompany them.

On hearing of a plot by his brother to kill him, Orlando also flees to the Forest. Posting love lyrics through the forest, Orlando encounters Rosalind disguised as Ganymede. She challenges his love-sick state and suggests that he should prove the strength of his love by wooing Ganymede as if he were Rosalind.

Elsewhere in the Forest love also blossoms: the shepherd Silvius (Ian Sheard) suffers unrequited love for Phoebe (Leah Briers), who has fallen for Ganymede, while Touchstone is pursuing the goat-herd Audrey.

Oliver, sent into the Forest to hunt down Orlando, has his life saved by his brother, becomes filled with remorse for his past behaviour and falls in love with Aliena.

Frustrated by the pain of his love for Rosalind, Orlando is unable to continue wooing Ganymede, so Ganymede promises he will conjure up the real Rosalind and that all the lovers will finally be wed...

Well that's the quick version of this two and a half Shakespeare classic musical comedy.It's known as a musical comedy because of the number of songs in the play. There are more songs in it than in any other play of Shakespeare. These songs and music are incorporated in the course of action that takes place in the forest of Arden.

Other actors and characters in the play are Jacques (Chris Trueman), Adam (Jeremy Dunn) and an ensemble consisting of Chrissy Courquin, Rose Edgeworth,Miguel Barrulas and Beth Wilson.

This would've been the ideal introduction to Shakespeare for any first timer because it was a modern take and was extremely easy to follow the rich language of the Bard.

This cast though made Shakespeare's lines roll off the tongue with complete ease, as if it were their first language, and they delivered the many tongue twister script with a natural gait, albeit some parts may have benefited from being a little slower, but I suppose when you're in that Shakespeare moment, you just go for it.

The comedy shone through, especially with Eric Crouch's Touchstone. If you can imagine Joey from "Friends" doing Touchstone, as Joey, then you can imagine the great fun that was had in this production.

The whole cast though were just magical to watch and having that modern feel made it so fresh, thanks to the talented directorial skills of Felicity Chilver and the production merits of Joanne Blunt. It really drove home to me as well how bawdy the Bard was with this script. If "Carry On" films were around 400 years ago, Bill could have been a scriptwriter!

There was also many really physical sections in this play, mainly between Oliver and Orlando and Ted and Hugo really went for it, which was great for realism, probably not for Ted's health though.

From the set design (Joanne Blunt and Tom Proffitt) to the lighting design (Harry Bridge) and the sound design (Emma Barber) to the whole production and technical and stage crew, this is one of the best Shakespeare pieces I've seen for sheer entertainment value alone.

"As You Like It" is on at Nottingham New Theatre until Saturday 10 December 2016. As I liked it? As I loved it more like!

"Into the Woods"
Bilborough College.

"Into the Woods" is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests.

The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family (the original beginning of The Grimm Brothers' Rapunzel), their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.

This college group have never been shy at taking on challenges with drama and this is no exception. Sondheim is never the easiest and "Woods" has to be his most intricate musical. A lot of the music carries no actual tune until the words are put to it and then it comes alive. That said the lyrics can be the most tongue-twisty of any musical theatre tunes.

Put these two together and the fact that these are college students performing, it is no mean feat that this lot pull off. And pull it off they most certainly do. I've seen older actors perform this musical and they have told me how difficult it is so to see Bilborough College Drama Group perform this with such ease was mind blowingly good.

Dan Gribbin (The Baker) makes an ideal leading man with great charisma. His voice could cut glass it's that clear and excellent pronunciation with the ending of the lines gave him that air of professionalism. A lovely believable partnership with his wife played by Heather Greenhaigh who also had the most gorgeous of voices, matching Dan's perfectly in their duets.

Sofia Pilsworth (The Witch) certainly mastered that role and really was quite scary, even when she had lost her powers and continued to boss her daughter, Rapunzel, about. Sophie Bloor playing the lovely corn-coloured locked one with the angelic voice who fell in love with her Prince, played by Alfie Sanders who also had a really pleasant singing voice.

His duet with Cinderella's Prince "Agony" could not have been further from the truth with just the right amount of comedy thrown in. Again another well cast duo whose voices complemented each other. Adam Hunt played Cinder's Prince with some lovely comedy horse riding sections thrown in. A nice air of arrogance was also provided for his role.

Cinderella, played by Lucinda Buckley, is another student who has been blessed with a lovely voice and wonderful stage presence.

Louis Gosrani (Jack) played the simple village lad whose only friend was Milky White, the family cow, who Jack was taking to market to sell on the orders of his mum, played by Olivia Stringer.

Laurence Berridge (Milky White) was wonderful with his big eyes and sad mournful looks, especially when he was traded by Jack for the magic beans from the Baker, the audience fell in love with his character straight away. there can't be many actors who can make a cow so lovable to an audience with his facial expressions.

Georgina Banks (Stepmother), Jess Wheeler (Lucinda) and Kelsey Dorman (Florinda) were a lovely comedy trio, especially in the scenes where the two daughters were blind.

Kacey Scrimshaw played a very playful but feisty Little Red Riding Hood, complete with a rather large kitchen knife for protection.

Sam Holden got to show off some very impressive dance and gymnastic moves as The Wolf, and also had the best make up of the night, thanks to make up artist Deanna Ward.

The Mysterious Man, played by Archie Stephen, kept us guessing who he really was with his cryptic musings.

The narrator of the piece who was a real cool customer was played by the very tall Harvey Slater, who also had his fair share of script to deliver, and deliver he did in a very natural style.

Other actors in lesser, but also important roles were James Prempeh (Steward), Rachael Webb (Grandmother), Sophie Boettge, who voiced The Giant, Imogen Birkett (Cinderella's mother), India Smith (Snow White), James Hickenbottom (Cinderella's father) and Jasmyn Whitehead (Sleeping Beauty) with ensemble members including Eleanor O' Boyle, Sam Hughes, Phoebe Charlesworth, Paige Maitby, Lillie Wildman and Reanne Black.

A tidy 17 piece orchestra provided a sound that didn't overpower the singers too much and created a lovely musical backdrop to the show, musically directed and conducted by Fred Pashley-Johnson, assisted by Leah Roulstone, who also played saxophone.

Ably directed, and this is no walk in the park (or the woods) to direct by Dan Wolff and produced by Sharon MacInnes. Choreographed by Lucy Stanton-Lynch, assisted by Sam Holden.

The set was simple but very effectively thought out and designed by Toby Biggin and the costumes which were perfect for the characters were designed by Elle Stephens.

Adding to the magic of the story was the lighting designed and operated by Callum Roome.

All in all a very enjoyable evening out at Bilborough College, showcasing some big talent which I hope will be seen on bigger stages in the future. The musical lasts, with the interval, just about 10 minutes short of three hours but guess what? it flies by because the actors and the whole show are just magical to behold.

A show that will suit the whole family and is being performed at Bilborough College until Friday 9 December 2016. One not to miss this month.

"Dick Whittington" by People's Theatre Company.
Nottingham Arts Theatre.

I mentioned to one of the actors a few weeks ago that I could write most of this review prior to seeing the panto. I could write in advance how good the panto would be because I know many of the cast and I know that Amanda Hall was writing and directing the panto, so it was a given that the quality would be excellent. I hope that this didn't worry the person I was speaking to, thinking that what I was to see would be predictable, because it wasn't.

Every year I get to see an excellent show, and it must be difficult to top the previous year, but yet again Amanda and her cast and crew have done just that.

It is partly to do with the honed writing skills of Amanda and knowing her audience and cast as well as knowing what topical jokes to include with the classics. In essence it's like making the perfect cake that would be good enough to win the Great British Bake Off. the secret is getting every ingredient spot on, and I can report that there are no soggy bottoms here!

Nottingham pantos, in my humble opinion have two of the best writers for this particular art form in Amanda and Kenneth Alan-Taylor, because they really know their stuff.

As usual the sets are great (Cris Brawn), as is the lighting design (Tom Mowat), giving the staging a West End feel, especially the ending. You could hear every word from the actors, thanks to the sound design by Rob Kettridge. These three made for a very pleasurable experience to set the story and actors in.

With everything looking so smooth on stage, this shows that the stage management was also running as smooth as silk and the management team under the captaincy of Amy Rogers-Gee did a fine job of keeping everything tikkety boo.

Ray Samuel Mcleod was the musical director and he produced a wonderful crisp sound from that orchestra pit. I expected nothing less.

Mike Pearson played our Dick, as well as producing the show, All smiles, with the old adage of "eyes n teeth" running through his performance. His professionalism made this role a very easy watch.

Dick's love interest is, of course, Alice Fitzwarren played by Kimberley Allsopp, who blended in well with the stronger characters, making Alice more of a shy character, which at times made the character a little low key. that's not a bad thing though because there were plenty of very strong characters in this panto,

Dick's cat, Tommy, was played by a young man who's career I've followed for a few years now and have seen him grow into the confident and talented performer he is today, James Murray. So good to have a cat that could speak because otherwise this would limit James to just his excellent dancing skills. he playfully played up to the audience when Dick sent him back to London and milked the audience for the "aahhs". Thoroughly enjoyable role which showcased James' dancing, singing and acrobatic skills.

Laura Thurman (Idle Jack) was immense fun, encouraging the audience to make sure that she didn't drop to sleep on stage by shouting. A wonderful comedy partner to Jack's mum, Sarah the Cook. Forever with that twinkle in her eye and that great big old grin, she made sure that we knew that she was having fun on stage, which ensured that we too had fun watching her having fun.

Talking of Sarah the Cook, taking over the "dame" mantle from Robert Gollwas Matt Wesson. Matt was the sauciest dame I've seen for a long time, and as the audience tonight was practically all adults, he pitched the sauciness pretty well, which made sure that everyone had a great time watching him. Matt has an amazing personality off stage which also shone through in the part of Sarah on stage. Matt and Laura had the perfect partnership and naturally bounced off each other.

Mike Newbold was a lovely forgetful Alderman Firzwarren, who couldn't quite get Jack's name right, and at a quick glance you may think that Nigel Farage was playing the part, except mike is funny and Nigel.........

Alison Sheppard was gorgeous as Fairy Bowbells, bringing a bit of the old East End to the Nottingham stage, and what a voice she has ( I knew she has an amazing voice as I've seen her perform in the past). Her cockney version of Whitney's "One Moment In Time" sent shivers up my spine.

But what about the baddies I hear you cry! Oh yest you did!

Well King Rat was played marvellously evil and condescendingly by one of Shakespeare's finest local actors, Robert Goll. he got the audience boo-ing and hissing from the word "go" pitching that evil character just right with a twist of comedy, and what projection he has. Loved this baddie.

But every baddie has a sidekick and King Rat's was Twoey (if you can't work it out, go see the panto. Go see it anyway). Played by Cassie Hall and again a lovely fun character to watch. There's a duet that Twoey and King Rat do which is just so sublime, it's up there with some of the funniest but enjoyable duets in musical theatre.

I must also mention Stephen Gee (Captain Barnacle) and the incredibly funny Marie Rogers as Mr Bilge. Her facial expressions were hilarious, a wonderful comedy characterisation.

As I had come to expect, the ensemble were the best. the choreography by Amy Rogers-Gee incredible and everyone on that stage worked as a team, and you know what they say, "team work makes the dream work" and this dream performance worked for me.

You could see in the eyes of every one of the ensemble that they loved doing this show and the determination and hard work shone from them, as well as the incredible passion that they have for performing.

I can't fault anything here and it more than gives other pantos in the area a run for their money. It's packed with jokes and one liners, great singalong songs and great fun for any age who loves great family entertainment.

I probably say this every year but again, the People's theatre Company have once more reached the previous year's bar, snapped it in two and raised a new one just a bit higher. Well i probably don't say that, but you get my gist.

The perfect panto for 2016, "Dick Whittington" is at the Nottingham Arts Theatre until Sunday 18 December 2016. Go and support this amazingly talented and passionate group of people.

Photos courtesy of Mitch Gamble Photos

"The Super Awesome Happy Fun-Time Trick Performance".
Nottingham New Theatre.

I must say that the variety of shows performed at the New Theatre this season is vast, and this performance shows just another branch of theatre.

This show, written by Ben Webber, is staple Edinburgh Fringe comedy. It's border slapstick comedy that is in the moment, in your face comedy, blended with very simple comedy. Now note that the most popular word there is "comedy". It is funny. Often childish, but funny all the same.

I am probably one of the eldest of the audience members, and I don't have a lot in common with the students in the audience. I'm a lot older, probably not as intelligent, and the other audience members are a lot better looking, well most of them. Any way, I digress, because there's one definitive thing that pulls us all together. We all laughed at the same things. Comedy unites age and gender and this comedy show is one that will appeal to a wider audience.

Directed by Jamie Watt, at first view there would seem to be no direction but the timing of this is very cleverly done. Produced by Maddy Straussmaking up another excellent technical team with lighting design by Joanne Blunt, shadow director Danny Wiser. No mention of sound designer but loved the intro and outro music of Bruno Mars "24 K Magic" and Pharrell's "Happy", both very apt pieces of music because that's what you felt like afterwards, magic and happy.

It would seem that there was confusion over the rehearsal and performance times when the cast turned up to perform but this was the aim of the play. When Louis (Louis Djalili) turns up late it throws the "performance" into panic mode and it's up to the remaining cast members, Michaela Green, George Waring, Charlotte Kirkman, Kate O'Gorman and Natalia Gonzalez to entertain us, the audience. they fight, quite literally, to be the M.C.and tell jokes, relate monologues and become spitefully cruel to each other, turning on each other physically and verbally.

The physicality and verbal abuse is funny, in an often crude way, but don't we all find someone else's weaknesses being highlighted funny?

There's audience participation, nothing embarrassing, which again is part of the humour of the show and is really well executed in a very natural way.

Then is an instance, and in a slightly darker sense of humour twist, the whole cast turned on the audience, berating them and making them the butt and target of their scorn culmination in the cast walking out. Well not really because that;s how the show is drawn to a close.

All six actors, some I've seen before, and well aware of their comedic abilities, kept the impetus flowing and while there may have not been massive belly laughs, there was no shortage of chuckles and giggles, some albeit nervous at times.

All actors are thoroughly engaging with their different and diverse, quirky character personalities. But you do feel a bit for George who at the end really does everything, quite literally, thrown at him by the cast, and comes up smiling.

It's a short piece of Fringe theatre, lasting less than an hour, but packs in some wonderful comedy snapshots of the characters. From a yoghurt fanatic to the mystery of the cannibal goldfish, this performance is fresh, scatty, as well as catty, but at its' core, it's funny and naturally performed that way.

"W;t" by Margaret Edson
Nottingham New Theatre.

The play starts with Dr. Vivian Bearing on stage in a hospital gown clearly suffering from the debilitating effects of cancer and multiple chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The opening is pretty shocking, as Bearing starts out saying that she is in stage four, the final stage, of metastatic ovarian cancer. The audience, through flashbacks, gets to see her agree to a new experimental treatment and watch how she is affected. Wit was Edson's only work as a playwright.

I always say that a play should leave its' audience feeling some emotion and boy did this play do that with audience members visibly emotional.

I think that I can say that this is probably one of the most powerful and emotional plays that I have seen performed at the New Theatre, and I've seen quite a few really excellent plays there.

Just when I think I've seen one excellent show, they go and top that with yet another. How high can that bar be raised by these talented students.

The script is very well paced, not afraid to leave gaps to emphasise the emotion and bereft feelings of Dr Bearing but allowing the audience to take in the script as well as feel the emotion from the actors.

But even though this play is about a woman facing death by ovarian cancer, there's a lot of humour written into the script, and that light and shade is played out with great confidence by the cast.

Lois Baglin (Dr Bearing) is exceptional in the main role and has the majority of the script to perform. She pours every bit of emotion into the role and the final scenes are heart-breaking to watch as she struggles through the pain of the cancer, through her heart attack and the scene where she dies, leaves the hospital bed and heads into "the light" is just jaw-dropping. This is Lois' first production for the Nottingham New Theatre, and if that's her debut, I can't wait to see how she tops that. Lois is an actor who has the ability to go as far as she wants to go in this field.

Lois isn't the only actor though who stood out because this was a cast of immense talent; some making their NNT debut, some with a list of credits already under their belts.

Bertie Beeching (Jason Posner MD) portrayed the over-worked doctor who was once taught by Dr Bearing whose respect for his former tutor was clear to see. Bertie also made his debut NNT performance here, and another who should go far with drama

Gigi George (Susie Monahan) was the nurse who tended to Bearing in her final hours, and who actually treated her like a human instead of an experiment. There was a lovely human touch where Susie rubbed oil into Dr Bearings hands, simple but so effective.

Joe Hincks (Harvey Kelekian MD) adds another brilliant role to his ever growing list of theatre credits after his role in "The Importance Of Being Earnest" earlier in the year. I've seen Joe in several different plays over the last year or so, every one different, but nice to see something a little more serious, which in turn exposed his versatility.

Izzie Masters (Professor E.M. Ashford), has aged for this role as Bearings' mentor, the only one who really seemed to understand her. A brilliant part played with wonderful understanding of the character. Another talent who is building a pretty impressive roster of various roles for her acting CV.

The three medical students, played by Darcey Graham, Beth Mullen and Andrew Houghton added a realistic side of being a patient in hospital, being asked to pass judgement on the symptoms of the case study.

This is a hospital drama and the props for this were the real thing sourced from the University Hospital (QMC). This gave the whole play the ultimate feel of realism and professionalism.

Amazingly well directed by Will Berrington, probably not the easiest thing he has had to turn his directorial hand to, but what a brilliant result he has given. Equally well produced by Dave Porter.

The make up and prosthetics for Dr Bearing were so realistic and quite shocking which took your breath away at first sight and the incredible work of Lisa Gier.

Nathan Penney's lighting design was also a wonder and added much to the feel of the play. the lighting and the sound design, for me, often goes hand in hand and complimenting the light design with an equally emotive sound design by Dave Porter and Nathan Penney.

Set in America, the accents for the doctors were really natural sounding and didn't waver at all. Dr Bearing's typically British accent was crystal clarity and a lovely opposition to the U.S. twang.This team had an accent coach to help get this just right, so thanks to Gil Eplan-Frankel for this guidance.there's nothing worse than hearing a "roving" accent because it detracts from the drama, but these accents were spot on.

I loved this play, new as it was to me. I loved the passion injected by the cast and I loved the great emotion shown by, not only the cast, but evoked into the audience. This play is not soporific, quite the opposite in fact.

"W;t" is being performed at the Nottingham New Theatre until Saturday 3 December 2016. if you like an intelligent play with an amazing cast and production and technical crew, a play that may make you cry, but will have you talking about it afterwards, then this is the one for you.