"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.

"All The World's A Stage & Other Stories"
Nottingham New Theatre.

"All the World's A Stage..." written by Yee Heng Yeh with additional material by ian Sheard is a collection of comedy vignettes which would nor be out of place in one of those topical comedy sketch shows from the 1980's like "Not the Nine O Clock News".

It's not often that the Nottingham New Theatre put on a performance like this that is out an out comedy and it's nice to see this sort of entertainment because the comedy, while at times being raw, is refreshing and is actually funny.

The first and shortest of the mini plays is all about John Cage's "4.33" which is just 4.33 of silence but this time round the stage version where nothing happens for that length of time. Or it would've been if not for an "audience member" who wouldn't stop talking while the "director" explained the piece.

All part of the play but what struck home for me was that I, until I was enlightened didn't get the whole "4.33" idea when it was attempted to get that piece of "music" to number one to try and keep the X Factor song from the number one spot a few years back. i listened to the YouTube "video" and thought there was something wrong because I couldn't hear anything. i just didn't get it either!.

The next scenario was all around the "X Factor" style get famous quick game with the good judge/bad judge situation with a couple of really bad contestants.

Merging into the next scene where there was a doctor/patient scene and our dependency on self diagnosis via the internet.

A very off the wall playlet then followed about a machine being trialled in a school called the "psych-o" which is where info from the students of a school are fed into the "psych-o" to find out the students' worth but turns against it's creator/operator.

And finally "All the World's A Stage" where a prisoner and dictator have a "final hours" conversation where everything is turned on it's head and becomes almost a role reversal.

Very cleverly written and well observed pieces of work which i imagine would fit in well in the Edinburgh Fringe scope of comedy show. It's sharp and fresh, almost what may have been termed alternative comedy 30 years ago, but what i prefer to call comedy. if it makes you laugh, why add an "alternative" tag to it, and laugh it did make the audience do.

Beth Angella, Arnaud Lacey, Ronan Lee, Sam Morris and Will Kitchen were the cast and took several parts each, showing a nice range of parts and accents throughout the various character roles they were asked to portray.

Directed by first time director Yee Heng Yeh and James McGilloway, who had directed previously, the two created a slick blend of comedy which segued nicely, keeping the interest and comedy value to the fore.

No flashy lighting techniques, just basic, solid lighting to show the actors in, if you'll pardon the pun, in their best light. Nice use of sound bites.

For a piece that started off as a class assignment,it's blossomed nicely into a well thought out comedy sketch collection, proving that not only do Nottingham New theatre produce some excellent drama, serious writing and theatrical technology people, they can also produce good comedy as well.

"Ghost The Musical"
Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Ghost the Musical is a musical with book and lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin and music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard.

Based on the hit 1990 film the plot centres on lovers Sam and Molly, who are attacked as they are returning to their apartment. When Sam dies he becomes caught between the real world and the next. Molly is in danger and Sam cannot leave her. A medium, Oda Mae Brown, helps Sam to get in touch with Molly to warn her.

I love the film "Ghost" with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze and, having seen both local and UK Touring productions I loved the stage versions, musical and non musical, so you can see that I'd have high expectations.

Having read several of the reviews about Sarah Harding's singing and acting ability throughout this run of the tour, I was very interested in her role of Molly.

When you see the two lead male roles you can tell that there was a slight difference in the acting abilities between them and Sarah. Singing musical theatre is also very different to singing in a girl band like Girls Aloud, and that difference shows as well.

That aside, if the reviews from some of the run is to be believed, then Sarah has learnt very quickly, either that or the reviewers, nay critics, must have had it in for her because I loved Sarah's performance. She showed emotion where needed and, while there aren't many to touch the Cassie Levy version, Sarah did a wonderful job of "With You".

Sarah is very easy on the eye and you have to applaud her for taking all the criticism that has been levelled at her for her role in this musical. She seems to have risen above it all and is honing the musical theatre craft, and I can see that with a few more musical theatre roles under her belt, I believe she will be a credible musical theatre performer.And she can hold the accent as well.

Andy Moss (Sam) was another nice surprise. having not been a follower of "Hollyoaks", Andy is a very natural actor for the stage and what a voice. You can tell he has had training at drama school because his phrasing is wonderful and very easy on the ear. The soundtrack can require the vocalist to perform powerfully as well as very quietly and controlled and Andy mastered both ranges. the role is a very physical one which also didn't seem to be a problem for him.

Playing Sam's best friend Carl, the man behind Sam's murder, albeit accidental, is Sam Ferriday. Another wonderful lead and yet another very powerful singing voice and performer who has a long list of theatrical roles on his CV. A very talented and strong trio of leads, which is exactly what has made this musical the success it has been.

Jacqui Dubois as Oda Mae, the medium who Sam contacts to save Molly, was just perfect. We all remember Whoopi Goldberg's brilliantly comical version, well Jacqui added her own eccentricities to the role. Being a session singer to some of the big soul and dance recording artists also did no harm as she has a belter of a voice to match her comic acting talents. This medium was a BIG success.

A talented supporting cast included Leo Sene (Willie, who killed Sam), James Earl Adair (Hospital Ghost) and Garry Lee Netley as the subway ghost, who by the way was really disturbing and frightening.

The set was fairly simplistic and the special effects didn't have the same effect as when I first saw them on stage, but they still add to the enjoyment of the overall show. In past productions when Sam first walked through the door, it was facing the audience and it actually seemed as if he had walked through a solid door. this production had the door not facing the audience so didn't have the same effect.

What i did love was the rapidity of the substitute bodies when the "spirits" rose from them. I for one didn't notice the substitute as my eyes had been drawn away from that part of the stage by the clever and cunning direction of the play by Bob Tomson. There are bits that Bob has taken out from the original touring production, but by doing so has not weakened the plot or the performance.

Loved the soundtrack, which of course included "Unchained Melody" and one of my favourite musical theatre songs "With You". Other highlights are "Here Right Now", "I Had A Life" and "I'm Outta Here".

All three leads are wonderful and the ensemble and supporting actors did a fantastic job, making this a big crowd pleaser. For those who ex spectred Sarah to be as bad as some of her critics made out well they didn't stand a ghost of a chance of seeing that because this production really made me believe in her and the cast and definitely lifted my spirits.

"Ghost" is materialising every day this week at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 3 December 2016.

"Aladdin"
Nottingham Playhouse.

It's panto time again... oh yes it is!

And what a panto. It's difficult for Kenneth Alan Taylor and the rest of the Nottingham Playhouse panto lot to get better year on year but yet again they have managed it.

There are some things this year that have been trimmed off of the last few years pantos which, albeit being past favourites were missed through their absence but not missed because other good stuff replaced the old faithful jokes like "Butterface".

There are a couple of new faces in the cast as well, keeping the whole panto experience fresh.

Nathan Elwick (Wishee Washee) is an excellent addition to the cast with his Geordie sense of humour and big smile, He immediately made us make him welcome in his panto debut in Nottingham. This boy is a canny dancer and he has a voice so well suited for musical theatre with its' clarity.His face also is very expressive which is a definite boon for comedy roles such as this.

Taking the lead role as Aladdin this year is Danielle Corlass who makes a welcome return with her lovely voice and those great legs.

Also back is the equally gorgeous Rebecca Little in the dual role as WPC Pong and The Slave Of the Ring, yet again showing off those lovely legs and flying feet in a wonderful tap dance section. Needless to say her comedy timing is excellent.

Irene-Myrtle Forrester, a new face to me, also has a dual role as WPC Ping and The Genie Of the Lamp, who loves a good old winge at just about everything. This woman has a cracker of a voice which is well shown off in the medley of songs as she helps Aladdin escape from the cave.

Jasmine White, also back in the fold from playing a cat to playing Princess Jasmine. This panto is one for the men as there are so many lovely faces to look at. Not only that but she shows off her athletic moves as a bonus.

Playing Princess jasmine's mother, the Empress of China, is Darren Southworth who reminds me just a smidge of Antony Cotton from Coronation Street.Not in looks but his accent and campness and I loved it. Let's face it there's nothing more camp than panto and Darren provided just the right amount of comedy camp. Another actor who also has a good voice for the theatre and well highlighted in "Aladdin".

The evil Abanaza is played by Kevin McGowan who gets that panto villain just right, injecting the right amount of nastiness into the role to make him boo worthy, but then allowing us to cheer him after he repents for his nastiness towards our hero.

Last, but by no means least, the panto dame king/queen, Mr John Elkington. back with some amazing costumes and that natural easy going as lib style of acting. he makes it all look do easy, as if he has just popped in and had a good time on stage with his mates, but letting them know that he is in charge all the same. He did not disappoint one iota and his Honey G (from The X Factor, just in case you've just crawled out from a stone), was half expected and a greatly welcomed topical addition with the Widow Twankey rap version of "Stayin' Alive". Widow Twankey , or Widow T was on the dance floor all right!

As usual the sets were amazing, designed by Tim Meacock, excellent lighting designed by Jason Taylor,big Hollywood style dance routines, choreographed by Adele Parry. Loved the sand dance, performed by Darren and Nathan, and the tap section as well as the 1920's dance section, fronting a massive Orient Express train that filled the stage. Sound, as usual was crystal clear, designed by Adam McCready.

The music was again provided by one of the tightest yet rounded group of musicians, under the direction of the legendary Mr John Morton, creating a beautiful array of tunes.

Kenneth Alan Taylor has once more pulled another brilliant, funny, topical and incredibly entertaining pantomime out of his writing bag.

A magical fluorescent section involving planets which also sung, and of course the dancing bunnies.

i love the section which involves the kids on stage as you never know what they are going to say. This tests the actor but as John Elkington was in charge, the king of the ad lib and natural chat was in his element. Ably assisted by Nathan.

The test of a brilliant production, be it panto, musical, drama, whatever, is when it comes to an end. Why do I say that? Well this panto just flew by. I was so surprised that it had run over by about ten minutes because it seemed shorter than the past years, but no, it was just that I had enjoyed this panto so very much that the time simply flew by.

This could be the best panto I've seen at the Nottingham Playhouse, and when I think how many I've seen here over the years, I've had plenty to make comparisons with.

"Aladdin" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 21 January 2016, and check out the "Pay What You Can" performance dates as well.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Present Company.
Derby Theatre.

When musical director Morris Fisher invited me to pop along to see "The Scarlet Pimpernel", I readily agreed as I'd not seen this musical before and i wanted to tick it off my list. I got a copy of the soundtrack, which I thought was OK and this evening looked forward to seeing what it was all about.

The show is set in England and France during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. Sir Percy Blakeney has met his young French fiancee Marguerite St just and he has taken her back to good old Blighty to wed her. On their wedding day he discovers that she is passing on information to the French via her ex, Chavelin, which is resulting in the beheading of innocent people and their families.

Percy doesn't like this and decides that a hero is needed and transforms himself in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Zut Alors et Sacre bleu! Along with his friends they scupper many executions while back at home they appear as a group of very British fops and dandies.

It's when Marguerite's brother Armand St Just, who is also one of The Pimpernel's men, is captured by Chauvelin that he enlists Marguerite by blackmail to entice The Scarlet Pimpernel out of hiding.

David Partridge plays the triple part of Percy, Grappin (Chauvelin's enlisted man who he thinks is on his side to help catch The Scarlet Pimpernel) and of course the hero of the story. Wonderfully camp as Percy and wonderfully storybook hero as The Pimpernel. And what a wonderful voice this man has. he, and the cast really brought the soundtrack to life for me and made what was a good soundtrack a brilliant soundtrack. His duet with Marguerite of "When I Look At You" was sheer magic, tingles up and down the spine stuff

Marguerite was played by Rachael Louisa Bray, and again another beautiful clear voice with such emotion which matched her acting.

Craig Arme played the baddie of the musical, Chauvelin, but received a huge round of applause at the curtain call. He completed the trio of excellent voices in this musical. You could just imagine Craig and David in "Les Miserables" with voices that they have, blending so smoothly as they did. These three vocal styles made this musical the wonderful experience it was.

Well these three and the big ensemble and support cast. With having such a large cast who could all sing well, they made the ensemble pieces sound like a big old Hollywood musical, so rich sounding they were. Such a large cast that I won't name them all but they were all marvellous, especially Percy's fops and dandies, supplying many comical highlights.

The music was excellent, like a mash up of Gilbert & Sullivan, Les Miserables and Phantom Of the Opera. the orchestra, conducted and musical directed by Morris Fisher were like a rich red wine; full bodied fulfilling and fruity and I loved the sound they produced.

The costumes were gorgeous and extravagant, i imagine a delight for wardrobe mistress Marion Fisher to be involved with. Well it was a delight to behold the colour and the glamour and decadence of the clothes, both male and female costumes. i imagine as well a possible nightmare for the dressers involved i getting the actors dressed in them!

The choreography was suitable to the style of dancing for the period and added that certain class to the proceedings. A job well executed by Jean Gemmell, who also was Artistic Director.

Decadent sets transported you back to the French Revolution and some very good lighting and sound effects. lighting designed by David Marsden and sound engineered by Simon Birchall. My only niggle with the sound was with the mics which weren't timed quite as accurately as maybe they could have been in Act One as some of the actors words were slightly lost. By Act Two, this has been sorted out, so i was a very happy bunny!

I've touched on the soundtrack earlier but what the recorded soundtrack didn't deliver to me was the beauty of hearing such wonderful songs, sung live, and I just know that you'll go away with some new musical favourites from this show; as well as maybe adding "The Scarlet Pimpernel" to your list of favourite musicals. it's definitely one that I will go and see again, especially if it's performed as well as it was on Thursday night at Derby Theatre.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is on at Derby Theatre until Saturday 26 November 2016 and performed by Present Company and they were formidable mes amis!

"A Tale Of Cities" by Charles Dickens.
Nottingham Theatre Royal.

It was the best of plays, or was it the worst of plays, that is the question. Well let me tell you, it was one of the best classic plays I've seen, and that word "classic" could be well worn by the end of this review.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us"

Straight away these opening lines transported me back to my schooldays where I first read Charles Dickens'.classic story. The story of Charles Darney (Jacob Ifan) and his French to-ing and fro-ing that landed him in the kangaroo Parisian court room which very nearly ended his life at the feet of Madame Guillotine, had it not been for Sydney Carton (Joseph Timms). Carlton makes Darney swap clothes and then drugs him to get him out of the cell, saying that the visitor was drunk. Carlton then takes Darney's place and is executed..

Darney, who is married to Dr Manette's daughter, Lucie (Shanaya Rafaat), who is expecting his child is taken to Lucie as her father (Patrick Romer), and herself are fleeing Paris for their lives after Carlton overhears Madame Defarge (Noa Bodner), swearing to kill Dr Manette and Lucie as well as her unborn child.

That's the long and the short of it but the several sub plots that run through the play make for above average interest.

A very entertaining opening court room scene brings several laughs, and there are other parts of the play that raise the humour stakes.

A wonderful cast who show what classic actors can do with a classic tale such as this. No need for mics and you heard every single word, even above the music, which by the way was gorgeous, thanks to an original score by Rachel Portman. Beautifully projected without the merest sign of strain these actors were some of the best period drama actors I've experienced.

The sets were big and overbearing, which gave just the right feel for the court rooms, easily sliding in and out of position, almost like scenes from a film. Designed by Mike Britton, they alternated from London to Paris with that wonderful 18th Century feel and look.

The costumes in period dramas are what I look at with interest and these were just so full of class, giving a lovely and apt period feel. Designed by Ruth Hall.

The sound design (Adrienne Quartly) was subtle when needed to be and booming when required; the thunderclaps literally made me jump!

The lighting design (Paul Keogan) went through nearly every level from brilliant light to almost pitch, creating wonderful atmosphere sections throughout.

The cast, which was a fairly big one, were amazing, I could watch them all over again I was entranced in the story and their re-telling of it. James Dacre, the director has done a great job here fitting the story into two and a half hours. Was it really that long? Didn't seem to be, but it was. A sign of an enthralling piece of theatre.

There was a local connection here as well with the peasant boy being played by local youngster Rio Jaegar.

If you love classic theatre and plays done really well, this is one play that you do not want to miss. i don't think I ever appreciated Dickens' work when I was at school but decades on I'm loving his work,and where better to re-discover your love for classics such as this, than at the Nottingham Theatre Royal.

"A Tale Of Two Cities", adapted by Mike Poulton and performed by the Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Royal & Derngate Northampton co production is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 26 November 2016. It's one not to be missed.