"Blood Brothers" by Willy Russell.

Nottingham Trent University Students.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that this is my all-time favourite musical, but this is not the musical, it's the play version, which is something that I've never seen in the past.

For anyone who doesn't know the story it's all about Mrs Johnstone who has several children and takes a job cleaning for Mrs Lyons. Just as she is making ends meet, Mrs J discovers that she is pregnant again, with twins. An agreement is struck between the two women that when the twins are born Mrs J would give one of the babies away to her employer, Mrs Lyons, who has discovered that she is having problems conceiving. Mrs Lyons then sacks Mrs Johnstone and moves away to the country with her husband and Eddie, the twin to Mickey. Thinking that this has separated the two forever turns out to be far from what she had planned.

The play version omits several characters that are visible in the musical and, in my opinion, reduces a lot of the humour that is in the musical. maybe that was Willy Russell's intention when writing the play as opposed to the musical; to make the story a more grave affair. 

Having seen the musical many times, not having Sammy, Mickey's elder brother, nor Mr Lyons seemed odd. The lead up to the ending was different as was the actual ending, although both brothers did die. Russell wrote the play first as something to be performed in schools and then expanded the story and characters to become a full blown musical, writing the songs and introducing characters that were only alluded to in the play version.

With some of the characters missing from the play version, that also meant chunks of the play was also excluded, and again for me meant that the catalyst of Mickey's downfall, the jail sentence, the crime, the dependency on drugs, the paranoia was wiped out and the plot jumped from one stage straight to the inevitable ending. You can see why Russell wanted to expand the play to draw out the grittiness.

The musical is still up there on top, but the play version doesn't match up. That however is no reflection on the Nottingham Trent University Drama Students.

The acting was great, a couple of times a little more projection was needed, but the Scouse accents, as well as the posh accents, were presented brilliantly. 

Daisy Donoghue plays Mrs Johnstone. The accent was lovely, as was the characterisation of Mrs Johnstone.

Mickey is played by Scott Lynam, and he really got inro the character of a seven, nearly eight year old. In contrast the older Mickey was full of angst and this was acted out with a good deal of tension between Mickey and Eddie.

Eddie is played by Robert Medhurst. Lovely upper class accent which made the swearing sound comical, which is the way it was written to sound. With both Scott and Robert the difference between the kids and the adult versions of the characters was presented very well.

Mrs Lyons is played by Nina Rhiannon. In the programme it states that "She enjoys playing evil, unstable or just generally unlikeable characters because.... villains have more fun". Well Nina must have loved playing Mrs Lyons because the rapid unhinging of Mrs Lyons was just wonderful to see. Nina really brought out the paranoia in Mrs Lyons, visually and physically.

Linda, the love interest for Mickey, and lust interest of Eddie, was played by Erin Salisbury. I think Erin would have loved the musical version of this play because there's so much more flirtatiousness in Linda in the musical than in the play. Another wonderful age shift from the frustrated teenage temptress to the stressed and worried wife, and mother to be.

Cam Devenish played the Narrator and every other part that was required; the milkman, doctor, housing officer etc. Cam was the only actor miked up, maybe that was to accentuate the "devilish" narration that haunted Mrs Lyons; at one stage haunting her as she sat in her chair, slowly going crazy, almost sneering. Every time I've seen the musical, the Narrator is almost like a shark, circling and homing in and relaying unnerving pieces of script, tightening the grip of madness. But is this character really there or just in Mrs Lyons head? Needless to say Cam created the unease brilliantly.

Directed by Claudia Perez-Garcia who presented a really worthwhile piece of theatre. I know that there were issues with licensing for the play granted very late, and I know that budget was, and always is with theatre groups, and not just university drama groups, not as generous as any Director would like, but on the whole was an entertaining piece of theatre. I am biased as I absolutely adore the musical, but this was something slightly different for me, and I am so glad that Claudia and the cast were brave enough to take this on so that I could tick this one off of my list.

"Blood Brothers - the Play" was at the Nottingham Arts Theatre for one night only. 

Thanks to Daisy and Claudia for arranging for me to be able to see the other side of this Willy Russell favourite.

 "Liberation Squares" by Sonali Bhattacharyya in association with Brixton House.

Neville Studios, Nottingham Playhouse.

Three teenage girls forge an unlikely friendship when they meet at a creative writing workshop at a hip new café/workspace which used to be their library, now renamed "The Bibliotek". 

Sabi and Ruqaya challenge each other with ideas, TikToks, beat boxing lyrics, dance routines, all while avoiding the bully on the bus. Influential social media activist Xara asks the girls to speak out about their injustice, but they discover the workshop is connected to the state surveillance "Prevent" programme, and they have to fight back. The only question is how? What you say, and even what you think, can be viewed very differently, depending on who you are... Friendships fracture and loyalties are tested as they pursue different avenues of resistance.

 

"Liberation Squares" is a story of sisterhood, freedom of speech and creative expression, in an era when dissent is being criminalised and the state follows your every move, online and offline. 

This triple hander features Vaneeka Dadhria as  Ruqaya, Asha Hassan as Sabi and Halema Hussain as Xara. This trio play all the characters in "Liberation Squares", sometimes moving from one to the next by the application or removal of something as simple as lipstick in the case of Nadia.

Loved the "old school vibe" with Vaneeka's beat boxing which started the play and meandered through the play. The clever use of a loop machine highlighted the musical talents within the actors.

All three actors pull off the teenage schoolgirl image, not only with the look but also using the vernacular of that age group.

Directed by Milli Bhatia, the pace was relentless all the way through. It's a play which will make you think seriously about exactly what information unseen departments may actually hold on you, echoing George Orwell's "1984".

Whilst being entertaining and humorous, the play highlights the state of the world, and Nottingham today. Libraries and youth centres being closed. Racism, bullying, Islamophobia, colonial violence, bringing this play into the political circus ring.

The set design is by Tomás Palmer. The props the cast have are utilised in several ways to create different settings and the use of mobile phone projection onto the back wall is a clever way to further utilise the limited space. The three back panels revolve to allow whiteboards to be used to highlight the path of the story and to be used as a screen for the mobile phone footage.

Lighting design is by Joshua Gadsby and the Composer and Sound Designer is Elena Peña.

Produced by Nottingham Playhouse and Fifth Word.

The play runs straight through and lasts 75 minutes and I enjoyed every single minute of the play, which while being immensely entertaining, and really humorous, provides you with plenty to mull over after you've left the building.

"Liberation Squares" is at the Neville Suite at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 27 April with a matinee and evening performance and has a 14+ age restriction.

 "American Idiot" by Heanor Musical Theatre Company.

Mansfield Palace Theatre.

“American Idiot” is the story of three boyhood friends, Johnny, Will and Tunny, each searching for meaning in a post 9/11 world. The show features the music of Green Day with the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer. Can you believe that the Green Day album that this jukebox musical is based on is 20 years old this year?

Andrew Bould plays Johnny, the main protagonist of the story. On his journey, he experiences nihilism, drug abuse, and lost love in Whatsername. With Andrew you feel the anger from his character and channels it through his singing. People think that singing rock music is easy, everyone can belt out a rock song, right? Wrong! As with most singing styles there are different breathing methods to match the style With the exception of a few singers like Freddie Mercury and Dan Vasc, singing anything other than rock music is not easy, when you are known for rock music. Andrew, and the other leads in this musical show that rock and musical theatre styles of singing can be blended to sound faithful to the genre.

Curtis Salmon is Tunny who accompanies Johnny to the city, but soon joins the military and is sent to war and suffers serious injuries. During his rehabilitation, he falls in love with his nurse Extraordinary Girl, played by Evie Burke, and she returns home with him. Last time I saw Curtis in this musical he played Johnny. Curtis has a voice that you can pick out, he has that something, which works well with the songs in "American Idiot". It's not that often that you see Curtis in a choreographed routine, but again he shows that he is very capable of dance; an all rounder.

Arden-Caspar Jennison  plays Will who plans to leave town with the group until his girlfriend, Heather, played by Katy Gaskin, reveals that she is pregnant with his child. Will stays at home in an alcohol and drug-infused depression. Most vocalists prefer to sing upright, but even sitting and lying down, the smooth flow of Arden's voice is unhindered. This again shows the importance of breath control for a performer, and magnifies the work that the Musical Director has done with them.

Jack Readyhoof revisits his role as St Jimmy and gives a playful performance. St Jimmy is an interesting character to play because you're never really 100% sure that Jimmy is real, or just a drug-addled image in Johnny's head. Jack reprises his role and is just as manic and exciting as when I first saw him in this role  some five years ago. I've commented in the past that Jack gets to play some wonderfully unhinged characters, and with the help of the giant projections we experience an almost comic book characterisation of St Jimmy. I know what a good singer Jack is, and there's one very short section where Jack sings falsetto which was completely jaw dropping, sounding similar to Justin Hawkins of The Darkness.

Alana Moran plays Whatsername, and along with Emme Gunn as Alysha, Katy Gaskin as Heather, Candice Curnow-Newland as The Recruiter - a role I can't remember from other productions - and Evie Burke as Extraordinary Girl, they all give brilliantly powerful performances, matching the attitude and passion of their male counterparts. Needless to say, their vocals are also powerful and, when required, full of attitude. There's fire with all of these ladies.

 Theo, played by James Hallam is another interesting character with a slightly devilish image. When The Recruiter is recruiting Tunny into the armed forces, we get to see Theo as the all American army role model in a giant on stage projection. I hope that James won't mind me saying but he looks an awful lot like a younger Jonathan Ross, something I certainly had not noticed before, but when your image is about fifty foot high on stage, you can't help but notice.

Filling the Mansfield Palace stage even more are the Ensemble consisting of Megan Hill, Chrissie Smyth, Courtney Bowles, Charlotte Swindells, Jade Eaton, Charlotte Bell and Shannon O' Donnell, providing even more rocking girl power.

The show includes the hit songs “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “21 Guns”, “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, “Holiday”, “Give Me Novacaine”, " Good Riddance (The Time Of Your Lives)" and the blockbuster title track “American Idiot”. Also included are several songs from Green Day’s 2009 release 21st Century Breakdown, and an unreleased love song, “When It’s Time”.

Directed by Kheenan Jones who has made a few very subtle changes to this musical, which you'd not really acknowledge in the usual bracket of a jukebox musical. The Directorial amendments may not be visible to anyone who doesn't know, or may not have seen the musical before, but they have been smoothly applied and actually enhance what is already a fantastic piece of musical theatre. A piece of theatre that I've been a fan of for many years.

Choreographed by Shannon O' Donnell. We get all the expected rock dance moves; the moshing, the extended one arm in the air with the two middle fingers folded, the head banging, but we also get some lovely soft choreography as well. Choreography that brings the excitement to the stage, especially in the opening number and title track of the musical. The energy in the choreography will mean that none of this cast will need to visit a gym this week at least because the calories burnt on stage will far outweigh any high velocity workout.

Musical Directors are Tom Bond and Tim Yearsley. I've already alluded to the work that any Musical Director would have put into this genre of musical, especially the breathing. But Tom and Tim aren't just any Musical Directors, and this isn't just any jukebox musical. After the opening number, we saw just how the main cast members were out of breath, and that is a full on choreographed and vocal number, showing the intensity needed for the cast and Musical Director, because it wasn't long before the next number arrived.

Green Day are not just an American garage band. In these arrangements you can hear the raw rock but you also get a taste of Billie Joe Armstrong's musical influences. There are lush, symphonic sections as in "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and there are Motown sounding breakbeats and rhythm sections. The closing number "Time Of Your Life" accentuates the Beach Boys style of harmony, especially from this large cast and ensemble. Tom Bond and Tim Yearsley manages to magnify these influences to glorify the music of Green Day.

I will also name check the band because they did an incredible job. Tom Bond on keys, Tim Wright and Rob Holsman on guitars, Marcus Cain on bass, and on drums, beating up a storm, is Harry Greatorex.

Lighting design is by Stephen Greatorex who brings the classic rock lighting alive. Brilliantly operated by Matt Sheridan and Follow Spot, which is not the easiest of stage lighting to operate, is operated well by Brett Waller.

I couldn't see a credit for the Sound Designer or Operator, but apart from just a few clipped mic cues, the sound, for me, was everything I'd expected from a musical of this genre; loud and powerful but not overbearing. So, whoever the mystery sound person is, you did a cracking job, because sometimes the sound at Mansfield Palace is not as consistent as the sound was on opening night.

I've also mentioned earlier the projections in this production and Technical Director Paul Young has enhanced the visual side of this musical with the projection designs. These are the things that you would see on a touring West End show, using the back screen and four columns in front of the band to project onto. I've seen projection used for this musical before, but this takes the art to another level. Paul also designed the set.

The musical runs for ninety minutes straight through, which was the right decision not to break the flow of this story by having an interval, which also means that the cast also work that little bit harder as well.

"American Idiot" is at Mansfield Palace Theatre until Saturday 27 April, and in my opinion, you'd be an idiot to miss this production.

 "Home I'm Darling" by Laura Wade.

Bonington Players.

Bonington Theatre, Arnold.

Here's another play that I'd not heard of until Bonington Players advertised that they were performing it, so up until this production it had remained a hidden gem. This is the first time this play has been performed on a Nottingham stage.

We are transported back to the 1950’s, as the play starts in full “Mad Men” style. Judy is in her fifties style dress, high heels and coiffured hair preparing breakfast for her husband Johnny. On the immaculately clean surface(s), their marriage seems perfect – they themselves are “disgracefully happy” they announce to each other.  It is clear from the start that this kitchen sink drama, and the domestic goddess image Judy works hard to maintain, that we are going to witness some kind of deterioration of this idyllic oasis and we watch in anticipation as things slowly begin to unravel by the end of the first act.

Act two comes as a real surprise as we start in a flashback scene and then gradually gets darker. But is there anything that Judy can do to dig herself out of the situation that she has created for Johnny and herself?

There are many questions that arise about gender stereotyping, identity, tradition, feminism, the imbalance of power and relationships.  In the end though, the play is still about love and marriage and how to work through all the hard times and find a way to stay happily together, and maybe a little fantasy in a marriage isn't always a bad, or good thing, depending on how you view the term "fantasy".

Anna Hodkin plays Judy. and while we start off in a sickeningly saccharine sweet situation, Anna also shows the dark underbelly of Judy's character which became a real eye opening second act. 

Alex Brimelow plays Johnny. Like Anna he starts off in a completely different mindset to the one we see in Act Two. the end of the play though sees both characters in a more palatable relationship. When Johnny snaps though, Alex forces us to sit up and take notice of his character. Anna and Alex show great flexibility in their characterisation of this complex couple.

Gennie Price plays Fran, best friend of Judy's along with her husband Marcus, played by Tom Spencer. The two couples frequent "Jivefest" annually but this year Fran and Marcus have decided to head off on their own holiday, but something happens that is the catalyst of the darker mood in the second act. 

Zoe Lander plays Sylvia, Fran's mother, who is not a fan of Judy's lifestyle choices. When Judy asks her for help it's like Judy being a match and Sylvia being the short touch paper, and the fallout explosion is another sit up and take note moment.

Abi Hemmings plays Johnny's new boss, Alex. It's partly down to Alex as to whether Johnny gets the promotion that he is after, so he invites Alex around to meet Judy. A promotion means a wage rise, but the meet and greet with Judy does not go quite as Johnny had planned. Cue the unravelling.......

Co Directed by Charlotte Hukin and Eddie Januszczyk. The play lasts about two and a half hours and, for me, the success of a well directed production is if that time seems to be  less than the advised time. This show flew by. The first act being great fun with bright and bouncy direction. The second act being the epitome of dark comedy. 

The scene changes are combined with Gennie, Tom, Zoe and Abi dancing to 1950's hits while re arranging various bits of the scenery and props, continuing the lighter side of the story, and creating that 1950's atmosphere. The choreography is thanks to Jenny Chatten.

Sound operation is by David Goatham, and the Smartphone sound effects were very well timed to create realism. The soundtrack songs were also perfectly segued into the production to keep the pace going.

Lighting operation is by Peter Hodgkinson.

Bonington Players always tick the props box for me, and this play is no different with their variety of props for the production. Glynis Hunt, Jeff Casterton and Laura Harding sourced the props; everything from an authentic looking record player of the period, fridge, cooker, kitchen units etc.

And there's actual food and drink as well. I really frown on "invisible" food and drink in productions but these poor actors have to deliver lines while eating the most delicious looking chocolate cake, drink tea or eat boiled eggs and toast with marmalade. Don't see this play on an empty stomach!

The set design is split into two, the kitchen area and the front room, complete with fifties style drinking cabinet/bar, and dressed by Linda Whitehurst and Teresa Smith. 

I have just one small gripe. The invisible door from the front room to the kitchen which the actors pretended to open and close to enter or exit the kitchen. I did note that a few times the door was not opened, or maybe not closed, before or after the entrance/exit into the kitchen. If that was me, I'd have just not had the door and would have just had the actors moving from one room to the next without having to remember to open/close a door we couldn't see. I am sure the open plan layout was around in the 1950's.

The costumes were gorgeous, especially Fran's bright red with white polka dot dress. There were several costume changes, especially for Judy, each one as lovely as the previous.

I stated at the start that this play is a gem, and it really is. There are places where the phrase "I wasn't expecting that" popped into my mind as well. There's also a section that makes you feel quite uncomfortable, but there are several parts that will leave you pleasantly surprised at just how good this story is, and why you've not seen this play previously.

Another thing I really enjoyed was seeing a selection of 1950's advertisements that would have been posted in the newspapers of the day, screened upon the curtains.

"Home I'm Darling" is at Bonington Theatre in Arnold until Saturday 27 April.