Mrs Warren's Profession

 

Review by Paul Towers, 11/6/25

Mrs Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw

Directed by Dominic Cooke

Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions

At Garrick Theatre until Saturday 16^th August 2025

I admit that, in the past, I have been a bit of a philistine and viewed the likes of George Bernard Shaw as too elite for my tastes. How wrong I was.

Currently being revived at London’ Garrick Theatre, Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession is a delight, even at 1 hour 45 minutes without an interval.

The titular Mrs Warren (national treasure Imelda Staunton) is a business woman with many secrets held from her estranged daughter Vivie (her real life daughter Bessie Carter). The elder Mrs Warren, Kitty, has grown from being a prostitute to the part owner of a string of high class brothels across Europe. While not proud of the means by which she has progressed, Kitty is not ashamed. A poor childhood has propelled her to achieve what many women of the late 1800's could not. Independence.

Vivie has just come down from university, paid for by her mother’s ill-gotten gains, to get better acquainted with her often absent parent. Being a highly principled, intelligent independent young woman she is torn between admiration for how her Mother has bucked the system and the way she has earned her money. Money which she views as tainted even though it has paid for her education.

This is a very rare opportunity to see the pairing of Mother and  daughter on stage and one to be savoured.

A stella cast including Staunton, Carter, Robert Glenister (the vile Sir George Crofts) and Kevin Doyle (an hilarious vicar caught with his metaphorical trousers down) are joined by the young Reuben Joseph (Frank Gardner) and Sid Sagar (Mr Praed).

A clever set comprising a huge revolving circular garden is gradually stripped by  coteries of hand-maidens to indicate the passing of time. Until finally the bare stage has a curved wall lowered behind it to become the office that Vivie retreats to and where she and her Mother have their final stand-up row, thus severing their relationship.

https://thegarricktheatre.co.uk

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Ghost Stories

 

Review by Paul Towers, 3/6/25

Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman

Directed by Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman & Sean Holmes

Produced by Melting Pot Productions & Lyric Hammersmith

At Curve til Saturday 7^th June 2025

The first rule of Ghost Stories is you don’t talk about Ghost Stories. So, no spoilers here.

All I can tell you is that Professor Goodman (Dan Tetsell) is giving a lecture on whether or not ghosts are real, whether supernatural things do happen. He is an arch sceptic so is looking to debunk sightings.

To this end he presents three stories that may or may not be true. They involve Tony Matthews (David Cardy) a night watchman, Simon Rifkind (Eddie Loodmer-Elliot) a teenage boy and Mike Priddle (Clive Mantle) a businessman awaiting the birth of his first child.

With writing by Jeremy Dyson (League of Gentlemen) and Andy Nyman (Derren Brown) it is no surprise that Ghost Stories is full of shocks, illusions and downright horror. This show is not for the faint hearted with an age recommendation of 15+.

Kudos have to go to Jon Bausor for his clever set and, of course, James Farncombe’s lighting and Nick Manning’s sound design. Both adding huge amounts to the scare factor of the show.

Ghost Stories is at Curve until Saturday 7^th June and then continues touring

www.curveonline.co.uk

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Here We Are

 

Review by Paul Towers, 26/5/25

Here We Are by David Ives, music &lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Directed by Joe Mantello

Produced by Harriet Mackie

At The National Theatre til Saturday 28^th June 2025

I had fervently hoped that Here We Are would be the legacy final production that was Stephen Sondheim’s vast output. But, having seen it in our prestigious National Theatre, I wish it had been left in his archive of unfinished work.

Back in 1982 Sondheim started to discuss the possibility of creating a musical based on two films, Luis Brunel’s The Discrete Charm of The Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel. The former followed a group of friends as they travelled from venue to venue to get a meal. Each venue being unable to satisfy them for various reasons. It was mitigated by the French scenery they passed through. Exterminating Angel concerned a group of friends in a room from which they can’t escape for some reason. After several days they lose their societal pretensions and become almost feral. All under the watchful eye of the Exterminating Angel.

So, that is the germination of Here We Are. Unfortunately, while act one is quite Sondheim-like, clever lyrics, off-beat music and a less than conventional storyline, the staging is odd to say the least. The set is a white box where the actors rush around pretending to be in the car that takes them from venue to venue. A couple of prop bars drop from the ceiling but that is the extent of any attempt to dress the set. But at least there is the music. However, unlike most Sondheims, there is dialogue, spoken and at length in an attempt to convey a worthwhile narrative.

Act two gets even more bizarre as the party find themselves in a Consulate headed by one of their party and unable to leave for no discernible reason. Until suddenly they can. And there are no songs and very little music.

The whole thing comes across as self indulgent student experimentation. But on a huge budget.

The cast cannot be faulted. Lead by Rory Kinnear and Jane Krakowski as the married Binks, multimillionaires, their plastic surgeon and film agent friends (Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Martha Plimpton) and their consul friend Raffael Santello Di Santicci (Paolo Szot). Playing various servant roles is Tracie Bennett along with Edward Baker-Duly. Add to the mix the very odd guests of an American Colonel (Cameron Johnson) and his soldier (Richard Fleeshman, thankfully without a shirt for most of the time) and a shoe fetishist bishop (Harry Hadden-Paton).

It is completely bonkers but hilariously funny along the way. One for the Sondheim purists so they can say they have seen it.

Here We Are runs at The National Theatre until 28^th June 2025 when, hopefully, it is rightfully consigned to the Stephen Sondheim archives.

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/home/

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Muriel's Wedding

 

Review by Paul Towers, 22/4/25

Muriel’s Wedding, the musical by PJ Hogan, music & lyrics by Kate Miller-Heidke & Kier Nuttall. With additional songs by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus & Stig Andersson

Directed by Simon Phillips

Produced by Curve, Global Creatures & Sydney Theatre Company

At Curve til Saturday 10^th May 2025

What a great way to spend an evening in the fabulously bonkers world of Muriel Heslop as she dreams about her ultimate fantasy of a big white wedding.

In 1994 this silly little Australian film, which sat alongside other antipodean musicals that made it worldwide like Priscilla and Strictly Ballroom, quickly became a cult classic. But it wasn’t until 2017 that it finally hit the stage in Sydney. Since then every opportunity to bring it over to Europe was foiled by one thing or another (mainly Covid).

So it is a huge achievement that it has finally landed in the UK and Curve is one of the co-producers.

Since its inception the musical has been tweaked but is now almost perfect.

Muriel Heslop (Megan Ellis), is a miserable girl stuck at home in a small town with the local mayor her corrupt braggart father (Darren Day), downtrodden mother (Laura Medforth) and three lazy siblings (Jacob Warner, Joseph Peacock & Lena Pattie Jones). To escape this drudgery she lives in a fantasy world where she lies constantly and the music of ABBA is her source of inspiration. Then one day she meets Rhonda (Annabel Marlow), a free-living spirit who says what she feels. This is the girl who teaches Muriel that anything is possible and together they move to Sydney.

In Muriel’s imagination ABBA (Bronte Alice-Tadman, Jasmine Hackett, Aaron Tsindos, Jamie Doncaster) constantly pop up and, using the lyrics of their songs, guide her through life. Her fantasy is to get married in a big white dress to her ultimate man (Stephen Madsen, a David Beckham look-a-like). Of course fantasies are never what they are cracked up to be and so it transpires.

This is a wonderfully bonkers production that redefines the word camp!

The opening number, Sunshine State of Mind, sets the tone for the affectionate joshing of Australians and their idiosyncrasies.

The set is a huge, versatile conglomeration of sliding panels and drop down edifices designed by Matt Kinley which makes full use of Curve’s extraordinary technical capabilities. This show deserves to tour but I doubt many theatres could stage it as it is. There is a great use of video by Andrzej Goulding.

Muriel’s Wedding runs til Saturday 10^th May. Grab a ticket and have the time of your life.

Pics: Marc Brenner

www.curveonline.co.uk

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/ 

Handbagged

Review by Paul Towers, 25/3/25

Handbagged by Moira Buffini

Directed by Alex Thorpe

Produced by Queens Theatre & National Theatre

At Curve til Saturday 29^th March 2025

Handbagged is the imagined story of the meetings between Magaret Thatcher during her Prime Ministership and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Traditionally these meetings are completely confidential and are never recorded. So Moira Buffini has mischievously imagined how they went. The result is an hilarious interaction between the two most powerful and influential women of the time.

Cleverly each of the women is played by two actresses, one the younger woman and the other the older and wiser one. This allows for internal dialogue. The Queens are played by Sarah Moyle and Helen Reuben while the Maggies are played by Morag Cross and Emma Ernest. Additionally there are two male actors (Cassius Konneh and Dennis Herdman) who play a myriad of characters, and not always male! There are also two ensemble actors, Tiajna Amayo & Jane Quinn, performing various roles.

The set is a simple dais above which is a large gold coin with a queen’s head embossed on it.

So, the stage is set for the historic confrontations over 11 years and much national and international turmoil. While there is much to bemoan in that era writer Buffini has found lots of laughs as well. All of the characters break the fourth wall constantly, which makes for much hilarity.

How close to the truth this production comes, we will never know, but I like to think that much of the gist of the various characters is fairly accurate. It is known that Thatcher was unsure how to interact with the Queen as she was used to Handbagging her male colleagues (hence the title). Whereas HM, with decades of experience, probably just treated Maggie the way she would treat any of her ministers.

With lots of laughs Handbagging is at Curve until Saturday 29^th March before it continues touring

www.curveonline.co.uk

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/  

The Vicar of Dibley

 

Review by Paul Towers, 24/3/25

The Vicar of Dibley by Richard Curtis & Paul Mayhew-Archer, adapted by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter

Directed by Nikki Favell

Produced by Leicester Drama Society

At The Little Theatre til Saturday 29th March 2025

TV’s much loved sitcom about the Clerical Comedy, The Vicar of Dibley, comes to The Little Theatre for a week. Starring all the regular characters this is an evening of Holy Humour and Dibley Drama. OK enough of the Ecclesiastical puns.

Dibley is an amalgam of some of the best bits from across all three series. Although I imagine it was tough selecting just a couple of hours’ worth of gems. The story goes from Geraldine Grainger’s (Kat Seddon) arrival in Dibley through to her transfer to Liverpool. Along the way we are witness to the blossoming romance and ultimate wedding between verger Alice Tinker (Kathryn Lenthall) and Hugo Horton (Keir Watson), much to the horror of Hugo’s father autocratic David Horton (David Lovell).

Sat at the head of the Parish Council, David Horton rules with a iron fist over fellow councillors Jim Trott (Ian Carr), Owen Newitt (Jordan Handford), Frank Pickle (John Bale) and Letitia Cropley (Elizabeth Spendlove).

There is also a tiny cameo form Tabitha Fogg, but I won’t spoil it by saying what she plays.

It has to be said that every single actor nails their character’s idiosyncrasies with aplomb. Their vocal mimicry is spot on and won’t disappoint regular viewers of the series.

The set, designed by Tristan Knowles, is a versatile depiction of three separate areas; the council meeting room, Geraldine’s parlour and the inimitable study where Alice fails to understand any of the Vicar’s jokes.

Director Nikki Favell has created a joyous show that will be loved by anyone who has watched the TV series. Grab one of the last tickets and revel in an evening of almost continuous laughter.

The Vicar of Dibley is at The Little Theatre until Saturday 29^th March 2025

Pics: Dave Morris

The Little Theatre

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Inside No9/Fright Night

 

Review by Paul Towers, 11/3/25

Inside No 9/Fright Night by Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith

Directed by Simon Evans

Produced by Phil McIntyre Live

At Wyndham’s Theatre til Wednesday 2^nd April 2025

The first thing that has to be said about Inside No 9/Fright Night is that you have to be a fan of, or at least have watched the various works of Messrs Pemberton & Shearsmith. Otherwise you will miss so much of the fun and horror of this stage version of Inside No 9.

Without giving too much away the stage opens on a set of theatre seats where Shearsmith is trying to watch a performance of Hamlet. As so many of us can testify there are always annoying audience members that we would wish to berate. But, being British, all we do is tut. In P&S’s alternative universe dire revenge is taken on these annoying patrons, much to the approbation of the (real) audience. Stepping out of character our two author/performers issue a not always tongue in cheek warning of what would happen to disruptive audience members to thunderous applause.

Playing to an appreciative audience a lot of the time the ‘sketches’ get darker and darker with some elements lifted almost wholesale from the TV series, while others are completely new. Of especial note has to be the almost entire sketch of Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room and, in the second half, an horrific visit to an insane asylum.

Not only do we have the authors in starring roles but there is also a very talented ensemble who back them up and, each night, a surprise special guest. This means that new material has to be written every night to accommodate them. My visit coincided with Chris MacCausland’s  appearance which, of course, had to reference his win on Strictly and his blindness.

Along the way the pair poke fun at some of theatreland’s peccadillos. The current trend of onstage live video feeds is sent up and used to good effect when it goes on a backstage tour of the supposedly haunted Wyndham’s Theatre. Some good natured tail tweaking of theatre managements, artist agents and method actors ensures the laughs continue alongside the cries of horror.

All in all this is everything and more that you would expect from the team behind Inside No 9. Five stars all the way. A shame it is sold out, but you have to get in quick for these popular limited run shows.

 

https://www.wyndhamstheatre.co.uk/

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