The Book Thief

 

Review by Paul Towers, 4/10/23

The Book Thief based on the novel by Markus Zusak, libretto by Jodi Picoult & Timothy Allen McDonald, music & lyrics by Elyssa Samel & Kate Anderson

Directed by Lotte Wakeham

Produced by Octagon Theatre Bolton

At Curve til Saturday 14^th October 2023

“A powerful indictment of a terrible period in history”

First up I have to say that I have never read the book so I have sat down with no preconceptions.

The Book Thief is set in 1940 Germany, a time when Nazism was making its presence felt across Europe and nobody had any idea of the horrors to come.

Illiterate Liesel (Erini Louskou at tonight’s Press Night giving a very assured performance) has just lost both her parents and brother. Kneeling by her brother’s graveside she steals her first book. Her Jewish foster parents Rosa and Hans Huberman (Mina Anwar and Jack Lord) hide a Jewish boy, Max (Daniel Krikler), in their cellar and it is he that instils in Liesel the wonders of reading and writing so she steals books whenever she can to feed her voracious appetite for education. As Max says, words are the most powerful thing in the world and can change things for good and bad. This theme is beautifully carried through with a sequence where a huge puppet of Hitler is made out of papier mâché, paper covered in words.

Liesel, like Anne Frank, determines to write down everything she sees and shares it with her friend Rudy (Oliver Gordon giving a precociously energetic performance). That way it will never be forgotten. And as we now know, without those testimonies some would conveniently forget. Watching the lines of Jews being herded onto trains we are reminded of modern day efforts to wipe out voices with cancel culture.

You might think that a story of privation, abuse and worse would not be suitable material for a musical but both the authors and the musical composers have layered the narrative with humour throughout, especially the domestic sparring between Rosa and her husband Hans.

The cast includes a large ensemble of talented dancer/singers who inhabit various characters as well as moving props. The set, designed by Good Teeth, is a wonder to behold.

The Book Thief runs at Curve until Saturday 14^th October. At the moment there are no confirmed dates for it to transfer. It deserves to end up in London.

 

www.curveonline.co.uk

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk

 

Stags & Hens The Remix

 

Review by Paul Towers, 2/10/23

Stags & Hens (The Remix) by Willy Russell

Directed by Simon Dickens

Produced by Leicester Drama Society

At The Little Theatre  til Saturday 7^th October 2023

“working class Liverpool at its funniest”

Set in 1970’s working class Liverpool Stags & Hens explores the different sensibilities of men and women on a night out.

It is Linda (Holly Matuisiewicz) and Dave’s (Simon Butler) night before their wedding. Both inadvertently turn up at the same run down nightclub.

As their night progresses and their alcohol consumption increases the different ways the two groups deal with things emerges. In the boy’s toilets testosterone levels rise as Eddy (Lewis Cole) tries to butch up the group. While Robbie (Joey Perez-Jones) is just bemoaning the fact that Dave has thrown up an earlier consumed curry all over his best pulling trousers. Kav (Matt Zebrowski) is the group lush and is more interested in his art that the rough and  tumble of the night. Finally there is Billy (Russell Webster), the odd ball pushed around by the rest of the group.

Meanwhile, over at the graffiti strewn ladies’ toilets the girls are gathering themselves to enter the fray of the dancefloor. Bride to be Linda is locked in a cubicle trying to decide whether she really wants to be married while her friends are jostling for the sole mirror as they put the finishing touches to their war paint.

Maureen (Olivia Phillips) is constantly slurping from the secreted half bottle of cheap vodka in her handbag. She is a maudlin drunk and spends most of the night in tears hoping for a ‘nice time’. Bernadette (Angelica Robinson) is the group leader and imposes her will on everyone while Frances (Amy Hollis) the perpetual best friend tries to smooth everything over. Finally Carol (Carla Field) a work colleague and not really part of the close knit circle watches much of the action in wonder.

While Linda is wavering in the cubicle trouble in the form of her ex Peter (Nick Wilkins) appears as the lead singer of a group appearing in the club later that night. The lads in the Gents are jealous that Peter managed to escape their poverty stricken lifestyle while the girls are worried he will drag Linda away from her impending marriage.

As usual with a Willy Russell play there are hilarious one liners and insightful thoughts of working class Liverpool all couched in the earthy language of the area.

Stags & Hens is not for the easily offended and runs til Saturday 7^th October.

 

https://www.thelittletheatre.co.uk/

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk

Mrs Doubtfire

Review by Paul Towers, 21/8/23

Mrs Doubtfire by John O’Farrell & Karey Kirkpatrick, music & lyrics by Wayne & Karey Kirkpatrick

Directed by Jerry Zaks

At Shaftsbury Theatre, London

“Gabriel Vick is a revelation”

If you loved the Robin Williams film then you will not be disappointed by this new musical version of the much loved story of a Dad’s desperate measures to spend time with his kids.

As Daniel Hillard, the father, Gabriel Vick is a comedic revelation. His vocal dexterity as he reels off impersonation after impersonation would have Robin Williams’ appreciation. Add in his clever use of a vocal looper to great comic effect and this is a career defining performance.

Trying desperately to keep up with Vick is Laura Tebbut as Miranda Hillard, the exasperated wife and mother of his three kids.

The rotating cast of the two younger children are lead by an adult but very young looking Carla Dixon-Hernandez.

The story, closely following the film, is of feckless Daniel, ever the small kid himself, being forced out of the family home by the Divorce Court. Desperate to have more contact with his offspring than the court imposed one day per week, he lands himself the a job as their nanny, an old Scottish woman.

All of the skits and routines from the film are faithfully recreated onstage. This includes the famous flaming boobs and dancing hoover moments.

All in all this is a laugh out loud, all singing and dancing night out that will leave you smiling from ear to ear as you leave the theatre

Mrs Doubtfire is booking now

www.shaftesburytheatre.com/

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk

 

A Murder is Announced

 

Review by Paul Towers, 11/9/23

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, adapted by Leslie Darbon

Directed by John bale

Produced by Leicester Drama Society

At The Little Theatre 11  - 16 September 2023

“a cosy country weekend turns nasty”

A Murder is Announced is a staple of amateur theatre groups largely because it has a relatively large cast of 13 and is staged on a single set. Agatha Christie wrote detective thriller books which translated easily to the stage and have remained popular ever since their first publication over 100 years ago.

The plot of this drawing room mystery revolves around a complicated chain of inheritances sparked by a murder committed, as predicted by a newspaper announcement, of a stranger on Friday 13^th.

Director John Bale has brought out the comic possibilities of the script with star turns by Liz Kavanagh as dozy Dora Bunner (Bunny), companion to Letitia Blacklock (Alexandra Elliot), the lady of the house and Diana Gatenby Davies as Mitzi the Eastern European maid forever screaming with paranoid outrage.

A cosy country weekend turns nasty when a strange man is shot during a blackout. The arrival of both Miss Marple (Jane Towers) and Inspector Craddock (Michael King) eventually leads to the unravelling of this typical Christie murder mystery.

A marvellous set by Jacob Martin whisks us back to post war Chipping Cleghorn (probably somewhere in the Cotswolds) as a backdrop for the cast to toss around the machinations of the evening.

If you like your theatre to be thrilling and funny then pop down to The Little Theatre this week and see if you can work out whodunnit!

 

www.thelittletheatre.co.uk

www.curveonline.co.uk

www.ptheatre.blogspot.co.uk