Arts REVIEW: Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf@Harold Pinter Theatre, London Staunton continues to wow the West End in this stunning production. Given the calibre of casting and of writing, could director James Macdonald have gone wrong with this new production of the classic Edward Albee 1962 play of that oh so thin line between love and hate? Well, I suppose he could, but By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream@Young Vic With the whole cast of 14 on stage for the full two hours of this production, and with it taking place on a stage full of mud, you’d be forgiven for thinking this play was set on the last day of Glastonbury. By Kat Pope • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: The Mentalists – Wyndham’s Theatre It’s rare that you can see in an actor’s face a look of “I know very well this is tripe, but I’ve just got to go through the motions,” but it is written all over Stephen Merchant’s gormless face from the very beginning of this revival of Richard Bean’s The Mentalist. By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Reviews THRILLER LIVE: Lyric Theatre, London: Review Kat Pope hates Michael Jackson so what the hell is she going to make of THRILLER LIVE’s 2000th performance? Prepare to be surprised… By Kat Pope • 11 min read
Comedy BRIGHTON COMEDY FESTIVAL Kat Pope goes in search of a laugh at the Brighton Comedy Festival, and is surprised at just what makes her chortle By Kat Pope • 9 min read
Comedy RUSSELL KANE: Brighton Comedy Festival@Dome: Review Kat Pope overcomes her prejudices and finds much to love in a leggy Sugar Kane By Kat Pope • 2 min read
Arts ALEXEI SAYLE @Brighton Comedy Festival: Corn Exchange: Review Kat Pope is so old she remembers Alexei Sayle the first time round. Is his second coming just as good? By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Arts ROOTS : Donmar, London: Review Three stars The intimate Donmar stage is the perfect setting for this kitchen sink drama from Arnold Wesker, the middle part of his trilogy of ground-breaking post-war plays, and the most often performed. Beatie (Jessica Raine from Call the Midwife) is on a visit home to her farming family deep in t By Kat Pope • 2 min read
Comedy BRIGHTON COMEDY FESTIVAL OPENING GALA: Brighton Dome: Review The Brighton Comedy Festival opens this week. Kat Pope went down to the Opening Gala to sample the fare on offer. By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Reviews KAT CALLS You find me still chasing my own tail, short on time, short on sanity, and short on patience with PC World. Very little new there then… SID IS AN IDIOT Now, summer wouldn’t be summer without a lovely outdoor Shakespeare (that’s half my readers lost), and Sid and I headed over to Worthing in plenty [ By Kat Pope • 14 min read
Music NEW JERSEY NIGHTS: Congress, Eastbourne: Review So, you’ve seen Jersey Boys but still need a bit of a Valli fix? Then New Jersey Nights might be the very thing for you. Kat Pope walks like a man to the Congress to find out. By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Reviews THARK: Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London: Review Kat Pope visits Thark in Finsbury Park. Oh, the larks! By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Reviews PRIVATES ON PARADE: Theatre Royal Brighton: Review In Peter Nichols’s 1977 review-style play with music, we follow the story of an incongruous group of men who entertain the soldiers, sailors and airman stationed overseas in Malaysia in 1948 during the Communist insurgency. A motley bunch of naïfs and strays, the privates here on parade are mostly g By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Interviews ICE ICE BABY : Robin Cousins talks to Kat Pope It’s not often that you find yourself comparing scars with an Olympic champion but that’s just what I found myself doing at the launch of Robin Cousins’ ICE, a brand new ice dance show which will be filling the Brighton Centre in that awkward period just after Christmas. “I had another knee reconstr By Kat Pope • 6 min read
Music GLENN MILLER WITH STRINGS ATTACHED! On Sunday some of Glenn Miller‘s rarer arrangements will be heard in Eastbourne when Ray McVay, Musical Director of the original BBC Come Dancing series, brings the world’s greatest big band to the Congress Theatre. Keeping the show fresh, this year the Glenn Miller Orchestra will be joined by a str By Kat Pope • 1 min read
Reviews GROOVE ON DOWN THE ROAD: ZooNation at Southbank Centre: Review Will we ever tire of Dorothy and her motley crew’s journey along the Yellow Brick Road to Oz? I doubt it as it’s a story that’s perfect for reinvention and investment with new meanings and messages, and Kate Prince has done just that with Groove on Down the Road. Prince is artistic director of the [ By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Reviews THE THEBAN SEASON: The Scoop, London: Review Free theatre in London? What, absolutely free? And running throughout the rest of the summer? Yep, that’s exactly what you get down at The Scoop, right next to Tower Bridge and City Hall, the one catch being that, boy, aren’t those paving slabs hard on the arse! Now in its 11th season, More London t By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Reviews HOME: The Shed, National Theatre: Review In Nadia Fall‘s new production at the National Theatre’s pop-up space, The Shed, she weaves together a narrative from 48 hours of interviews conducted with young people living in a large interim homeless shelter in East London. Listening to these voices could have made for a grim, dispiriting evenin By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Arts KAT CALLS Well, I’m now nearly two months behind with my ‘weekly’ column which shows you either a) how busy I’ve been or b) how deep my suntan is. The answer is a) FYI – I’m no sun-lover and my legs still look like under-cooked Cornish pasties. In fact the only reason I’m sitting here writing this […] By Kat Pope • 16 min read
Reviews THE PRIDE: Trafalgar Studios, London: Review Four stars After the clipped 1950’s tones of the first scene of Alexi Kaye Campbell‘s 2008 Olivier award-winning debut, it’s a bit of a shock when the lights go up again to find Mathew Horne standing there in full Nazi regalia. But The Pride is a shocking play all round. During it’s two and a […] By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Reviews PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT: The Congress Theatre, Eastbourne: Review Five stars: There’s a strong heartbeat underlying Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Yes, the 500 costumes used in each performance are never less than stunning (now iconic even), and the mix of gay anthems and pop classics is a sure-fire winner, but it’s the characters who shine most vividly in Simon By Kat Pope • 5 min read
Community News East End Dames Dash with Biggins On October 27, London’s East End will be filled with pantomime dames endeavouring to raise loads of money for two local charities by running a kilometre. Actually, it’s not only Dames who’ll be welcomed, but anyone who wants to dress up as any panto character that they fancy. The run begins at 1pm a By Kat Pope • 1 min read
Music TÊTE À TÊTE OPERA FESTIVAL – PART ONE: Riverside Studios, Hammersmith: Review I’ve not once, but three times met people who’ve told me that the company they work for had given them tickets to Covent Garden but they never used them as they hated opera. What a waste of tickets, I’ve wailed, appalled. Why not eBay them if you can’t use them? I’ve had more or less […] By Kat Pope • 13 min read
Arts SAME DEEP WATER AS ME: Donmar Warehouse: Review: Stars: Two Big things were expected of Same Deep Water As Me, Nick Payne’s eagerly awaited new play, his first since the award-winning Constellations, but this play about two small time Luton ‘no win, no fee’ solicitors falls flat. Andrew (a subtle Daniel Mays), is a man trying his best to show some decency bu By Kat Pope • 3 min read
