News WAG! THE MUSICAL: Charing Cross Theatre: Review What is it about musicals and not really letting rip? And I mean REALLY letting rip! First there was The Book of Mormon which everyone thought was going to be the end word in naughtiness and subversion but which turned out to be practically an Osmonds lovefest. And now we have WAG! The Musical, abou By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Theatre MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: Highdown Gardens, Worthing: Review Shakespeare used a neat trick in The Merry Wives of Windsor: he took a well-loved character from a couple of his history plays, dumped him in more prosperous surroundings and waited to see what would happen. Falstaff (Richard Kettles) getting chucked in the Thames in a laundry basket happened. And l By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Theatre MACBETH: The Globe: Review I’ve always been obsessed with the porter in Macbeth. What an oddity he is, stumbling, exploding, ambling, running at full pelt onto the stage – depending on which production you’re seeing – and rambling on about equivocators and the primrose way. He either sets the tone of a production like no othe By Kat Pope • 3 min read
Theatre SOME LIKE IT HOTTER: Connaught Theatre, Worthing: Review I think some of the grey heads in the Connaught audience were being scratched at the start of Some Like it Hotter when a bewildered man in an anorak clutching a woman’s make-up box wandered onto the stage with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Had he just made a wrong turn on the way to […] By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Arts KAT CALLS Blimey, that time again already? It only seems like, ooooh, a couple of weeks since we last had the “weekly” Kat Calls round up. Well, if you read that last one, you’ll realise I’m trying my damnedest to catch up with my own tail due to various ‘difficulties’. So it’s me again *jazzhands*, going on By Kat Pope • 14 min read
Theatre DIRTY DANCING: Piccadilly Theatre, London: Review How many people in Britain do you think haven’t seen the iconic 1980’s film Dirty Dancing? Just me? You’re probably right and it’s my USP for reviewing the revived theatre show that’s just opened at the Piccadilly. No preconceptions, you see. Before this evening I didn’t even know why you shouldn’t By Kat Pope • 5 min read
A SEASON IN THE CONGO by Cesaire, , Playwright – Aime Cesaire, Director – Joe Wright, The Young Vic, 2013, Credit: Johan Persson/ Theatre A SEASON IN THE CONGO: The Young Vic: Review As we waited for the performance to start, I brought my young son up to speed with the ‘Scramble for Africa’ and the colonization of the Congo by King Leopold II of the Belgians. “What happened next?” he asked, and I had to tell him that I didn’t know. ‘What happened next’ had happened in […] By Kat Pope • 5 min read
Film Six Ducal Queers Tomorrow night sees the start of six queer nights at the Duke of Yorks, both at it’s ‘Legs’ home and it’s ‘Komedia’ outreach post. Spread over the next two Pride weeks, the films are curated by Eyes Wide Open Cinema. On Friday, July 19 at 10pm there’s a Divine double bill at the proper Dukes. […] By Kat Pope • 2 min read
Theatre BITE-SIZE BREAKFAST: Stanmer Park & House: Review Stanmer Park and House is a glorious destination on any day of the year but on a scorchingly hot Sunday morning with the Kite Festival just warming up and with breakfast and theatre on the menu it seemed an idyll. The garden was already full of people topping up their tan at 10am and people […] By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Theatre A Feast of Gilbert & Sullivan A selection of your favourite Gilbert & Sullivan operas, performed by former singers with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, will hit the stage of the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne this Friday. Accompanied by the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with conductor Anthony Kraus, it will feature a f By Kat Pope • 1 min read
Theatre TIMBER! Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre: Review You could put forward a theory after watching Timber!, Southbank Centre’s newest circus act from Circus Alfonse, that its clunkiness, solidity, and general slowness is part of its authentic charm. It’s phooey of course, as the first and only real criteria a circus must fulfil is for it to entertain By Kat Pope • 4 min read
Theatre what happens to the hope at the end of the evening: Almeida Theatre: Review “It’s 9pm and I’m waiting for my friend. I haven’t seen him in a long time.” So begins Tim Crouch’s exploration of friendship, growing up and responsibility, in his new work that opened the Almeida Festival of experimental theatre last night. And so it continues. It’s a constant refrain from Andy (A By Kat Pope • 4 min read
