Arts PREVIEW: Brighton Festival unveils its events Brian Butler looks at this year’s Brighton Festival and finds a theme of caring By Brian Butler • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: Strangers on a Train @ THEATRE ROYAL Strangers on a Train Strangers On A Train is based on the 1950 novel by Patricia Highsmith with a heafty nod at that Oscar-Winning Alfred Hitchcock film. We begin the story as a fateful encounter takes place between two men in a carriage of a train crossing America. Guy is the successful businessma By Eric Page • 4 min read
Arts THEATRE REVIEW: The Kite Runner @Theatre Royal It’s a hard look at the chaos of the unleashing of hugely destructive violent social prejudice from the perspective of a small close nit family. Its use of personal catastrophe as an intersectional metaphor for national tragedy is relentless. It’s also a breathless, almost unbearable personal confe By Eric Page • 4 min read
Arts REVIEW: The Real Thing @Theatre Royal Stoppard’s words fly around, they are funny and caustic, the actors obviously enjoy speaking them, even if the sentences are often more than a mouthful, the set piece speeches are entertaining and irritating, clever, deep and shallow and it’s all very showy and apparently entertaining on one level, By Eric Page • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: An Audience with Armistead Maupin @Theatre Royal This was an unforgettable evening with the Tales of the City author celebrating the launch of his long-awaited memoir Logical Family. From his early life in the conservative South to liberal San Francisco, from his palm-reading Grannie to an awkward chat about girls with President Nixon, Armistead M By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts THEATRE REVIEW: The Best Man @Theatre Royal After making its UK premier at Theatre Royal Windsor earlier this month, Gore Vidal’s 1960 political satire, The Best Man, has landed at Brighton’s Theatre Royal on the second leg of its UK tour. The plot revolves around the characters and ambitions of two very different fictional politicians vying By Paul Gustafson • 2 min read
Arts PREVIEW: Grease – Tom Parker from boy band to leading man Voted The No.1 Greatest Musical in Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Musical – GREASE comes to the Theatre Royal, Brighton for Christmas 2017! In the absence of a traditional Christmas Pantomime at the Theatre Royal again this Christmas, it’s time to dust off your leather jackets, pull on your bobby socks an By Besi • 3 min read
Arts THEATRE REVIEW: Driving Miss Daisy @Theatre Royal This is a perfectly balanced cast, Sian Phillips as Miss Daisy captures the fierce but fragile nature of this woman whose humble beginnings and comfortable retirement dictate her relationship with the outside world. Derek Griffiths as her driver Hoke Colburn who ages and changes along with her is t By Eric Page • 4 min read
Arts REVIEW: The Wedding Singer @Theatre Royal Based on the 1998 box office breaking movie, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, The Wedding Singer’s original musical score written by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin has much to offer but sadly on first hearing, few memorable tunes. By Besi • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: La Cage Aux Folles @Theatre Royal When La Cage Aux Folles opened in 1983 it was very much a ‘piece of its time’ scripted by Harvey Fierstein with music by Jerry Herman and introducing the world to the fabulous Les Cagelles. Those were the days before we had gay marriage and many of the rights we now enjoy. The musical gave gay peopl By Besi • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: Shirley Valentine @Theatre Royal I could gush more, I will gush more, but book yourself a ticket now, this was an unexpected treat and I left feeling empowered by Russell’s life affirming writing, as relevant now as it was thirty years ago, and enchanted by this tour de force performance from Prenger. With the audience on their fee By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: Buddy The Buddy Holly Story @Theatre Royal In just 18 short months between 1957 and 1959 Buddy Holly changed the face of modern music, producing in the process a treasure trove of rock and roll classics that have become the soundtrack of following generations. By Besi • 2 min read
Arts BRIGHTON FESTIVAL REVIEW: Meow Meow: Souvenir I am a huge Meow fan, but this evening made me think about collaborations between superb fringe performers who OWN their venue and audience and take them on a journey into performance on trust and that of a Festival show which is deluged by the weight of its own expectations and slowly drowns in fro By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: Invincible@Theatre Royal It’s a tragic ending, hard, savage and all the more real for it and although it appears to be a play about social froth it’s a more incisive play looking at the modern struggle for a significant identity and the desperate need for people to have some meaning, some intelligent direction to their live By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: Out of Order@Theatre Royal Ray Cooney’s 1990 comedy is standard issue farce: it’s basically ladies in negligees being shoved into cupboards. Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with this, it’s just that Out of Order doesn’t have the charm of a Boeing Boeing, the wit of a Relatively Speaking or the genius plotting of By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: Nell Gwyn: Theatre Royal This was a warm and funny evening’s entertainment and a superb production of this delightful play by the Globe crew. Certainty worth getting out and watching and being inspired and charmed by this reconstruction of restoration theatre and the ground breaking changes wrought by Nell Gwynn and her fel By Eric Page • 4 min read
Arts REVIEW: Rambert: Ghost Dances and others As usual with the Rambert their superb attention to details coupled with the passion and commitment of these young talented dancers combines to give a gripping evening performances, one which brought the full very excited house to it’s feet and deliver an ovation to this team at the peak of their ga By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts REVIEW: Gaslight @ Theatre Royal Tightly written, well-acted and delightfully compact production with a few well timed thrills, Gaslight is a lovely night out and worth trotting along to if you fancy some rather delightful quality writing performed with relish by this safe engaging team . It is 2 hours 25 minutes (including interva By Eric Page • 3 min read
Arts PREVIEW: Round the Horne: The 50th Anniversary Tour Celebrating the ground breaking radio comedy series of the 1960s, Apollo Theatre Company recreate the original recordings from the BBC’s Paris Studios to mark fifty years of enduring laughter. The production toured the country during 2015 and 2016 and is back now with brand new material for 2017, co By Contributor • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: Sunny Afternoon@Theatre Royal Due to my confusion over ‘60s summertime hits I had the vague idea this was a musical celebrating the life and work of Mungo Jerry. Luckily it turns out that Sunny Afternoon is actually based on the far superior back catalogue of the Kinks. By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: The Shakespeare Revue: Theatre Royal The Shakespeare Review is more sophisticated than it may appear to be at first glance, but as a charming evening of songs, routine and some music hall style parody it’s an engaging and enjoyable way to spend an evening in the warm velvety comfort of the Theatre Royal. By Eric Page • 2 min read
Arts REVIEW: Lady Chatterley’s Lover@Theatre Royal The book, famously banned for being obscene is opened and parred own here here like a delicate flower, pressed into it’s perfume and essence, but it’s still a challenging analysis of what happens when patriarchy, entitlement and brutality are challenged by honesty, trust and tenderness. Tenderness w By Eric Page • 4 min read
Arts REVIEW: The Boys in the Band: Theatre Royal Political criticism has dogged Mart Crowley’s 1969 play from the start. Its portrayal of a group of bitchy, self-hating queens has never been on-message as far as the gay rights movement is concerned. It’s the perennial problem with gays – or any minority – that their portrayal could be seen as pres By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Arts PREVIEW: THE BOYS IN THE BAND Direct from a sell out run in London, Mart Crowley’s ground-breaking play, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, visits the Theatre Royal Brighton next month as part of a short UK tour. By Contributor • 2 min read
