Make It SO 2020 (10-29 February) saw 19 locally-created, work-in-progress shows being performed and showcased over three weeks in NST's Studio space. The festival – in its second year! – was a chance for actors and creators to get feedback on performances and gain much-needed reactions, while getting their names out to new audiences.
Adapted and directed by Liam Gifford, assisted by Rosie Peters, and produced by Holly Mitchell, this version of Twelfth Night is NST Youth Theatre's latest production; and while the script is all Shakespeare's, this is well and truly a modern-day rom-com.
It's time for my first theatre review of 2020, and I'm kicking off the new decade by heading Down Under with the dazzling cult hit Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre.
Well shiver me timbers and sprinkle me with fairy dust – panto season has well and truly started, and Mayflower Theatre has pulled out all the stops to bring JM Barrie's family-favourite tale of Peter Pan to Southampton.
Hello all. Yes, that's right, another theatre review, and this time it's a festive one; and there's a bit of a twist!
Andrew Scott seems very much the man of the moment, both on screen and on stage. Before he was the Hot Priest in Fleabag, he was the unnervingly charming-yet-sinister Moriarty in Sherlock. You may also have spotted him in Black Mirror, Pride and His Dark Materials. But enough of me listing his filmography; I'm not IMDB.
Since moving to Southampton a decade ago, the city has continually impressed me and seems to have come on leaps and bounds in terms of its cultural offerings. Now, another jewel has been added to our city's treasures.
Last weekend I had four shows in a row; this means four late nights, four ways of saying a show was good (or bad!), and four more programmes to add to my collection. It was intense, and tiring, but so, so worth it!
It's incredible how one woman on a bar stool can captivate an audience for almost two hours solid with just pure and simple storytelling, no props and minimal sound effects. It's a testament to Waller-Bridge's performance, which has the audience in limbo somewhere between heartbreak and hilarity.
That day finally came this week when I went to see the stage adaptation of The Woman in Black at Nuffield Southampton Theatres, as a reviewer for Broadway World UK. I took my seat and settled down (with my hands almost over my eyes) ready to be thrilled and chilled.
