Out in the Tame, Tame West
Calamity Jane
by Music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Jamie Wilson Productions and Watermill Theatre at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 17thMay and then on tour until 27th September
Review by Patrick Shorrock
The trend of putting films on stage seems to be all but unstoppable nowadays, but this performance of Calamity Jane acts as a reminder that it is actually quite an old one: the 1961 stage version of Calamity Jane was based on the 1953 film with Doris Day, rather than the other way round. In any case, this production is a revival of one from the Watermill Theatre that dates back to 2014, although it’s hard to tell, as it feels fresh and well rehearsed with performances of infectious energy.
It’s one of the oldest stories of them all – from Emma to When Harry Met Sally – as old friends who are sparring partners discover that their feelings go beyond friendship. Its connection with the real-life figures of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok is minimal. Nominally set in a Wild West without any native Americans on stage, it makes Oklahoma feel like a work of searing realism, and isn’t, to be honest, desperately believable. Not that anyone will care, I suspect, especially in a production as charming as this one.
Read more…The Iron Lady
Boudica
by Tristan Bernays
Questors Productions at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing, until 10th May
Review by Honette Troland
Everyone knows Queen Boadicea, if only from her scythed war chariot, impressively seen in the Victorian statue at the foot of Westminster Bridge: a redoubtable British queen quite literally cutting the ground from under the Roman soldiers daring to invade her East Anglian kingdom.
Bernays’ play retells the history of Boudica, as her name is written in contemporary texts, based on the scare recorded facts of the Queen of the Iceni peoples. King Prasutagus, a puppet ruler under the Romans died in AD61 and bequeathed half his kingdom to Rome and half to his Queen, Boudica.
Rome, however, is having none of this. It may accept some local autonomy, but not what it sees as ceding territory. Boudica’s claim as Queen is summarily quashed. She is abused, beaten, scourged, and banished from her own kingdom. Her two daughters are sexually violated, ravished by Roman soldiers.
Read more…Divine Inspiration
Marie and Rosetta
RTK, Chichester Festival Theatre and English Touring Theatre at the Rose Theatre, Kingston until 24th May, then on tour until 26th July
Review by Mark Aspen
In the 1970’s, I was working on a new industrial plant in Pennsylvania. One of the construction teams was from Alabama. I had difficultly in understand what they said, but then again, so did the locals. Later I drove down to South Carolina in a car with Philadelphia number plates, which was derided in Charleston as a “damned Union cor”. It was as if the American Civil War had only just finished. I realised there was still a big divide in attitudes between north and south.
This prejudicial divide across the Mason-Dixon line was even stronger thirty years earlier, when early in 1946 Rosetta Tharpe recruited Marie Knight to help revive her music style, which had had success for over a decade. Controversy over her swinging style of gospel music had been growing, so bringing in a new young and fresh voice might overcome the differing receptions her acts had across the USA.
Read more…Farce Masterclass
Relatively Speaking
by Alan Ayckbourn
Questors Productions at the Questors Studio, Ealing, until 17th May
Review by Andrew Lawston
Few shows can pack out a theatre on a warm May evening like the opening night of an Alan Ayckbourn play, and this Questors production of Relatively Speaking in the Studio is no exception.
Waking up to a silent phone call one Sunday morning, Greg becomes confused and frustrated by his girlfriend Ginny’s behaviour, as well as by the bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates that fill her small flat, not to mention the pair of size 12 slippers he finds under her bed.
Read more…Purrfect
It’s Come to This
by Meow Meow
Impatient Productions at the Soho Theatre until 24thMay
Review by Heather Moulson
Meow Meow is an incredible force. I had had the pleasure of seeing this enigmatic performer at Underbelly on the South Bank some years ago. I did not need asking twice to go along to her cabaret show again.
In a deceptively small auditorium at the Soho Theatre, on the dark set there is a stepladder and there is “The End” pinned up on a background banner.
In a significant impactful beginning, the star herself wafts on stage clad in stunning taffeta and a basque. The last word in glamour, the iconic Meow Meow goes through some weighty stage management with a grand piano. She then proceeds to haul on one of the technical crew who unravels a wonderful pianist, who goes on to enhance the star’s bawdy and witty persona, and of course her incredible singing voice.
Read more…Tied on the Thames
Three Hens in a Boat
by Camille Ucan
Reading Rep and Watermill Theatre Productions at the Reading Rep Theatre until 17thMay, then on tour until 7th June
Review by Sam Martin
Reading Rep Theatre continues to delight with its inventive and heartfelt re-imaginings of beloved classics, and Three Hens in a Boat is no exception. Loosely inspired by Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat, this updated adaptation by Camille Ucan is a buoyant, comic, and surprisingly tender exploration of womanhood, family, and the tangled truths we sail past in the name of love.
Ucan’s script swops the original trio of Victorian gents for a lively, intergenerational group of women: Claudette, her daughter Gloria, and her granddaughter Jay, who set out on a celebratory river cruise to mark their joint hen party. Of course, as with any good journey narrative, the waters are far from calm. What begins as a seemingly light-hearted weekend afloat on the Thames becomes a bubbling, emotional voyage through long-buried tensions, maternal missteps, and the quiet ache of unspoken truths.
Read more…Spirits with Liqueurs
Blithe Spirit
by Noël Coward
Putney Theatre Company at the Putney Arts Theatre until 3rd May
Review by Polly Davies
Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit never fails to entertain, and this sparkling production at Putney Arts Theatre does not disappoint. Tom Sainsbury’s pacey direction keeps the story lively throughout. The crew also manages to make every one of the many scene changes interesting.
I don’t know why it was decided to move the setting from the 1940s to the 1970s but I enjoyed the music and the occasional nostalgic whiff of Gauloise cigarette smoke as it drifted out to the audience. Perry Kitchen’s fusion set, with its 40s furniture and 70s touches, is the perfect backdrop to this story of a sophisticated couple whose lives are about to be upended.
Read more…Warped Time
by Richard O’Brien
Trafalgar Theatre Productions at Richmond Theatre until 3rd May, then on tour until 13th June 2026
Review by Thea Diamond
Arriving at Richmond Theatre on a most gloriously warm spring evening, a bustle of anticipation and excitement awaited. With audience members exotically dressed up to cosplay their favourite characters this was no ordinary visit to the theatre, but an entry into the most outrageously fun and energetic world imaginable, where not only the cast have rehearsed their lines, but the audience come prepared with standard interjections to heckle the cast throughout the story.
Richard O’Brien’s classic show has been running for over fifty years from it’s humble beginnings at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, before being transformed into the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975, cementing it’s cult status and becoming the longest continuously running contemporary musical.
Read more…Dying of Love
Orfeo
by Claudio Monteverdi, libretto by Alessandro Striggio
Richmond Opera at Normansfield Theatre, Teddington until 27th April
Review by Mark Aspen
What is it about Orpheus? The legend of Orpheus and Eurydice always has been a popular subject for opera. Earlier versions, Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers in 1686, and Orpheus and Eurydice by Gluck in 1762 tended to stick closely to the original legend. (Haydn had a crack in 1791, but it was only performed 160 years later.)
The dramatic possibilities of a story of a heart-broken newly-wed husband’s attempt to bring his dead bride from Hades, drips with the emotional juice that opera loves (and opera is often obsessed with death). Plus of course it’s all about the power of music.
By 1858, with his Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach added a contrary comedy twist, with its (in)famous Can-Can parodying Gluck’s. Modern versions, such Birtwistle’s 1986 The Mask of Orpheus and Glass’s 1991 Orphée have greatly elaborated on the original tale.
Richmond Opera has made an apt choice in going for the earliest known version, by the father of opera Claudio Monteverdi, his 1607 Orfeo. It also has the distinction of being oldest known opera that is still performed. It has a direct simplicity and great charm, sticking with the legendary tale; Monteverdi originally entitled it La Favola d’Orfeo, The Fable of Orpheus.
Read more…More Things in Heaven and Urn
Hotel Elsinore
by Susanna Hamnett
Plant[UnLtd] at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith until 3rd May
Review by Claire Alexander,
Students of Hamlet will recognise Elsinore as Hamlet’s castle in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. In Susanna Hamnett’s play it is the jumping off point for her clever and insightful exploration of how Hamlet’s story can mirror one individual family’s experience. ‘Art imitates life’ in a believable and interesting way.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 