In 2000, Felix Barrett founded Punchdrunk as a theatrical company with one overriding thought, namely that audiences should have greater freedom to select what they experienced in a theatre. In doing this, he took immersive theatre to a new level. Something I experienced when I had my mind completely blown by the production of The…
We always say that a true friendship can survive anything, but is that true? Friendships are often tested, sometimes to breaking point. In Flora Wilson Brown’s I Know I Know I Know at the Southwark Playhouse a serious friendship is put through the harshest of challenges. Max (Ethan Moorhouse) and Hannah (Martha Watson Allpress) are…
Shakespeare had a tendency to play with history. Quite a lot of that mucking around was to reflect the Tudor thoughts on previous monarchs and regimes. So, when watching a Shakespearean historical drama, it’s always worth taking the story with a pinch of salt. Luckily, that doesn’t detract from the play itself, especially as Will…
Loyalty is an odd thing. It embraces so many concepts: ideas, people, identities, countries, the list is endless. But no matter how much someone expresses their loyalty to something, there is a breaking point, when they have to consider which is more important, their loyalty or themselves. And this, I believe is the message that…
As regular readers know, I love a good old-fashioned musical, and this summer, one of the first musicals I have ever seen returns to London for a limited run at the iconic Barbican Centre. So, I donned my sailor suit, walked up the gangplank, took my seat and settled back to revisit Anything Goes. In…
Without wanting to sound too much like a quote from Avenue Q, do you ever wake up and wonder what your purpose in life is? I’ve sort of accepted that, apart from the ordinary, maybe my life doesn’t have any real meaning and I’m not destined to change the world or be remembered for something…
As each year drags me kicking and screaming towards my sixties, I have started thinking, albeit very very reluctantly about retirement. What on earth will I do with myself once I don’t have a full-time day job to occupy my time? Maybe I can get some ideas for the future from seeing Trestle by Stewart…
Theatres may be closed at the moment but that doesn’t mean that theatrical experiences are just something we remember fondly. Thanks to modern technology, there is a wealth of shows, plays and musicals available to the locked-down public, and last night I was lucky enough to see one in the shape of Tom Stoppard’s play,…
A twenty-fifth anniversary is something to be celebrated. For most couples, it might be a candlelit dinner in a romantic restaurant. But, if you are Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, and the twenty-fifth anniversary being celebrated is of one of your most successful musicals, then something a little bit bigger is called for. So,…