★★★☆☆ Last night there was a great buzz of excitement in the Harbourside Kitchen as we waited to board.  Some punters had turned up in nautical costume; others were decked out in traditional Hallowe’en gear. Upon receiving our tickets, we discovered that some of us were privileged first class passengers, while others were not so lucky.

★★★★★ Whether whispering instructions to the inept and rival lover Christian beneath Roxane’s window, leaping barricades during the war with Spain or duelling with those will the nerve to refer to his proboscis, Sturrock’s Cyrano is a playful magnet always drawing the eye, exposing the conflicted man’s inner and outer workings while he both rages and inwardly weeps.

 ★★★☆☆ The scene is a basement, where two women have come to hide from knife-wielding men who prowl above.  Kelly is a tearful, panicky teenager with an injured foot. It transpires that this is the basement of her father’s house. Ashley, somewhat older, is more robust, and shows little sympathy for Kelly’s anxiety and pain.

★★★★☆ Building on testimonies from real deaf people, Ad Infinitum company explore the  otherwise untapped world of Deaf Culture, revealed in turn as Alan, Graham and Helen are told that they are broken and must be fixed.

★★★★☆ In the book Matt explains some of the physical symptoms of mental illness and has said that he believes treatment would improve if people recognised the connection between the two. And this is where a play will score over a book; the physical effects can be elucidated and exposed in a much more visceral way on stage than in print.