Ladies GoDiva at the Playhouse, Cheltenham

” . . . All the numbers were very theatrical and all of them could easily have come out of successful West End musicals. In fact, if you strung them together with a decent book you’d probably have a successful West End musical . . . there wasn’t a bad song among them . . . There was a good mix of humour and serious stuff and, for me, the solo numbers were almost the strongest . . . Ladies GoDiva is a class act. Helen Goldwyn’s songs are exceptionally good and the performances by all three ladies were really brilliant.”

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ARCADIA at Oxford Playhouse

When it first premiered at the National in 1993 it won countless awards (including the 1993 Olivier), was lauded by critics and is often cited as one of the nation’s favourite plays and it is easy to see why. Beautifully crafted, although not completely without its faults, Arcardia is a play of contradictions, poetry and science, romanticism and intimacy which effortlessly flows between the past and present drawing on issues of memory. It is one of the stand-out plays of its generation and this revival re-enforces its position arguably as Stoppard’s masterpiece.

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BLOOD BROTHERS at Cheltenham Everyman

Blood Brothers, while not by any means a “rock opera”, certainly had Liverpool at its heart. It is the story of twin boys, separated at birth but growing up together only as the blood brothers of the title, without knowing they were true brothers.

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JONNY AND THE BAPTISTS at the Brewery, Bristol

“For audiences across the UK you could say the election starts here. Except of course if you catch the act just before or in the case of Liverpool – and inexplicably given the title of the show (‘Rock the Vote’) – just after election day on the 7th May . . . The two performers (Jonny Donahoe and Paddy Gervers) pack as much fun as possible into the just-over-the-hour long set with a fresh mix of political and social comment . . . “

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UNDER THE DARK MOON at the Bristol Old Vic

” . . . When I first saw this show a couple of years ago, in a tent behind Bristol’s Temple Meads station my impression was of unfulfilled potential. The skills of the members of Invisible Circus seemed to open up possibilities not available to conventionally trained actors . . . With the current production we are in the realm of fantasy to which the company is well suited and whilst they delight to entertain, grand success can only be a matter of time.”

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PENELOPE RETOLD at The Brewery, Bristol

“The mythic character Penelope has come down to us as a byword for chastity and faithfulness in marriage having managed to put off by various stratagems the hundred odd suitors who pitched up on Ithaca, Odysseus having told her to remarry if he had not returned by the time Telemachus had grown a beard . . . The result is everything you could want from a one woman, one act play, which entertains as much as it provokes thought. By any measure that is a result to be proud of.”

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