222 stories by "Eleanor Turney"
The one complaint I can make about Matilda is that the songs are so darn catchy that I had to put up with weird looks on the tube home as I hummed along. Suffice to say that I should leave t…
Burlesque is a clever and moving new musical from Adam Meggido (who also directs) and Roy Smiles, which deserves a rip-roaring production. While this one had its moments " of both brilliance…
This melancholy, macabre and throughly modern tale has lost none of its wit or bite as it journeys round the country. It has been tightened up since its stellar London run at Battersea Arts …
I saw Akram Khan’s DESH at Sadler’s Wells a couple of weeks ago. I love Khan’s dance, but have had some issues with the last two pieces of his that I’ve seen (the oth…
Halfway between the school play and a history lesson, this somewhat hit-and-miss production has community, and local stories, at its big, generous heart. South London-based London Bubble has…
There is nothing funnier than other people’s suffering, so they say, and this bittersweet comedy from Steven Berkoff certainly capitalises on that. Following the mundane ups and downs …
Who would have thought that a sweet, gentle four-hander about a Christian youth group in a small village could be so moving, and so brilliant? Everyone’s been raving about Operation Gr…
Akram Khan is, as ever, utterly virtuosic in his movement, commanding the huge, empty stage of Sadler’s Wells with energy, humanity and beauty. However, his collaborators for DESH, wit…
In typical Kneehigh style, The Wild Bride is exuberant, gruesome fun, bursting with good tunes and playful staging. However, for a show that describes itself as a "feminist fairytale"…
Not many shows begin with a grinning Italian trying to milk members of the audience (never been gladder we didn’t sit on the front row), but this wry, witty, gentle show just wants to …
FELA! is a bouncy, buoyant, corker of production that rather loses its way halfway through. The first half is an utter joy. Bill T Jones' choreography does not flag for a second, the music i…
As Bristol Old Vic continues to be refurbished inside (I have written about how uncomfortable and creaky it used to be!), the enterprising team of Tom Morris and Emma Stenning (Artistic and …
Priestley is fond of dramatic irony, and lays it on particularly heavily in this, apparently his favourite play. It is rarely performed, perhaps because, as a piece of drama, it offers relat…
There was a lot to like about this production of The Jungle Book, mainly the parts that stayed truest to the magic of the book. However, writer Stuart Paterson and director Neal Foster have …
I have written in defence of Twitter before (here, if you're interested), but the Opera North/Lee Hall fiasco today reveals something that's bad about such an instant medium. Twitter encoura…
Misery, turmoil, lies, more misery, and a bit of onstage torture thrown in for good measure. The Beauty Queen of Leenane is not a happy play. In fact, Martin McDonagh’s script is so un…
There’s a certain irony to missing the start of The Railway Children because your train is delayed, and not an especially funny one. Peter's desperate watch-checking after the landslid…
James Corden needs to be superlatively good to carry this show: make no mistake, Francis Hensahll, the "one man" of the title, is onstage virtually the whole time, and he carries a lot of pl…
Sampled at The Junction, Day 1: This is just to say, How To Be A Leader, Dreams of a House High on a Hill and Death Drive. The Junction is a lovely space, in rather inauspicious surroundings…
News has reached AYT that the government has plans to change the way that interest rates are charged on Student Loans. Now, we know financial stuff isn't the most thrilling topic, and that t…
Bouncy, boisterous and brutal, this is children’s theatre at its best. Rosamunde Hutt’s lively production is full of swash and buckle, without glossing over the darker side of th…
Soaring venue fees are putting Edinburgh out of reach for many theatre companies. Is it the beginning of the end for Scotland's summer spectacle? Continue reading...
