thesetheatrethoughts

Date: 9th December 2023  Seat: L3 (Stalls) Rating: 5 Stars  You can’t get much more classic than Sleeping Beauty when it comes to the annual panto, and at The Hawth in Crawley this year, it’s this story that takes centre stage – but don’t worry if you think you’ve seen it all before; there are some fantastic Read more

Date: 5th December 2023  Seat: A6 (Circle) Rating 5 Stars  You think you know H G Wells’ classic The Time Machine? You might well do, actually, but the characters in Original Theatre’s side-splitting production, aptly named The Time Machine – A Comedy, might not know it quite as well, and their attempt to turn the novel into Read more

Date: 30th November 2023  Seat: G16 Rating: 3 Stars  Sherlock Holmes is a wonderful character, and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a fantastic story, so combining these two things should work. And it almost does in A Sherlock Carol. But not quite well enough to be completely satisfying, and the weak points that slow everything down and get Read more

Date: 1st December 2023  Seat: E7 Rating: 4 Stars  I love many things about Christmas, but there’s one thing that stands out – predictability. It’s the same thing (with perhaps just a few small tweaks) every year, from the same food, the same rush (and panic) to buy gifts, the same twinkling lights, and the Read more

Date: 22nd November 2023 Seat: L20 Rating: 5 Stars  A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic isn’t just a Yuletide play, and it’s not just a new tradition (there’s been a version of the same play running at the theatre since 2017); it’s an experience. Arriving at the theatre, the front is lit up in green Read more

Date: 13th November 2023  Seat: R12 Rating: 4 Stars It might be a hard-knock life for the orphans at the New York Municipal Orphanage, but it’s certainly no hardship for the audience to enjoy this magnificent version of the all-time classic, Annie.  So, what is it about this particular production of Annie that works so well? One thing Read more

Date: 8th November 2023  Seat: E6 Rating: 4 Stars Backstairs Billy, written by Marcelo dos Santos and directed by Michael Grandage, is the story of William ‘Billy’ Tallon who was the Queen Mother’s servant from the age of 15 until her death in 2002 – a span of 50 years or so. The play is Read more

Date: 3rd November 2023  Seat: Unallocated Rating: 3 Stars Just A Regular House theatre company has recently celebrated its first anniversary, and with a double bill of spooky stories – We Are Monsters, written by Joseph Ryan-Hughes, and Glass, written by Connor McCrory – they’re celebrating in style.  Both tales are directed by Zach Wyatt, and both Read more

Date: 1st November 2023  Seat: E33 Rating: 5 Stars The words ‘true crime’ and ‘rock musical’ perhaps aren’t something you’d normally expect to see in one sentence, but that’s precisely how Lizzie, currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant is described and, in all honestly, that’s precisely what Lizzie is. And it works.  Directed by William Whelton and Read more

Date: 22nd October 2023  Seat: E1 Rating: 4 Stars Frank and Percy, a new play by Ben Weatherill and directed by Sean Mathias, is a beautiful story of friendship and love and how one can become the other (and vice versa). It’s sweet and playful, but that’s not to say there aren’t some truly heart-breaking Read more