The Tempest is the latest in a series of Shakespeare adaptations to mark 400 years since the Bards death, produced for St George's Hall by new theatre company Chalice Media Limited.

This abridged version of, what is believed to be Shakespeare’s final play, is set on a remote island where Prospera, the once Duke of Milan (played by Jane Hamlet, in this version, the male character Prospero, is the female Prospera), has been banished with her daughter Miranda, Rachel Horrobin. Prospera, a sorcerer, arranges for a Tempest, a great storm, to shipwreck her sister Antonia (Jade Frank, originally Antonio) who was the cause of her banishment along with Alonso, King of Naples (Robbie James Williamson). The aim of this is to ensure Alonso’s son Ferdinand (Aaron Kehoe) falls in love with Miranda and to reinstate her to her rightful place.

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The “Best Party in Town” has arrived in Sheffield for two nights only. (Three performances including a Saturday matinee)  Featuring hit after hit, all killer no filler, of the chart-busting hits originally made famous by The Four Tops, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas, Lionel Richie, Edwin Starr and many more.

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When I was offered the chance to go along to see another production by students of The Manchester School Of Theatre, and realising that the cast would include some from my previous experience of seeing them in The Country Wife, I literally jumped at the opportunity.

The Country Wife was very good; The Art Of Success was quite remarkable.

It is a play I had never heard of before and knew nothing about before going last night, and so have now added another play and playwright to my mental arsenal.

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It takes a brave person to change something that is iconic and established in tradition, but that is exactly what David Dawson has done with the Scottish Ballet’s production of Swan Lake. David’s design for this new production has stripped away much of the trappings of this 140 year old ballet; gone are the tutus, the elaborate sets and even the men in tights.

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Presented by Out of Nowhere, The Oddity bases in two elements and time periods of a young woman's disillusioned, confused and imaginative mind. Performed in a wonderful black box theatre giving an emotional, heart wrenching and intimate experience. Masterfully wrote by Rose van Leyenhorst and inspired by Homer's Odyssey - it's self-described as "lost between ancient fiction and modern reality".

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Five women joining a pole dancing class, five very different women with little in common but each with a reason and story to tell for attending the class.....and who by the end form a strong bond and a friendship that will last as they support each other through their trials and tribulations and discover themselves.

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#ChipShoptheMusical advertises curiosity and intrigue. One wonders how it is possible for a musical to be based on fish and chips? There is and in a production presented jointly by Emma Hill Writes, Freedom Studios and the Octagon Theatre, Bolton.

First of all, a meal of fish and chips is served in the restaurant before the tables are cleared to become the performing space. The performance takes place in the heart of the restaurant where the audience is the centre of the action.

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The new summer season at Theatre By The Lake was started with a bang with the 1950’s quintessentially English comedy, Watch It, Sailor by Phillip King and Falkand L Cary.

The scene is set as Albert Tufnell, played by Oliver Mott, comes back from sea to marry his love Shirley, played by Helen MacFarlen, much to her mothers dismay. With paternity being questioned, people being left at the alter and general chaos, this does have a farce feel which left the audience in stitches.

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George Egg is an instantly likeable chap, walking on to the stage in a slightly nervous but immediately endearing fashion, after a very dramatic visual opening. Immediately you know that what you have come to see is completely unique, as is George himself.

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The Regent Theatre Stoke is currently showing Jackie the Musical based around the popular magazine, now being a nineties baby I truthfully didn’t know what to expect here. This Jukebox musical played host to some of the most popular sixties and seventies songs imaginable. Some that I knew and some that I didn’t, however the ones that I didn’t had the audience singing at the top of their lungs.

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The People’s Theatre Company bring us a musical play based on the book by Steven Lee, ‘Don’t Dribble on the Dragon’.

 

I entered the theatre, as a solitary reviewer, to be greeted by an atmosphere of excited and expectant families and children’s groups. The air was full of chattering voices, rustling sweet packets and children’s party music over the PA system. The stage was set like a child’s bedroom but with oversized old-fashioned wooden blocks, painted with the letters of the alphabet. The oval screen, in the centre of the stage, has a projection of shelves and music posters. As the lights go down we hear the sound of the Happy Birthday song being sung off-stage.

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