To mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of Agatha Christie, the Theatre Company set up in her name by West End Theatre producer Bill Kenwright, has spent most of this year touring up and down the country with Christie’s own stage adaptation of her most famous novel. Originally published in the UK under another title, (which in this age of political correctness has understandably been changed), the novel is generally regarded to be Christie’s masterpiece and has sold over 100 million copies. It may come as a surprise to some people who now regard Agatha Christie and her work to be unfashionable that at the time of publication the novel’s plot was regarded by many critics to be ground breaking.

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s2smodern

This is something really quite different, and something I feel quite privileged to have watched. From the moment I took my seat last night, I could instinctively tell that this was going to be a quite incredible and unique experience.

This was Ockham's Razor, a company of aerial circus performers who specialise in bringing this genre of physical performance into a theatre setting and making arresting, engaging and somehow quite beautiful pieces of self-devised original works of, if I have to label it as anything, physical theatre, to life.

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s2smodern

'Kiss Me, Kate' is the show which reportedly put Cole Porter back on the map.  Having hit a slump around 1943, he needed something fresh to get him back in the mind and heart of the theatre going public

He was approached by writer, Bella Spewack, with the idea of staging 'The Taming of The Shrew' as a musical but it couldn't be done straight and yet it couldn't be changed.  There is some controversy as to whether it actually was her idea because Saint Subber, the show's co-producer, maintained that he came up with the idea after working with husband and wife team, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.  Apparently the couple couldn't stop bickering backstage and it was thought that this would be a great premise for 'The Shrew'.

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s2smodern

Interesting. Different. Quirky. These are just some of the words I heard bandied around by the audience last night leaving the auditorium after watching The Red Chair at The Lowry Theatre's Studio space. And I have to say, in the main, I agree with them. It WAS interesting, different and quirky.

The Red Chair is a one woman tour-de-force. Not only was she the writer of last night's offering, but she was the only performer, delivering what was a 100 minute monologue, more or less non-stop!

The lady in question is one Sarah Cameron, a Dundee-born actress and performer who has written this strange but somehow compelling yarn, which, like it or not, you simply have to listen to, just to find out exactly how more bizarre the story can actually get, and how it will all end up! And let me tell you the story IS bizarre! It is fantastically surreal and surreally fantastic! Not to give too much away to those wishing to follow The Red Chair to its next location, but the story has three main protagonists all brought to life by the animate an passionate Cameron. There is a man, who turns into a chair, his wife who feeds him all manner of food known to man, and their 11 (or maybe it's 13) year old daughter.

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s2smodern

I'm just going to come right out and say it: THIS IS A MUST SEE SHOW!  I'm starting on a high because there is no low whatsoever!

Anyway...Guys and Dolls is a very well loved musical set in downtown New York amongst the seedier element of 'crap games', gambling and out and out sin.   We follow Nathan Detroit's attempts to stage an illegal 'floating' crap game and his tempestuous romance with Miss Adelaide, together with Sky Masterson's efforts to woo a Salvation Army 'mission doll', Sarah Brown.

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s2smodern

There can be few thespians who are not aware of this play and its provenance: Shelagh Delaney's first play, written when she was only 18, first produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in 1958 and one of the finest examples of a genre very fashionable and ground-breaking at that time which became known as 'kitchen-sink drama'.

To expound just for a second; the term 'kitchen-sink' was first coined in 1954 and referred to a painting, but the term soon caught on to include plays and films etc that gave socio-political comment on the British working class, showing them in cramped and poorly furnished spaces; showing them as real people, and showing them as angry and dissatisfied. It was a reaction both to the political situation at the time and a railing against the established and stereotypical way of portraying the lower classes in plays, such as those written by Noel Coward or Terrence Rattigan for example.

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s2smodern

Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace are synonymous with the Argentine Tango. They are world champions in it, having danced and competed together for many years and of course, they became household names through Strictly Come Dancing.

They have had two previous tours: Midnight Tango and Dance 'til Dawn.   The Last Tango is their final ever theatre tour and will be the last chance most people have of seeing them dance live together.

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s2smodern

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts "with the purpose of presenting a playful entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form".   This is an all male ballet company - nothing unusual in that you may say, except that they dance in tutus and en pointe - both of which are usually reserved for female dancers.

The show has four sections and two intervals.

The first part of the show is Swan Lake. I was laughing within ten seconds and I didn't stop laughing or having a beaming smile on my face until the first interval. This is ballet with attitude! Whilst being totally faithful to the classical tale, the Trocks (as they refer to themselves) bring something fresh and exhilarating which is just so enjoyable to watch. The written word doesn't do it justice, it really has to be experienced.

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s2smodern

Having worked in quite a few aspects of theatre over the years and having a keen interest in magic I walked into the Lowry tonight more than a little sceptical of someone who claims to be able to read your mind. Colin Cloud blew that scepticism away by the end of the night performing things that totally blew my mind and those of the entire audience.

Cloud models himself on Sherlock Holmes and as you take your seat he is sat bolt upright on a stool in the centre of the stage blindfolded whilst loud music is playing. As the show begins he tells the audience his background and how he studied began his career by studying a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in forensic investigation, specialising in criminal profiling, at University before abandoning that line to pursue a career in entertainment.

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s2smodern

The year is 2540 and the audience at the Wolverhampton Grand are taking their seats in what has become a London Hatchery and we are about to be recruited into a brave new world.

This adaptation by Dawn King of the novel ‘A Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley explores just how the world may look in 525 years time. Presented by the Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Royal & Derngate, Northampton we are taken on a journey through and beyond London and the state of the art facility where humans are produced using specific genetics pertaining to their ultimate reason for living and the job they are destined to do.

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s2smodern

The Glenn Miller Story playing this week is a good show, but that’s about all it is, good.

The problem for me with this production is the casting. Glenn Miller was born in 1904 and went missing in action in 1944 during the Second World War which made him 40 years old at the time of his passing. The Glenn Miller Story is brought to the stage in a brand new musical, charting the life, fame and vanishing of America's most famous big band leader. So why cast a 78 year old as Miller?

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s2smodern