Theatre review: Shock Treatment

Famous flops are, of course, often revived years later to great acclaim, so that isn't what kept me away from Shock Treatment so long - especially since Julie Atherton leads the cast. But the King's Head's scheduling of the show at 10pm or midnight showings put me off until now, when the show's success has seen its run extended, and I could make a Sunday matinee performance. Richard Hartley, Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman's sequel to The Rocky Horror Show took the opposite path to the original by being made into a film first - it was a critical and box office failure, meaning it hasn't turned up on a stage until now, with a new book by Tom Crowley. Brad (Ben Kerr) and Janet (Atherton) are now a married couple settled into small-town American anonymity, but Brad losing his job and Janet becoming the breadwinner has put a strain on their marriage.

Theatre review: The Beautiful Game

Stephen Ward was this year's entry in the "forgotten" category of Baron Dame Sir Andrew Lloyd Lord Webber's back catalogue, but some of those noted flops do better as chamber pieces on the fringe. And so the Union Theatre takes on The Beautiful Game, the piece he wrote with former comedian Ben Elton, and whose title suggests is about football - but is actually about the much more musical theatre-friendly subject of sectarian violence and terrorism. Set in 1970s Belfast, it follows John (Ben Kerr) and four of his friends on an under-21s' football team with a chance of winning the local Catholic league title. But soon after winning their first game of the season, the one Protestant member of the team, Del (Stephen Barry) is hounded out by the more aggressively Nationalist of his teammates.