Theatre review: The Box of Delights

The Box of Delights was, for me, one of those things from childhood I'd completely forgotten about until a stage version was announced, and I suddenly remembered loving the slightly sinister 1984 TV adaptation. I'm normally worried about seeming a bit creepy turning up to kids' shows on my own but staging this at Wilton's Music Hall with a big-name creative team - Justin Audibert directing, Tom Piper designing - made this a memory lane trip I didn't want to miss. I needn't have worried about standing out, as with the majority of tonight's audience being in their forties I think this is largely attracting people for the same reason. Not that those children who were brought along didn't seem to be entirely enchanted as well by a production whose simple aesthetic fits in as well with the faded grandeur of its surroundings, as John Masefield's alternative Christmas story itself does.

Theatre review: Two Into One

As far as I can tell the Menier Chocolate Factory's artistic policy is "to make the Old Vic look positively avant-garde in comparison." It's a theory in no way dispelled by their latest offering, which sees them dig up  farce legend Ray Cooney. Not literally, although I must admit until this show was announced I didn't realise he was still alive; he is, and still directing and even appearing in a revival of his 30-year-old farce Two Into One. The setting remains 1984, as it would have to for the plot still to work, so references to Margaret Thatcher abound, especially since the setting is a hotel in Westminster where MPs sometimes stay, presumably not having figured out the second home scam yet. Michael Praed is junior minister Richard Willey (just so we're clear what kind of level we're operating on here) who's taken a suite with his wife (Josefina Gabrielle,) who'll be popping out to catch a matinee of Evita. That's when Richard plans to get his new mistress round for an afternoon of sex in the suite next door.

Theatre review: Merrily We Roll Along

Maria Friedman has a long association with Stephen Sondheim's work as a performer, and she now has a go at directing his work as well, with Merrily We Roll Along coming to the Menier Chocolate Factory as the big winter musical (Sondheim at the Menier presumably considered a safer bet after last year's crack dream.) Merrily, like Pinter's Betrayal, is famous as "the one that takes place in reverse." At a California beach house in 1976, we meet Frank (Mark Umbers,) a hugely successful composer of musicals and movie scores. The financial success can't disguise the personal failure though - his second marriage is on the rocks thanks to an affair with the star of his new film (Zizi Strallen - I would say I've now got a full set of Strallen sisters seen on stage, but I've heard there's further models in production) and his wife's going to react in the strongest way to the betrayal.