Theatre review:A Christmas Carol-ish... by Mr Swallow

Two years ago when theatre made an (unsuccessful) attempt to come out of Covid into the lucrative Christmas show season, there was no shortage of adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, something I put down to it being a reliably popular, out-of-copyright story that could be quickly adapted to a wide range of budgets and a wide variety of styles. If anything it's even more ubiquitous in 2022, when for any number of financial reasons it seems wise to play it safe. While I'm generally happy to avoid yet another iteration of the story, there's a couple of versions this year that are so out there they were hard to say no to. Starting with Nick Mohammed (book & lyrics) and Oliver Birch's (music) A Christmas Carol-ish... by Mr Swallow, a deranged musical adaptation by Mohammed's chaotic magician alter-ego and his sidekicks Mr Goldsworth (David Elms) and Jonathan (Kieran Hodgson.)

Theatre review: Other People

DISCLAIMER: Drama school productions are technically amateur productions, but I try to review them like anything else as the cast will be hoping to go on to professional work next.

LAMDA has opened its new building, including two specially-built stages, and in my occasional trips to try and spot the stars of the future a revival of Christopher Shinn’s – he of the much-loved Now or Later and the rather unloved Teddy Ferrara – second play caught my eye. Written in 2000 but set over Christmas 1997, Other People’s pop culture references, particularly numerous nods to the film Men in Black, make it something of a period piece. Wannabe playwright Stephen (Max Loban) shares a flat with his friend Petra (Alexandra Jiménez,) who’s just returned from a lucrative job stripping in Japan, and has continued to do so now she’s back, even though she doesn’t need the money. They agree to let Stephen’s ex-boyfriend Mark (Eduard Buhac,) a filmmaker who developed a drug habit while he was in Hollywood, stay on their couch when he gets out of rehab. It’s largely because Stephen is still in love with him and hopes to rekindle something, but it seems unlikely once Mark turns out to have found religion in a big way while in rehab, and appears to be more interested in his Bible than sex.

Theatre review: Terror 2012 - All In The Mind

There's plenty of shivers during Halloween show Terror 2012, but only because the air conditioning's been put on full in an underground room in October. This is the third year I've been to the annual mix of spooky theatre and cabaret, and the shows tend to be best described as a mixed bag: Usually there's more laughs than frights, with at least one downright terrible piece, a couple of fun ones, a couple of jumps in the dark and one piece of psychological horror that manages to send the odd chill down the spine. This year unfortunately doesn't even aspire to being hit and miss. I couldn't even call it "miss and miss," as that would suggest some attempt at least is being made at fulfilling the poster's promises, even if it doesn't succeed. But this is one of the laziest pieces of work I've seen in some time.