My Life Is A Sonnet – 4****

My Life is a Sonnet is a warm and engaging piece of storytelling written and performed by Eric Daniel Weiner.

Charlie Katz is a man with regrets, and we hear the story of his personal journey in life in the … Read More

28.06.1980 (or How A Fake Version of Deep Purple Brought Rock Music to Mexico) 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a bizarre true story. Well, mostly.

Based on his excellent book Stealing Deep Purple, McLean classes his show as a live documentary, primarily about Deep Purple and the strange events of 1980, when an unauthorised version of the … Read More

The Plot 3***

The Gunpowder Plot is surely one of the richest episodes in British history for a playwright to get their teeth into, and Emma Howlett’s The Plot takes an imaginative approach to the familiar story. Set in the aftermath of the … Read More

Slay – 5*****

Writer-performer Lois-Amber Toole gives a beguiling performance as Kit in Slay, a funny, touching and increasingly revealing exploration of trauma, self-worth and what we need to do to survive in this modern world of doom scrolling.

Kit has escaped Newcastle … Read More

Deluge 3★★★

Deluge sits somewhere between interpretive dance, spoken word and theatre, with sprinkles of comedy. Created by Gabi Flares and Andrea Maciel, it’s a magic-realist exploration of grief inspired by a break-up.

There’s a further part to the blurb which is … Read More

Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight 5★★★★★

Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight is weird.

“You’ve tried everything. Yoga. Acupuncture. You floated in salt water in the pitch black dark. You juiced, you cleansed. You reached out, you looked within. You have tried, and yet here you … Read More

Mysteries of the Picts 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I arrive at Mysteries of the Picts completely unprepared.

I have no towel. I have no swimwear.

I’m not overjoyed when I discover I can rent two towels for £5 and a pair of trunks — although the money is … Read More

Sinatra: One Last Shot 4.5****

Frank Sinatra is one of those performers whose voice and persona are so familiar that it would be easy to present a selection of his greatest hits and leave it at that. Sinatra: One Last Shot takes a more interesting … Read More

Thermodrama – 4****

Thermodrama takes four very different characters and places them together in the pressure-cooker environment of a sauna, with intriguing results.

Pete is a muscular young man obsessed with fitness, convinced that his punishing routines and regular sauna sessions will extend … Read More

HAM 5*****

HAM, from Hotter Project, takes Shakespeare’s Hamlet and gives it a gloriously unconventional makeover. Performed and created by Mary Higgins and Ell Potter, the show is a riotous collision of Shakespeare, meat, veganism, climate change and some wonderfully anarchic physical … Read More