Theatre Record News

December

We're well into panto season now, and you'll see all the reviews together in the special Christmas issue, which will be published in early January. You can read them all as they happen of course, by looking in the index. A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic with Paul Hilton has great reviews as does Ballet Shoes at The National Theatre. There are still plenty of other productions happening too of course. I was lucky enough to see a touring production at my local theatre of The Lonely Clown Club Theatre Co's production of Hah! Bumhug, which really put me in the Christmas spirit. I'm about to go and see The Fifth Step by David Ireland as part of NT live, and reading the reviews, I think I'm going to have a very enjoyable evening.

Apologies for the speed of adding reviews at the moment. Unfortunately our internet is down (An accident with the main pole and a lorry outside my house!), but all should be up to speed again at the start of next week.

With sadness, we all heard about the death of Tom Stoppard. I had a look at some of his work in the archive of Theatre Record, and was amazed at all of the work he had written and produced. There are some very interesting obituaries available to read, with many an interesting story. R.I.P. Tom, and thank you.

As always, were continuing to make small improvements to the site, and adding more backlog. Do let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

Lastly, may I wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas, and thank you all for your continued support.

November

Several spooky productions were reviewed in October, and these will appear in the latest issue to be published on the 5th. One such production is 'The Monkey's Paw' seen at the Hope Theatre in London. On the other hand, there is also 'Wendy & Peter Pan ' in a retelling by Ella Hickson at the Barbican, although that has dark touches. There are some powerful plays in the mix too, with 'Don't Look Now' at The New Wolsey in Ipswich, 'The Unbelievers' at the Royal Court in London and 'Eureka Day' at the Playhouse in Nottingham.

This month I saw the NT live cinema screening of Inter Alia by Suzie Miller, which was superb. I agree with a lot of the reviews, in that it was very fast paced, but it was an 'absolute banger' as Robert Gore-Langton said in his Mail on Sunday review.

I have also been adding more backlog to add to the search engine. 1990 is now fully searchable and I was interested to read in issue 5 about the opening of the West Yorkshire Playhouse with a production of 'Wild Oats' by John O'Keeffe. At a cost of £13 million it was Britain's largest theatre complex to be built since the National. Ian Herbert as editor, certainly published many interesting facts and opinions as part of his 'Prompt Corner' pieces in each issue too. In issue 5 there is a piece at the beginning called 'Arts without Frontiers - 101 things you ought to know'. It's all so interesting, and I'm really enjoying going through the whole backlog.

We're continuing to make small improvements to the website, and as ever, do let me have any comments or suggestions.

Enjoy reading all the reviews in the October issue, and enjoy any theatre you see this month.

October

As autumn rolls in, here at Theatre Record we have started work on the Christmas productions, as panto season is almost upon us. Starting at the beginning of November will be A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic with Paul Hilton as Ebenezer Scrooge this year. We'll aim to add all of the other Christmas listings during this month, and as ever, there will be a separate issue for all of the Christmas productions at the end of the year.

We've also added some more of the archive, so more is now fully searchable. 1989 is now on and it's nice to know we're now working on the 90's. I've just worked on issue 5 of 1990 which saw the opening of the West Yorkshire Playhouse. I often stop and read as I'm going through, as there's such a fascinating history contained within every issue.

This month there's lots to look forward to in London and around the regions, and as ever we'll cover as much as we can. September's issue will be ready to view from the 5th, but of course you can still read it all by looking at the list of 'latest reviews'. Enjoy reading all the reviews, and enjoy any theatre you see this month.

September

September has arrived and the Edinburgh Festivals are all but over. You can see that the Edinburgh issues are out, but there may be a few yet to add.

There were 1018 listings for the Fringe this year, and 576 of them have been reviewed. A total of 1150 reviews were added in total. The production with the most reviews was 'Lost Lear' with 14 reviews. It was a busy time for the reviewers, as there are 171 venues across 55 theatres to cover. It's a lot to get around. In Theatre Record this August we have put on reviews from 95 different reviewers. No wonder there are so many.

August still produced a fair few productions to cover in London and the regions too, and you'll see 30 of them in our August issue.

As things are now slightly less busy for us here at Theatre Record in September, we'll continue to make improvements to the site and continue with entering the archive, so it's fully searchable. 1981 up to 1989 (apart form a very few odd bits which we are still working on) is now fully searchable. We're cracking on with 1990.

As always, do let me have any comments or suggestions at editor@theatrerecord.com

August

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is underway and the first review is out, thanks to Mark Fisher from the Guardian. There are 1009 listings for the Fringe Festival, and we’ll aim to cover all that are reviewed. 981 were reviewed last year, so hopefully we’ll do the same if not better this year.

The Edinburgh International Festival starts today too, with the opening show ‘Make It Happen’ with Brian Cox sure to be reviewed widely. As always, the separate issues will be published at the end of the month, but you can see all the reviews as they come in of course.

We’re continuing to add the archive, so it’s all completely searchable. 1981-1985 and 1987-1988 is there to search, and by the weekend 1989 will be there too. (We haven’t forgotten about 1986, and that will be there soon)

We are continuing to make small changes to the website, improving the way things operate. As always, if you notice anything is missing, or indeed have any suggestions, do get in touch at editor@theatrerecord.com.

July

There's lots to look forward in the next issue. 'Macbeth' will open in Kew Gardens in the middle of July, starring Hugh Sexton and presented by the Australian Shakespeare Company. Outdoor theatre is such a wonderful experience: the play beginning with a sunset, and ending under a sky of stars. There is plenty more outdoor theatre to enjoy, including at the Glasgow Botanical Gardens. Doctor Faustus and A Midsummer Night's Dream have been reviewed in the latest June issue, with Romeo & Juliet and Sherlock Holmes to be reviewed next. Pride and Prejudice opens in Chester Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre and Regent's Park Theatre has 3 more productions until the summer season ends. The Minack Theatre also has 3 productions in July, that will hopefully be reviewed.

July will be another busy month for theatre, and as always, we'll cover all of the reviews. More listings are being added to the Edinburgh Festivals and we'll continue to add them to the 'What's On' page. We're also working on a few more changes to make Theatre Record even better.

Enjoy any theatre you see this month.

June

June

May seems to have passed very quickly! Regent's Park Open Air production of 'Shucked' has happened in the sunshine - great. Any outdoor theatre is so much more enjoyable in good weather. There's 'Noughts & Crosses' to come, which has been adapted by Dominic Cooke as well as 'Brigadoon', which has been adapted by Rona Munro. All the reviews will be in the next couple of issues.

Edinburgh fringe and International theatre shows are listed, and being added as new shows are announced. The listings page is being changed slightly, so productions are easier to search. We are aware that some errors still occur on this page; thank you to those of you who have pointed it out. We are always working to make things better if we can.

As the May issue is now published, enjoy reading all the reviews, and enjoy any theatre you see this month.

May

May

April has been an interesting month, with 46 productions reviewed, with a nice mix from the regions, Scotland and London. This month will see the opening of Shucked at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and I look forward to reading the reviews. I hope the weather will be on their side, and having been to many open air productions before, the weather does play a major part! I'm sure there are many open air productions coming up all over the country, and I hope you enjoy whatever you get to see. We'll review any that come to the attention of the national press.

Another year has been added to the search engine, so 1987 is now fully searchable. I loved reading the reviews about 31 year old Imelda Staunton in the Wizard of Oz, which earned her another Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.

We shall be listing all of the Edinburgh Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival shows this month, and we will continue to add them as they are announced. Edinburgh Fringe will be running from 1st-25th August this year. The International festival will run from 1st until the 24th August.

We're continuing to make small changes to the website all of the time, and thank you as always for any pointers and suggestions you pass on.

Enjoy any live theatre you see, and enjoy reading all the reviews for May.

April

April

With 50 shows opening and being reviewed so far in March, it's been a bit of a busy month. We always do our best to cover as many regional productions as we can, whilst still covering London, including the West End.

This month I saw the NT Live production of Dr Strangelove from the Noël Coward Theatre, which closed in January. I hadn't seen the original with Peter Sellers, so could not compare it to the original version. I certainly enjoyed this adaptation. I agree with the Guardian review from Arifa Akbar regarding Steve Coogan's many roles in that 'the way Coogan juggles them so seamlessly is remarkable'. An amazing cockpit of a B52 bomber by Hildegard Bechtler was very effective too. I loved this one.

I'm still adding the archive, but making good progress; the speed with which it goes onto the archive page will speed up very soon. We will also be introducing some changes to the website very shortly, which will improve the search engine and improve the listings page, as well as introduce new features.

Thank you as always to those of you who point out errors, missing productions, and who suggest improvements they would like to see. It's really helpful, so keep them coming. 

Enjoy the theatre this month and happy Easter.

March

March

Once again, thank you to you all for your comments and suggestions. We always love to hear them, as it helps to improve Theatre Record.

This month you can see the 'Manipulate Festival' and the 'Mime London' issues in the February archive now. Although small, we thought it was important to keep them separate from the usual listings. Also the Òran Mór Play Pie Pint season has started, and we will cover the whole season as well as covering all the usual.

I've been to see the NT Live screening of 'The Importance of Being Earnest' and I agreed with Clive Davis in his Times review - 'Think of it as an adult panto' and 'this is one of those National productions where you wonder if the director is throwing everything at the audience and hoping for the best'. The acting was superb. I'm glad I saw it. I've also seen my local drama club production of 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist'. I shall be looking out for the actor playing the anarchist, as I'm sure he'll appear in Theatre Record in the future.

We're also continuing to make changes to improve Theatre Record, including continuing to enter the whole archive. Don't forget, if you ever spot anything that needs looking at, do let us know.

Thank you all, as always for your continued support

February news

February

As panto season came to an end around the middle of January, we finished all the panto production reviews. You can see them all in out separate ‘Christmas Productions 2024’ issue, which is now in the archive.

We will be producing a separate issue for the Mime London 2025 festival, which used to be called the London International Mime Festival. You can search for these productions in the archive with “MimeLondon 2025”, and it will be included as a separate issue at the end of February.

We are making further changes to the website this month. In doing this work, we have noted some statistics. In Theatre Record, at this point in time, we have covered reviews from 485 theatres, with 709 different venues, and 224 different sub venues. We have covered theatres in 96 towns and cities across the UK.

Enjoy the next issue and, as always, do let me have your suggestions or comments at editor@theatrerecord.com

January news

January

Happy New Year to you all.

As you'll see we have completed 2024 with a special Christmas issue, which so far has 33 productions reviewed, but there will be more as the pantomime season continues. We will review as many as we can. I'm off to see my local production of Treasure Island later this month. Pantomimes are a cultural phenomenon that weaves their magic through communities across the country. They bring people of all ages and backgrounds together. They bring escape from the everyday and allow us to laugh at ourselves. I shall certainly have a good laugh.

After the panto season is over, Oliver! will open at the Gielgud Theatre on the 14th January and Cymbeline will open at the Globe Theatre on the 22nd. As well as reviewing any productions between now and then, we shall continue to enter the archive.

Thank you as always to all of you for your continued support, and thank you too for all of your suggestions and comments. As always, please keep sending them in to editor@theatrerecord.com

November news

November

We're starting to enter lots of Christmas productions this month. 'The Red Shoes' opens at the Swan Theatre at Stratford on the 14th, and 'A Christmas Carol' opens at The Old Vic on the 20th, with John Simm playing Scrooge. For many, this represents the start of the Christmas season. I'm looking forward to reading those reviews, and we'll bring you as many reviews of Christmas productions from around the country. As usual, they will be in a separate issue, rounding off TR issues for 2024.

We've also been continuing to enter the archive, and have now entered all of the productions for 1985, making them fully searchable. we're aware that sometimes the search can take a while to load (a problem with old system meets new system) but we're working on that. We'll continue apace.

Thank you as always, to those who have contacted us with pointers and suggestions. We're always grateful, so please continue to do so at

editor@theatrerecord.com

October news

October

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has been in contact to suggest improvements. We're always grateful for these pointers, and will continue to include them if we can. Thank you too, to those of you who have pointed out errors or missing reviews. Again, it's really helpful, and we're always grateful to add or change anything you spot.

We're continuing, as always, to enter the archive, which will make TR fully searchable. Whilst in the process, I looked up Maggie Smith after the sad news of her death, and read the reviews of 'Virginia' by Edna O'Brien in 1981. Reading Michael Billington's review in the Guardian reminded me what a great actress she was. A national treasure indeed.

As always, do let me have any comments or suggestions at editor@theatrerecord.com

September news

September

As you'll see, the August listings have been published.

There are 3 issues as normal for August - issue 8 including all the London and regional productions (only 24 this time), and the Edinburgh fringe and International issues. Of a total of 1114 Edinburgh theatre listings, we managed to publish reviews on 981 of them. We are continuing to add them daily, but it is coming to an end now.

To have so much talent there, showing it all off to the world, The Edinburgh Festivals are one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture on the planet. Reading all the information on the Ed fringe and International websites, they really are global events. From it's start in 1947, when 8 theatre groups performed to now is wonderful to see.

As things will be slightly less busy for us here at TR in September, we'll continue to make improvements to the site and continue with entering the archive, so it's fully searchable.

As always, do let me have any comments or suggestions at editor@theatrerecord.com