01st Oct2019

Mamma Mia! The Party (Theatre)

by timbaros

IMG_4234Enter the world of ABBA, and Greece, by attending MAMMA MIA! THE PARTY at The O2 London – it’s the best in immersive theatre. And what a great idea!

Yes, it’s the 02, but once you enter you are transported to a Greek-style courtyard (on the Greek island of Skopelos no less) where it will make you forget the horrific Jubilee Line ride that took you there.

It’s a romantic courtyard that seats over 200 people with tables scattered on top of balconies, lower levels, stage level and the ground floor – surrounded by Greek-style leaves hanging down from the walls. And at the centrepiece of all this is the water fountain in the middle of the room. You have to see it to believe it – it literally stops you dead in your tracks when you enter the room where you automatically want to start snapping photos and selfies with you and your friends.

But as it’s a party, there is food and drink involved, as well as great singing and dancing, performed by a cast that belongs in the West End! But it’s the East End – far from the West End, but never mind – for three hours you will forget this and suddenly Greek language will spew forth from your mouth.

And the show that is performed right before your very eyes is the story of Nikos and his wife Kate who run this exotic and wonderful restaurant together with their family and friends. Told through dialogue and ABBA songs, it’s a warm, romantic and funny story which evolves and unfolds during the evening, taking place around the guests as they sit at their tables enjoying a delicious Greek meal. The evening ends with the main floor bring transformed into a 1970’s disco where audience members are welcome to stay and dance.

On arrival, you’ll be greeted with a smile and a complimentary welcome cocktail, after which you are welcome to purchase drinks from the several taverna bars.

The London cast includes Fed Zanni as Nikos, Steph Parry as Kate, Joanna Monro as Debbie, AJ Bentley as Adam, Julia Imbach as Konstantina, Elin König Andersson as Bella, Kimberly Powell as Nina, Pauline Stringer as Grandma, Gregor Stewart as Fernando, with Linda John-Pierre playing Debbie at certain performances and Allie Ho Chee playing Bella at certain performances.

In between all this are yummy starters such a mezze selection followed by succulent meat dishes paired with tempting sides, and it all ends on a deliciously sweet note with authentic Greek desserts.

Ticket prices start from £135 per person including VAT.

This includes a welcome drink, a set four-course meal, a show and an ABBA disco at the end of the evening.

There are different types of tickets to choose from: Premium, Band A, Band B, Band C (on some performances) and Band D. Premium and Band A ticket holders are seated at tables on the ground floor in the Courtyard and on the Terrace levels, and Band B and C ticket holders are seated at tables in the Terrace levels and Balcony. Band D seats, which offer a partially restricted view, are located in the Terrace levels.

MAMMA MIA! THE PARTY has music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (some songs with Stig Anderson), and a story by Calle Norlén, Roine Söderlundh and Björn Ulvaeus, adapted for the UK by writer, comedian and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig.

However, there are three things that could be improved.
1.) The queue. Arrive early as you will be waiting at least 30 minutes to get inside. Doors open at 18:30 (12:00 for daytime shows) but you definitely want to be seated sooner rather than later and before the food starts to arrive. Any later and you might miss the first course. Get there at 6 so you can be one of the first in, and then you can soak up the room before it fills up.
2.) The heat inside the venue. We were very warm the whole night and didn’t feel any air. It could be cooler in the venue – perhaps they can create a nice beach breeze to make the too a bit more bearable and comfortable temperature-wise.
3.) The food. We were a table of 4 and received the same portions of food as the single guy sitting at the next table (and he had the best seat in the house). If they can proportion the food according to the table size that would make much more sense.

These quibbles are valid quibbles, but they won’t ruin your night. And while the show is not cheap (prices from £130 to £218) you will get your money’s worth, whether or not you like/love ABBA. ‘You are my Dancing Queen…..’.

https://www.mammamiatheparty.com/gb/en/

 

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29th Sep2019

Falsettos (Theatre)

by timbaros
FAL_heart image_2A dysfunctional Jewish family is at the heart of the new show ‘Falsettos.’
Now playing at The Other Place theatre near Victoria Station, ‘Falsettos’ is a funny, toe-tapping, well-acted and sung musical set in NYC in the late 70’s and early 80’s. But later in the show reality kicks in and the show takes a turn.
The show opens with the hilarious song ‘Four Jews in a Room bitching.’ The four Jews include Trina (a wonderful Laura Pitt-Pulford), and Marvin (a very good Daniel Boys), who were married with a young son Jason (various actors play the part but on the night I saw it it was a fantastic George Kennedy). However Marvin turned gay when he meets, and falls in love with, Whizzer (Oliver Savile), and they move in together, leaving Trina single. But the family is recommended to go see a shrink Mendel – another Jew – (Joel Montague) to accept their new circumstances. It all becomes very confusing for Jason, who spends most of his time alone in his bedroom with no friends to hang out with. Jason and Whizzer become very close and it’s Whizzer who tells Jason to see the shrink as well. Trina and Mendel soon fall in and all seems fine with everyone, but suddenly Marvin and Whizzer break up, and then Whizzer starts getting sick. As it’s the early 1980’s in NYC, it’s no surprise what disease Whizzer is struck with. The show then unexpectedly turns very dark, so unlike the first half which was hilarious and fun!
When Falsettos first premiered on Broadway in 1992 theatre audiences (a lot of them gay men) were just getting over the multitude of deaths from the 1980’s AIDS crises, a chapter in LGBT history that is dark and grim. But through its storytelling via music (Pit-Pulford brings the house down with songs ‘Trina‘s Song’ and ‘Holding to the Ground’), and a wicked sense of humour (the funniest moment is when the second half opens and Mendel points to an audience member and says ‘you are a homosexual.’)Falsettos will set the right notes for your theatre going experience. The cast are all wonderful (give Pitt-Pulford an award pronto).
This show, directed by Tara Overfield-Wilkinson, succeeds in it’s first showing in London in a venue where every seat is good, and with a very good cast.
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24th Sep2019

Rouge (Theatre)

by timbaros

Rouge-ReviewThe final headline act the 2019 Underbelly Festival Southbank is the Australian circus cabaret act Rouge. The award-winning group is in a long line of acts that have played at the famous Southbank venue, the most memorable of them Little Death Club – a naughty but nice cabaret act from Berlin that tore the house on fire. While Rouge doesn’t quite attain this level of scandal (and nudity), they give the audience what they want: jaw-dropping acrobatics, skin, and lots and lots of chairs.

The cast includes the mind-bending Cyr wheel action and the phenomenal fire routines of Jessie Mckibbin, astonishing acrobatic feats from Lyndon Johnson, Liam DeJong and Madison Burleigh, aerial antics and more than a little cheek from dancer Paul Westbrook, plus the powerhouse operatic vocals of Issie Hart (who had laryngitis the night we were there).

The sexy Westbrook is the emcee for the evening – all he really needs to do is just stand on stage and that would be enough! But he’s got a job to do – not just to emcee but also to perform in some of the acrobatics – and perform he does!

Rouge is 60 minutes of twirling (the acts) and slurping (you – from drinks at the bar). And at the end of the show, you can meet the cast at the bar outside – what other show lets you do that? So go on and experience a naughty night – at the hands of Rouge!

Rouge plays at Underbelly until Sunday 15 September 2019.

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24th Sep2019

Evita (Theatre)

by timbaros

Samantha Pauly as Eva Perón and Company. Photo Marc Brenner (2)One of the biggest, best and most well-known of shows has made another return to London.

Evita, which has been around since 1978, tells the story of Eva Peron (a/k/a Evita) who was the wife of Argentine President Juan Peron from 1946 until her early death in 1952 at the very young age of 33. She has been immortalised in this show that was written by the duo Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, with this being perhaps their most popular and famous collaboration.

The songs in this show are epic. “You Must Love Me,” “Buenos Aires,” and of course “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” – perhaps one of the most famous songs ever written for a piece of musical theatre, are all here. Madonna brought Eva to life in the 1996 film version which made Eva perhaps more popular than when she was alive.

Now there is a new production in the gorgeous venue that is the Regents Open Air Theatre. In a set that can be called bare-bones (there is, unfortunately, no proper set, just a wide staircase that leads up to the orchestra), it allows the cast to sing and dance to their heart’s content.

The character of Che, played superbly by Trent Saunders, is our narrator who guides us through the story, and sings superbly in the anthem “And The Money Kept Rolling In (And Out).”

Che continues telling the story when Eva meets and falls in love with Juan Peron, and in the process literally kicking his current lover out of the Presidential Palace, her rise in popularity and then, unfortunately, her sudden illness which leads to her death.

But this production doesn’t quite convey the magnitude spell Eva had, and it leaves out the balcony where she used to wave to her admirers. Also, some scenes don’t quite add up: when a little girl suddenly appears (in a ghastly getup) to beg for money and then walks off with a wad of cash, and when the cast, and Eva, perform in their underwear – these are scratch your head moments.

But all of this aside, it’s a huge huge musical with amazing songs, great dancing by a cast who works hard to entertain you, and all performed in a beautiful setting.

https://openairtheatre.com

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10th Aug2019

Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show (Theatre)

by timbaros
6M6A0803 LUKE AUSTINThe life of Jean Paul Gaultier is told in very unique style at the Southbank in a show appropriately called Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show. And what a show it is!
 
Ever since JPG was a little boy he always had a thing for fashion. You see, his parents told him to be whatever he wanted to be – which helped him become the man he is today – one of the most well-known fashion designers of his generation. And JPG is the Créateur du spectacle et des costumes (Creator of the show and the costumes), Metteur en scéne (Director),and the Librettiste. Basically it’s his show, and it’s all about him, and of course his costumes!
 
Part Folies Bergére, part cabaret, part Rocky Horror Picture Show, and all fashion, you’ll be mesmerized by what is taking place on the stage. It’s a full-on show that takes you through JPG’s life, which includes the soundtrack to his life, with songs like ‘Smalltown Boy,’ ‘I Want Your Love’ ‘Sex,’ ‘Relax,’ ‘Le Freak,’ ‘Respect Yourself,’ and the huge dance anthems ‘Work’ and of course ‘Vogue,’ where the young, virile, lithe performers give their voguing all on the stage. Also in the show is the story of JPG meeting his partner Francis while they were still students in the Paris suburbs. But it’s not JPG if it were not for the fashion, and fashion we get plenty of. Costumes in all shapes and colors, with nods to classic, simple, outrageous and of course fetish, and let’s not forget the cone bra that JPG famously made for Madonna – it’s all here in many cone dimensions. 
 
Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show(an invitation, according to JPG, to dream and to make your dreams a reality) is a show that, while is slightly artificial and over the top (like the fashion world), is a helluva good time, and a good way to spend two hours. 
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10th Aug2019

The View Upstairs (Theatre)

by timbaros
The cast of The View UpStairs, credit credit Darren BellIf you plan to see any show this summer, make sure it is The View Upstairs.

The View Upstairs is a musical that’s full of very talented actors and singers; it’s a show that is based on a very tragic event; and it’s a show that is very uplifting and inspiring.

Max Vernon, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, has based this story on the Upstairs Lounge bar in New Orleans which was set fire in a catastrophic arson attack in 1973 where 32 men lost their lives in the raging inferno. It’s a true story that not many people know about, probably because at that time gays dying was just not big news. But from tragedy we get this great show – it’s a very simple story that has a big heart and an even bigger voice.

Wes (Tyrne Huntley) wants to buy an old attic that’s a wreck, and once he signs the contract we go back in time, where he meets the people (ghosts?) there who are in the ‘Life’ (a name they call themselves). He doesn’t quite know it yet but he’s in 1973, and those people there have no idea about that device he has in his hand that he calls a cellphone. He is instantly smitten with Patrick (a very good Andy Mientus) and tells Patrick abut the most important evens over the last 45 years. The bar manager is sassy and wonderful Henri (Carly Mercedes Dyer – who has an amazing voice) while Willie (Cedric Neal) has wisdom beyond his years. Other barflies include Buddy (John Partridge – who has a wife and 2 kids), the troubled Dale (Declan Bennett), and Freddy (Garry Lee) who likes to dress up in drag, which his mom (Victoria Hamilton Barritt) is been with. 

The View Upstairs takes us on a journey to get to knew each character (Willie was supposed to be a dancer, while Patrick and Dale are male prostitutes), through music and song. Tension builds when the local police don’t like it that Freddy is seen in the street in drag. But it’s not only in the storytelling but also the songs that make this show stand out – songs that soar like anthems that pay tribute to the men who died in the real fire. Mientus is in fine vice when he sings ‘What I did say’ while the whole cast brings down the house at the end in the theme song ‘The View Upstairs.’ And once the show is finished, you feel that you’ve just attended a gospel choir performance; you’ll feel uplifted, full of joy, a tinge of sadness, but also a feeling that you’ve experienced something very unique.
For tickets:
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27th Jul2019

The Night of the Iguana (Theatre)

by timbaros
The Night of the Iguana - Clive Owen as Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon and Lia Williams Hannah Jelkes (c) Brinkhoff.Moegenburg.The Night of the Iguana was never really Tennessee Williams’ best work, and a new theatre production in London adds very little to it.
 
Now playing at the Noel Coward Theatre, movie star Clive Owens plays defrocked priest Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton in the film) who escapes to a Mexican lodge deep in the forest to while away his time. Others in the lodge include the owner Maxine (Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn playing Ava Gardner’s role in the film), Hannah- a middle-aged single woman (Lia Williams), with her very old grandfather Nonno (Daniel Glover), and a German family who keeps on going back and forth from the lodge to the beach who in their quirky way liven up this production.
 
So what happens in the 2 hours and 35 minutes of this show? Not a whole lot! The most dramatic moment comes when a thunderstorm literally starts dripping buckets of rain onto the stage, leaving the cast scrambling for cover. It’s a fantastic effect that you would think would set the mood for an even more exciting second half, but it’s all dialogue between Shannon and Hannah that leads to a bit of sexual tension but not enough to make this show sexy and exciting. Director James MacDonald limits the actors to a very small confined space on stage (though there is a cleverly designed staircase that goes down to an unseen beach), and while the rest of the cast are quite good, Owen is just OK, but there is really nothing spectacular about this production. Perhaps it’s one for hardcore Williams, Owens, and Breaking Bad fans. 
 
Review by Tim Baros
 
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21st Jul2019

Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat (Theatre)

by timbaros
A scene from Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice @ London Palladium. Directed by Laurence Connor. (Opening 11-07-19)

A scene from Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice @ London Palladium. Directed by Laurence Connor.
(Opening 11-07-19)

49 years after it originally debuted, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is back and is as good as ever!

Now playing at the fabulous (and best venue in London) The Palladium, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat boasts a cast that is first rate and leaves the audience wanting more. The show, based on the ‘Coat of many colours’ story of Joseph from the Bible’s Book of Genesis, begins with Joseph (Jac Yarrow) being given a colourful coat by his dad. He’s then sold into slavery by his jealous bothers, and then climbs back to the top. The show is considered a camp classic and this version puts it over the top!
Sheridan Smith is very good as the narrator – she guides us through the show effortlessly, and cheekily – it looks like she is having as good a time as we are. Jason Donovan makes an all too very brief appearance as the Pharaoh (with an excellent Elvis Presley-like imitation), in his gold harness-style outfit dutifully displaying most of his upper torso and legs – Jason has still got it. Yarrow, making his West End debut, is absolute perfection as the main character Joseph. Currently training at the Arts Educational School, Yarrow is the strongest voice in the show, and his rendition of ‘Close Every Door’ right before the end of the first half literally brings down the house. It’s a stunning West End debut by someone so young and very talented (he is only 21). And Donovan, who played Joseph in a 1991 version (also at the Palladium, has come full circle and weathered it very very well.
The show does not rely on razzle dazzle sets and special effects – it’s all about the actors and talent on stage – and they more than deliver. The sets are effortlessly perfect, and the cast of children, most of them playing adult characters (a few with fake beards) make the show charming and enduring. But the show, on the technical side on the night I saw it, had sound problems. The audience could not quite understand Donovans’ lyrics, while, in a show that is mostly sung and not spoken, makes a big impact on the storytelling for those of us seeing it for the first time. But’s it a minor quibble – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (written by by a very young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) is lively and fun and should continue to bring this to audiences to come, probably for the next 49 years.
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21st Jul2019

Bitter Wheat (Theatre)

by timbaros

Ioanna Kimbook (Yung Kim Li), John Malkovich (Barney Fein) Bitter Wheat (pic byJohn Malkovich and David Mamet attempt to tell a story about a Hollywood mogul and his downfall but it falls completely flat in the new West End Show Bitter Wheat.

Malkovich, star of screen and stage (70 films in total including ‘Empire of the Sun’ and Burn After Reading), and playwright David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed the Plow) are where the blames lie in a show that tries to deal with an issue that is very timely but in this stage production is poorly executed. Malkovich is super-rich movie mogul Barney Fein who thinks and makes decisions with his nether regions. All likeliness to Harvey Weinstein is purely coincidental (!!). In this satire that is far from funny, Fein’s life is managed by his loyal assistant (Doon Mackichan). He even relies on her to get a gift for his mothers birthday (his mother owns the company) -strangely the same scarf she got her the year before. And then there is another assistant (Alexander Arnold) who has no other function then just to walk in from time to time (including at the end where he announces that there is a man with a gun in the lobby – the same man who kills Feins’ mother in the second half – not shown) – all very silly and unbelievable. But before we get to this we are witness to an attempt by Fein to get young  British-Korean actress and Cambridge grad Yung Kim Li (Ioanna Kimbook), who’s flown in to meet him, into a sexual liaison (all she wants is to eat after a long flight). Fein first asks her for a massage, and then finally asks her if she would watch him take a shower. It’s all very creepy and weird. And the show, at only 110 minutes long, (it also has an interval,) continues on a downward spiral that becomes shockingly dumb and just as quick as Weinteins’ downfall. Malkovich is just not convincing enough and delivers his lines likes he’s reading them, while Mamet, who wrote and directed, knows better than to stage a show this bad. Avoid at all costs.
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16th Jun2019

Afterglow (Theatre)

by timbaros

AFTERGLOW 7 Danny Mahoney Jesse Fox Sean Hart photo Darren Bell.A married gay couple welcome a third and things will never be the same with them again.

In the show Afterglow, now playing at Southwark Playhouse, Josh (Sean Hart) and Alex (Danny Mahoney) live comfortably in a nice Manhattan apartment and enjoy other men’s company. Darius (Jesse Fox), all but 25 years old, gets involved in a three-way with them, however, Darius and Josh have an instant attraction. They start hooking up with each other, and it is at this point that we know where the story is going to go. But what complicates even more is that Josh and Alex are expecting a baby through a surrogate, and with Darius in the picture, what will happen not only with their relationship but also to their pending fatherhood?

In a show that has nudity as a top billing (a device that’s sure to sell tickets), the actors are not shy and are naked in the very beginning – having a three way in bed. Getting undressed, shower scenes and lots of kissing add a bit more to the show. But this alone cannot save the fact that the scenery changes and the undressing take a bit too long, losing any sense of drama this show is trying to eke out. And it’s a bit frustrating because the actors are all actually quite good –  it’s the story that doesn’t do them justice.

I would say go for the nude scenes –  they are worth the price of admission, just don’t expect much else.

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29th May2019

Myra Dubois: We Wish You A Myra Christmas (Theater)

by timbaros

51505985_2043630809089742_4157495649236942848_nIt’s Christmas at the Soho Theatre in the Myra Dubois: We Wish You A Myra Christmas show.

And what a Christmas, and show, it is. Myra Dubois, the award-winning as seen on television, and perhaps the hardest working drag queen on the scene, has brought a Christmas show to London, and it works.

Dubois, wh just last mnth was in Bernie Dieters Little Death Club at the Underbelly, and regularly perfrms at Vauxhall’s Rya l Vauxhall Tavern and Clapham’s Tw Brwers, is in tp fr in her ill-timed Christmas, and all the favrite gags and jkes are there fr th AdMyra-ers, including bits where she picks n the audience and give ne lucky audience member a gift in the frma f a christmas jacket (and hat) that Myra takes back at the end f the shw – the scrge!

But it’s her vsin f The Twelve Days f Christmas that will have yu, and the rest f the audience, in tears. G see Myra Dubois: We Wish You A Myra Christmas show prnt, it ends this Saturday!

Myra DuBois: We Wish You A Myra Christmas
28 May – 1 June
9.30pm Tuesday – Friday & 10.00pm Saturday
21 Dean St, Soho, London W1D 3NE
£11.00 – £17.00
https://sohotheatre.com/shows/myra-dubois-we-wish-you-myra-christmas/

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12th May2019

Little Death Club (Theatre)

by timbaros

TBernie Dieter and Beau Sargent in Little Death Club at Underbelly - Credit Alistair Veryard Photographyhe best type of shows at the theatre have always been the ones that give you a bit of everything; comedy, singing, live music, and perhaps throwing in some death-defying performances, drag, and gratuitous nudity is always welcome. Little Death Club gives us this and more!

Playing until Sunday June 23rd, 2019, Little Death Club has literally something for everyone (the straights, the gays and all the in betweens). Compered by the sexy and slutty Bernie Dieter, she guides us through the all too short (one hour) show and introduces the acts, but she is an act unto herself. She sarcastically delivers with a Berlin/Rocky Horror sluttiness style, all with a bang, and involving some lucky male audiences members whom she involves in a bit of mischievous. But then immediately the acts come out fast and furious. The lithe and built body of the ever so graceful Beau Sargent who wows the crowd, scantily clad of course, as he does acrobatics and does bends and turns where the audience can see every line on his body; to the amazing Fancy Chance who hangs and spins by her hair – literally – and then decides she doesn’t need to wear any clothes – and does the spinning again – in the nude. Myra Dubios provides laughter and glamour to the proceedings, while disgruntled Josh Glanc tells why he is not a happy mine. But the show ends with a bang by the amazing Kitty Bang Bang, who eats fire and spits it out – so don’t get too close to her. This and more is showcased to a very happy audience at the Underbelly in the Southbank. You get a lot of bang for your buck, and you’ll want to go back and see it again (I will). The Spiegeltent, which has been home to many many cabaret and burlesque shows, might have found it’s best one yet. It’s excellent, breath-taking, hilarious, sexy, and with a bar attached to quench your thirst. What more could you ask for in a night at the theatre? It sure beats watching Dame Maggie Smith delivering a 100 minute monologue that’s for sure.
 
Little Death Club

Thursday 18th April – Sunday 23rd June 2019 Friday, Sunday – 7.15pm
Saturday – 7.15pm and 9.30pm
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – 7.45pm

Underbelly Festival Southbank, Jubilee Gardens, off Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

www.underbellyfestival.com

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14th Apr2019

Waitress (Theatre)

by timbaros
WAITRESS by Bareilles ; Directed by Diane Paulus ; Design by Scott Pask ; Lighting by Christopher Akerlind ; at The Adelphi Theatre ; February 7 2019 ; Credit : Johan Persson

Credit : Johan Persson

Pies Pies Pies, it’s all about the pies. Any way you want them she will make them – Jenna – the waitress in the West End Musical ‘Waitress.’

Jenna (Katharine McPhee) works in a diner called Joe’s Pie Diner. Jenna job’s, besides waiting on tables, is to make all the pies. She learned to make pies from her mother, and she’s the best pie maker this side of the Mississippi. She works hard at her job every day, alongside sassy Becky (a wonderful Marisha Wallace) and the timid and shy Dawn (Laura Baldwin), all toiling away while the cook and boss Earl (Peter Hannah) looks on. Jenna is in an unhappy marriage and has to reluctantly give her husband her tip money. But once she finds out she is pregnant she begins to look for new ways to leave her ungrateful husband. However, complications get in the way when she enters into an inappropriate relationship with her gynaecologist (who also happens to be married). Meanwhile, Dawn has fallen in love with the goofy Ogie (a funny Jack McBrayer from television’s ’30 Rock’) and Becky and Earl seem to have taken a liking to each other (Becky is married as well!). All this fun and fiasconess is set to music by musician Sarah Bareilles, based on the motion picture of the same name written by Adrienne Shelley. ‘Waitress’ was not as good as I had expected it to be, and some of the situations the waitresses get involved in seems so behind the times, but a better second half and a welcome cute finale saves the day. Save me a slice of apple pie!
Waitress is booking until Wednesday November 27th, 2019. McPhee is in the show until June 15th, 2019 and McBrayer leaves the show on May 25th, 2019.
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17th Mar2019

Betrayal (Theatre)

by timbaros
Charlie Cox (Jerry), Zawe Ashton (Emma) and Tom Hiddleston (Robert) in 'Betrayal' directed by Jamie Lloyd. Photo credit Marc BrennerHeartthrob Tom Hiddleston shines in Jamie Lloyd’s new production of ‘Betrayal,’ now playing at the Pinter Theatre in London’s West End.
‘Betrayal’ is one of the late Harold Pinter’s more well-known works (from 1978), and it also clocks in at a snip 90 minutes, but it’s 90 minutes that’s full of drama, tension, and in this new stage version, very well acted.
In a play that goes backward and forward in time but is never confusing, Hiddleston plays Robert, a successful book publisher who is married to the beautiful Emma (Zawe Ashton, from television’s ‘Fresh Meat’, and who more than holds her own on stage). Emma, you see, has been having, for several years, an affair with Jerry (a very good and very goodlooking and sexy Charlie Cox – best known for television’s ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and ‘Daredevil’), who also happens to be Roberts’ best friend. But there is more to it than this. Jerry and Emma have had a flat for their not so secret trysts for years, and Robert has known, because Emma told him, about the affair. Meanwhile Jerry also has a wife and child. But as the plot goes back three years, to a time when Emma and Robert were very happy, to the beginning of the play when Emma announces to Jerry that her and Robert are splitting up, its one betrayal after another in a show that cleverly uses a chronology to tell the story in reverse. ‘Betrayal’ is also about a clandestine love affair, and lies told, in a show portrayed on stage by actors who are at the top of their game. And the three main cast members are always on stage, with one hovering in the background creating an eavesdropping like mood. 
Hiddleston displays a very vulnerable side of him as the spurned husband who seems to be the innocent one amongst all the betrayal. And as Robert Hiddleston, near the end of the show which is actually near the end of the middle of the show, breaks down as he learns from Emma about the affair. It’s powerful stuff by a master of the stage (Hiddleston was also very superb in 2013’s ‘Coriolanus’). Ashton is good as the woman at the centre of two men who really really want her, while Cox brings a lure of sex appeal and confidence where we can see why Robert keeps him as his best friend and why Emma is having an affair with him even though she has her own family. All in all, ‘Betrayal,’ with a set that is stripped to the bone, is dramatic and tense theatre at its best.
Betrayal must end on June 1st, 2019
For tickets, please go to:
https://www.pinteratthepinter.com
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