Latest articles from Ham Quentin

REVIEW: Into the Woods, SUSU Showstoppers, Annex Theatre, University Road

SHOWSTOPPERS brings Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s complex mash-up of Grimm fairy tales triumphantly to life, with a fine band providing the music (chief nusical directors Charlie Taylor and Gem Tunley, who also conducts) and a very capable cast, each of whom adds endearing traits to the often well-known characters they portray.

REVIEW: And Then There Were None, Studio Theatre, Salisbury

This plush, fun production of Agatha Christie’s story features a very handsome set (designed by director Colin Hayman, Frea Nunn and Kevin Murdoch) and lovely costumes (Pam Hannan and Rae Owen) that reflect a 1940s setting and starts with a lighting effect (designed by Joel Powney) that suggests a black and white film screening, so the series of murders we witness is enveloped in the warm nostalgic glow one expects from Christie.

REVIEW: Oh! What a Lovely War, Titchfield Festival Theatre, St Margaret’s Arts Centre, St Margaret’s Lane, Titchfield

THE programme for this production of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop show says it is “as performed by the staff and clients of ‘The Happy Haven Home for the Elderly’” – a slightly odd framing device for this familiar collection of songs, sketches, speeches and scenes from the First World War, which seems to be director Paul King’s way of explaining the shortage of authentically young men in the cast when, as the archive photos displayed on a screen above the stage show, so many who fought and died were really just boys.

REVIEW: Agnes of God, RAODS, Greenroom Studio, Plaza Theatre, Romsey

JOHN Piemeier’s 1979 play is a gripping drama, in which psychiatrist Dr Martha Livingstone (Emma Portlock) comes to a convent to investigate how a young nun, Agnes (Jennifer Hampton) gave birth and how the baby died. She also has to come to terms with Mother Miriam Ruth (Merial Shepherd), who has her own version of the truth.