Daily Echo | Stage | Theatre reviews, news and interviews from Southampton and Hampshire

REVIEW: Pygmalion, Lymington Players, Malt Hall Theatre

10:24am Thursday 9th February 2012

GEORGE Bernard Shaw created his famous witty comedy in 1812, the source for the musical My Fair Lady, and here its centenary was celebrated with an abridged version of excellent quality.

REVIEW: David Copperfield, One Off Productions, Kings Theatre, Southsea

10:25am Thursday 9th February 2012

DECAMPED from the theatre Royal while it undergoes refurbishment, this company has found another lovely theatre in Portsmouth for its Dickens bi-centennial show.

REVIEW: Peter Pan: Hook's Revenge, Woolston Players, United Reformed Church, Woolston

9:56am Wednesday 8th February 2012

EVERYONE knows the story of how Peter Pan defeated Captain Hook, but what happened when Pan returned to London to find a wife for the Redskin Chief while Hook made plans to liquidate his nemesis? Here, in another good example of the benefits of community/youth theatre, we found out!

REVIEW: Breaking the Silence, Chesil Theatre, Winchester

9:58am Wednesday 8th February 2012

DIRECTOR Flavia Bateston and producer Deborah Edgington make the best of Stephen Poliakoff’s play, set during Lenin’s rule in Russia and concerned with Nicolai (Martin Humphrey), of aristocratic stock, now working for the state and forced to live in a railway carriage with his family, who are painfully aware of the dangers of maintaining his lofty mien while he’s more concerned with perfecting the technique of sound on film.

REVIEW: The Memory of Water, Lyndhurst Drama and Musical Society, The Vernon Theatre

11:05am Tuesday 7th February 2012

THREE very different sisters meet at their old family home on the eve of their mother’s funeral. As past conflicts resurface, the tensions of their relationships escalate… This comic drama demands a very fine balance between razor-sharp humour and emotional authenticity. Tim Schuler’s fine direction ensured this balance was mostly achieved. Sardonic wit came across well with passionate performances from a trio of bickering sisters, while the emotional turmoil was beautifully emotive, particularly in the two-hander scenes between mother Vi (Di Buck), and middle daughter Mary (Sarah Short). Hannah Marks showed a great aptitude for comedy as the intensely irritating, misunderstood Catherine, and Vic Milne had the perfect deadpan approach with first-rate comic timing as brother-in-law, Frank.

REVIEW: Puss in Boots, Dalian Players, Woolston Methodist Hall

1:06pm Thursday 26th January 2012

DAME Baguette is in a quandary: she has five hundred rolls to make for the King’s banquet, but her son, Rollo, has been distracted en route to collect the necessary flour by the appearance of the King’s granddaughter, Aurora.

REVIEW: The Graduate, Maskers Theatre Company, The Nuffield

1:04pm Thursday 26th January 2012

WITH its witty dialogue, romantic coming-of-age comedy and, of course, the alluring figure of Mrs Robinson, Charles Webb’s story never fails to please, and Terry Johnson’s stage version is a skilful adaptation, very warmly received by the audience of this production, so much so that they applauded almost every scene.

Sarah Jayne reveals all (well almost)

1:37pm Wednesday 25th January 2012

WOULD she or wouldn’t she?

REVIEW: Perfect Pitch, Titchfield Festival Theatre, St Margaret's Arts

1:35pm Wednesday 25th January 2012

IN an observational comedy about human behaviour diametrically opposed couples find themselves next door to each other on a caravan site, but have more in common than they initially suspect...