‘Treason,’ the Musical Where the Fans Came First

Published in The New York Times on November 2, 2023

The catchy, folk-tinged numbers from “Treason the Musical” have been streamed online over a million times, in 96 countries. Its fans — known as “Plotters” — have been listening to an EP, an acoustic record and a live album of the songs, as well as sharing their own performances on TikTok. But until this fall, there hadn’t even been a full-scale production of the show.

Continue reading “‘Treason,’ the Musical Where the Fans Came First”

Miss Saigon is back on stage – and people are angry

Published in The i on July 6, 2023

The heat is on Miss Saigon: Sheffield Crucible is mounting the first all-new production of the mega-hit musical since its premiere in 1989 – and in doing so, has made many people angry.

Continue reading “Miss Saigon is back on stage – and people are angry”

Review: Wildfire Road, Sheffield Playhouse

Published in The Stage on March 9, 2023

Outside the theatre, Wildfire Road’s running time is billed at 58 minutes. Such almost comic precision is rather fitting for Eve Leigh’s tightly wound play. Beautifully crafted, it doesn’t waste a minute – and ends up doing more in (just under) an hour than many plays manage in twice that. 

Continue reading “Review: Wildfire Road, Sheffield Playhouse”

Charlie Josephine: ‘The backlash to I, Joan was painful – but we saw it coming’

Published in The i newspaper on January 26, 2023

Charlie Josephine is done writing plays that just point out a problem – they’ve decided their work needs to at least attempt to offer some solution, however imperfect.

Continue reading “Charlie Josephine: ‘The backlash to I, Joan was painful – but we saw it coming’”

Travis Alabanza on Sound of the Underground: ‘Who can make a show about money fun? Only drag performers’

Published in Evening Standard on January 18, 2023

Travis Alabanza is taking over: this month, the writer and performer leads a group of London’s underground cabaret legends as they go above ground – all the way to the main stage of the Royal Court theatre.

Continue reading “Travis Alabanza on Sound of the Underground: ‘Who can make a show about money fun? Only drag performers’”

Review: WARHOLCAPOTE, Rob Roth

Published in The TLS on January 6, 2023

In 1948 a young Andy Warhol read Truman Capote’s first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, and became obsessed with the writer. On moving to New York a few years later, he started sending fan letters to Capote, hanging around outside his house until they got talking, and after that phoned him every day. His first show in the city was called Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote.

Continue reading “Review: WARHOLCAPOTE, Rob Roth”

Review: Betty!, Manchester Royal Exchange

Published in The Telegraph on December 9, 2022

Consider this a spectacular finale to a trilogy about Yorkshire women, from the pen of Maxine Peake: first she immortalised cyclist Beryl Burton, then Hull fishwife Lillian Bilocca, and now Dewsbury’s Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker in the House of Commons.

Continue reading “Review: Betty!, Manchester Royal Exchange”

Review: The Glass Menagerie, Manchester Royal Exchange

Published in The Independent on September 8, 2022

At last, Atri Banerjee’s production of Tennessee Williams’s play sees the light: it was due to be staged in spring 2020. While the cast and team have re-assembled, Banerjee and designer Rosanna Vize completely reworked their plans, to take into account what we’ve all been through since then.

Continue reading “Review: The Glass Menagerie, Manchester Royal Exchange”