A small French village has been without bread since its erstwhile baker died, but now his successor has arrived, bringing with him his startlingly younger wife. When faced with this intergenerational relationship, the bickering and gossip that characterises the local life goes into overdrive. This charming bijou musical celebrates tolerance and forgiveness. It posits that familiarity, both in social and romantic relations, need not lead to contempt, but can actually provide enrichment. Infatuation learns to take a second place to constancy and devotion. From the moment one enters the theatre, Paul Farnsworth's set design beautifully situates us in a small Provençal hamlet. The game of pétanque in the village square and the quality of the light perfectly set the scene for the tale that is to come. With the opening "Chanson", Josefina Gabrielle does a superb job of reinforcing this sense of place, while the song, "If It Wasn't For You," humorously sets the soc

Ray's life has been swimming. He's not good at anything else, but despite all of his hard work, he doubts that he has the capacity to compete at the highest level. When performance enhancing drugs are discovered in the locker room, Ray's lawyer brother, Peter, defends him to the coach who should report this infraction. Lucas Hnath has written a play which not only poses questions about the pressures on athletes to perform. It also looks at the web of people around these figures who seek their own advantages in the competitor's success. However, the questions raised by the work ripple beyond the world of sport and raise issues about the benefits gained by those who simply have had access to more opportunities in life, those born into better economic circumstances, who attend better schools and have more supportive homes. What moral compromises might one feel called upon to make, or does one have the right to make, in order to level the playing field with those reared in

Cordell has determined the perfect ingredients for his chicken wings. He's convinced that he will attain the crown at this year's Hot Wing Festival. However, he has not yet found the recipe for living as an openly gay, black man in Memphis. Having conformed to paternal expectations, he married and raised two sons before seeking a divorce and moving in with his new partner, Dwayne. As a former athlete, he is highly competitive, but he is now facing a new game in which he is unsure of himself, and where among other things, he is learning a new definition of a family. Playwright, Katori Hall, tackles some complex issues: prejudice against being black and gay, creating a community and family of choice, definitions of manhood, the relation between fathers and sons, and in this case, both partners' guilt about family issues as they simultaneously try to build a relationship. Despite the fact that there is so much going on, the play sometimes seems somewhat padded, with unnecessar

Hello, Dolly! is a star vehicle and there have been some great ones who have played this role: Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey and Barbra Streisand among others. With this performance Imelda Staunton takes her well-deserved place in this galaxy. This is a slightly more reflective version of the bold and brassy matchmaker and meddler par excellence , but Staunton pulls out all the stops in the big production numbers, and it is hard not to sing along when the staff at the Harmonium welcome Dolly back to town. Jerry Herman's great score is irresistible and the show just bounces along with one infectious number after another. The gags may be corny and the plot may be thin, but the enthusiasm and energy of the cast make this a totally enjoyable spectacle that provides a completely satisfying evening of entertainment. The story celebrates an indomitable woman who, despite her attachment to her late husband, is determined to re-marry and live life to the fullest. It is relentlessly optimist

The subject of two popular teenage films is now back as a musical. For those who may have been living on some remote part of the planet, the premise is quite simple. Cady, who has been homeschooled in Africa by her scientist mother, returns to the real jungle of an American high school to pursue her studies. In this new environment, she discovers that the apex predator is Regina, who with her followers, Gretchen and Karen, form a clique called The Plastics. These disciples of the credo "More is Better" dominate the school's social life. Cady is at first accepted by this shallow trio, but later plots to undermine Regina, and unsurprisingly this plan results in some unexpected consequences. The moral of the story is that we are all insecure and thus vulnerable to the beguiling call of popularity and power. We need to learn to accept ourselves and to be kind to others. Writer, Tina Fey, has written some great lines, and this is a piece that never takes itself too seriously,

Inspired by real events, Inna Goncharova's play, The Trumpeter , is a reflection on war and human suffering that comes straight out of the headlines. The Ukrainian invasion and the siege of Mariupol in 2022 are devastating realities that Goncharova seeks to chronicle and possibly shape through the power of her words. The action takes place beneath the ruins of the Azovstal Steelworks, where the trumpeter, the sole survivor of the 36th Marine Brigade's brass band is holed up with two other survivors. While the trumpeter, who really sees herself as a composer, is trapped underground with her companions, she muses on the creation of a symphony of war trying to give artistic expression and, perhaps, even meaning to her horrific experience. The trumpeter's enterprise thus mirrors the play's own meditation on the role of art in the face of the catastrophe of human conflict. Unfortunately, Kristin Milward's performance as the trumpeter seems confined to a single note. Her

Visit from an Unknown Woman is a stage adaptation of Stefan Zweig's epistolary novella Letter from an Unknown Woman . It is the story of a young girl who conceives a passion for a cultured, libertine writer who is her neighbour. When she becomes older she pursues him, even though he does not remember their brief encounters. It is only on their last evening together that she explains the history of her unrequited love. This narrative is not an early twentieth century version of Fatal Attraction . Marianne accepts her beloved's indifference, but she continues to worship him. This story has more in common with the German tradition of sentimental tales of love disappointed going back to The Sorrows of Young Werther . The twist here is that the writer probably represents the Austrian society that Jewish Zweig grew up in, but which, with the rise of Nazism, he is now being forced to realise has been indifferent to his adoration. It is a thin, wistful metaphor that doesn't really

Alan Bleasdale's 1982 television series was groundbreaking. It took viewers into the world of working class men who face the grim reality of unemployment or under-employment. It is a story that still resonates today, and this powerful production brings the audience face to face with the effects of a system that leaves workers caught between employers who don't want to pay a fair wage and the government who is more concerned about catching benefit cheats than in creating an environment in which employers must pay workers a fair wage. Boys from the Blackstuff certainly has its heart in the right place, but it unfortunately comes across as more a polemic than a play. The problem is that the plot and character development that was undertaken over Bleasdale's five part television series is not possible in this theatrical adaptation. The subtlety of the interwoven stories is lost, while we are supposed to understand, and care about, individuals whose characters are more often d

The ingredients of a soufflé are simple and few, but to achieve the desired outcome is no easy feat. Playwright John Van Druten's confection is light and lovely, but it doesn't really compare to the work of a master like Noël Coward. First staged in 1947, The Voice of the Turtle , tells the story of Sally Middleton who finds herself with an unexpected houseguest when her best friend, Olive, dumps her GI date for a better offer. Sally is coming off a failed relationship and isn't looking for love. She has already had two affairs, and she doesn't want to be considered promiscuous! Like Sally, her surprise guest is also on the rebound from a from a failed relationship. Indeed, up to this point, he has only been interested in casual liaisons such as that he enjoyed with Olive. So, neither of them is looking for love, plus any flirtation could cause complications with her best friend and with his sometimes sweetheart. Well, we all know how this is going to end, but the fun i

It is 2008, and four workers in Detroit's auto industry are trying to manage their lives under the cloud of the factory's closure. In her almost 30 years on the line, feisty union rep, Faye, has seen it all. While she may be a no-nonsense survivor, she is also a soft-hearted mother figure, and despite their apparently adversarial roles, she is able to work with Supervisor, Reggie, with whom she has a personal connection. The latter takes inordinate pride in his status and humorously tries to assert control over the workforce by posting endless injunctions, but nevertheless he really cares about his co-workers. Rounding out this quartet are Shanita and Dez. Her plan is simple: follow the rules and work hard in order to hold onto the job that she loves. However, her out-of-wedlock pregnancy and determined optimism may betray a certain naïveté. On the other hand, street-smart Dez dreams of owning his own garage, and he may not be above cutting a few corners to achieve his ambition