Review: The Play That Goes Wrong

This week, MK theatre is graced with the outrageously funny Play That Goes Wrong, produced by Mischief Theatre. If you’re a fan of light-hearted, silly and a little bit slapstick humour in the style of Faulty Towers then this is the play for you. Although I chuckled throughout, it’s not usually my style of humour – my husband however, was in stitches from the moment we took our seats! A thoroughly enjoyable evening and a big well done to all the cast. Actors that are clearly passionate and having a blast on stage, makes for such good entertainment.

There is a well-thought-out stage set which gradually gets demolished throughout and they keep you on your toes with certain things going wrong that you’re expecting to complete random twists that you wouldn’t anticipate.

This comedy follows amateur theatre group, The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, as they attempt to put on the thriller, ‘Murder at Haversham Manor’ and needless to say – nothing goes to plan. The audience is drawn in before the show even starts with the ‘stage crew’ fixing broken doors and trying to find Winston the dog. They lose props, forget lines, things fall, get spilt or broken but somehow, they make it to the end!

It was fun to experience an almost back-stage style performance with sneak peeks of actors psyching themselves up before going on stage and improvising with the wrong props or lines – things which I’m certain must happen throughout rehearsals for any show. It’s also what makes theatre so fascinating – unlike television shows, where the actors have had chance to re-take the scene and all has been edited before we see it – on the stage, it’s completely live and if an actor forgets their lines – better start improvising!

Go see this play if a) you have a sense of humour and/or b) you’d like to exercise your abs.

For tickets, go to www.atgtickets.com

Review: The Little Mermaid Ballet

This week we went along to Milton Keynes Theatre to see the lovely ballet by David Nixon OBE. Having always been in love with the story of The Little Mermaid and watching the Disney version several times a day (as a child!), I was very excited to see this grown-up adaptation of the story. Mermaids, and their earlier related form the Siren, have been a part of myth and folklore since at least the ancient Greeks, however Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale is one of the most well known and loved stories to this day. Nixon’s ballet resembles Andersen’s fairy-tale much closer to that of Disney and as such you must prepare yourselves for the not-so-happy ending as the Little Mermaid learns that you do not always get what you want. You will be pleased to know that Marilla does have a trusty friend in the form of Dillion the seahorse.

Ballet is an artistic and delicate form of dance and lends itself perfectly to the undersea movements you would expect. The stage was lit up beautifully with a bluish, twinkling aqua-like glow and then a bright, warm sunshine glow when Marilla washes ashore. Along with the lighting and music of course, a simple stage was transformed through the use of two large arched structures to show us the underwater palace, cliffs and even the ship. The costumes were beautiful with lots of silks and sequins to show off the soft movements and specs of sunlight as you’d expect underwater. The performance overall was very charming, elegant and a delight to watch. The music was enchanting and all the dancers performed brilliantly. The other-worldly floating movements of the mermaids and the much more energetic routines of the sailors harmonised perfectly with the music and you always knew what was going on even though there is no dialogue.

Well done to all involved and thank you for bringing us a perfect adaptation of the adored fairy-tale, The Little Mermaid.

At Milton Keynes Theatre until 21^st April, for tickets go to www.atgtickets.com

REVIEW: Hairspray at MK Theatre

Hairspray – The smash hit musical arrives
in Milton Keynes this week

An ultimate feel-good musical that everybody will love! We went to see the show last night at MK theatre and having not seen the show before or being too aware of the story, I admit that we were expecting something a tad cheesy. It was totally cheesy - in a brilliantly fun, colourful, great music, great acting and dancing kind of way!

The story follows Tracy Turnblad, an overweight not-so-popular teenager in 1960’s Baltimore. She’s completely obsessed with the Corny Collins Show and seeks to get a spot as one of the show’s ‘Miss Hairspray’ girls. In a time where segregation was the norm between different races and religions, Tracy takes on the media and the public’s expectations to forefront a campaign for ‘Integration Not Segregation’. Things needed to change and no more would the black community be separated from the white community and everybody would be able to dance and sing together!

Tracy, played by Rebecca Mendoza, is a very likable character and Rebecca’s performance was outstanding. This was her professional debut and I thought she was fantastic. The same goes for the entire cast, ensemble and musicians. There were some very melodic and powerful voices among them and Brenda Edward’s (Motormouth Maybelle) solo was particularly spine-tingling. An excellent performance and break dancing routines from Layton Williams as well – we interviewed him for April’s magazine so it’s always great to check out their performance on the night.

The stage set was quite simple with a few backdrop changes and some props and costume changes, but with all the bright colours and terrific dance routines and hair bigger than you can imagine, it all worked really well. We left humming the tune to You Can’t Stop The Beat and proceeded to talk about the show all the way home.

Go to www.atgtickets.com for tickets – the show is at MK Theatre until Saturday 14^th April