Out of 2020 – Into 2021

I’ve ummed and ahhed over doing this sort of post, but (now the end of January is in sight) I’ve finally decided that I might as well follow up my ‘favourite things‘ post with a bit of a round-up – and some kind of look forward. One thing that I did manage was to get […]

Olivier Awards 2020

Whilst I have enjoyed my break from almost full-time theatregoing over the past few months, one of the cancelled events I was really gutted to miss out on was the Olivier Awards. You may remember that I was part of the dynamic duo covering the 2019 ceremony for BWW (and had previously gone solo for […]

2020 mid-year update

Against my usual penchant for starting off slowly and then steadily heading for entropy, I went straight in at the deep end this year: my first week back in London (& the first full week of the year) was set down as #MindTheMusicals 2020! That means, of course, I began my theatregoing year by […]

Olivier Awards 2020 – nominees

Just like last year, my initial reaction has been largely positive (unlike pretty much anything to do with this year’s WhatsOnStage Awards). It’s never going to be perfect, by any means, but some of my top priority shows have got some recognition – and there have even been a selection of lovely surprises too. That […]

Olivier Awards 2019

It’s been over a week now, so the dust should have settled a bit on the Olivier Award results. Hopefully you’ve read over my reactions to the musicals winners as part of last week’s #MindTheMusicals, but there’s a lot more to the ceremony than musicals – yes, there are the dance and opera awards that most […]

Day 4: Favourite musicals

No musicals week would be complete without a list, right? So that’s what today is all about – trying to figure out what my favourite musicals are. As I’ve seen hundreds of the things now (and that’s no exaggeration), it’s a slightly more difficult prospect than you might think; there’s an increasing range of genres […]

Day 3: “Relentlessly cheerful”

Sometimes when you see a show you can be blinded by an extreme of feeling about it; you may love or hate it, and end up unable to predict what your fellow critics’ verdict will be. Other times you can be more sure – certain aspects of a show can be judged more objectively (terrible […]

Day 1: Olivier Awards reactions (musicals)

I think it’s safe to assume that nearly all of you reading this right now had one thing on your minds last night: the Olivier Awards. Whether you were at home listening to the radio/refreshing Twitter, at a viewing party, or inside the Royal Albert Hall itself in one capacity or another, there was certainly […]

Olivier Awards 2019 – nominees

We’ve had the WhatsOnStage Awards, so next on the agenda are the Olivier Awards – I waited optimistically for the 1pm announcement, and my positivity didn’t let me down (for once!). It’s not all perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but on the whole it’s looking very good indeed. It’s nice that I’ve been […]

Rotterdam announces UK tour

Last seen in the UK back in June 2017, when it had a limited run at the Arts Theatre in London’s West End, Jon Brittain’s play Rotterdam is now set to embark on a nationwide tour; this announcement from Hartshorn-Hook Productions coincides with this year’s Transgender Awareness Week. The play has previously enjoyed two other […]