Well….it’s been a little while, hasn’t it? I’m not a great fan of New Year resolutions. When I make them, I tend to break them so fast the electronic ink hasn’t dried. And also having ADHD means I tend to have terrible expectations of what I can get done in a day. Even if I… Read More Happy New Year
For the next few days you can catch English Touring Theatre‘s latest production ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’ at Newcastle’s Northern Stage before the tour continues to Manchester. The production is an adaptation of Matt Haig’s bestseller which takes a journey through the depths of his depression and out to the other side. It doesn’t sound… Read More Theatre Review: Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig at Northern Stage, Newcastle
By Ken Powell Newcastle’s Northern Stage bills this production as a comedy – and it is, gloriously so. But beware, you’ll want tissues aplenty as this adaptation of Nigel Slater’s childhood biography is a painful tearjerker. The play (written by Henry Filloux-Bennett) takes us from Slater’s memories of cooking with his mother through to his… Read More Theatre Review – Nigel Slater’s ‘Toast’ at Northern Stage
By Ken Powell A shorter version of this interview was published here for Lancashire Life magazine. This is the interview in full. Charlotte Keatley wrote the play ‘My Mother Said I Never Should’ in 1985 aged just 25. The play has gone on to be the most performed play by a female playwright and translated… Read More An Interview with Charlotte Keatley
The English Touring Theatre (ETT) have just completed their time at Newcastle’s Northern Stage before continuing on to a run at Guildford performing Peter Shaffer’s ‘Equus’. It is a superb production. The subject matter is dark and based on an actual real event – a boy blinds several horses with a poker in a single… Read More Theatre Review: Equus by Peter Shaffer at Northern Stage, Newcastle
By Ken Powell I’ll be blunt: ‘Heart of Darkness’ is one of the most excitingly innovative and challenging productions I’ve ever had the good fortune to watch. I can’t recommend it enough. The production is touring but currently on at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake. Performed by the curiously-named ‘imitating the dog’ company, is a… Read More Theatre Review: Heart of Darkness
First published in Lancashire Life 1st June 2018 Theatre Review: Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense By Ken Powell Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake (TBTL) has opened its new summer season of plays with a cracking farce which I predict may well be the smash hit of the year. The classic books by P.G. Wodehouse… Read More Theatre Review: Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense
Theatre Review: Brick Lane 78 by Murad Khan By Ken Powell On Saturday 5 May, West Midlands-based theatre company, Purbanat, gave a special performance of Murad Khan’s latest offering ‘Brick Lane 78‘ at London’s Brady Art Centre. The date was chosen deliberately: 40 years since the murder of Altab Ali, a Bangladeshi textile worker who… Read More Theatre Review: Brick Lane 78 by Murad Khan
Originally published in Lancashire Life Theatre Review: A Streetcar Named Desire By Ken Powell The English Touring Theatre (ETT) have come to the Lake District’s Theatre by the Lake (TBTL) to present a new version of Tennessee William’s classic ‘A Streetcar Named Desire‘. Just as the themes of the play are difficult (Williams didn’t believe… Read More Theatre Review: A Streetcar Named Desire
This review was first published in the New Age newspaper in Bangladesh, 2nd December 2016. Click here to see the original. Theatre Review: Maya’s Honeymoons – Sunday 20th November, Brady Arts Centre, London By Ken Powell It is no easy ask to present a play tackling a subject a whole community prefers to remain silent… Read More Theatre Review: Maya’s Honeymoons by Jesmin Chowdhury
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