We chatted to Peta Swindall, executive director of the Little Angel Puppet Theatre, about plans for the theatre’s 60th anniversary year…
Mark Shenton picks out his Ten Top Broadway leading gents
I previously chose my top ten favourite Broadway leading ladies in musicals; this week it’s the turn of the gents. And the same ground rules apply: they’ve all got to be people who are still regularly active on Broadway, or at least were when the theatres shut down nearly a year ago.
The long wait for Tony Awards 2020 results & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s great expectations for West End openings in the summer
Voting has just begun for last year’s Tony Awards. Yes, you read that correctly. And no, there is no date for the actual (or even virtual) ceremony yet. In the topsy-turvy world that Covid-19 has wrought upon us, we’re wrestling with all sorts of improbabilities and impossibilities, but few events epitomise the very strangeness of this time and its repercussions than this weird situation.
Mark Shenton relishes the glorious architecture of theatres & cinemas & their shared history
Glory palaces of cinema that became theatres — and vice versa — that Mark Shenton longs to visit again.
Star casting in & out of lockdown – the debate continues
Theatre may have migrated online for now (though here’s hoping that we’ll be back in the stalls and not just our armchairs or desks soon). Even though online theatre has created a much more level playing field in terms of opportunities for people and productions to be seen, with the smallest theatres like the Barn competing with the biggest like the National for audiences, star casting is STILL a thing.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Typical at Soho Theatre On Demand
Having first performed in 2019 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to Soho Theatre for a sell-out run, Ryan Calais Cameron’s play Typical has now been released digitally for a limited time. We round up the reviews…
Let’s avoid start-stop misery on the road to theatres’ recovery
On Monday Boris Johnson announced his (apparently irreversible) plans to take us out of lockdown forever. He even provided a detailed timetable of dates when each stage should be implemented.
‘Each performance is well worth seeing’: SECRET SOCIETY OF LEADING LADIES – Barn Theatre (Online review)
The Secret Society of Leading Ladies is the latest initiative from the Barn Theatre and it gives you, the viewer, the power to create your own concert.
Coming out of lockdown: Is it better to wait than to rush to open theatres & risk everything?
Setting a timetable requires Johnson to be a clairvoyant, predicting the future way of a virus that, to be honest, is only really getting started. Yes, vaccines are being done fast (I got my first dose on Saturday), but lifting the lid on Pandora’s box too quickly — by setting a timetable for reopening — won’t benefit anyone’s mental health, if it simply exacerbates the virus and leads to the necessity to shut down again.
‘Few theatrical terrains are as hotly contested as this one’: Mark Shenton picks his favourite Broadway leading ladies
My weekly ShenTens podcast, in which I count down my top ten favourites in a particular category, is inevitably subjective — but few theatrical terrains are as hotly contested as this one: whom I consider to be my favourite Broadway leading ladies.
Review Round Up: Hymn at the Almeida Theatre
We round up the reviews for Lolita Chakrabarti’s new play Hymn, starring Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani.
‘It’s very hard once you’ve got a line like that in your head’: Assessing the aftermath of a bad review
In a free-for-all age of journalism, the currency of individual theatre reviews matter a lot less than they used to; all a theatre PR wants is a spread of five-star reviews, and they’re easier to summon than ever if you don’t look too closely which publications they come from. The general public won’t notice the difference, so its a bluff that often works.
Review Round Up: All On Her Own at stream.theatre
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for the digital production of Terence Rattigan’s one-woman play All on Her Own starring Janie Dee.
When theatre returns can we look forward to some shape-shifting in opinions about are plus-size performers?
As a plus-sized critic myself, I’m not limited in the shows I review; so why should an actor be limited in the roles they’re invited to play?
Theatre tips & treats for families looking for online half term entertainment
After a gruelling half term of home learning, families across the country are gearing up for another half term holiday with nowhere to go. But staying at home doesn’t have to mean having nothing to do, with a wide range of online activities available to entertain children of all ages.
NEWS: Musical Cases is back with a new studio album now available
Marking four years since its London premiere, Dominic Powell’s musical Cases returns in a studio album released to all online music stores with a dynamic new score, band and orchestral arrangements, and additional songs performed by an exciting West End cast. The album has already had 10,000 views across all media platforms.
Mark Shenton offers a bittersweet celebration of his Top Ten Favourite West End Theatres
My latest ShenTens is particularly bittersweet, as we can’t actually go to any at the moment: my favourite West End theatres.
‘There’s no saying where theatres will be by the time summer arrives’: Is the light at the end of the tunnel even further away?
It won’t be until the vaccine programme has been fully and successfully rolled out throughout the nation, and any necessary tweaks established for mutant strains, that there may be enough confidence to begin to even think about going indoors again to sit amongst strangers.
Dancing to a digital tune: The impact of the pandemic on performers, agents & theatre-goers
Yes, Covid has changed all of our lives — probably forever. At the very least, we will never take the freedoms we used to have – to travel, to meet friends, to socialise in public spaces and gather indoors to watch live performances and other events – ever again.
As we say so long farewell to veteran actor Christopher Plummer, Mark Shenton praises the art of obituary writing
If, as Monty Python famously urges, we should always look on the bright side of life, then the brighter side of death are obituaries. They’re one of my absolutely favourite forms of journalism, and I read them just as avidly as I read the best critics; and it’s for the same reasons.