Punch- Nottingham Playhouse, 21/3/26

Posted on March 21, 2026 by garylongden

 *****

A play about violence, forgiveness and   redemption

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 Punch  returns to Nottingham Playhouse, following its remarkable simultaneous openings on Broadway and in the West End.  After its premiere in 2024, this powerful account of Jacob Dunne’s story sparked discussions everywhere, from theatres to courthouses and the House of Commons. Now it is back, with a brand new cast. This production is dedicated to James Hodgkinson and all victims of one-punch.

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One punch. One action was all it took for a young lad from Nottingham to change not only his own life but also the lives of many people around him, as well as those he didn’t even know. Based on the book ‘Right from Wrong’ by Jacob Dunne, this heartbreaking, horrific story of redemption deserves another day in the sun.

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Written by local author James Graham, based on the local Meadows Estate , and playing at Nottingham Playhouse  this a truly remarkable  local event for a play that has received national, and international acclaim. A special occasion.

It is a perspective on Nottingham which is uncomfortable, but true, struggling with school, an alcoholic mother and coping by binge drinking and taking drugs at the weekends with his friends, Jacob Dunne is a member of the aspirational working class. Marching into town wearing his Fred Perry trainers and clutching a bottle of vodka on a random Saturday night in July, Jacob’s need to be seen and heard as well as respected by his friends leads him to punch a stranger once- resulting in the victim’s death.

A trainee paramedic from Southampton, James, Hodgkinson,he was in Nottingham to watch the Test Match with his father and his friends: a kind and compassionate young man who had his whole life ahead of him.

Told through the eyes of Jacob, played by Jack James Ryan, we embark on an almighty journey of redemption. Jack brings energy, credibility and an authentic accent to his role as the protagonist. He can narrate and explore what it was like for Jacob growing up with an autism diagnosis, many school detentions and the temptation to take drugs with the local gangs from the estate where following Forest is as entertaining as life becomes.

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Adam Penford directs this punchy and emotive production in which the UK’s pub and gang culture is depicted accurately, as well as providing the audience with a timely reminder that although 15 years have now passed, these issues and incidents continue to occur.

Watching Jacob’s face appear on the evening broadcast on East Midlands Today is James’ parents, Joan and David. Struggling to understand how James died from only one punch to the face, the family have questions and would like to know whether Jacob’s actions were premeditated or unfortunate, as there is a difference.

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Finty Williams and Matthew Flynn play James’ mother and father, both respectfully and powerfully, through their emotions and subtle differences in their personalities. “Will he go straight back to what he knew before?” is one of the many questions they have for Jacob and after several years they decide to embark upon restorative justice to try and get answers to their questions.

In the gripping  second act, the focus is on the restorative justice session.

Although this play covers some difficult themes and at times can be a tear-jerker, there are moments of light and humour throughout the production. Grace Hodgett Young, who plays Clare and Nicola, brings many of those moments to life, and her ability to switch between two very different characters is admirable.

The set design, designed by Anna Fleischle, is also really clever and adds personality and a different dynamic to the relationships that are explored on stage. An ominous concrete subway tunnel dominates centre stage, zig zag barriers obstruct the walkways to the side.

It is widely reported that Jacob and James’ parents continue to meet regularly and speak to a range of audiences, sharing their story. This play is dedicated to James Hodgkinson and to all victims of one-punch violence. Many around me were moved to tears

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Operation Mincemeat – Wolverhampton Grand theatre 21/3/26

Posted on March 21, 2026 by garylongden

Operation Mincemeat

*****

As a keen historian I knew the story. This was my first opportunity to catch up with the show itself replete with hyperbole . It’s a good story- but a musical?

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The first 20 minutes I struggled. The narrative was mainly sung through meaning you had to concentrate on the words. The five actors played interchangeable roles, and genders amidst lightning quick costume and scene changes. What on earth was going on? But thr first act runs to seventy five minutes for a reason. The audience adjusts, the story starts to unfold and the audience starts to make sense of it all. The first half songs are very Noel coward and could be being sung in the piano lounge of the Savoy in London.

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Commercially the show is paydirt. A historic story, so no royalties, all original songs, so no third party royalties, only  a cast of five, so low touring costs and low stage set and costume costs- accountancy heaven.

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The second half is decidedly rap, the opening second act number sees as rap song driven at high tempo by five Nazis- I thought I was at a Reform rally, and from then on the pace, and  cohesion never lets up. ( And Nazis in musicals has history- think the Sound of Music and The Producers.)

( photo credit Matt Crockett)

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The concept, book, music and lyrics all originated from the combined talents of David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts – collectively known as Split Lip. It has morphed from its 2019 original fringe theatre days, through the West End and  to Broadway.

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Its construction is its strength, inventive in structure, faultless in delivery, meticulous in detail, with an unrelenting pace.

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The company for the UK part of the tour includes Charlotte Hanna-Williams, Seán Carey, Christian Andrews and Holly Sumpton from the West End cast who are joined by Jamie-Rose Monk, Katy Ellis, Georgia Hagen, Jordan Pearson and Morgan Phillips. This being a five-hander, the casting changes nightly not as understudies but as a gender-blind multiple role-playing interchangeable entity.

( photo credit Matt Crockett)

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I was caught out  by the pathos of establishing the identity of the mysterious dead corpse. Previously gallows humour, and ribald jokes abounded- but the gear change jolted and worked.

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Robert Hastie’s direction is brisk and relentless, Jenny Arnold’s choreography is demanding and effective. Ben Stones’ set  is simple but versatile, effortlessly transporting us from the War room to Spain- and back.

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Operation Mincemeat  indeed matches the hyperbole with a warmth which is its secret weapon,-a celebration of the best of British inventiveness in theatre, and war time.

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Noises Off – Highbury Theatre

Posted on March 19, 2026 by garylongden

Noises off

****

A play about sardines and doors. A favourite with amdram companies because if things go wrong the audience think it is part of the play.

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Noises Off was written in 1982  by artistic polymath Michael Frayn, a journalist, philosopher, and novelist as well as playwright. It was inspired in 1970, when Frayn was watching from the wings a performance of his own The Two of Us – “It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.” And so the seeds were sown for this brilliant back-to-front farce about a dysfunctional touring company on the last leg of its tour – or simply on its last legs.

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Subject to periodic revision by Frayn, the play  explores the battle between the forces of order and disorder, and our search for happiness in our lives. Metaphors dance tantalisingly before our eyes. A tax evader, caught with his trousers round his ankles watches his second home descend into anarchy, while all around seem obsessed with sardines.

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Director Alison Cahill has assembled a very strong cast. Unusually for a farce it does not mainly comprise conventional warring couples. It does however have a lot of doors, and windows,  a harbinger of things to come. There are doors that stick when they should open, doors that swing open when they ought to be closed, doors viewed from the back, and doors viewed from the front.

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Denise Phillips is a delight as housekeeper Dotty, a surreal fusion of Hilda Ogden and Mrs Brown, who is preoccupied with sardines as the world revolves around her. Teresa Berry provides the glamour as Brooke. A late addition to the role, she cleverly eschews the blonde bimbo trope, instead presenting an acerbic  tax inspector who is good with figures in more ways than one.

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As well as the accident-prone cast, the stage management team add to the confusion, putting out front-of-house calls that the performance will commence in one minute, three minutes, two minutes and finally three minutes again prompting the wonderful lament: “there’s a lot of OAP’s out there who haven’t got long to go.” Beth Morrissey is wonderful  as the perennially   exasperated stage manager Poppy.

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There’s a satisfying depth to the cast, epitomised by Ron  Parker as Selsdon Mowbay , the old stager whose secret hoards of whisky keep having to be removed from just about everywhere as he continually breaks in through a window at varying stages of the plot, planned, and unplanned.

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The pivotal second act is handled adroitly, with skill, timing and energy, after the slower paced, scene setting, first act. Inventive, funny and incessant, I, along with the rest of the audience, roared with laughter, who couldn’t  laugh when failed lothario Lloyd ( Sean Mulkeen) sits on a cactus?

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Costuming is understated ( apart from Brooke!)  but satisfying . Malcolm Robertshaw  and his team take on the huge task of producing a front of house, and back of house, set, and win. Producing a play which depends upon things going wrong is more difficult than it may at first appear. Director Cahill delivers and embellishes proceedings with numerous nice touches such as  director Lloyd appearing from within the audience as the play commences. Anyone who has been involved with an amateur theatre production will wince at how sharply the script is written.

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A hugely enjoyable evening. Noises off can be heard, and seen, until 21st march.

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Hamlet by RSC – Royal theatre, Nottingham 17/3/26

Posted on March 18, 2026 by garylongden

Hamlet, RSC, Nottingham Royal Theatre

To sea or nor to sea- that is the question

Shakespearean traditionalists should give this a wide berth, the Court of Elsinore is now to be found on a ship.under  Rupert Goold’s  Captainship as director.

No expendse is spared, A roiling wake of waves down-stage (video design: Akhila Krishnan) makes the play seem to be sailing towards us, while the deck (designer: EsDevlin) sways and sometimes violently lurches. Will poison do for them- or seasickness?

There is textual precedent, Four characters are put to sea (in this version, corpses also get a naval burial) and fear is expressed at the number of “shipwrights” working in Norway to prepare its invasion of Denmark. Speeches are given a nautical twist “chamber” becomes cabin, “earth” is overtaken by “sea”. Ingenuity is required to explain why Yorick’s skull is not in the drink with the rest of him and the biggest loss is Gertrude’s haunting speech about Ophelia’s river death. Here, she just goes over the edge. Bold ideas include  a red digital onstage clock, “witching hour” signalled as 00:00 The whole play takes place during one long night.

 Ralph Davis’Hamlet, is terrific, closing the first act with the “To be soliloquy” , the entire   audience were mouthing the words in case he forgot any of them

Raymond Coulthard’ Claudius exudes the sexual and political ruthlessness of a man willing to kill for a crown and to keep it, Poppy Miller , as Gertrude, is the surprise star poised then unravelling as, her  growing guilt of having betrayed both son and husband bites.  

Richard cant’s Polonius is strikingly more dapper diplomat than the standard windbag with a touch of Peter Mandelson thrown in

The unravelling of Georgia Mae Myers ‘Ophelia is   exquisite but here she drowns at sea rather than in a river resulting in Gertrude’s beautiful eulogy being cut. That is not the only change. Polonious is killed bya  gunshot from hamlet rather than  a rapier thrust to an unknown behind the arras resulting in the “Dead for a ducat” line disappearing.

Performing the play in this magnificent theatre which existed  during the new 1914 timeline was a treat. The Georgian costuming was a delight, none more so than Gertrude wearing a sumptuous long ivory skirt and bodice, and lace top latterly stained with Polonious’ blood.

 every Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or vice versa) are shadowed by the Stoppard spin-off,

Including interval the show runs for two hours and forty minutes but is unevenly split, one hour twenty five minutes versus fifty five minutes. Th evening runs like a greatest hits show a scene after iconic scene unfolds.

This is a must see  for all who do not like to see Shakespeare messed around with.

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Northern Soul Orchestrated- Civic hall Wolverhampton 14/3/26

Posted on March 15, 2026 by garylongden

Almost exactly two years ago I attended the same venue to see this event which had been premiered at the Royal Albert hall in London do a Provincial tour. That tour, with the BBC Symphony orchestra is back. This sis my review from then:BBC Northern Soul orchestra tour – the Halls, Wolverhampton, 23rd April 2024 | Garyswordz

The format, with Stuart Maconie compering was the same, as was the forty piece orchestra, and running order.

Once again there were six lead vocalists, three male, three female. The three male leads were unchanged, at least two of the three female leads were different

Highlights included “the Night and “there’s a Ghost in my House”

The backing singers were exemplary

There is nothing like the sound of a full orchestra

more of Lisa

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Dear England- Birmingham Hippodrome, 13/3/26

Posted on March 15, 2026 by garylongden

This was my second visit to this production having attended the opening night in Nottingham in Autumn 2025. The link to that review follows:Dear England – Nottingham Royal Court Theatre, 24/09/25 | Garyswordz

I had enjoyed it so much first time that I brought my football fan sons aged 36 and 43 respectively to sample its delights. They were both equally impressed enjoying the nostalgia of having their youthful England football fan experiences brought back to life, for better and for worse!

With the mystery of how the show was going to unfold solved from my previous visit I was able to sit back and enjoy the proceedings. This time the quality of the impersonations and humour shone through as did the character of Pippa Grange.

And again the response from non football fans, particularly women not familiar with the story, was anecdotally around me, very strong.

Two days from now I shall be watching director Rupert Goold’s highly controversial reimagining of Hamlet- on a ship. I shall report back

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My ten favourite one hit wonders. – what are yours?

Posted on March 10, 2026 by garylongden
  1. Edison lighthouse-  Love grows where my rosemary goes

A cracking combination of the opening T Rex “get it on” groove, and a glorious chorus. irresistible

  • Anita ward-Ring my Bell

The only song to glorify female genital stimulation

3, Ram jam band – Black Betty

A poor man’s “Radar love”

  • Wild Cherry- Play that Funky Music

The apogee of funk- covered live by prince.

  • Van mcCoy- the Hustle

A sublime largely instrumental shuffle

  • Terry Jacks-  Seasons in the Sun

A perfect sunny  summer reminiscence immortalised by the football fans chant: “We had joy we had fun we had Tottenham on the run but the joy didnt last as the rascals ran too fast”

  • Carl douglas- King fu fighting

Beloved by eldest brothers, and feared by younger brothers, everywhere as child siblings played out the song at home

  • Stealers wheel- Stuck in the Middle With You

Impossible to listen to this song without involuntarily touching your ear remembering the notorious Tarantino soundtrack in Reservoir Dogs

  • Norman Greenbaum- Spirit in the Sky

Alvin Stradust loved the riff so much he lifte it for “My Coo ca Choo”

  1. C w McCall – Convoy

A song hated by children everywhere. When on a day out and traffic backed up, dad would shout out  “looks as though we got ourselves a convoy!”

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Top Hat – Birmingham Hippodrome

Posted on March 10, 2026 by garylongden

Spring is upon us . The cold of winter is starting to recede – surely a cue for some old-style, Hollywood glitz?

If you like song and dance, particularly tap dance, then this is your show. Visually it is a sparkling, frothy, fizzy cocktail of mistaken identity and razzle dazzle.

The story is merely a loose framework for episodic  spectacle, showcasing some of the best of Irving Berlin’s timeless melodies, namely: Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, Cheek to Cheek, Puttin’ on the Ritz, and Let’s Face the Music and Dance.

Stephen Ridley’s musical direction is impeccable. The choreography is immaculate, featuring dazzling solo dance and stunning unison tap dancing from this wonderfully talented cast.

With great songs, you need great dance. The sparkling choreography, and the syncopation in full cast tap dancing numbers is flawless, courtesy of Kathleen Marshall framed by a superb, memorable set, design by Peter McKintosh. It features revolving Art Deco clock-like motifs , incorporating frantic scene changes from bedrooms to bars then hotels to aircraft. Tim Mitchell’s lighting adds a glamorous veneer. The band , complete with boisterous horns, is a delight. Costumes by Yvonne Milnes and Peter McKintosh are shimmering and sharp.

My recollection of the original story was of the 1935 RKO motion picture where Astaire and Rogers set a defining standard with impossible precision and effortless chemistry, blurring the distinction between acting and dancing. Their feet talk.

It would be unreasonable to ask for that to be replicated. It isn’t, instead we are offered something different. Phillip Attmore (Jerry Travers) is a convincing tap dancer, supple but sharp, opposite him plays Dale Tremont (Amara Okereke). Okereke is visually great with strong vocals and dance  but the comic sub plot delights no less.

Producer Horace (James Hume) and his wife Madge (Emma Williams ) are at the centre of the comedy. Williams is brilliant as Madge, with Hume her hapless foil. Belly laughs on a Tuesday evening in Birmingham are difficult to come by but Williams and Hume succeeded time and time again. Their partners in crime are almost as hilarious. Horace’s manservant, Bates (James Clyde) is witheringly dry, and a fine looking woman in drag. Alex Gibson-Giorgio’s gloriously outrageous chef Beddini is superb.

You cannot beat Astaire and Rogers. This production does not aim to. The triumphant opening Putting on the Ritz sets an impossible to standard, yet the ensemble deliver the remaining classics with enthusiasm, vim and verve.

This show excels at farce and is hugely enjoyable for it, a celebration of the diversity and allure of musical theatre. Richard Pitts’, resident director, breathes life and humour into a libretto which is now ninety years old- and is still funny. Quite an achievement. Runs until Sat 7th, then continues on nationwide tour.

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Buddy

Posted on March 3, 2026 by garylongden

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story- Lichfield Garrick Theatre

*****

“Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story ” has now been touring for thirty five years , celebrating the songs of an artist whose recording career lasted barely two years, but whose music endures some sixty  six years after his untimely and tragic death. The popularity of this show- and its music, shows no sign of diminishing.It was one of the earliest jukebox musicals predating the likes of Queen’s “We will rock you” and the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon”.  Although the contemporaneous audience will now be in their 80’s .Holly’s music is ubiquitous in television series of the time, not least BBC’s  “Heart beat”, maintaining its presence and popularity.

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 The two halves mainly comprise his rise to fame and studio work in the first half, and an extended concert sequence in the second.

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A J Jenks takes the eponymous, demanding, lead role , which requires a performer who can sing, act, play competent electric lead guitar, as well as having  a passing resemblance to Buddy Holly himself. Angular and enthusiastic, Jenks  is credible and lively in the part, ably supported by a large chorus and band  for the big numbers.

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The plot fairly thinly joins the dots between the music, but it is the songs which star. They have transcended their late fifties origins to become standards which by a process of cultural osmosis are as fresh now as they were when written. Rock n roll aficionados will feel the tradition has been well represented, and new generations continue to sign up to the cause.

Amongst numerous satisfying cameos, Marta Miranda  delights as Maria Elena  ( and others). Joshua Barton marvellously milked the part of the Big Bopper for all it was worth . Thomas Fabián Parrish  made the most of scheming producer Norman Petty .The dancers, consistently caught the eye with their dynamism, brio, and crisp movement.

The Garrick’s stage was used to the maximum , with a set which incorporates recording studios, concert halls, radio stations, and living space, providing a fitting sense of occasion, culminating in the theatre stage becoming a concert stage.

There is no secret to this show’s success and longevity, the songs are very strong. Contemporary hits “Shout”, “ La Bamba” and “Johnny B Goode” flesh out the Holly numbers, offering variety, shade and musical context. Classic hits ‘That’ll Be The Day’, ‘Peggy Sue’, ‘Oh Boy!’, ‘Everyday’, ‘Not Fade Away’, ‘Maybe Baby’, ‘True Love Ways’,and  ‘Rave On’, do not disappoint.

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 Musical Director Christopher Weeks does a fine job delivering an authentic sound with considerable enthusiasm for songs whose original arrangements were quite sparse. Choreographer Miguel Angel   (also Rickie Valens and Tyrone Jones)leads a set of willing dancers  with style, panache and aplomb.

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Veteran writer and producer  Alan Janes  is a safe pair of hands for a show  boasting technical proficiency and vision for the big set pieces. An enthusiastic  opening night house was thrilled by the show, giving it a well deserved Monday night standing ovation and partied like it was 1959. Buddy runs until Saturday 7th March .

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Zuihitsu- Poetry Form

Posted on February 26, 2026 by garylongden

I suspect that this Japanese form is as new to many as it is to me. I enclose a copy of an excellent explanation from the equally excellent Verve Poetry team in Birmingham

This article features the winning and shortlisted poems from February’s Poem of the Month, a short (and borrowed) description of what a Zuihitsu is, and includes details of ways you can write more poetry, and support us supporting poets like you.

Speak Now or forever regret it was the theme for this Poem of the Month. Conversations, arguments, opinions, shared secrets, saying what needs saying, oppressed voices, and critique, were posted to us from across the country celebrating one of our greatest human tools, speech.

Interestingly, not many submissions subverted the litany of noise we’re reading, perhaps because enough is being said already, and we need to talk about other things. Which is why this months winning poem Pillow Book Talk: a Zuihitsu for Sei Shónagon — Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana was so refreshing to read, and you need context to understand our thinking….

If you look it up you will learn that Zuihitsu is a Japanese literary form dating from around 1000 A.D. when Sei Shōnagon wrote The Pillow Book, a collection of personal essays woven from fragments of texts, ideas, thoughts, notes and observations.

Zuihitsu is neither prose poem or essay although it can sometimes resemble both. To ‘follow the brush’ suggests a certain not-knowing of what will happen, that whatever might result from the process will be down to discovery rather than plan. There is a strong sense in zuihitsu writing that the creation of order depends on disorder. Zuihitsu demands as its starting point, juxtapositions, fragments, contradictions, random materials and pieces of varying lengths. I like this. This, it seems to me, is also how most things in life are, how people are, how thinking is, how poetry should be.

Written by Cheryl Moskowitz for The Poetry School (Verve Festival Partners)

Read the full piece here;
poetryschool.com/theblog/follow-brush-making-zuihitsu-poetry/

With this in mind, Alex has formed a poem that questions, praises, learns from, and speaks to Sei Shònagon, and from here, lets herself ‘follow the brush’ in response to the original The Pillow Book. The poem is full of observations; sleep deprivation, aggressive intimacies, lists of ‘things’, and, ingeniously, contains even a poem on Tornados within the poem. The more we read this, the more immersed in it we are. It’s like a film.

https://vervepoetry.substack.com/p/pillow-book-talk-a-zuihitsu-for-sei?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd48afd4-aad6-4692-b245-c4d29de862be_1140x1482.png&open=false

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