Category Archives: Behind the Arras Reviews

  Oscar Wilde declared that there is nothing so out of date as the recently fashionable. The Out of Joint Theatre Company has gambled with their revival of this acclaimed eighties one act play, first performed in 1982 about Thatcherite … Continue reading →

This revival of a play which enjoyed considerable success as a film, comes to Derby Theatre on the 21st November. It is impossible to discuss the play without discussing the playwright, and rather than burden the review of the opening … Continue reading →

This Christmas the Lichfield Garrick Theatre has Aladdin as the pantomime show. A strong cast includes CBeebies’ Cat Sandion who will be playing the role of Jasmine . Cat, one of the leading presenters on the Bafta award winning channel, … Continue reading →

  **** This story is now in its third incarnation. First came the book by Amanda Brown, daughter of a lawyer, and Stanford Law student herself. Brown drew upon her own experiences for inspiration. The 2001 film starring Reese Witherpsoon … Continue reading →

***** Jules Verne’s classic story has obvious cinematic possibilities, and equally obvious drawbacks as the basis for a stage adaptation. How do you portray a worldwide journey on a theatre stage? Yet that conundrum is also the basis for this … Continue reading →

I saw Madness play live twice. They were fabulous, raucous, and with a touch of Music Hall about them. I am also a veteran of the era when they formed. Their incubation was not seamless. They morphed from what might … Continue reading →

One of Dickens’ latter works, his thirteenth novel, “Great Expectations” lends itself to a dramatic stage presentation. An atmospheric opening triggers a chain of events that will bring a young man riches, break his troubled heart, and lead him deep … Continue reading →

  As a television situation comedy series, ‘Allo ‘Allo was a steamroller success for a decade from 1982. Written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, it was a mix of cultural stereotypes, physical comedy, farce, sexual innuendo and sauce. The … Continue reading →

***** Invariably, this show is identified as the one with the helicopter . Just in case anyone was in any doubt about this, the lights go down to the sound of a helicopter swooping overhead. I had seen the show … Continue reading →