Category Archives: Behind the Arras Reviews

Hound of the Baskervilles – Coming to the Lichfield Garrick on Friday 17th/Sat 18th October 2015

Posted on October 11, 2015 by garylongden

The latest production from the Fired Up Theatre company, who have produced a string of recent successes including productions of The Wall, Quadrophenia ,and The Fell Walker ,is Hound of the Baskervilles. Deep in darkest Dartmoor, stands Baskerville Hall, a … Continue reading →

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Jodi Ann Bickley, Level Up, Birmingham Rep

Posted on September 25, 2015 by garylongden

Level Up, Season Four, Episode One- Birmingham Rep **** Some eight years ago I stumbled into the Old Crown at Digbeth on a January evening to take part in a poetry slam. The usual suspects were there, the usual topics … Continue reading →

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Brassed off- Derby Theatre

Posted on September 22, 2015 by garylongden

Some question the relevance of modern theatre to the world around it. Those doubters should take a trip along to the Derby Theatre to watch “Brassed Off”, a play about a closing colliery, and its brass band. Derbyshire was a … Continue reading →

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Noises Off- Sutton Arts Theatre

Posted on September 7, 2015 by garylongden

Noises Off was written in 1982 play 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 … Continue reading →

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The Bodyguard- Birmingham Hippodrome

Posted on August 7, 2015 by garylongden

I came to this show neutral, but curious. Whitney Houston, upon whose music, the show depends, has always been an enigma for me. A fine singer for sure, but neither she, nor her music, ever touched me. She entertained, but … Continue reading →

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Absent Friends – Derby Theatre

Posted on July 9, 2015 by garylongden

One of the lesser known of Ayckbourn’s seventy plus plays, London Classic Theatre Company have revived this classic gem as a 70’s period piece, rather than attempt to update it. First performed in 1974, it plays in real time as … Continue reading →

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Buddy- The Buddy Holly Story, Sutton Coldfield Musical Theatre, Garrick Theatre, Lichfield

Posted on June 3, 2015 by garylongden

“Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story ” has now been touring for twenty five years , celebrating the songs of an artist whose recording career lasted barely two years, but whose music endures some fifty six years after his untimely … Continue reading →

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Neville’s Island – Sutton Arts Theatre

Posted on May 2, 2015 by garylongden

Neville’s Island was the first play penned by author Tim Firth in 1992 and was originally   commissioned by Alan Ayckbourn . Firth later found fame with Calendar Girls, and was a contemporary of Nick Hancock and David Badiel, and the … Continue reading →

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Bedroom Farce, Sutton Arts Theatre

Posted on March 20, 2015 by garylongden

When you ask Barrie Atchison to direct an Ayckbourn play it’s like recruiting Jose Mourinho to manage your football team, you are guaranteed a safe pair of hands, and success. And so it proved on this, the opening night. Although … Continue reading →

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Boston Marriage, Highbury Theatre Studio, Sutton Coldfield

Posted on March 9, 2015 by garylongden

A three handed play, with all -female cast, by David Mamet, written in 1999. “Boston Marriage” is set a century earlier, the title being a euphemism, said to have been in use in New England in the decades spanning the … Continue reading →

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