Category Archives: Behind the Arras Reviews

***** As a  2003 film,   starring Helen Mirren, Calendar Girls  was hugely successful.  From The Top Theatre Company takes on the stage version, again written by Tim Firth, about a Northern Women’s institute   group  who produce a nude calendar for … Continue reading →

***** Sixty two years ago, JFK, an alleged paramour of Marilyn, declared his intention for the USA to go to the moon not  “because it is  easy, but because it is  hard, because that goal will serve to organize and … Continue reading →

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This musical was first performed on stage in 1963, but it was the1969 film that made a mass  cultural impact. . Both of my grandfathers fought in World War 1 in the army, and my father served  … Continue reading →

Drifters Girl- Birmingham  Hippodrome “Come on over to my place- hey you, we’re having a party” and on Tuesday night the party was at the Birmingham Hippodrome as the music of one of the most enduring vocal harmony groups of … Continue reading →

A major new revival of  a classic  comedy produced by Tilted Wig on the third stop of its nationwide tour. – Author  Richard  Sheridan is one of the most astonishing figures in British, and Anglo- Irish, dramatic history. Born in … Continue reading →

David Walliams has cemented himself a position as  a favourite children’s author both with his books and plays. His writing covers an appeal to a variety of ages. Tonight I took a ten year old grandson and seven year old … Continue reading →

**** Sherlock Holmes novels and plays were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a celebrity in the English speaking world and a leading and influential Spiritualist.  “The Valley of Fear” … Continue reading →

***** Sutton Arts has  taken a risk performing an unknown play by  a local  actor turned playwright. However that risk is mitigated by two things. Firstly, the doyen of Midlands  comic Amdram Barrie Atchison directs, secondly an outstanding cast has … Continue reading →

**** In advance this was  one  of the most intriguing elements of the Grand’s  2024 programme, and so it proved to be  on the night. The Sao Paulo Dance Company is state sponsored ,  a government supported cultural gem and … Continue reading →

Orwell wrote this, his eponymous novel,  in 1944 when the UK and US were allies with the Soviet Union. It is a political satire on Communist totalitarianism , the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917, and then … Continue reading →