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The finalists of The Offies 2019

Some decisions that reflect my own nominations for the year, many others for plays I haven’t seen and as ever, some curious choices too.

DESIGN
COSTUME DESIGN
Gabriella Slade for Six at the Arts Theatre
Jonathan Lipman for Harold & Maude at the Charing Cross Theatre
Pam Tait for Rothschild & Sons at the Park Theatre

SET DESIGN
Bethany Wells for Distance at the Park Theatre
Francis O’Connor for Harold & Maude at the Charing Cross Theatre
Simon Daw for Humble Boy at the Orange Tree Theatre Continue reading “The finalists of The Offies 2019”

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2019 What’s On Stage Award nominations

As we move towards the year end, so award season gets into full swing and What’s On Stage have now revealed their nominations celebrating everyone who works in theatre apart from sound designers and musical directors. As ever, these awards tend to work around which fanbase can weaponise the strongest and so there’s lots of love for shows which might not necessarily be troubling many other shortlists…

Still, am liking the recognition for Milly Thomas and Dust, Es Devlin’s luminous set work for Girls & Boys, and Six and The Grinning Man getting into the cast recording category (though can’t quite work out how Come From Away fits into there as well…). And it’s a bit sad that the way their eligibility period works means that Hamilton comes up against Company, making the supporting actress/actor categories ridiculously difficult to choose between.

You can vote here until 31st January, and winners will be announced on 3rd March.

Continue reading “2019 What’s On Stage Award nominations”

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Album Review: Six the Musical cast recording

Thwarted in my attempts to see Six the Musical this week, the release of the brilliant cast recording couldn’t be better timed

“Too many years lost in his story”

We only got about 15 minutes of Six the Musical on Thursday night before a technical problem halted the performance, which was eventually then cancelled. So the release of the cast recording of the show couldn’t have been better timed until I work out how when I can fit in a rescheduled visit to the Arts Theatre.

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ raucous reclamation of history…sorry, herstory, had a hugely successful run in Edinburgh after its initial showcase at the Arts at the beginning of the year. And it has maintained that buzz in fine style in capturing the attentions of a devoted audience, a portion of whom made the atmosphere for that initial quarter of an hour totally electric. Continue reading “Album Review: Six the Musical cast recording”

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Review: Six, Arts Theatre

Promotional image for Six at the Arts Theatre

“What hurts more than a broken heart?‘
A severed head‘”

Lots of fun to be had with Six, an anarchic look at the roll-call of women who hitched their wagon to Henry VIII’s marital train. Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ fiercely modern style owes as much to the feminist punch of Lizzie as it does to the ground-breaking approach to history of Hamilton ,  and proved a highly entertaining hour of late-night theatre to brighten up a Monday night.

Quite why it has been shunted away to a handful of performances in a weekly slot at the Arts Theatre I’m not sure, though it has had the effect of ensuring a ‘sell-out season’ and amplified the love it has been receiving on social media and IRL too. Which is no bad thing I guess and hopefully will lead to some further life for Six, hopefully holding onto this cast, particularly the excellent Genesis Lynea.