Tag Archives: Northampton

Review – Top Gs Like Me, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 26th February 2026

Posted on by
Aidan

©Manuel Harlan

Nothing beats the biting relevance of a powerfully executed, raw slice of contemporary theatre to examine the darkest problems of the age. Top Gs Like Me explores the part that the Internet plays in damaging ordinary folk, allowing them to fall prey to others with evil intent. Every week we hear of a new online scam where people have been tricked into giving away their money – or indeed their heart and soul. The Andrew Tates and – in this play – Hugo Bangs of this world are skilled, sophisticated operators, people scammers who know exactly the strings to pull to achieve what they want (which is, secondarily, your admiration and primarily, your money.)

Mia and Aidan

©Manuel Harlan

Samson Hawkins’ Top Gs Like Me, set firmly in Northampton, tells the story of the likeable, impressionable and naive Aidan, a classic underachiever like most of us, who whiles away his free time at Radlands skate park, accompanied by his daily peanut butter and jam sandwiches, trying to master a trick on his scooter that is just too skilful for him to get right. Earning minimum wage at Morrisons and Deliveroo, with a frustrating homelife and no love life, there must be more that he can do to gain a foothold in the world. Best friend Mia is off to Bristol to study photography, and she’s got a new boyfriend, Charlie, who’s a pukka product of the Boys’ School, naturally confident with his charming bonhomie. There’s nothing quite like finding out that the girl, who you hope could be your girlfriend, is introducing you to her new boyfriend, to make you realise quite how much you’re missing out.

Hugo

©Manuel Harlan

In amongst the ever-changing noise and messages that he observes as he doomscrolls, Hugo Bang comes into insidious focus on his phone, all sharp red suit, successful aura, and magnetic charisma. If he can do it, how come I can’t, thinks Aidan (precisely as Hugo Bang intends him to think). His mantra is simple: get the cash first, then you’ll get the girls. And once you get the girls, you get more girls. Happy days, as long as you remember never to treat the girls as human. As Aidan starts to fall under Hugo’s spell, Grace wanders into his life, attempting to give off streetwise vibes, and willing to be his friend, maybe more. Aidan sees how he can use Grace as part of his new business – his plan to get the cash first. Thus starts a chain of events that ends up disastrously for everyone involved.

A convincing Hugo

©Manuel Harlan

It gave me great satisfaction to realise I had to Google what a Top G is. It’s a Top Gangster, one of those terms that Andrew Tate and his ilk have created, to lure unsuspecting young men, Pied Piper like, into their way of thinking. Being a Top G may sound tempting, but it’s no way of life for a decent human being. It’s a gateway into misogyny, prejudice and blaming everyone else for the situation you find yourself in – except yourself. Take responsibility for your own actions and situation, and you need never fear falling into this pernicious trap.

Aidan

©Manuel Harlan

The cunning twist in Hawkins’ writing is that, whilst exposing the harm and indeed criminality that the likes of Hugo Bang can induce, Aidan doesn’t suffer all the consequences of his actions that he might. Hawkins recognises that Aidan is a victim too. In a programme note, director Jesse Jones writes “I don’t believe we can live in a world where mistakes made at eighteen define someone forever”, and the end of the play allows for both an optimistic and pessimistic future, with both a hint at redemption and the likelihood that the Internet will continue to do its worst.

Traverse staging

©Manuel Harlan

Anyone familiar with the usual configuration of the Derngate auditorium will be astounded when they see how it has been transformed to incorporate a skatepark as the centrepiece of traverse staging. It becomes a huge, thrilling acting space, which can comfortably host the full cast of 31 actors, which includes 25 third year Acting students from the University of Northampton who perform the vital, and hugely effective, role of Internet Ensemble – the constant cacophony of disconnected voices and images that appear for seconds on our phones until you swipe them away. It’s a fascinating concept which they deliver seamlessly with great humour and insight.

Lighting

©Manuel Harlan

Technically, the production is also an outstanding achievement. Rebecca Brower’s set totally nails the graffiti-covered functional but comfortless space, and I lost count of the number of positions from where a cast member can enter the stage – there are at least ten, giving it a truly immersive feel. Rory Beaton’s creative lighting and Benjamin Grant’s sound designs work together in a mosaic of intricacy and enviable slickness. Hats off too, to Monica Nicolaides’ outstanding movement direction and Kiel O’Shea’s fight direction, which gives us some superbly believable stage combat.

Aidan and Grace

©Manuel Harlan

On top of it all are six main performances of outstanding quality. Daniel Rainford convinces us that Aidan is a true Everyman character; restless, guileless, and without a plan for the future. He also shows us that the manosphere version of himself is an unnatural warping of his character; artificial and without the necessary charisma to become the next Hugo. He’s never off stage in a physically demanding and powerful performance. Encouraging his descent, Danny Hatchard is perfect as Hugo, constantly reinforcing the simplicity of getting what you want, appearing heroic, dishing out his diktats in bite size chunks; and, when everything ends in disaster, he simply slinks off quietly, unnoticed, without saying a word – until his next victim comes along.

Dave

©Manuel Harlan

Fanta Barrie gives a terrific performance as Mia; eloquent, insightful, and delivering probably the best speech of the play, that examines the consequences of Aidan’s actions on other people. Finn Samuels is also excellent as the effortlessly urbane Charlie, Emily Coates gives a superb performance as Grace and David Schaal brings the character of Dave, the alcoholic who spends this time drinking at the skate park, to life with a remarkable speech about how one must always take responsibility for one’s own actions.

Hugo Bang

©Manuel Harlan

If you know decent people who have been radicalised, and have no idea how this happened, this play may help you understand why. It offers no easy answers or solutions and no happy ever afters. But it does make you think, and talk; it challenges you to find a way out and dares you to judge those who ought to do better. A tremendous achievement by writer Samson Hawkins, director Jesse Jones and the entire cast. A must-see!

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!

Review – Russell Hicks, This Time It’s Personal, Underground at the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton, 21st February 2026

Posted on by

Expect the unexpected when you see a Russell Hicks show and you won’t be disappointed. Many’s the time when we’ve seen him and any pre-prepared material goes right out of the window as he riffs off whatever the audience chuck at him – his ability to think on his feet is off the scale. Through his conversations with the crowd at yesterday’s show, we met the guy from Bugbrooke who gets fired loads of times, the accountant from Bedford who only likes the river there, the two couples sitting separately who’d seen Russell’s show in Luton where he was almost assaulted, the lady whose doorbell alarm on her phone wouldn’t stop, and the man who was only there for the accents.

Plenty of elements of his new show didn’t go entirely to plan last night in the Underground – thanks to David in the tech box – but that’s pure grist to his mill and creates even more hilarious chaos. All human life is here, as they say; and it’s comedy gold for Russell to mine whenever he wants.

This Time It’s Personal delves – as the title suggests – a little deeper into what makes Russell tick, how he got to where he is, how his somewhat unusual childhood upbringing motivated him to work in comedy and the lessons learned along the way. It could be rather serious material – but not the way Russell Hicks tells it! His main thread in the show is his part-disastrous, part-life changing experience of working as a comedian on a cruise ship. I think he’d be the first to admit that he’s not the most obvious choice of cruise comedian – and his account of dealing with the entertainment director, his rivalry with a magician too intelligent for his years and the audience (largely too old to notice) makes for a series of terrific anecdotes. Naturally, I’m not going to tell you how his experience resolved itself, you’ll have to see his show to find out!

Always a delight to see Mr H – his tour continues into June so don’t miss out on this opportunity to see a master at work!

Review – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Valentine’s Opera Gala, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 15th February 2026

Posted on by

RPO before the Valentine's GalaThe Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Valentine’s gift this year was an Opera Gala played to a busy and enthusiastic audience in the Derngate auditorium. A Sunday matinee, it was a relatively informal affair, totally lacking in Classical Concert Stuffiness and simply designed for everyone to have a good time.

Our conductor was Jordan de Souza, currently Music Director of Theater Dortmund and Chief Conductor of the Dortmund Philharmoniker. It was, he confessed, his first visit to Northampton, and we trust it won’t be his last. He’s one of those very involved conductors, full of excitable facial expressions designed to get the best out of the orchestra and a playful, almost mischievous mentality that shows just how much he has fun up on the podium.

The programme was a chocolate box selection of opera highlights, with four purely orchestral pieces and twelve arias. We started with the orchestra on fine form with a superb rendition of Strauss’ Die Fledermaus Overture, full of lush strings, arresting percussion and terrific expression. The orchestra were particularly daring with those slight pauses during the famous waltz; you could truly visualise the voluminous swirling dresses of those Viennese ladies. A fantastic start.

Then we met our two opera soloists. First up, tenor Nicky Spence OBE, a relaxed, light-hearted presence who grew cheekier as the concert progressed, and who sported an enviably glittering pair of slippers as his footwear. He started off with possibly the most serious aria of the programme, Vainement, ma bien-aimée from Lalo’s Le roi d’Ys, all of which was new to me. Then soprano Anne-Marie MacIntosh sang Ah! je ris de me voir si belle from Gounod’s Faust, better known as The Jewel Song.

Mr Spence returned for En fermant les yeux from Massenet’s Manon, a piece I had not heard before, and which was stunningly beautiful. Then it was Ms MacIntosh’s turn again with Micaela’s aria Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante from Bizet’s Carmen. Hats off to the RPO for giving us one of Micaela’s arias rather than Carmen’s for a change! This led into a performance of the first three parts of the Carmen Suite No 1, the Prelude, Aragonaise and Intermezzo. The powerful emphasis on those opening strings of the Prelude gave it a truly menacing impact. The audience was enjoying the performance so much that we broke etiquette and applauded after the Aragonaise. In some concerts, a conductor might have held his gaze towards the orchestra and made the applause freeze away; but on this occasion Mr de Souza turned to us and welcomed it, which confirmed the informality of the event and the fact that we were all there just to enjoy ourselves.

Mr Spence returned with a short entertaining introduction to his next piece, Tosti’s L’ultima canzone, explaining that it didn’t mean The Last Pizza. And then he was joined by Ms MacIntosh for O soave fanciulla, the aria that wraps up Act 1 of Puccini’s La Bohème, and it was with searing emotion that we went into the interval.

The second half started with the Prelude to Act 1 of Verdi’s La Traviata, followed by Ms MacIntosh singing Ah, fors’è lui… Sempre libera from the same opera. She has a wonderful way of acting out her singing so that you really understand the character behind the aria. Then Mr Spence sang Lensky’s Aria from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, another immensely powerful and affecting performance. This was followed by the orchestra once again in full swing with the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, a marvellously stirring and invigorating piece of music.

Into the home straight, Ms MacIntosh sang Caro nome from Verdi’s Rigoletto, a delightfully simple and plaintive aria that really touched everyone’s heart; and then Mr Spence gave us the rousing Dein ist mein ganzes Herz from Lehar’s Das Land des Lächelns – one of those pieces of music that you know you know, yet you can’t quite place; definitely it should have its place in Classical Music’s top 50 tunes. Ms MacIntosh joined him for Lippen schweigen from Lehar’s Merry Widow, sung in English, and the whole concert concluded with the celebratory Brindisi from La Traviata. Mr de Souza carefully regulated our clapping along so that we could join in without ruining the music, and it was a superb way to end an afternoon of pure joy. The RPO are next in town in June for another Sunday matinee performance of Beethoven’s Fifth – see you there!

Five Alive, Let Music Thrive!

Review – The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 29th January 2026

Posted on by

Which Sue Perkins are you here to see tonight? asks Ms P at the beginning of her new touring show – and it’s a fair question. We’ve all got our own ideas on who she is, whether it’s part of the Bake-Off team, or on Taskmaster, or presenter of Just a Minute. For me, none of those apply; my impressions of Sue Perkins are still anchored to the good old days of Light/Late Lunch, and I remain truly impressed with her conducting skills in Maestro. Of course, many of Sue’s broadcasting adventures are tied up with her partnership with Mel Giedroyc, and there are plenty of funny references to how many people can’t tell them apart.

However, The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins is exclusively about Sue and her exploits. Specifically, those exploits that have caused her shame – not all of which are her fault. This isn’t a typical stand-up comedy show; it’s more of An Evening with Sue Perkins where she responds to a few well-planned questions from which she can bounce off into some entertaining anecdotes. But she asks the questions of herself; think Parkinson without Parkinson. It’s a very effective structure because she’s a terrific raconteur who seemingly has no fear about presenting herself in her truest light, warts and all.

Informally dressed – until the final moment – she strikes up an easy rapport with the audience, instantly adopting a let’s all be friends together vibe, which nevertheless doesn’t detract from her genuinely commanding presence on stage. It’s a strangely powerful mix of self-deprecation and vulnerability with a super-confident delivery. She’s one of those performers who like to keep moving on stage; not as freely maniacally as some, but purposefully choreographed – which she attributes to the fact that she has a benign brain tumour.

The tumour plays quite a big part in the show actually, as it’s the source of a number of those shame moments that are beyond her control, sending her down some mental alleyways that are truly ghastly, but which Ms P manages to twist into very funny stories. There are some instances of shame that are completely her fault, however; none more so than her account of an injured stray dog (Sue Perkins clearly loves dogs) that she met in Bolivia and whom she rescued from certain death (hurrah!) – but at what cost? She also tells us of three encounters with shamans (three? Surely one is enough!) with – shall we say – varying levels of success.

The perils of a brief visit to Cornwall, the effects of having your phone hacked, cloned number plates and the residual value of collectable Wedgwood items, it’s all here. Sue Perkins’ comedy speciality is to go in-depth in lengthy detail on a fewer number of subjects rather than touching lightly on several topics. The show positively drips with honesty, and you come away from it with a much stronger insight into the woman behind the name. It’s also – of course – very funny! Sue Perkins is touring her Eternal Shame around the country until April – just make sure you’re not expecting to see Mel.

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Derngate, Northampton, 24th January 2026

Posted on by

Hurrah for the return of Screaming Blue Murder at the Royal and Derngate, and a swinging start to the year with a full house crowded into the Underground Studio. There was a considerable change to the line-up, but I reckon we got a much better threesome than had been advertised (don’t tell anyone I said that). We also welcomed the return of the ever-engaging, always delightful Dan Evans to host us through the melange, getting to know the types of people who risk all by sitting in the front two rows. That included Nathan from the National Grid, and the genuinely fascinating actor based in Hanoi who plays action heroes in video games. Who knew?

However, we must first address the elephant in the room. Or rather, about eight elephants, who were out on a belated Christmas celebration night, fully loaded with alcohol but having forgotten to eat. Teachers, apparently; p*ssed as ar*eholes, definitely. Thank heavens they never revealed the name of the school! They weren’t aggressive but they were disruptive and made it difficult for everyone – the acts and the rest of the audience – to tune into the evening. Fortunately, they made the wise decision to leave in the first interval and carry on drinking in the Mailcoach. Hey Hallelujah!

Sadly, it was up to our opening act, the always hilarious Meryl O’Rourke, to take one for the team and manage these problematic ladies. Wisely she decided not to do any challenging material and instead stuck to the tried and tested Menopausal Meryl stuff. She has some brilliant observations on surviving those testing years; it’s very skilful to make menopause humour equally funny to men as it is to women, and she’s great at it. She confessed that she didn’t really know how to handle those women – but clever wordplay and a roundabout approach resulted in her being able to call them out for what they were (and I won’t say the word here!) but it resonated with us all and she got a massive round of applause for saying it. I’m sure it was the prime reason most of them left to carry on drinking.

Next up, and with peace and stability in the room regained, we had the inimitable Dave Chawner, a regular comedy star at the Edinburgh Fringe, who often likes to come at his comedy from a mental health direction. He told us of his lovely partner Oonagh from Northern Ireland – and the best way to distinguish the two types of people who live there. As an alternative to comedians who talk about their kids, he talks about all the reasons why he doesn’t have kids, which makes a nice change. He’s effortlessly gifted in crafting lovely turns of phrase throughout his act, sets up a good rapport with the audience, and has some wonderfully creative insights into life. I particularly liked his immensely sound reasoning for why some people put up unwanted St George’s flags in inappropriate locations. Top stuff, and he definitely steered the show back into the positive zone!

Our headliner, and another change to the advertised programme, was the irrepressibly mischievous Dan Antopolski, unashamedly one of my favourite comedians. The thing with Mr A is that you can never tell in which direction he’s going to take you. Hitting the ground running with a brilliant – and so appropriate for that evening – opening line about bunches, no subject is out of bounds as he adopts his slightly surreal take on everything. Among his best bits were great reasoning for why you might put socks on before pants, the definition of “a character”, and what constitutes grounds for divorce. Clever and intelligent material, elegantly crafted and phrased, and delivered with wicked style and a knowing look.

Next Screaming Blue Murder night is on Valentine’s Day! If you’re free, why not come? Just don’t pre-load for hours first.

Review – Stephen K Amos, Now We’re Talking, Underground at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 10th January 2026

Posted on by

One of our favourite funny men, Stephen K Amos is midway through his UK tour of his latest show Now We’re Talking, and it was a delight to see the Underground in Northampton sold out to greet him. Would he have a support act? He addressed the issue in his opening moments when he candidly confessed, he normally would but decided he couldn’t afford one this week. Consequently, we had a good two hours or more of undiluted Mr Amos, and I for one am not complaining.

His message in his latest show is that, in these awful days where everything seems to be going what my father used to call arse-uppards, we need to talk but moreover we really need to listen. It is still possible to “find the funny” in the most unusual or indeed impossible situations – and Mr A is a master of that art. Everyone says you can’t say anything nowadays, which anyone with an ounce of understanding realises is not true; you can, but you just have to be more skilled at it. As Mr A says, if you think and if you listen, you can say what you like; just don’t imitate your Nigerian doctor – as he gamely demonstrated.

Stephen K Amos has always incorporated his brilliant fluidity with accents and attitude in his act, to tremendous comic effect. He wastes no time getting to know the people in the front rows – beware if you sit close to the stage when he’s on, as you will get involved! We met Andrew and Jo from posh Market Harborough, baker Megan and Police officer Georgie; others who remained nameless included a relentless scoffer of Maltesers and someone who chucked him a caveat which Mr A rightly interpreted as a masked heckle, and as a result he regretted his words for the rest of the evening. For all that he’s a hilarious comic, Mr A can get quite ruthless with the audience, so you’d better have your wits about you if you engage unwisely!

At the end of the act, his astute mind and rigorous memory let loose a terrific final routine where he creates a story populated with all the characters in the audience with whom he’s spoken, imitating their manner using their words back at them. It’s incredibly clever and shows just what a smart cookie he is. Mr Amos’ comedy is always intelligent and thoughtful; his observations are well-reasoned and hit the nail on the head. And despite all the problems with the world, you come away from the show feeling uplifted; his is a very optimistic act, and we definitely need more of that!

Hilarious comic observations? For sure. Wordplay? You got it. Instant comic reactions to anything the audience throws at him? Absolutely! The Now We’re Talking tour continues throughout the UK until 7th February; he’s then touring in Australia from March to May with a couple of dates in New Zealand at the end.

Review – The All New Adventures of Peter Pan, Royal and Derngate, Northampton 7th December 2025

Posted on by

©Pamela Raith

Yes, I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas either. But as sure as night follows day, the pantomime season swings into action, bringing its delightful formula of bad jokes, audience interaction, ghosts lurking behind benches and wheelbarrows heaving with puns. Evolution Pantomimes’ offering for Northampton this year is Peter Pan – The All New Adventures of, because we’ve moved on from Wendy Darling (who everyone agrees was SO BORING) to Poppy Sunshine, and Never Never Land has become Forever Land; go figure. But some things just don’t change: the mischievous Tinkerbell, the villainous Captain Hook and Peter Pan, of course; he’s no longer a child as Hook points out, but an actor with Botox and Mounjaro (don’t sue me, I’m only quoting what he said). And we mustn’t forget the Lost Boys and Girls, and the crocodile – this year, chummily known as Colin.

©Pamela Raith

Evolution are masters at pantomime and this year’s show is no exception. They have a great understanding of which panto traditions are sacrosanct, and which ones you can play with a little. The ghost bench is always a winning combination – but in a nice nod to Peter Pan this year, the ghost comes down from the sky on a wire. The musical numbers consist of a few classic pop songs – the Tina Turner double-bill that sends us into the interval is fabulous – mixed with several songs from musical theatre. Sweeney Todd’s Not While I’m Around has its scary subplot removed and becomes a sweet lullaby in the orphanage, Stick it to the Man from Rock of Ages works very well and, best of all, the mermaids using Welcome to the Rock from Come from Away as their theme for Mermaid Cove – it makes absolute sense that mermaids would affirm their identity with the chant I Am an Islander.

©Pamela Raith

There’s also one of those water pistol moments. Foolish me; as it had been raining, I brought a bag with me so that my programme would stay pristine whilst walking home. However, by the time Gordon Cooper’s Mrs Sweet had soaked the central stalls with her bazookas it had wilted into a soggy mess. But it’s all part of the Essence of Pantomime, which just so happens to be precisely that intangible substance that Captain Hook is trying to steal and destroy, so that he can eradicate laughter, music, dancing, and, above all, booing. What a bad fellow he is. You’ll be pleased to discover he fails in his quest.

©Pamela Raith

There’s energetic song and dance from the boys and girls of the chorus, amusing interruptions from Ethel the Overacting Pirate and Trevor the Pirate who can’t be Bothered, and the super-messy but very funny ice-cream making interlude. Musically, this is a particularly strong pantomime with two outstanding musical performances, from Millie Davies as Poppy and Simone Robinson as Miss Doodle/Myrtle. Neal Parsons and Emily Walder’s media videography is extremely effective, with the walls and door of Poppy’s orphanage bedroom shimmering into a dream sequence and a glorious projection of Poppy and Tink’s flight over London and beyond into orbit. This is the magic of pantomime; and there’s nothing quite like it.

©Pamela Raith

John Thomson leads the cast as the baddie Captain Hook; he has a fine and imposing stage presence and is appropriately malign, so that he fully deserves his boos. There’s a hilarious brief sequence where he attempts to deliver a powerful soliloquy in an ever-diminishing follow spot – it’s a lovely piece of physical comedy. And he can play the drums too! Oliver Scott plays our gang leader Charlie with immense and addictive enthusiasm and forms a fun double act with CBeebies favourite George Webster, whom the children in the audience absolutely adored.

©Pamela Raith

Gordon Cooper relishes all the opportunities that being the pantomime dame can offer. As Mrs Sweet, she nicely plays up to her new boyfriend of the afternoon, the unfortunate front-row Chris (who was a very good sport indeed) and drives the show on with pace and power and a lot of splendidly outrageous costumes. I mustn’t forget the impishly cheeky Tink in the form of Georgia Brierley-Smith, and a big shout-out to Uncle Joe Church and his Royal and Derngate Philharmonic, playing their instruments from the side boxes, who create a bigger band sound than is decent from just four musicians.

©Pamela Raith

I must be honest; Sunday afternoon’s show was occasionally a little chaotic, but I have no doubt that any tiny niggles will sort themselves out admirably over the next couple of performances. And anyway, when things do go a little awry, that just adds to the Essence of Pantomime! Above all, the kids loved it, and that’s what really counts.

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – That’ll Be The Day – That’ll Be Christmas, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 26th November 2025

Posted on by

©Prestige Productions

Whamageddon doesn’t start until 1st December, but Prestige Productions’ That’ll Be Christmas is already rocking out theatres and getting everyone in the mood for an early festive celebration. Trevor Payne’s That’ll Be The Day show notches up its fortieth anniversary next year; it’s a hugely successful, constantly changing touring production mixing music and laughter – and That’ll Be Christmas is their seasonal special, taking Christmas hits from throughout the decades and delivering them with pizzazz and glamour.

©Prestige Productions

Not only Christmas hits, but also plenty of nostalgic evergreen Christmas songs that we all grew up with, as well as some other songs given a Christmassy treatment. No spoilers, but I remember Abba’s Fernando being a summer hit – but here it glistens with sparkling snowflakes and makes you fancy a mulled wine. Part of the fun of the show is how it combines songs that you expect to hear – and have every right to expect – with songs that surprise you that they’ve been included; and for me, that was the most enjoyable aspect of the night. Of course, with every wonderfully nostalgic rendition, every so often a song comes along that you could really do without – but then, life would be dull if we were all the same! My teeth clenched at hearing the UK chart topper that fortunately was knocked off the top just in time not to make the Christmas No 1 in 1972… you’ll have to do your research to discover which little gem that is unless you’ve got a long and very good memory. Clue: I was one of those who will not sing.

©Prestige Productions

A long memory is actually a big bonus in the enjoyment of this show. The music covers the four decades from the 1950s to the 1980s, and the loyal fanbase audience are of an age where they’ll remember them all from their teenage years. It’s a family show – but – don’t tell anyone – I’m 65 years old and if you’re any younger you won’t get many of the references.

©Prestige Productions

It’s more of an event than a theatrical production, with a distinctly happy and excited vibe in the foyers, and patrons dressed in Christmas jumpers and tinselly hairbands. The stage looks great, with dynamic lighting and absolutely no expense spared on the costumes – you’ll lose count of the number of costume changes. There’s also a much-utilised back projection on stage, adding to the colour, the context and the memories.

©Prestige Productions

The musical numbers are broken up every so often with a comedy sketch or routine; you may have to delve very deep into your past to remember how much you appreciated Laurel and Hardy or Steptoe and Son when you were a kid; Gary Anderson’s vocal impersonation of Harold Steptoe is totally spot on! Some of the comedy is – dare I say it – both a little dated and a little crude, revealing that comedy develops over the years, but classic music always stands the test of time. I do love that particular excerpt from Till Death Us Do Part though!

©Prestige Productions

There’s a talented cast of vocalists and musicians, many of whom both sing and play instruments, and who all bring their own special creative spark. The show is fronted by That’ll be the Day mastermind Trevor Payne and his partner in crime Gary Anderson who use their clearly cheeky personalities to give us some devilish musical impersonations – capturing the essence of their characterisations whilst still impressing with their musical performances.

©Prestige Productions

No spoilers (again) but the show ends with a sequence that blends 70s and 80s Christmas No 1s with timeless festive songs, gets the whole audience up on their feet, and truly sends everyone home on a high. It’s really no surprise that That’ll Be The Day has been treading the boards since 1986, and I’m sure on this showing it will continue to tread them for many years to come! That’ll Be Christmas is now well into its UK tour, with a very busy schedule taking in almost forty venues in November and December. Here’s the link for tickets. My guess is that if you want to see the show, you’ll have to get your skates on, there were hardly any free seats at the Royal and Derngate on Wednesday!

Oh – and you WILL hear Last Christmas!

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

P. S. Reading the cast biographies after the show I have a fresh admiration for TBTD supremo Trevor Payne. We have happy memories of a 1992 holiday to Malta, where the song Maltese Calypso was heard everywhere, and indeed we bought the 7-inch single – Trevor Payne wrote and performed it!

Review – BIOSPHERE, Genfest 2025, Underground at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 21st November 2025

Posted on by
BIOSPHERE

©Todd N Murray

Do you remember the ‘Biosphere 2’ experiment, where eight crew members were sealed inside a vast Arizona biodome? It was intended to be a prototype for establishing life on other planets, but it slowly descended into disaster when the crew’s survival was threatened by the instability of their ecosystems, and their own relationships – we’re all human after all. BIOSPHERE, by Northampton’s own Olivia Foan, was inspired by this failed experiment, and is written to explore whether such an attempt could be tried again today, in light of our further descent into climate crisis.

Sam Landon

Sam Landon ©Part of the Main

Produced by Part of the Main company as part of the Royal and Derngate’s Genfest 2025 season, Foan sets the play in an airtight dome – the Biosphere – where four scientists are sealed away from the world for a year to prove that life can survive beyond Earth. Can the four interact constructively and purposefully, working together for the good of mankind, or will human nature interrupt their ambitions and send the scheme crashing down? NASA’s Frank Rubio spent 371 days in the International Space Station, so theoretically it can be done – but is it within the abilities of Phillip, Rhea, Miriam and Jack to do the same?

Staged at the Underground space in the Royal and Derngate, Rachel Sampley’s excellent lighting and video design, combined with Vyvyan Stewardson’s sound design, recreates the biosphere perfectly in our imagination, with just a few additional props to give us additional context. Wealthy Phillip, whose brainchild the experiment is, takes charge and has recruited three scientists to assist him: engineer and analyst Miriam, agriculturalist and nutritionist Jack, and medical researcher Rhea (who also happens to be his girlfriend). Each has their own expertise vital for the experiment to succeed.

Lauren O'Leary

Lauren O’Leary ©Part of the Main

But people are human, and human frailties cannot be left outside the sealed door. Relationships are forged and fragmented, minor injustices expand into treachery. Phillip’s status confers additional privileges, such as the use of the phone and the right to withhold important information, which creates jealousy leading to resentments and anger. It’s very similar to the pressures you can watch on Big Brother, except they go on for a year! The integrity of the experiment requires access to the outside world to be impossible, but what if one of the four needs urgent medical attention beyond their own capabilities, or if food and nutrition dwindle to the minimum so that they can barely operate? If that integrity has to be breached to keep the four alive, does that make the experiment a failure, or do the lessons learned as a result render it a success?

Antonia Salib

Antonia Salib ©Part of the Main

In a sub-plot, Philip is financing Rhea’s defence in a court case resulting from misuse of her medical research; in another, one of the so-called supporters who observe the goings-on inside the dome from outside fixates on Miriam and masturbates whenever he sees her. The first gives us some additional insight into the characters and the world of medical research; the second, however, could be developed further. The projection occasionally reveals the numbers of days left in the experiment; this is unnecessary, as it’s hard to read the numbers projected on the floor, and, in any case, the writing is sufficiently informative for the audience to understand their time progress. That said, the ending of the play feels a little drawn out, as if they couldn’t quite decide at which point the story is fully concluded.

The acting is of a truly high quality throughout. Sam Landon brings a natural air of authority to the role of Phillip, ostensibly reasonable as a decisive, approachable boss, but underneath lurks a ruthless, angry streak. Lauren O’Leary’s Miriam has all the best lines and she delivers them with relish; it’s a smart and well-judged portrayal of an assertive character who’s nevertheless both vulnerable and volatile. Antonia Salib strongly suggests all Rhea’s insecurities whilst always showing her integrity and commitment to her research, and Eddie House’s performance as Jack is riveting from the start as he negotiates his way through personal interactions, devotion to his work, and the anguish the experiment causes him.

Eddie House

Eddie House ©Part of the Main

At two and a quarter hours including an interval, the play could do with a little tightening-up and maybe shaving off ten minutes or so. But it asks fascinating questions about both the future of the world, imbalance in relationships and the pressures of four people locked away for a year with ever decreasing resources. I’m sure this is not the last we will have heard of BIOSPHERE, and the company will be leading further development workshops which you can discover here.

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Fawlty Towers, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 18th November 2025

Posted on by

Hello, Fawlty Towers?

If you’re anything like me, gentle reader, you quake a little at the prospect of seeing a stage show based on a TV show. I have gloomy memories of seeing the stage production of Yes Prime Minister and the recent stage adaptation of Drop the Dead Donkey was only moderately entertaining. I genuinely hated the Menier Chocolate Factory’s 2009 production of Victoria Wood’s Talent as the two main actors simply did impersonations of Victoria Wood and Julie Walters as they performed in the original TV play; and it only made you want to see the real Victoria Wood and Julie Walters. So I was in two minds about how wise it was to spend a theatrical evening at Fawlty Towers.

I Know!!!…

Those twelve classic TV episodes are unassailably cherished in many people’s memories, so it was an undoubted risk on John Cleese’s part to adapt the show for the stage. It hit the West End with huge success in May 2024 and now it is touring the UK and Ireland right through to August 2026. The show is a compilation of three episodes, The Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Communication Problems, with the odd nod to a couple of other stories. I’m not going to tell you what they are all about because I’m sure you haven’t been living under a rock for the past fifty years.

Polly squares up to the Major

The theatrical Fawlty Towers is massively more entertaining than any of those three productions I mentioned earlier. The adaptation is excellent, combining the three stories into one cohesive narrative, and the staging emphasises the farcical nature of the production; Feydeau would have loved it. It’s performed with tremendous conviction and manages to recreate the original with huge affection as well as putting its own subtle individual identity on it. Wisely, it doesn’t try to end with any form of resolution to the stories, just a chaotic tableau of everything going wrong, which perfectly encapsulates Fawltyland.

I’m sorry, he’s from Barcelona

Liz Ascroft’s breathtakingly impressive set occupies the entire stage, with the hotel reception, the dining room, the stairs up, and a top floor bedroom as well as cleverly showing us the hotel frontage and that persistently unreliable hotel name sign. The costumes are totally faithful to the original series, as is the incidental theme music. My only quibble with the overall production is that we hear that theme way too often during the course of the show; I can only imagine that if they were live musicians, Basil would have headbutted them in exasperation and snipped their strings before the evening was out.

Papers arrived yet, Fawlty?

There is a separate question to be asked: fifty years on, does it still work as comedy? Some people maintain – and indeed John Cleese is one of them – that comedy has been ruined by the wokerati and you can’t say funny things anymore. This is of course nonsense; you just have to be better at it. What certainly stands the test of time is the immensely funny characterisations: the belligerent, bombastic, oleaginous host, his coarse, braying, bullying wife, the demanding customer who only speaks circuitously, the forgetful old fool living in the past and the impatient deaf old woman who won’t turn her hearing aid on.

Don’t mention the war

Where, for me, it becomes less appealing is with its approach to foreigners, primarily the treatment of the idiotic Spanish waiter, and its carefree portrayal of violence, both domestic and against the staff and customers. In the 1970s, the TV series absolutely captured the zeitgeist with the British continued uneasy relationship with Germany, which was immaculately realised with Basil’s largely unintentional harassment of his German guests. Today, that whole Goebbels, Goering and Hitler funny walk routine just makes me cringe. But I must be honest, there were sections of the audience who found that completely hysterical.

He’s got a gun…

When you’re adapting such a well-known original work, it’s vital that we believe in the actors’ characterisations, and here the production is extremely successful. I hardly recognised Danny Bayne from his excellent performances in Grease and Saturday Night Fever, playing such a completely different kind of character, but he is again extremely good. His dancer training really allows him to convey Basil’s physicality and his fluidity of movement; bouncing back from behind the reception desk, being knocked out by the moose head, and the goosestep are performed with extraordinary precision and skill.

Hope there’s nothing trivial wrong with you dear

Mia Austen absolutely nails Sybil’s ruthless streak, those piercingly angry eyes burrowing into Basil’s soul whenever she gets a chance; and she’s also great on the phone, with her suggestive cackle and that trademark I know… Waitress Polly never had that much of a characterisation in the TV programme, perhaps just being the lone voice of sanity, so there isn’t much for Joanne Clifton to get her teeth into, but it’s a sunny and nicely comic performance. Hemi Yeroham has a difficult task to make Manuel a believable person as the original was written as so much of a caricature, but his comic timing is immaculate.

I know nothing

For me, the scene-stealing performance of the show is Paul Nicholas as the Major, because it’s the least hysterical and most realistic characterisation, playing the whole thing straight when everything around him cascades into nonsense. He delivers his killer lines beautifully, genuinely makes you think he is talking to a moose, and is the embodiment of a loveably forgetful old duffer. There’s also terrific support from Jemma Churchill as the cantankerous Mrs Richards and Greg Haiste as the troublesome Mr Hutchinson.

…and curtain!

Very nostalgic but with a creative twist, this is a strong production with immense attention to detail. A suitable show for both Fawlty Towers fans and those who know nothing about it. There are hardly any tickets left for the rest of the week, so you’d better get in quick if you want to see it!

 

Production photos by Hugo Glendenning

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!