By Chris Cullen How lucky is the person who finds their true vocation in life. In the case of Lady Barbara Skelton, trapped in a dull marriage and frustrated by the life of a country lady, the discovery ultimately brings about her ruin. She becomes a highwayman. The Wicked Lady is an adaptation by Bryony Lavery of the historical novel Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton by Magdalen King-Hall. The novel itself is loosely based on the seventeenth […]
By Nikki Packham I saw this play in London when it first opened and really enjoyed it. I remember rows and rows of shoes. Tonight at Bromley Little Theatre I saw rows of jackets and caps pinned to washing lines and they served the two actors playing multiple roles just as well as the shoes would have done. We all know the Republic of Ireland has a thriving film industry and many of the most famous names in Hollywood have […]
by Alan Nelson I fell in love with David Auburn’s play the first time I saw it. But as it ended, I turned to my then 12-year-old son and saw he had his mouth open. “Is that it?” he said. “They talk about maths for two hours and then it finishes?” So, I understand that despite its Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, a play seemingly about maths and academia with a soppy love story thrown in is not an easy […]
by Patrick Neylan Like the 19th Century prison ship bound for Australia where it’s set, Steve Gooch’s Female Transport creaks and leaks a little with age. Written in 1974, it now suffers by comparison with Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good, written a decade and a half later and covering much the same themes only with more depth. But ‘by comparison’ is the crucial phrase here. Female Transport is by no means a bad play and the audiences enjoyed the unusual […]
by Patrick Neylan Bad Jews is a comedy, as you’d expect from those perennial comedy tropes: death, Zionism and the Holocaust. The set-up is simple: Holocaust survivor Poppy has died, and the family has gathered for his funeral. Into a New York hotel room are squeezed prickly, zealous Diana – who prefers to go by the Hebrew variant Daphna – and her cousin Jonah. Jess Jenner’s Daphna is a whirlwind of manipulation as she bullies Jonah – played by Robert […]
by richard stewart Right everyone, put down the mince pies and sherry: it’s time for a brand-new year at Bromley Little Theatre. The 2018 season has officially begun and brings with it another set of shows from your favourite North Street bakery-turned-playhouse. 2018 is looking to be a year themed on ‘family’: a casual glance down the season and nearly every play seems to be about sisters, parents, wives, husbands, relationships among friends and every other possible combination. It only […]
We were pleased to welcome remotegoat to BLT last week to see Treasure Island and they gave us 4 stars! Well done to everyone involved! Here is their review.
By Paul Campion (to see the review of this show by remotegoat click here) “Girls need adventures too, Mrs Hawkins” Just as Charles Dickens invented the modern idea of Christmas with ‘A Christmas Carol’, with ‘Treasure Island’ Robert Louis Stevenson pretty much invented the modern idea of pirates. Parrots…wooden legs… tricorn hats… treasure maps marked with an ‘x’… swordfights…grog….they all featured in Stevenson’s original 1883 novel and continue to define all things piratical to this very day. But ‘Treasure Island’ […]
by Arthur Rochester When November’s planned production of Hedda Gabler had to be replaced, Pauline Armour’s choice of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads could be described as inspired. Originally written for nineteen-eighties television, these monologues are ideally suited to live performance in a small auditorium and, on the evening I attended, received one of the most enthusiastic responses I can recall at BLT for some time. Straight from directing what she described as ‘a cast of thousands’ in Great Britain, Pauline, sharing […]
by Nikki Packham I didn’t know this play at all and avoided Google, so I had no idea what to expect. I love BLT Bar Shows because, as you enter this intimate space, you have the first flavour of the piece before it even starts. Friday night was no exception. The full floor acting area between the pillars was a carpet of leaves and Tony Jenner had turned the pillars themselves into tree trunks, decorated with branches, cleverly fixed to […]