When I started investigating Online Theatre opportunities and reviewing a show a day back on April 1st my intention was to run the project for a month while we shut down for the pandemic. Well, it’s now six months (183 days) later and no end in sight for Covid 19 or my reviewing streak. Theatres keep trembling on the brink of reopening but then further restrictions curtail this eventuality; just a couple of days ago The Mousetrap, which was set to reopen in mid-October, announced that the shutters will not be coming down after all. So, it looks for now like continuing with the current status quo is inevitable. My thanks go to all the readers/blog followers/responders and commenters who have helped to keep this beast afloat.
In the circumstances it seems inappropriate to offer star ratings for theatre productions as the same criteria simply cannot apply. However – all shows received a full review. Click on titles to access them.
Theatre
| Waiting For The Ship To Sail | Devised |
| When The Eye Has Gone | Dougie Blaxland |
| Memoirs Of An Asian Football Casual | Riaz Khan adptd. by Dougal Irvine |
| The Winter’s Tale | William Shakespeare |
| Shielders | Matilda Ibini |
| Three Kings | Stephen Beresford |
| Krapp’s Last Tape | Samuel Beckett |
| The Old Tune | Samuel Beckett |
| The Tempest | William Shakespeare |
| Five Encounters On A Site Called Craigslist | Yes Yes No No |
| Rose | Martin Sherman |
| Backbone | Louis Turner |
| Rockpool | Alexander Wiseman |
| Signs Of Life | Hannah Crouch |
| Blue Moon | David Kinder |
| Heart Of Darkness | Joseph Conrad adptd. by Andrew Quick & Pete Brooks |
| Into The Woods | Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine |
| Look Back In Anger | John Osborne |
| The Mystery Of Charles Dickens | Peter Ackroyd |
| Great Expectations | Charles Dickens adptd. by Jo Clifford |
| Faith Healer | Brian Friel |
| King Lear | William Shakespeare |
| The Boss Of It All | Jack McNamara |
| Billy Elliot | Lee Hall & Elton John |
| The Wind In The Willows | George Stiles, Anthony Drewe & Julian Fellowes |
| Jerry Springer: The Opera | Stewart Lee & Richard Thomas |
| Buried Child | Sam Shepard |
| A Marvellous Party | Noel Coward |
| Letters | Devised by Nadia Albina & Tim Crouch |
| Palm Reading | Daniel Bye |
| Pandemic Fight | Carmelita Tropicana |
| Romantics Anonymous | Michael Koman, Christopher Dimond & Emma Rice |
| Before After | Stuart Matthew Price & Timothy Knapman |
| Sherlock In Homes | Devised by Sharp Teeth Company |
| Death Of A Hunter | Rolf Hochhuth |
| An Idea Come To me | Richard Popple |
| The Phantom Of The Opera | Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart & Richard Stilgoe |
The rest of the online reviews can be accessed via the index here
Best Of The Bunch
The Old Vic
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For my Theatre Online list (suggestions and news of newly released productions) please click here. This list is supplemented by regular updates on Twitter (@johnchapman398)
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