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The Analogues

The Analogues in Magical Mystery Tour at the Norwich Theatre Royal, as part of the Norwich and Norfolk Festival 2016 Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 25 May 2016 The Analogues are a musical wonder from Holland on a mission to bring the actuality of Beatles’ songs alive. The Norwich debut on their UK visit fairly rocked the Theatre Royal. To hear the Beatles’ studio songs starting with the 1967 ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ that they themselves never performed on stage played live and authentically was a truly magical experience. To have the multiple layers and arrangements of a variety of songs presented after painstaking research and acquisition of amazing vintage instruments was to discover a whole new dimension of the Beatles’ music and to appreciate in full just how innovative they were. And they … Read entire article »

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Wild Life

Wild Life at the Norwich Playhpouse as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2016 Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 21 May 2016 Wild Life is both a company and the apt title of a piece that takes the breath away – genre-defying, boundary-busting and the most innovative work I have seen so far this year. The performers should be named as these young local singer-songwriters and actors are going places – Megan Blair, Anna Carter, Lucy Grubb, Noah Horne-Morris, Kate Maguire Buck, Sophie Mahon, Aphra McSherry-Birley, Elliouse Marie Moss, Poppy Rae Read and Hannah Websdale. In a refreshing, amusing and fun concert like no other they present a narrative about making a show about themselves and in so doing perform their reflective, angry, joyful and original songs about their young … Read entire article »

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Nikolai Galen

Nikolai Galen at The Norwich Playhouse as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2016. Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 19 May 2016 When one time frontman for The Shrubs Nikolai Galen (then, Nick Hobbs) became smitten by the songs of the Belgian singer, songwriter and actor Jacques Brel, he looked about for a style and a forum for translating and interpreting some of the huge catalogue. And he found it. Acapella, spoken-sung poetry, free-improvisation, recitation, performance – all in a one-man show alone on stage with a microphone and a commanding presence that touched the heart, that puzzled and reflected life in equal measure. Songs such as ‘If You Go Away’, ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘Seasons in the Sun’ may be familiar to British audiences, but Brel’s influence on artists as diverse as David Bowie, Marc Almond, Scott Walker, Dusty Springfield … Read entire article »

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Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones

Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones at Norwich Playhouse as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2016. Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 18 May 2016 When two outstandingly talented, versatile and personable singer-songwriters join forces, the result is spectacular. In Englishman Teddy Thompson, with his folk, country, rock-grounded voice and American Kelly Jones with her unique vocals of many shades, we have a formidable pairing. In that same top league occupied by the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant partnership, this pair presented mainly their own songs in perfect, all-encompassing harmonies affording us an intimate sharing of relationships, heartbreaks and life. Sometimes dueting together, occasionally solo and sometimes backed by a four-piece band of rich musical giftings, Thompson and Jones’ mix of country, folk, rock, alt-country and pleasant personal musings between songs made a rivetting night out. Support came from Sunny Ozell who added yet … Read entire article »

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Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus by the Open Space Theatre Company at the Seagull Theatre Lowestoft Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 9 May 2016 Habeas Corpus – a legal term meaning ‘have the body’ – is a classic farce from the pen of master writer Alan Bennett with a dash of absurdism, clever and witty word plays and some social comment on the 1960s thrown in. Norfolk/Suffolk touring ensemble Open Space bring the formula to life and laughs as the randy, aging doctor (Peter Sowerbutts in fine world-weary, cynical form) attempts to seduce an attractive young patient (Samantha McAtear) while keeping it from his frustrated wife (Yves Green), no slouch herself in the hanky-panky stakes. There is a stage full of absurdist characters – hypochondriac son (Jake Kubala), a pompous, sex obsessed rival doctor (Simon … Read entire article »

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