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 »

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 »

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 »

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing Norwich Playhouse, part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 15 Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 14 May 2015 Readers of the ground-breaking novel, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, telling the journey of an Irish girl from pre-birth to 20, may be surprised to see it’s transposed into a play. But it makes a terrific performance. Eimear McBride’s personal journey is spell-binding theatre by Dublin company, The Corn Exchange and director Annie Ryan. The sole actor, Aoilfe Duffin, brings the foetus, the child, the young woman to life before our eyes in a tour de force that reveals her ‘complex and conflicted character.’ Her inner narrative is played in a stream of different voices and characters. She undergoes sexual awakening, religion and pain through a unique dynamic language … Read entire article »