By Catherine Collins When Annie: The Musical opened at Mayflower Theatre last night – I was immediately transported back in time to one of my favourite childhood films of the 80s. The show begins with the set of an orphanage dormitory in New York in the 1930s – during...
Entertainment Reviews
Review: Gormenghast, Maskers Studio Theatre, Southampton, 24 April 2023
By Martin Brisland Firstly, for those who haven’t yet discovered the Maskers Theatre Company it is time you did! Since 1994 it has had its own studio theatre seating around 40. Complete with a bar, this hidden gem can be found just off Shirley High Street. Maskers were established...
Review: A Couple of Swells, MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton, 20 April 2023
By Martin Brisland In the film Easter Parade (1947), Judy Garland and Fred Astaire sing We’re a Couple of Swells. They appear as a couple of tramps in worn out clothing cast off by the super rich or ‘swells’. This is the title of the brand new show performed...
Review: Caity Baser, The Engine Rooms – 19th April 2023
words and photos by Peter Nicholson. After my interview with Caity Baser last month, ahead of her home-town show at Southampton’s Engine Rooms, I was keen to see if her energy and enthusiasm would extend to the performance in her stage show… It did, ten fold! Caity was obviously...
Review: Morganway + Alyssa Bonagura, The Joiners, Southampton, 16th April 2023
photography and words by Peter Nicholson. Morganway describe themselves as a formidable live act, and I certainly have no argument with that. Appearing at the Joiners, Southampton, on Sunday, the band gave an excited audience a great show. For some of the band, it was somewhat of a homecoming...
Photos & review: Reef + When Rivers Meet & Electric Milk – Portsmouth Guildhall, March 13
words and pictures by Peter Nicholson. I had hoped to see Reef at their Bournemouth show earlier this month, but that performance, along with others, was cancelled at the last minute because bass player Jack Bessant had been taken to hospital with a head injury. So it was a...
Review: Titanic The Musical, Mayflower Theatre, April 11
by Peter Nicholson. When any production, be it a movie, play or musical, uses a real life tragedy as its plot line, I’m always apprehensive. Hollywood can often be accused of trying to turn disaster into profit far too quickly, but that accusation was difficult to level at James...
Photos and review: Takedown Festival, Portsmouth Guildhall, April 8
Words: James Nicholson. Photographs: Peter Nicholson Photography. Takedown Festival 2023 aimed to bring together alternative rock and metal fans for a day of non-stop performances from groups including the masked, and still anonymous members of Sleep Token, the energetic reggae metal collective Skindred and 30 other big names. Not...
Review: Nick Tann and the Whole Family, Pandamonium and Johnny Boxcars at The Art House
by Lewis MacLean. It’s amazing how many people you can crowd into the Art House on a Saturday night and yet still find room for the people who wander in, drawn from the streets out of curiosity, more to the point on 1st April! (I pity the April Fool...
Review: The Commitments – The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, 27th March 2023
by Peter Nicholson. It certainly doesn’t seem like over 30 years since I saw the film, but knowing that the stage show was coming to Southampton meant that I was looking forward to recapturing my enjoyment of 1991 movie. I’d not seen the stage show when it enjoyed huge...