Why “Normal” Starts to Look a Bit Suspicious… By Rachel Jones @HMP_SHE. I have spent a significant portion of my life answering “How are you?” incorrectly. Neurodivergent Moments: Insights into the Lived Experience of Autism and ADHD by Joe Wells and Abigoliah Schamaun is the first book that suggests...
Articles with the Tag Review
Review: Magic – Chichester Festival Theatre
By Graham Hiley. On the face of it, Magic at Chichester Festival Theatre is about the friendship between Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who have very different views on spiritualism. But, like all good conjuring tricks, if you look beneath the surface, there is a very different...
Review: Calva Louise with support from Knife Bride – Joiners, Southampton
Words and pictures by Chris Taylor. It’s a Tuesday night, Saints are playing at home, the roads are gridlocked, there’s no parking – and the Joiners is still full. As usual, a round of applause for the Southampton music scene (28/4/26). Luckily it’s an 8pm start, so we make...
Review: The Talented Mr Ripley at Salisbury Playhouse
By Rachel Jones & Luke Richards. “I never wanted to murder anyone. It was necessary.” Not exactly a comforting opening line, but it tells you everything you need to know about The Talented Mr Ripley. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller, this adaptation leans straight into questions of identity,...
Review: Hurn Court Opera’s La Traviata – Regent Theatre, Christchurch
By Nick Mabey. “Pleasure makes life longer” sung by our protagonist, Violetta – played wonderfully by a blooming Caroline Taylor – sums up the first act of La Traviata. Guiseppe Verdi’s famous nineteenth century opera has been reimagined in Paris in the 1930s and it’s all finery and decadence...
Review: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) – Mayflower Studios, Southampton
By Martin Brisland. Shakespeare’s words that ‘one man in his time plays many parts’ seem very appropriate for this production. Directed and co-written by Adam Long, this is a theatrical compression that is the stock-in-trade of this RSC – the Reduced Shakespeare Company – not to be confused with the...
Review: The Kairos with support from Florentenes & Skäl – Heartbreakers, Southampton
Word and pictures by Rhona Murphy. There’s a lot of gig competition in Southampton tonight (11/4/26) with Wigan quartet The Lilacs playing a sold-out show at The Joiners so it’s a testament to the quality of this Heartbreakers show with The Kairos headlining that it’s also sold-out and absolutely...
Review: Millie Manders and the Shutup, Joiners, Southampton
Words: Laura McCarthy. Pictures: Rhona Murphy. It’s a Wednesday night (08/04/26) but Southampton punk fans are out in full force at The Joiners. They’ve all come for Millie Manders and the Shutup and no threat of work in the morning is going to stop them. If you miss the...
Review: The Woman In Black, Mayflower Studios, Southampton
By Martin Brisland. Many will know that The Mousetrap is our longest running West End play having started in 1952, but do you know the second longest? It is Susan Hill’s 1983 Gothic horror novel The Woman in Black which Hill has acknowledged was inspired by The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. From 1989, The Woman in Black played a record-breaking run...
Review: Horrible Histories Live (and Undead)! The Concert, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
By Joy McKay. Horrible Histories, a favourite of the Scholastic book fair and hit CBBC show took to the stage at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre last night for Horrible Histories Live (and Undead)! The Concert (2/4/26). Accompanied by two intrepid junior reviewers (aged 8) we went, excitedly, to find out...