Alexandra Taylor: Writer

Dark themes are sensitively handled in this powerful and thought provoking piece of theatre. Nancy (Hazel Maycock, Jean St Clair) is the wife and mother whose daughter disappears on the way to granny’s house. Unwilling to believe her daughter is dead, Nancy establishes an action group that works to unite parents with their missing children. However, her real journey begins when the police find her daughter’s body and reveal the truth about how she died. Ralph (Neil Fox-Roberts, Mike Hugo) is the swearing, tattooed delivery driver who refuses any job which takes him more than eighty miles from the valuable stash of child pornography he keeps in his shed. He talks casually, even proudly, about how he entices young girls into his van. It is only after his arrest and conviction for a number of murders that he is forced to confront the reality of what he’s done. Agnetha (Deepa Shastri, Sophie Stone) is the American psychiatrist whose research brings her to the UK to interview ...

A moving tale of love, loss and letting go. Those familiar with the 1990 film will think of ‘Ghost’ as a sad and intimate story which deals with the sensitive emotions around losing a loved one. It’s not an immediately obvious subject for musical theatre, a genre best known for its bold, brash and upbeat song-and-dance routines. However, this production proves that, when done well, stage musicals can be both entertaining and emotional. It’s the visual effects that are the star of this show, most notably the stunning projections which create impact, mood, depth and movement in a variety of innovative ways. They enable the action to move swiftly and smoothly from loft apartment to tube train, rainy street to police station. But it’s not all about the big spectacle - just as much care has been put into the small touches, such as newspapers which fly unaided into the air, characters which walk through walls and some very nice sleight of hand tricks. The lighting is also wonde...

A festive favourite with a contemporary kick and a large slug of rum.  In December 1853, Charles Dickens stood in Birmingham Town Hall and gave his first  dramatic reading of the story that has come to symbolise Christmas more than any other. Since that night, it has been retold in countless ways - for the stage, for radio, on television and in films - each version a different take on the classic tale of ghosts and greed, love and loss, regret and redemption. Just a stone’s throw from where Dickens gave his story its first performance, Birmingham Repertory Theatre are marking the festive season with a musical version of ‘A Christmas Carol’. If you’re fond of the familiar then you won’t be disappointed with this production. There’s ‘humbug’ aplenty, a feast of frock coats and bonnets, foggy London streets and an achingly adorable Tiny Tim. Much of the dialogue is taken from the original novella and the plot plays out as you would expect. But this production is cer...

Like its characters, this production is rather stuck in the past. ‘Go Back For Murder’ is a 1960 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1942 novel ‘Five Little Pigs’. It tells the story of Carla Le Marchant (Sophie Ward) whose mother was convicted of her father’s murder. Twenty years after the crime, and convinced her mother was innocent, Carla enlists the help of lawyer Justin Fogg (Ben Nealon) to revisit the five other suspects in order to discover what really happened. In the original novel Agatha Christie took a stylistic risk, telling the same story several times, each from the perspective of a different character. While this technique worked in the book, it doesn’t translate well to the stage. There is far too much ‘tell’ and not enough ‘show’, particularly in the first act, which consists almost entirely of a series of static dialogues in which the characters do little but reminisce. In the second half we finally get some action, as the events of the fateful day are playe...

This musical melodrama takes its audience on a riotous journey through the criminal exploits of real life Victorian villain Charlie Peace. A travelling company of performers has pitched up in the town square and the theatre audience are the townsfolk, gathering to witness the spectacle. Norman Pace is a commanding Showman, presenting the performance with confidence and engaging the audience with jovial humour. Peter Duncan puts in a powerful performance as Charlie Peace, imbuing the character with enough charismatic charm to make up for his womanising, thieving and murderous ways. The rest of the talented cast bring a range of Victorian archetypes to life - a vicar, policemen, a brothel madam, a music hall singer - moving seemlessly between the various roles. Projection is cleverly used to transform the stage from street scene to interior, shabby terrace to elegant mansion, court room to train carriage. The action takes place across a dizzying range of cities and settings, pa...

This event showcases three audience favourites from July's Birmingham European Festival, and it's easy to see why these particular pieces proved so popular. First, French trio Betti Combo demonstrate the astonishing range of feats that can be performed using just a pole and fifteen white plastic buckets. The performers are dexterous, precise and fluid in their movements, transitioning seamlessly from slow and cautious to frantic and energetic. What they do with the buckets is ingenious - from juggling to tennis, circus tricks to pole dancing. There are some genuinely breathtaking moments and a lot of laughs along the way. This is followed by Hungarian choreographer Ferenc Fehérʼs dark and intense  Tao Te . Using harsh spotlights to create ominous shadows, one minute the performers are fighting aggressively against each other, the next moving smoothly together like an industrial machine. The electronic soundscape, with its metallic droning, pulsating dance beats, melodic cho...

Plenty of beauty, lots of ice - and definitely no sleeping! From the dark and stormy opening to the romantic finale, this is a production full of drama, grace and technical excellence. The show is an impressive blend of ice dance, ballet, circus skills and storytelling which is captivating throughout. The lighting, costumes and choreography all work well with Tchaikovsky’s classic music to create a range of moods from menacing and dramatic to joyful and dreamlike. The scene changes are slick and the performers are accomplished, carrying off a dizzying range of lifts and spins, throws and wire work on a relatively small stage. By far the most dramatic scenes are those set in the shadowy, cobwebbed cave of the black fairy. She gnashes her teeth clad in leather, fishnet and feathers, while the crowlike members of her evil gang play, quite literally, with fire. There is no narration and the story is conveyed entirely through the music and choreography. If it’s been a whil...