I’ve been AWOL for most of the summer. I thought that I’d be back into the swing pretty easily after my break that involved three months travelling around the continent, but it turns out that I thought wrong. I had a day set aside at the end of August before heading back to full time work to sort myself out, but then I got really bad food poisoning which has lead to me gagging every time I walk past a certain food chain. Then when work started again I’ve had a real cba attitude when it comes to blogging. And it’s because theatre blogging is bloody hard.
A couple of weeks before I went on holiday, I got the chance to head to The Other Palace to catch the limited engagement of Heathers The Musical. Since I booked my ticket way back when, it’s been announced that Heathers The Musical is transferring to the Theatre Royal Haymarket just down from Piccadilly Circus. But should you take the opportunity to catch the show?
Following an award-winning sellout runs at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 and at Soho Theatre earlier this year, Dust is making its triumphant return to the London stage. Dust looks at the mental health of Alice, who is already dead and tells her story as a ghost waking up in a morgue. Throughout the play, she looks back on her life, as well as seeing her loved ones mourn her after she has taken her own life. In advance of its run at Trafalgar Studios 2, I interviewed the author and actress Milly Thomas about why this piece is so special.
I made it no secret that when I saw Strictly Ballroom The Musical during its April previews, I didn’t love it. It wasn’t what I was expecting in the slightest and I walked away underwhelmed. However, I’ve had the opportunity to spend a few months away from the show. It’s had a chance to polish the rough edges (and change up the songs a fair bit), and there’s even been a slight cast change. So four months on from its opening, did Strictly Ballroom The Musical get the chance to wow me?
About a week and a half ago I got back from 24 days gallivanting around Europe, and whilst I had planned not to write anything whilst I was away, I accidentally took an extended blogging break. I had written some posts and scheduled them to go live whilst I was on my trip, but none of them posted (they’re all live now so you can take a peek at my latest reviews). But having this accidental-but-sort-of-on-purpose break has done some wonderful things for me.
★★★☆☆
Whilst August is well known across the UK as the month of the Edinburgh Fringe, but whilst Scotland is partying every night for a month, the Camden Fringe is also on. I was out of the country for a good third of the month so I’ve been playing catchup ever since. To the point where until I didn’t see a Camden Fringe show until the 18th. Two days ago. The German Girls reveals a side to the Nazi occupation of Europe that I’d never considered before – the lives of those in Copenhagen.