Emil And The Detectives - The National Theatre

Emil and the Detectives was a lot more enjoyable than I imagined, even for adults! When Emil is sent alone to visit his Grandmother in Berlin, the most remarkably enjoyable adventure ensues as he tries to recover his stolen money.

Toots gives an excellent performance and you can’t help but gush over the cuteness of the loveable Tuesday. I can only imagine the organsisation behind this production as over fifty children are involved.

Emil and the Dectectives is a funny, feel good show where good clearly triumphs over evil – even against the odds of a group of children trying to bring justice to an adult in the nineteen thirties when, by their own admission, a child’s word would never been taken over an adult’s. With audience participation and money falling from the skies this is a great family show with laughs and engagement for all who attend. I highly recommend a seat in the stalls!

Emil And The Detectives can be seen @ The National Theatre until 18th March.

The Weir - Wyndham's Theatre

Unfortunately The Weir confirmed my initial fears – a play about 5 people chatting in a pub can’t be that entertaining. I went along for the scare factor, as I love a good ghost story. But the stories are anything but frightening and the rhythm of the piece painfully slow. There is the odd injection of humour; a woman ordering wine in a ‘man’s’ pub that clearly only serves ale and beer hence when the bar tender does find a bottle in the house it has to be poured into a tall glass – and is poured as you would a glass of larger. These moments are, unfortunately, too few.

The Weir can be seen @ Wyndham's Theatre until 19th April.

From Morning To Midnight - The National Theatre

The first half lures you into a false sense of security about the tone of the piece. The laughs are many and the story intrigues you. A bank clerk steals a large sum of money in the hopes of running off with a beautiful customer. But when his advances are rejected, there is decidedly less, if anything at all to laugh at in the second half and the plays descends into the dark journey of the clerk trying to find the value of money in brothels and gambling on bike races. Until his redemption comes at the end of the play

Great set and some fantastic movement on stage but a somewhat confusing and slightly boring piece.

FromMorning to Midnight can be seen @ The National Theatre until 26^th January

In The Next Room - St James Theatre

I was a little bit anxious as this play is dubbed ‘the vibrator play.’ But happy to report that there’s nothing rude or vulgar about it. Although brace yourself for an unexpected ‘revelation’ in the last 2 minutes of the show.

 Dr Givings (Jason Hughes) has nothing but the utmost respect for his patients and cares deeply for their well being; until he sees his wife’s hand on one of their cheeks… He uses his new electrical creation as a treatment for hysteria. It’s ironic though that he can’t see his own wife’s frustrations and unhappiness, caused greatly by her inability to sufficiently breast feed her baby.

NatalieCasey does a wonderful job of portraying an incredibly tactless (but sweet and funny) Mrs Givings. She’s genuinely curious as to what’s going on behind the closed doors of her husband’s operating theatre and goes to great lengths to find out.

Brilliant supporting roles by Edward Bennett as the hilarious male artist whose hysteria has affected his sight and thus ability to paint and a more somber, moving performance by Madeline Appiah as the wet nurse grieving the loss of her baby.

InThe Next Room can be seen at St James Theatre until 4^th Jan 

nut - The Shed

This was my first visit to The Shed. Loved the intimate 225 seat space, didn’t love the show.  The opening scene is intriguing. Elayne (Nadine Marshall), a woman obsessed with list making and post it notes, discusses eulogies and what their funerals will be like with her friend, in a less than friendly manner. The banter is witty and brings a few smiles. It then switches to a feud between a separated husband and wife about his one day a week access to their daughter. By the last scene we see the connection but to me there was something greatly lacking in brining it all together; giving it purpose. My other disappointment with the first piece of work I've seen by debbie tucker green was the unnecessary overuse of profanity which, in my opinion, brought nothing to the characters or the piece.

nut can be seen @ The Shed, The National Theatreuntil 5^th Dec