What The Critics Say
Reviewed by: Bath Chronicle | Performed at: Wroughton Theatre, King Edward's School, Bath
"The Cherry Orchard is another triumph for the Next Stage theatre company."
"The production brings out the play’s subtleties and different layers, its naturalism and its symbolism; the result of intelligent direction and a responsive and talented cast."
"This is one of those productions that a theatre-goer really should not miss ..."
Reviewed by: Bath Chronicle | Performed at: Kingswood Theatre, Bath
"When it comes to Kay P Crooke in her one-woman performance of Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine ..., to the respect you can add admiration, a feeling of self-recognition and a sense of thorough enjoyment and satisfaction."
"This was a superb performance by a confident and gifted actress successfully conveying the emotions, feelings, confusions and desires of a woman wanting more from life than the drudgery of domesticity."
Reviewed by: Bath Chronicle | Performed at: Kingswood Theatre, Bath
"The direction and performances have a sort of muscular sensitivity about them."
"The in-the-round setting emphasises the intimacy and immediacy of the play, especially where the characters – all beautifully sustained throughout – talk directly to the audience."
Reviewed by: Bristol Evening Post | Performed at: QEH Theatre, Bristol
"The dialogue is laced with clever humour, of which director Ann Garner and her cast take full advantage."
".... a cast who get the best out of a play which hits most, if not all, of its targets."
Reviewed by: Venue | Performed at: QEH Theatre, Bristol
"Despite its flaws, the play's still worth seeing - especially when performed by a company who continue to bypass the obvious and present well-honed productions of challenging modern dramas."
Reviewed by: Rose Bowl Citation | Performed at: Kingswood Theatre, Bath
"... the well planned moves, which came perfectly naturally from the characters ..."
"Pacing of the text was always good .... our interest level in what was going on on stage never slackened for one moment throughout the evening."
Reviewed by: Bath Chronicle | Performed at: Kingswood Theatre, Bath
"Caroline Groom as Amy gives an intense and pressured performance ..."
"... all helped to maintain the tension in this stimulating production from the Next Stage Theatre Company."
Reviewed by: Bath Chronicle | Performed at: Kingswood Theatre, Bath
"The two brave actors ... brilliantly handle five characters in the Garden Fete version of the play.
Darian Nelson plays ... Toby, the headmaster, who is given some waspishly funny lines, beautifully and acidly delivered.
Kay P Crooke gives us Irene Pridworthy - all tweeds and headscarves. She plays her with a delightfully peremptory, unsmiling manner, as if young Princess Margaret were having an off-day."