Reviews

This is the story of Scott Parker who spent 20 years in Hillsong reaching the heights of Christian celebrity as a star singer. Welcome to the alluring world of megachurches, which make such great dramatic backdrops with their evangelical bigotries and financial secrets, their effusive theatre and enveloping community – and especially in Scott’s telling, since he’s also queer.  

Everybody is ruthless in Ruthless, but some are more ruthless than others.  Naturally the most ruthless wins.  This musical is about How to Succeed in (Show) Business by scheming, by making your own opportunities, eliminating rivals, and, yes, having some talent. 

Strangers on a Train is the thrilling adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, by Craig Warner. Highsmith is well known for her sinister plots and entangled webs, and this is no different. Two strangers (yes on a train) become entangled in a murderous pact which comes to life on stage. From the very opening scene - a glimpse of a solitary traveller, the soundscape of a train - I felt a chill and the sudden appearance of the ever lurking antagonist that made me jump. This one thrills as much as it intrigues. 

As a theatre-maker myself, I was interested in checking out The Butterfly Club’s One Act Play festival, and when I saw that poet James WF Roberts was staging his first theatre show Hot White Kiss, I was keen. As a poet myself, I hadn’t seen James read for some years. But what I did remember from his poetry was that it was dark, sexually charged, politically incorrect, messy and raw – my kind of poetry.