Reviews

So… there are two men sitting in a theatre foyer, waiting for a show.  They don’t know each other.. but a conversation begins.  Because they’re two old Jews, the conversation begins with argumentative kvetching.  Look at this foyer.  It’s too small.  They turn a Town Hall into a theatre – and the theatre is – what? -  big enough for maybe four hundred people?  Can four hundred people fit in this foyer?  No.  It’s too small…

Chris Ioan Roberts is a formidable performer who has created an acerbic tale which brings together two of the most controversial women of the 20th century. The haughtiness he conveys as Wallis, Duchess of Windsor is tempered with moments of plain vulgarity. She comes across as calculating while Lady Diana Spencer is portrayed as aimless and vacuous. The clever text shows how their celebrity status has worked both for and against them. While on the surface it appears that these two women are worlds apart, the play highlights their vulnerability to the allure of royalty.

Will (Tim Constantine), a twenty-five-year-old guy whose life seems to be going nowhere, is offered a chance to take part in a medical/scientific experiment that will take him back ten years into his own past. The confident, not to say arrogant doctor, Tyler (Tom Reed) emphasises to Will that this does not involve time travel.  Rather it will be a drilling down into Will’s memory - assuming that every experience that Will (or anyone) has ever had is buried or not so buried in his brain.  With some trepidation, Will agrees…  And confronts his fifteen

There is much fun to be had by cast and audience alike in Curtains. Rupert Holmes book is witty, smart and suitably 1950s hokey when appropriate. It lampoons musical theatre, critics, untalented stars and Whodunnits in a deliciously sophisticated and satirical way. The story is simple, yet complex. The leading lady is murdered on the opening night of a show bound for Broadway – but who is the murderer?