REVIEW: 2:22 A Ghost Story at The Criterion Theatre

Who doesn’t love staying up late? Almost everyone, however when it’s to find out what the mysterious footsteps are in your one-year-old daughters' room and whose voice that belongs to walking around, suddenly it’s not so appealing. 

For Jenny (Laura Whitmore) and her husband Sam (Felix Scott), it’s exactly that. the past few nights at exactly 2:22 those noises and voices happen repeatedly, so midway through an evening of drinking they ask Sam’s good friend Lauren (Tamsin Carroll) and new partner Ben (Matt Willis) to stay and see for themselves to prove Jenny Isn’t as crazy as Sam thinks she is.

REVIEW: Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Criterion Theatre

Settling into the gorgeous Criterion Theatre to see Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) the first thing that strikes you is the stunning set, featuring a winding staircase that almost drips books at its core, which leaves you in no doubt that you have entered Austen territory. This is a show that is coming to the West End in style. 

From the moment the cast first comes onstage as the servants of the house their brilliant comic timing, and ability to build a relationship with the audience shines through. These are characters who aren’t afraid to speak up for themselves, often addressing the audience directly, as they retell the well-known story with sharp wit and boundless energy. 

As they come together into the first song, leaning into the style of a sixties girl group, it becomes clear that they can not only sing beautifully, they know how to have fun with familiar tropes. Throughout the show, their choice of well-known songs slip hilariously into the script and free the characters from the good old fashioned repressed Austen modes of communication. 

COMING HOME: Nuwan Hugh Perera, soon to open in Amélie the Musical at the Criterion Theatre

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

Making his West End debut in Amélie the musical, this break is a long time coming for Nuwan Hugh Perera. This time last year he was actually meant to be in the West End in a completely different show, The Life of Pi. Based on the award-winning novel and hit film, the play adaptation of The Life of Pi had previously played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to rave reviews and was due to transfer to the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End in June 2020. It has since been announced that this will indeed still go ahead and will open in November 2021. But, with that well into the future, it's time for Nuwan to focus on his current project, Amélie the musical. 

 

Having previously been in the show on tour around the UK, Nuwan has also appeared in Side Show at the Southwark Playhouse, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Wilton’s Music Hall, played The Ghost of Christmas Present in The Christmas Carol at the Barn Theatre, in Godspell at G Live, in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again on screen and most recently, in the Fosse Forest Ballet online.