Chris Eldon  Lee reviews ‘The 39 Steps’, which is at The New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 30th March. Once he’d got over the shock – I expect even the dour John Buchan would be rolling in the isles at Patrick Barlow’s 21st century adaptation of his famous story ‘The 39 Steps’. Or possibly writing […]

Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, which is a at the New Vic in Newcastle-Under-Lyme until Saturday March 2nd and then touring.   Director Conrad Nelson has set his Northern Broadsides swan song in 1945. The Battle for Europe has ceased … but the Battle of the Sexes is about to begin. And […]

Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Blue Orange’, which is at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until Saturday 16th February This very timely revival of Joe Penhall’s expose of the failings of the mental care system at the turn of the Millennium comes with a Director’s health warning … very little has changed in 20 years. Young African Caribbean […]

Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘The House on Cold Hill’, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Saturday 9th February Peter James has an enviable reputation for writing ghostly novels that are so true to life (or death) that they could almost happen. Shaun McKenna has now adapted four of them for the stage and this […]

Chris Eldon Lee reviews “Sherlock Holmes, The Sign Of Four”, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Friday 25th January. The recent television modernisations of Sherlock Holmes – with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role – are spectacularly terrific … but they are not the real thing. This, however, is. Blackeyed Theatre has taken the […]

Chris Eldon Lee reviews ‘Mother Goose’, which is at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn until Sun 6th January. What! No Wedding? Surely not! Mother Goose is certainly an unusual Christmas entertainment. In producer Brad Fitt’s hands, it is very much a Proper Panto…but memories of the ancient Greek morality tale lie very close to the surface – […]