Claire Allfree, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

The West End's latest musical Hercules is a blast for the under 10s

4 days ago | telegraph.co.uk | Claire Allfree

Yet if you are under 10 years old and care less about such things, this punchy stage show is a blast. The story is simple. Following a botched raid by Bob and Charles, Zeus's son Hercules is destined to live among the mortals, yet with his god-given strength intact. Desperate to return home to Olympus, he must learn to behave in a way no god has yet managed.
The West End’s latest musical Hercules is a blast for the under 10s

4 days ago | yahoo.com | Claire Allfree

The quintet of Muses: Starring Brianna Ogunbawo, Candace Furbert, Malinda Parris, Sharlene Hector and Robyn Rose-Li - Johan PerssonDisney stage adaptations tend to be conceived with a ruthless eye on the film’s pre-existing fanbase. Not so this theatrical version of the 1997 animated riff on the Hercules myth, which is pointedly – and triumphantly – aimed at families with young children rather than the original’s numerous disciples.
The dwarves are the whole point of Snow White

1 week ago | msn.com | Claire Allfree

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
The dwarves are the whole point of Snow White

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Claire Allfree

The American composer and EGOT winner on the West End opening of Hercules and Disney's battle with the culture wars "Are we going to talk about Disney and woke?" Alan Menken makes a horrified face and draws a finger across his neck in a throat-cutting mime. "I'm going to pull the plug on this interview if there is any mention of Disney and politics!"He's joking.
Heartbreak and troubles abound in this weeks literary fiction

1 week ago | dailymail.co.uk | Claire Allfree

Heartbreak and troubles abound in this weeks literary fiction: The Scrapbook by Heather Clark, Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski, The Mobius Book by Catherine Lacey By CLAIRE ALLFREE Published: 19:59 EDT, 19 June 2025 | Updated: 19:59 EDT, 19 June 2025 The Scrapbook is available now from the Mail Bookshop The Scrapbook by Heather Clark (Jonathan Cape £18.99, 256pp) The discovery of a scrapbook belonging to the author’s grandfather, who helped liberate Dachau during the Second World War,...
The English girls who ‘turned into dogs’, plus the best novels of June

2 weeks ago | msn.com | Claire Allfree |James Walton |George Cochrane |David McAllister

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
London’s latest immersive extravaganza is mind-scrambling - and not in a good way

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Claire Allfree

An actor inside Storehouse - Helen MurrayIt’s hard to fault the intention behind London’s latest immersive extravaganza – and given it’s the pet project of the Georgian billionaire TV mogul Liana Patarkatsishvili one can certainly assume no expense has been spared. In its sights is the viral spread of misinformation and the algorithmic nature of knowledge in the digital age: both increasingly critical, and rich with immersive potential.
London's latest immersive extravaganza is mind-scrambling

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Claire Allfree

At least I think that is the idea. Even the actors, which for my group included a bumbling book-binder and a suave sort of leader in perky striped trousers, at times didn't appear sure of what story they were meant to be telling. As is often the case with these shows, far more attention has been paid to the aesthetic experience than the dramatic execution.
Paul Nicholas: We’ve kept the goose stepping in Fawlty Towers – I don’t think that’s wrong

2 weeks ago | msn.com | Claire Allfree

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Paul Nicholas: We’ve kept the goose stepping in Fawlty Towers - I don’t think that’s wrong

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Claire Allfree

Paul Nicholas: ‘I’m relatively shy when I am being me. When I am on stage, I could be anything or anyone’ - Rii SchroerPaul Nicholas is trying to pinpoint precisely what it is about Fawlty Towers that makes it so British. He settles on the setting – the slightly drab boarding house common to many a British seaside town. “I stayed in plenty of them as a kid, although perhaps never with such an extreme landlord as Basil,” he says.