Matt Barton

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Matt Barton

Before it got into the hands of readers, John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice and Menfirst got into the jaws of the author’s dog. The dog would find less to get its teeth into with this muted theatre adaptation. A pair of itinerant friends find work at a ranch in the Great Depression-era US south. George is brashly confident and protective over timid Lennie who has a mental disability that’s stigmatised by the workers.

1 month ago | livpost.co.uk | Matt Barton

Dear members – The Everyman has just announced that due to overwhelming demand, it will be extending its run of Willy Russell'scritically acclaimed Shirley Valentine. Originally scheduled through 29th March, the show is now on until Saturday 5th April, so you still have time to grab tickets if you haven't yet. The one-woman play is now almost as old as its titular character, Shirley, a disillusioned housewife first brought to life in 1986.

2 months ago | sheffieldtribune.co.uk | Matt Barton

A Streetcar Named Desire has always depended on the greatness of its three central performances. This sounds like a risky bet for any production, but audiences have rarely been disappointed. Take, for example, Elia Kazan’s 1951 film adaptation, which famously featured Vivien Leigh as Southern belle Blanche DuBois, with Kim Hunter as her sister Stella and Marlon Brando defining an archetype of machismo as Stella’s husband, Stanley Kowalski.

2 months ago | whatsonstage.com | Matt Barton

It’s a hard pitch. A show about a singer who can’t sing but does so anyway, out of defiance, delusion or both. And then there is the actual hard – or harsh – pitch that comes out of her: glorious, it is not. But Glorious! knows that. Just look at the title with its exclamation mark, mischievously echoing both the conviction of Florence Foster Jenkins, the infamous amateur soprano, and the mocking scoff of her critics. It also knows it too much.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Matt Barton

Seven months after the Oldham Coliseum’s miraculous , after a campaign fronted by actor Julie Hesmondhalgh, it has invited audiences to a party. A celebratory atmosphere greets this comeback show at the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Coliseum’s temporary home until it reopens for panto season. Seated at cabaret-style tables, we’re here for an engagement party. But this production flatly fails to engage. It starts as it means to go on.