A new musical about the life of actress Carol White, Battersea Bardot has all the potential of a starlet on the rise, and just needs a little refining. Content warning: mentions of sexual abuse and alcohol and substance abuse. Battersea Bardot Shall I start with a confession? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Ken […]
Chekhov’s tale of love and yearning updated to 1920s Britain, The Lady With a Dog introduces some successful new elements while others are best left to the original short story. The Lady With A Dog The last Chekhov adaptation I saw took the action from the Russian countryside to a South Asian space age. Why […]
An Italian play translated into English, Sorry We Didn’t Die at Sea transports Park Theatre audiences to a dark, surrealist world in which the desperate pay people smugglers to escape from Europe. Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea The premise is intriguing. In an alternate or perhaps near-future reality, Europe is now a place to […]
A truly unique theatrical performance, The Architect takes me on a nostalgic trip through South East London before delivering an emotional climax open to all. The Architect In another first for the Salterton Arts Review, I have never been to a theatrical performance that takes place on a moving bus. But such is The Architect, […]
A new play about an unjustly obscure figure from history, Dr Semmelweis combines innovative staging with solid performances. Too Much Of A Good Thing? I hate to say this: I may be Mark Rylance-d out… For years Rylance has been an actor I would go to see in any production (with one exception – my […]
Will a chance encounter lead to closure for Miles and Florence, or the reopening of old wounds? Where We Are Now poses this question in a short work by Blue Room Theatre Company. Where We Are Now In the intimate confines of the Annka Kultys Gallery, between Hoxton and Victoria Park, the Blue Room Theatre […]
In a competitive world of children’s birthday party entertainment, who will come out on top in String v SPITTA? Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Ed MacArthur take us all back to childhood to find out. String v SPITTA Well, what a revelation. Who would have thought that the funniest, cleverest show I’ve seen in a while would […]
A love story set in 1960s Switzerland, The Good Women also explores what happens when women lack agency over their own lives. The Good Women Given the opportunity recently to see one of the shows in the Kensington + Chelsea Festival 2023, there was one in particular that drew my eye. This was The Good […]
A journey through London’s heart and soul, Union reminds us of our own agency faced with a changing city. Union London. It’s a big, complex, lovely, corporate, multicultural, souless, inspiring, place. Emphasis on the complex, then. It’s also ever-changing. We here at the Salterton Arts Review know that better than most, having explored the layers […]
An exploration of rom-coms, podcasts and our relationship to fantasy and reality, Sunsets builds up to its own ‘grand gesture’ without straying into cliché. Sunsets A quick disclaimer: I saw a preview of Sunsets so this is a review but without the rating – more of an encouragement to go see it in Edinburgh! It’s […]