Chris Abbott

Review: AN ACCIDENT / A LIFE, Marc Brew/Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - Sadler’s Wells East | West End Best Friend Marc Brew and world renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui bring their stunning collaboration to London for the first time.

Fascinating account of a staggering life event

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE, Young Vic | West End Best Friend Nadia Fall launches her first season as Young Vic Artistic Director with Entertaining Mr Sloane, Joe Orton’s 1964 cult classic brimming with manipulation, seduction, and a devilish wit.

Thoughtful approach and some great acting

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: EMMA, Rose Theatre Kingston | West End Best Friend Jane Austen’s classic romantic comedy, Emma, is joyously reimagined for the 21st century at Rose Theatre Kingston.

Fun update of Austen’s Emma - we enjoyed it as did the youngish packed house

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: THE TRUTH ABOUT BLAYDS, Finborough Theatre | West End Best Friend Currently playing at London's Finborough Theatre is the 1921 rediscovered modern classic, The Truth About Blayds.

Another fascinating discovery from @finboroughtheatre.bsky.social

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: MURMURATION LEVEL 2, Sadeck Berrabah - Peacock Theatre | West End Best Friend After a sold-out tour of France’s biggest venues, attracting over 300,000 spectators since its premiere, Sadeck Berrabah presents Murmuration Level 2 at London's Peacock Theatre.

Amazing precision movement and a surprising- and very enjoyable - encore. Not to be missed!

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: THE GLAMIFICATION OF LOKI, Southwark Playhouse | West End Best Friend Presented by BYMT, The Glamification of Loki is a wildly entertaining new musical that combines Norse mythology with the dazzling world of beauty, glamour, and cosmic chaos.

Always a joy to see the quality of work produced by BYMT, and Eden Tredwell’s musical is impressively suited to its young cast

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: THE ANIMATOR, Southwark Playhouse | West End Best Friend Akimbo Theatre presents high energy physical theatre biopic, The Animator, at Southwark Playhouse Borough this month.

Excellent physical theatre piece from Akimbo at Southwark Playhouse

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: ROMEO AND JULIET, Theatre Royal Stratford East | West End Best Friend Weaving together Shakespeare's timeless words with music and dance, set against the east London skyline, Romeo and Juliet is currently playing at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Excellent, pacey adaptation for this youth company with some surprisingly good verse speaking and superb fight scenes

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

And some fascinating playbills…

Review: THE ESTATE, National Theatre | West End Best Friend BAFTA winner Adeel Akhtar stars in The Estate at the National Theatre, a razor-sharp exploration of family, power and the lies we tell about ourselves.

Phenomenal leading performance and a new playwright is discovered

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Shakespeare's Globe | West End Best Friend Discover what lies beneath the Elizabethan social order as Shakespeare’s raucous comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor reveals its wild, mythic and daring underbelly in the Globe Theatre this summer.

A good choice for a summer evening…

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: GALA DE DANZA, Central Hall Westminster | West End Best Friend Gala de Danza continues to create beautiful artistry in extraordinary places, going global with this year's production being held at Central Hall Westminster.

Ballet purists might have reservations but I found Gala de Danza to be diverse, engaging and accessible

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Yes, a fascinating talk bringing back memories of Billy Cotton and Sunday lunches past…

I’ll be there (or online anyway)

We're off to Eastbourne today for our Day by the Sea. Fancy a last-minute day out? Some tickets available at the Box Office.To get us in the mood for a seaside singalong, here's a tongue twister for #SongSheetSaturday - Wilkie Bard's 1908 hit 'She Sells Sea-shells'.Are you sure ? Oh yes we're sure.

Review: GODZ, Peacock Theatre | West End Best Friend Head First Acrobats bring their unique mix of storytelling, circus and physical prowess to GODZ, currently playing at London's Peacock Theatre.

Great circus skills and a fun adult show

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Looking forward to getting my copy

Review: STEPHEN SONDHEIM SOCIETY STUDENT PERFORMER OF THE YEAR 2025, Sondheim Theatre | West End Best Friend The 17th annual Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year final was held appropriately at the Sondheim Theatre in London's West End yesterday.

Sondheim fans came out in force to see the sublime Georgia Blissett win this year’s award

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: MISS MYRTLE’S GARDEN, Bush Theatre | West End Best Friend A world premiere production by Danny James King, Miss Myrtle’s Garden is now playing at London’s Bush Theatre.

Don’t miss this one - head for the Bush

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: RED PEPPERS / AGED IN WOOD, Theatre at the Tabard | West End Best Friend Noël Coward’s Red Peppers is paired at the Tabard with a new one-act play, Aged in Wood, set in the same dressing room ninety years later.

Always good to see a Coward play and it’s an interesting idea to pair Red Peppers with a new piece set in the same dressing room

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Review: IN PRAISE OF LOVE, Orange Tree Theatre | West End Best Friend Rattigan’s penultimate play, In Praise of Love, loosely based on the relationship between actor Rex Harrison and his wife Kay Kendall, is currently playing at London's Orange Tree Theatre.

Not perhaps the best of Rattigan but still worth seeing

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Exploring the lovely London Coliseum today with @frankmatchamsoc.bsky.social for the Frank Matcham Society AGM. #theatrearchitecture #historictheatres #Matcham

Review: Janie Dee presents: BEAUTIFUL WORLD CABARET with Carly Mercedes Dyer | West End Best Friend Having covered the opening gala of the BEAUTIFUL WORLD CABARET Festival, we were back again for a solo show from musical theatre favourite, Carly Mercedes Dyer. Coming near the end of this enterpris...

Great to see this musical theatre performer at close quarters

www.westendbestfriend.co.uk/news/review-...

Entertaining the metropole: vagrancy, repatriation and Indian performers in Britain During the nineteenth century, several British colonial agents and touring companies working in the entertainment industry brought Indian travelling performers to Britain. However, these performers...

Delighted to share that my article on travelling entertainers/performers in Britain just got published in Journal of Immigrants and Minorities (a journal that has for long inspired me! 🥹)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A version of a familiar Sickert music hall painting, this time on a fan. On show at the Museum of Fans in Greenwich, where the current exhibition is about fans and the theatre.
#MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2025

I can’t find a food connection but here’s a postcard sent to my great-grandfather in 1915. He was Baggage Man and my great-grandmother was a dresser at the Palace, Salisbury. #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2025 #MusicHall

Welcome to the SIXTH annual #MusicHallVarietyDay! Today, we celebrate Music Hall and Variety with songs, 'turns,' posters, postcards, blogs, curiosities and stories. This year’s theme is #FoodandDrink — get creative! . Let’s share and like : #MHVD2025.

Provided to YouTube by BMG Rights Management (UK) LimitedIt's a Great Big Shame · Roy HuddThose Music Hall Days℗ 1976 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., a BMG Com... It's a Great Big Shame

#MusicHallVarietyDay, established in 2020, honors Roy Hudd, who served as President of the British Music Hall Society for 28 years. Born on 16 May 1936 Roy's passion for Music Hall endures. Enjoy Roy's rendition of “It’s a Great Big Shame,” originally popularized by Gus Elen in 1894:

"I suppose that you neither drink nor smoke?* "Oh, yes, I do, though; I enjoy my 'alf. and-alf as well as the next man, and I have been an inveterate smoker for years. Dieting is all bosh. My habits are temperate, however - that is, I mean I never go to extremes. As for my children, however, l permit none of them to drink - not so much because I fear that a limited indulgence would injure them, but they might go further, you know. Edward here," indicating his eldest son, “does not know the taste of liquor, but he smokes cigars, however. But so far as eating is concerned, we eat anything in moderation. "What are your ages?" "My age is 39; Edward is 22. Alfred 18, James 17, Cremorne 15, and Arthur, who performs only at matinees, 6.

'Papa' Cragg of the Marvellous Craggs, greatest music hall acrobats in the world, tells us what they eat, drink and smoke (in 1885) to kick off #FoodandDrink, this year's #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2025 theme.

Champagne Charlie. Cover of old sheet music showing man with top hat, long beard and red jacket with a bottle of champagne exploding in his hand

It’s Music Hall & Variety Day 🎭🎉 #MHVD #MusicHall @musichallsociety.bsky.social