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Love is love: An Instinct - at The Old Red Lion Theatre

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What do you do when a pandemic breaks out and people start dying? In An Instinct, the answer is to escape to a remote cabin in the woods with your ex-boyfriend, leaving your current boyfriend behind. This is the premise behind Hugo Timbrell’s An Instinct, billed as a queer thriller that delivers a few shocks along the way. Yet, the real tension lies in the disturbing dynamics between the three characters—the mind games, gaslighting, and unhealthy dependencies. While the play is cleverly constructed, its underlying themes of domestic violence may not be everyone’s cup of tea. It's currently running at the Old Red Lion Theatre .  The play opens with Max (Conor Dumbrell) and Tom (Joe Walsham) arriving at Tom’s parents’ cabin in a remote part of England. A pandemic broke out, but not the kind where you have to pretend to practice social distancing or hand out government contracts to your mates for dodgy hospital gowns and face masks. This one is highly contagious and very deadly. But s...

Theatre: Legally Blonde



I finally managed to catch Legally Blonde this week, the musical that channels your inner high schoolgirl almost as successfully as Wicked (albeit without the thrillifying sets or the deafening music), but snaps to the energy of the cast, which still holds up well despite not having Oliver award-winning Sheridan Smith in it.
It is easy to see why the show won the Olivier over the other contenders as it is a lot more fun than Love Never Dies, although the only similarity this show has with Legally Blonde would be that both have their theatres are located on The Strand. And even though there are a few cringe worthy superfluous musical numbers that could have been cut to make the show sharper (and possibly funnier), composer and lyricist Laurence O'Keefe (of Batboy fame) knows how to give a show perk and a showstopper when it's called for.

Susan McFadden as Elle does a fine job in the lead role, and she has a strong supporting cast to back her up including Denise van Outen and a set of rather cute performing dogs.

It is all very light stuff, but the mostly female audience loved it, and as this show brings out your inner high schoolgirl it is hard to resist... It is booking until October some year in the future...

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