Review of Can The Mountains Love The Sea? - A Viking Wedding Saga by Tim Ralphs at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

I like reviewing the storytelling events (and this is the fourth that I have seen), as I go for the ramble inanely approach (what do you mean that's what I normally do?) rather than the full on critic. So for this one perhaps I might say something silly about sitting for over an hour in the Underground without ending up a pool of water on the floor. I might even say something also about that moment when I took my chair and thought I was about to be interrogated under that most scary spotlight that greeted us.

However I won't on this occasion (but I have) as its time to get serious! Tim Ralphs was our storyteller on the evening and while he wasn't my favourite of the professional tellers I have seen so far (if he was reading this, he will have stopped now), he was darn close. He was also very interesting in the informative Q&A after as well, which was a lovely added bonus for the night.

His story of Can The Mountains Love The Sea? was a Norse influenced tale based on The Marriage of Njord and Skadi and and mainly for an adult audience. Not overly adult though, just a bit of swearing (I have never shouted "bum" with so many people before) and a touch of genitalia tug of war which you either laughed or squirmed through. It was more that the premise of the story was more adult, with a sort of bad marriage situation rather than the happy ever after variety.

It was of course a story I hadn't heard before and was very well told by the bare footed Mr Ralphs. Slightly less physical than a few I have seen, but willing to involve the audience (mainly early on), especially with the honoured guests we had in the front row, who knew Loki was there or that ever so, ever so handsome one.

It was an excellent hour of storytelling and coupled with the lovely Q&A after (which I was glad to see so many came back to. I have seen many fewer for these), an excellent night. I shall look forward to my second viewing of Mr Ralphs at the future Storytelling at the Feast of Fools that he shall be attending. The devil in a supermarket sounds right on my wavelength.

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Performance reviewed: Saturday 18th April, 2015 at the Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton.

Can The Mountains Love The Sea? was part of a two show day from Tim Ralphs at the Royal & Derngate on Saturday 18th April, 2015.

For further details about Tim Ralphs visit his website at http://www.timralphs.com/

For further details about the Royal & Derngate visit their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/

Review of Cluedo 2 at Milton Keynes Theatre

Back in 2022, the original Cluedo stage play, based on a 1985 play by Sandy Rustin, itself based on the cult US film Clue , journeyed to Milton Keynes Theatre as part of a UK tour. It was, it has to be said, an average affair, made good by some excellent staging and at times a very fair tribute to the original board game. Now two years later, the success of that tour clearly warranted a return to the franchise and we find Cluedo 2 now on stage at Milton Keynes Theatre. So, is a follow-up warranted, and does it address many of the issues of the original? Let's find out. Unlike the original and with no film source material to create a second play from, legendary TV comedy writers Maurice Gran and Lawrence Mark have taken the helm to provide the script for this production. Sadly, the legendary writers have for the best part plowed through their archives of extremely dated, and tiresome comedy. Much of the script is heavy on the obvious, high on the cringe, and while at times it can

Review of UoN Fringe 2019: Working For The Man by Naked Truth Theatre at The Platform Club, Northampton

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Review of UoN Fringe 2019: Unveiled by Myriad Theatre at The Platform Club, Northampton

It is safe to say I think that reviewer and show maker alike never set out to deliberately write a bad review or create a bad show. There is simply no logic in it really for the latter, I mean why would you? However when the latter occurs and the former is there in the audience, things will end badly, and for me, it gives me no enjoyment. For my penultimate show, Unveiled , at this year's University of Northampton Fringe Festival, Myriad Theatre performer Isabella Hunt explores what marriage means to her in what ends up being just 18 minutes of a show that sadly goes nowhere. Marriage to Hunt it seems involves intermittently putting on and taking off a succession of dresses, amongst a collection of anguished thoughts mostly that mainly involves an outrageously over repeated physical piece. There is some very brief interaction with the audience among the lines of "how many of you are married?" and other light thoughts, where the answers are written onto a dress, the

A Small Mind At The Theatre

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