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Wine time: The Frogs - Southwark Playhouse

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For a show called The Frogs, there isn’t much amphibian activity in the piece. But being a show with music by Stephen Sondheim, you could be mistaken for thinking it’s a critical theatrical piece. But like Sondheim’s final musical playing at the National Theatre, while it may not be a musical that fills you with provocative thoughts, it’s a fast-paced romp through hell and back to save the world for the sake of arts. With rousing choruses, thrilling choreography and plenty of cheap laughs, what more can you want from the theatre? It’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) . There isn’t much to the plot, except that Dionysus (Dan Buckley), disillusioned by the state of a divided world, and his sidekick and slave, Xanthias (Kevin McHale), cross the river Styx to the underworld to find a great writer who they can return to the world to teach the world about life. He has his mind set on bringing back George Bernard Shaw until he hears the poetry of Shakespeare.  This v...

Up late: West End Eurovision Pictures

Last week's West End Eurovision at the Dominion Theatre, its seventh and final year in support of The Make A Difference (MAD) Trust saw the cast of Mamma Mia! and Les Misérables jointly winning the trophy.





By all accounts a memorable late night on the West End, with the highlight of the evening coming in a speech given by director Andrew Keates, about his experience directing a revival of the first ever AIDS play, As Is by William M. Hoffman, and how this affected his own life.

The MAD Trust works with the British entertainment industry and its audiences to raise funds to offer care and support to people living with HIV, AIDS and other chronic illnesses, who are unable to work and are facing hardship.

To support The MAD Trust all people have to do is text MADT £3 to 70007 to give just £3. And look out for West End Bares coming later this year...

Images by Darren Bell



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