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The Green, Green Grass of Home: Mr Jones An Aberfan Story - Finborough Theatre

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A life of hope and promise, interrupted, lies at the heart of Mr Jones: an Aberfan Story. The play follows two young people in Aberfan before and after the disaster that killed 144 people, including 116 children. It’s an emotional coming-of-age tale of intersecting lives, family, love, and the shock of tragedy. With two vivid performances and strong characterisations, you feel immersed in 1960s Welsh small-town life. It’s now running at the Finborough Theatre , after performances at the Edinburgh Festival and across Wales.  The Aberfan disaster is well known in the UK but perhaps less so elsewhere. The facts of the tragedy are confined to the programme notes rather than in the piece. On 21 October 1966, the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on a mountain above Aberfan engulfed a local school, killing many. The play avoids the causes and negligence, instead focusing on those working and building lives in the town.  Writer-performer Liam Holmes plays Stephen Jones, a...

Revisiting in jokes and theatrical barbs: Forbidden Broadway on the West End

It has another month to run, but Forbidden Broadway is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Full of in-jokes and send ups of shows on the West End (and Broadway) it is a lot of fun, but also a chance to see four actors wow us with their singing and comic abilities.

The silliness becomes infectious to the point that the spoof of Once becomes so hysterically funny even the cast have trouble keeping it together.

Christinia Bianco is off this week, but Laura Tebbutt is an equally funny impersonator - particularly of Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. Let it blow (a parody of the enduring song Let it Go) is a particularly evening highlight.

Damian Humbley is hilarious as he sends up Cameron Mackintosh and the revival of Miss Saigon, or playing Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

Anna-Jane Casey is naturally funny but particularly hilarious in spoofs on Sondheim, Wicked and the Cheaper Evita that's currently touring the UK.

Ben Lewis manages to be hilarious, particularly in the send up of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels that is playing down the road as a star vehicle for an actor with questionable vocal abilities.

It runs for another month. Check out the show's Youtube clips as well. The Elaine Paige impersonations are hilarious. Katherine Kingsley (below) seems to nail it...

First impressions after the show (including a mild disruption as @Johnnyfoxlondon gets so excited talking about the show he drops his glasses and a homeless man picks them up for him) follow:



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