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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...

Remembering last year: @Mytheatremates Also Recognised Awards

While some of us can't remember what we saw last month (handy to have a blog for that reason), MyTheatreMates announced last week the shortlists in the second annual Also Recognised Awards.

These audience-voted industry accolades celebrate talent in fields often overlooked by other award bodies. One of the awards is the UK’s first-ever prize for Best Musical Direction. In addition to Best Musical Direction the awards recognise performances for:

  • Best Ensemble Performance
  • Best Solo Performance
  • Best Shakespearean Production
  • Best Original Music
  • London Newcomer of the Year
  • Theatre Event of the Year


Voting is now open on their website where there is the full list of nominees. Voting for the winners continues until Friday 25th March 2016. Results will be announced in early April.

Digital hub MyTheatreMates takes its name from founders Mark Shenton and Terri Paddock (the Ma in Mark and the Te in Terri). In addition to hosting the Also Recognised Awards, it collates the best content from the individual sites of the founders and other independent bloggers.

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Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

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