MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
THERE was plenty of activity around the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth this year, of which Lip Service’s revival of Withering Looks (Morley Town Hall) was one of the theatrical highlights.
Promising an “authentic” look at the lives and works of the Bronte Sisters, the farcical play was self-referential, gently risque and tremendously entertaining for those familiar with the Victorian gothic genre.
Written and performed by Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding, the pair’s comedy acting and mugging were as satisfying as their obvious love of the novels they were satirising.
MARY CONWAY applauds the timely revival of Miller’s study of people fatally deformed by the economics of survival
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends an inspiring, political and bittersweet account of the munitions factory workers who are the fore-runners of the modern women’s game
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about a two-handed theatrical homage to jazz’s most mercurial musician
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship


