Tag Archives: Jenny Eastop

2026

“Dressing Gown” at the Union Theatre

After a successful run at the Tabard Theatre, Andrew Cartmel’s farce has relocated to Southwark to provide more laughs and light relief. The suitable silly premise has a theatre director who can’t get dressed because his producer, writer and leading lady won’t leave him alone. Each interrupts his precious Sunday morning: accusing him of having an affair, gossiping about him having an affair, or trying to start an affair with him. And the poor man has a play to put on!


Of course it’s predictable (that’s part of the comedy), and it pushes credulity to the limit, which some people really don’t like. But Cartmel’s script is well written and he has some good lines. The physical comedy is minimal – there are no slamming doors and only one race around a sofa (which is a bit disappointing), so you can imagine the show as a radio play a little too easily. Nonetheless, director Jenny Eastop has done a great job injecting energy into the piece and keeping the action swift.


A top-notch cast makes the most of it all. Leading man Jamie Hutchins allows exasperation to get the better of him, but only a couple of times. And he is great at showing the too-smooth director’s conniving edge. Ryan Woodcock is credible as his nice but dim producing chum – it’s a sweet touch to make him so believably in love. Even theatre producers have hearts you know. Freya Alderson, as the temperamental writer with a hearing difficulty, does ditzy well, so it’s a shame this is the weakest role. In my opinion, Rosie Edwards takes the gold as a needy actor with some very odd ideas about revenge as she made me laugh the most. But you’re welcome to disagree and speculate about which character you identify with the most.


There’s a lot of fun around these theatrical types and the play they are struggling with. The conceit adds a neat layer to the drama. Yes, of course they are stereotypes, and rather retro ones at that. Some of the views expressed seem a little, well, 1970s. It’s part of an old-fashioned feel to the whole piece that is a little puzzling. I’m not sure if this is a knowing nod to the tradition of sex comedies or an endearing oddity. Not that it matters, Dressing Gown is entertaining and well executed.


Until 23 January 2026

www.uniontheatre.biz

2025

“The Daughter of Time” at the Charing Cross Theatre

Imprisoned in a hospital bed, the detective in Josephine Tey’s 1951 novel decides to investigate the ultimate cold case – Richard III’s murder of his nephews in 1483. The history is fascinating. Tay, and this stage version adapted by M Kilburg Reedy, present the case in detail with a sense of excitement. But while the book was groundbreaking, its stage version is an unhappy affair. 

Thanks in part to Tay’s success, the idea of Shakespeare as a Tudor apologist is well established. We know Will did Rich dirty. So, it’s not a bad idea to add something new and Kilburg Reedy’s idea seems, roughly, to be a rom-com. It’s not a terrible notion, as it allows excuses for old-fashioned attitudes, leaning into a sweet spot of nostalgia. But for it to work, the love story needs to convince and the comedy make you laugh. The script and Jenny Eastop’s direction deliver neither.

With our hero, Inspector Grant, in bed for most of the show there’s an understandable concern about how to deal with such a static scenario – but it becomes an obsession for Eastop that has dire consequences. While Bob Sterrett’s set helps (and the idea of seeing some Shakespeare is good), the show has nurses and visitors coming and going for little reason and nobody arrives or leaves quickly enough. It all becomes tiresome. 

Daughter-of-Time-at-Charing-Cross-Harrison-Sharpe
Harrison Sharpe

A lot of effort is taken to plump out secondary characters but the results, and some of the performances, are poor. The three nurses are a case in point, being sketchy roles that only Janna Fox comes close to making work. The researcher Grant enlists to help him is lamentable, and the efforts to inject humour from notes on scraps of paper is poor from the start. As Harrison Sharpe, who takes the role, repeats the gag, I just felt sorry for him. There’s another poor effort that Noah Huntley has to deal with as the third in a faux love triangle (it’s a plot to make Grant announce his feelings), burdened by the unnecessary and heavy-handed suggestion that his character is gay.

A lot of this might be excused if the love story worked. While the casting of Rob Pomfret in the lead is sound, and his performance suggesting Grant’s depression has subtlety, Grant’s affection for actress Marta does not convince. Taking this role, Rachel Pickup has glamour – and her character’s hopes for respect as well as romance are a nice touch – but the chemistry and tension are weak. With the adaptation adding so little, you might as well stay home and read the book.

Until 13 September 2025

www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk

Photo by Manuel Harlan