Every so often a play comes about that makes you sit up and listen. Your left listening to every word as though your life depended and your left in awe. Philip Ridley’s celebrated epic “Mercury Fur” came on the theatre scene with a bang in 2005 and has enjoyed a cult following ever since. A play that features a post-apocalyptic view of the London’s East End where the rule of law is a forgotten memory and fear, death, and violence reigns could run the risk of being more satire than hard hitting theatre.

The staging was bare but for a tree with a scattering of lights. Above a curtained divide with the interloping monogram H & A would sit part of the small orchestra who would be performing live throughout the play adding a wealth of realism and time and place to the play.

Last year saw the West End staging of Legally Blonde the Musical at the Savoy Theatre which has been playing host to sold out audiences from day one and became an Olivier Award winning show in 2011. Now the touring version of the musical is at Brighton’s Theatre Royal for the next two weeks.

A few years ago I was lucky to see Jennifer Coolidge live during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As most of our readers will know she originated the role of Paulette in the smash hit movie ‘Legally Blonde’. During her show she joked about how she flew to England to audition for the West End version of the film…needless to say she didn’t get the job.