The Wizard of Oz *** TNT

TV talent show winner Danielle Hope gives a likeably confident performance as the runaway Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s reworking of the famous film, whilst Edward Duly-Baker makes a laconic Tin Man in search of a heart.

But it’s the tallest and smallest cast members who steal the acting honours in a visually spectacular musical with lavish sets and whirling projections which whisk Dorothy off to an emerald Oz.

As her would-be nemesis, Hannah Waddingham’s green faced, hooked nose Wicked Witch of the West swoops from the ceiling to deliver the most powerful new song of the evening. And, at ground level, a little West Highland White terrier proves an irresistible Toto - even though he’s decidedly reluctant to follow the revolving Yellow Brick Road in this critic-proof crowd-pleaser.

London Palladium, Argyll Street, W1A 3AB (0844 412 2957) Tube: Oxford Circus wizardofozthemusical.com Currently booking till 17 September (£25 - £62.50)

Mogadishu **** TNT

The state of inner city schools may be driving teachers and parents to distraction, but it’s providing fertile ground for dramatists and thought-provoking entertainment for theatregoers who are no doubt extremely grateful that they don’t have to face a classroom of disruptive adolescents on a daily basis.

Following hot on the heels of the “Schools Season” at the Bush, Vivienne Franzmann’s accomplished, hard-hitting new play (her first) looks at the politics of the playground - and of the headmaster’s study - when known troublemaker Jason, already facing permanent exclusion, falsely accuses popular white teacher Amanda (Julia Ford) not only of pushing him but also of racial abuse when she intervenes to break up a fight.

Sweet-talking the girls and reminding the boys of loyalty owed, disaffected Jason (a simmering, menacing Malachi Kirby) coerces his reluctant gang into corroborating his lies. He’s fully aware that his future hangs in the balance, he won’t back down and the situation escalates with devastating effects.

With twelve years’ teaching experience behind her, Franzmann (a deserving joint winner of the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition) knows what she’s talking about and, apart from a couple of instances which don’t completely ring true, convincingly captures both the dilemma faced by Ian Bartholomew’s weak head (caught up in the bureaucracy of Child Protection legislation) and the consequences of the allegations on Amanda and her family.

The teenagers’ banter is constantly on the verge of erupting into something more threatening and Matthew Dunster’s sharp, well-acted production appropriately encircles the pupils in wire fencing, their schoolyard a mini urban warzone where the toughest survive and bullying – not exam results - rules.

Lyric Hammersmith, King Street, W6 0QL (0871 221 1726) lyric.co.uk Tube: Hammersmith Until April 2 (£10 - £25)

The Red Shoes **** TNT

As her adaptation of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg opens in the West End, here’s a final chance to catch a revival of the play which first brought Emma Rice and her quirky Cornwall-based Kneehigh company to national notice over a decade ago.

As a touring company, Kneehigh are used to creating maximum effect with minimal props – so even before the show begins four hollow-eyed men and one woman (dressed only in grubby vests and underpants, their hair cropped close) are to be found wandering with blank expressions round the wonderful space of this Grade II listed building (formerly the local town hall but now home to Battersea Arts Centre) where this show first found a temporary London base.

Seated on benches (cushions are provided), we watch as they scrub their feet and don various costumes to enact the story of the orphan who, by pretending they’re a sober black, tricks the blind woman who raises her into buying her the pair of bright red shoes (heavy clogs in this instance) which prove to be her downfall.

Based primarily on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, but fleshed out with vaudevillian bits of business, it’s an unnervingly tragic tale, dripping with blood and executed with Kneehigh’s distinctive physicality and low-tech inventiveness. A shabby brown suitcase becomes a coffin, a headstone, part of a car. The red shoes fly tauntingly overhead on a fishing rod and, instead of curtains, we get scruffy wooden doors and a raised set (flanked by a pair of musicians who, between them play far more instruments than I could keep track of).

Giles King’s Lady Lydia in drag comperes the proceedings, whilst Patrycja Kujawska brings a desperate intensity to the part of the Girl who can’t stop dancing and Mike Shepherd relishes his role as the Butcher. The piece is, slightly, showing its age, but it still makes for engrossing theatre and (speaking as someone who, apart from forays to the South Bank, rarely makes it South of the river) well worth the short overground journey by train.

Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, SW11 5TN Rail: Clapham Junction (020 7223 2223) bac.org.uk Until 9th April (£22.50 - £25)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee This is London

This is the sort of musical comedy which is likely to amuse or irritate depending on your taste. Designer Christopher Oram has decked out the auditorium like a school gym for this lighthearted look at the American phenomenon of the Spelling Bee competition in which serious young kids devour the dictionary and pit their lexical skills against equally determined enthusiasts.
The earnest youngsters are permitted to ask for a definition and for an illustrative sentence, and with each round the words become progressively more difficult and obscure. To liven things up, William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin have written in parts for the audience – a quartet of gently coerced volunteers take part each night.

Much to the feigned annoyance of the cast, the members of the public get off pretty lightly until the minimal plot demands their elimination, whereupon they are escorted off by Ako Mitchell's Mitch, who's doing his community service dressed as a striped bumble bee. They're probably safer in his hands, though, than in those of Steve Pemberton's rather creepy Vice Principal, who co-hosts the event with Katherine Kingsley's chirpy former winner Rona.

Each kid is something of a misfit with an individual method of getting it right. David Fynn's plump, pompous William traces the words with his ‘magic foot’ and, much to his surprise, discovers a soulmate in Hayley Gallivan's lonely Olive, whose mother is far away in an ashram. Only a fluke got Leaf through to the finals, Chip becomes a victim of a futile attempt to control an embarrassing display of raging teenage hormones, overachieving polymath Marcy learns the liberation of lightening up, and Logainne (with a lisp and two gay dads) gamely spells ‘cystitis’.

You're unlikely to remember a single tune and it's all rather brash, but Fin provides some clever rhymes and director Jamie Lloyd maintains an energetically bouncy 95 minute departure from the serious fare usually seen at this address.

Donmar Theatre

Frankenstein **** TNT

Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle returns to the theatre to galvanise 
Frankenstein’s monster into shuddering life.

In a flare of blazing bulbs, this naked creation of sutured-together body parts forces his way through a pulsing amniotic sac to emerge, ugly but innocent, unable to walk, talk and with neither name nor memory, to learn the ways of man.


Nick Dear’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic novel is disappointingly colourless, but is swept triumphantly along by Boyle’s thrilling visual flair, Underworld’s atmospheric music and intense performances from Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller (alternating the roles of obsessive scientist and his handiwork) as the latter comes to realise that only the blind old man who teaches him Milton and Plutarch can “see” the tragically unfulfilled potential of this newborn being.

Olivier at the National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 9PX (020 7452 3000) Tube: Waterloo nationaltheatre.org.uk
In rep until May 2 (£12 - £45)

Losing It *** TNT

If, as she frequently states, it’s unfortunately true that a whopping one in four people will suffer from some sort of mental illness during their lifetime, then comedienne Ruby Wax has got a huge readymade audience out there for her latest confessional show.

Despite her outgoing personality, the exuberant Wax knows more than she’d like to about depression – she’s suffered from this debilitating disease for years.

And she’s keen to stress that although there are no broken bones on display, the damage done by problems of the mind is every bit as real as that wrought by ailments with a more physical manifestation and should be treated with the same degree of understanding and sympathy.

Being Wax, of course, she can’t resist sliding off into comic riffs (some funnier than others) about her own experiences (some not really relevant) but there’s no doubting her underlying sincerity.

Her showy presence is counterbalanced by the presence of singer-songwriter Judith Owen whose husky voice and low key piano playing counterbalance her co-performer’s excesses. Like Wax, she too has a troubled history – her mother committed suicide and she herself is no stranger to the Priory.

After the interval, there’s a question and answer session – a chance (on the afternoon I went) for fans to praise Ruby for her past performances, and for others to probe a little deeper into what makes her tick and how she dealt with the trajectory from fame to bedbound breakdown.

It’s certainly not your standard theatrical fare, but the show has already been scheduled to return in a couple of months – an indication not only of the popularity Wax still enjoys, but also the accuracy of that sad, worrying statistic.

Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU (020 7907 7060) Tube: London Bridge menierchocolatefactory.com

Moment **** TNT

It only takes a moment to snuff out a life, but the after effects can last a very long time indeed.

In Deirdre Kinahan’s sharply funny but sensitive drama (a bit like a Greek tragedy with a contemporary comic edge) pill-popping, forgetful Teresa is expecting a rare visit from her son Nial and his pretty English girlfriend who are passing through Dublin en route to his art exhibition in Spain.

Her married younger daughter Ciara is popping round, too, but no one has told Niamh.

Over the course of twenty four hours, the root of the cause of Niamh’s deep-seated antagonism towards her now successful brother - buried in silence for fourteen years, but far from forgotten - is dug up and turned over in an increasingly uncomfortable family gathering over tea and quiche.

There’s fine acting all round in David Horan’s well-judged production and, as Maeve Fitzgerald’s hostile Niamh forces her sibling to relive a past he wants to put firmly behind him, the uncomfortable feeling remains that, despite the attentive affection of new boyfriend Fin, the healing process is far from finished.

Bush Theatre, Shepherds Bush Green W12 8QD Tube: Shepherds Bush (020 8743 5050) bushtheatre.co.uk Until March 26 £15-£20