Birmingham Preview Archives

April 20, 2018

THE GALLERY: Trivium @ O2 Academy 17.04.18

Words by Yasmine Summan / Pic by Phil Drury

Florida’s heavy metal band, Trivium, set Birmingham a blaze this week as they storm through the UK on their The Sin and The Sentence World Tour 2018 – bringing city fans extreme head banging, searing guitar riffs, intense breakdowns, and a varied set list of their best hits since they first formed in 1999.

Fans flocked to the O2 Academy Birmingham in the thousands, hounding the merch tables and practically clinging onto the barrier with faces from all generations wavering through the crowd. I could feel the waves of nostalgia and excitement flooding through the room as fans joyfully ran in, decked out in ancient Trivium memorabilia unseen for years.

Opening the night, UK death metal band, Venom Prison, stormed onto the stage with a high energy performance and excessive head banging from vocalist, Larissa Stupar – who’s impressive screams filled the room and left everyone stunned.

Power Trip followed with their unique sound that revives the best elements of 80’s thrash metal, but takes aspects of modern metal to create a unique flare to their music. Their intensely high tempo, fast paced rhythm and scorching guitar solos had energy buzzing through the air; the whole band emanated great stage presence, with guitarist, Blake Ibanez, leaning into the crowd to sing along with the fans.

Code Orange stood out for their insane, off the wall performance that sky rocketed the energy levels in the room. Before their set had even begun the band’s guitarist, Dominic Landolina, ran off the stage and jumped into the crowd, gathering excitement amongst fans.

Whilst I enjoyed the diverse range of support acts, the drastically varying subgenres didn’t fairly compliment their collective talents. Hardcore is often more aggressive whilst metal is more melodic, which garner completely different audiences. Whilst the majority of the crowd was lively, this did result in some disinterested faces across the room and I think better consideration could have been put into the arrangement of the line-up.

As the lights dimmed and fans eagerly waited, I was unsure of what would entail for the atmosphere in the O2 Academy after the mixed reactions for the previous acts. However, I can assure you that as Trivium’s lead vocalist, Matt Heafy, swarmed onto the stage and the thudding of Alex Bent’s drums began to charge through the room, all hell truly did break loose. Trivium kicked in with their latest track, ‘The Sin and The Sentence’, causing crowd surfers to flood through the barriers, with mosh pits circulating around the room as an intoxicating rush of adrenaline dazed the crowd.

Their performance was practically unscathed, it felt so well-rehearsed and strategically thought out. From the layout of the stage that matched their latest album cover, to the lights syncing to the beat of the drums and every single riff tearing its way through the room without a single distorted note in sight, I was beyond overwhelmed with the outstanding performance – especially at Heafy’s guitar riffs that were so crisp they could cut through thin air.

Trivium play on the traditional styles of heavy metal music, which was translated great through their older hits like ‘Throes of Perdition’ and ‘Becoming the Dragon’ with highly amplified extended guitar solos and emphatic drum beats, similar to heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden and Pantera. Although arguably, I do think the lack of their works from popular albums such as Shogun and The Crusade was underwhelming, seeing as these tried and tested tracks translate well with the fans when performed live.

The band moved as one body and fed from each other’s energy. It was clear to see the devoted passion for their work thriving through each member; at times you could even see bassist, Paolo Gregoletto, rapidly strumming with sweat soaking his face, as if he was pouring his soul into every strum. Even between songs the band’s genuine nature transpired, as they constantly thanked the crowd and shared moments of their last time in the UK with Heafy saying he feels that “the UK basically adopted us” because of how frequently they visit.

Short bursts of surreal moments are what truly captivated the O2 Academy Birmingham crowd and brought the room together. It was humbling to see fans completely in awe with their eyes glued to the stage, or even to see someone coming out of a mosh pit completely covered in blood but with a huge grin plastered across their face as they sang along to every word.

Trivium are stretching their adventures across the UK and will be visiting Manchester and London before finalising their The Sin and The Sentence Tour for 2018. But as for their stop at the O2 Academy Birmingham, it brought a nostalgic pang of happiness to see fans, families and friends all enjoying themselves.

Trivium @ O2 Academy 17.04.18 / Phil Drury

For more on Trivium, visit www.trivium.org

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Power Trip – supporting Trivium @ 02 Academy 17.04.18 / Phil Drury

For more on Power Trip, visit www.powertripsl.bandcamp.com

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Code Orange – supporting Trivium @ 02 Academy 17.04.18 / Phil Drury

For more on Code Orange, visit www.codeorangetoth.com

For more on Venom Prison, visit www.venomprison.com

For more from Live Nation UK, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.livenation.co.uk

For more on O2 Academy Birmingham, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

April 20, 2018

BPREVIEW: Mallory Knox @ Mama Roux’s 24.04.18

Words by Eleanor Sutcliffe

Mallory Knox will be performing an intimate show in Mama Roux’s on Tuesday 24^th April as part of their spring UK tour, with support from Dead! and JUDAS.

Doors open at Mama Roux’s from 7:30pm, with tickets priced from £20 (plus booking fee) – as presented by Kilimanjaro Live. For online ticket sales click here. To visit the gig’s Facebook Event page, click here.

Following main stage performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, and the independent release of their latest track ‘Black Holes’, Mallory Knox are proving themselves a force to be reckoned with.

Building up their fan base since the release of their debut UK album, Signals, back in 2013, the band have slowly but surely climbed their way to the top of the UK alternative rock scene. Just under a year later and the release of their sophomore album, Asymmetry, landed them at No16 in the UK Album Charts and secured them a host of performances with bands such as Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens – as well as an independent UK tour that saw them sell out London’s Electric Ballroom two nights in a row.

This continued to peak when Mallory Knox were announced for both the Slam Dunk Festival and the iconic Vans Warped Tour –with the band’s last studio album, Wired, released in March 2017 and reaching both No1 on the UK Rock & Metal Album Charts and No18 on the UK Album Charts.

Committed to carving out their own niche in the UK music scene, Mallory Knox have spent years developing their sound – just listen to the differences between tracks such as ‘Oceans’ and ‘Sugar’ if you don’t believe me. And boy, has it paid off. Their commitment to experimentation without straying too far from the path has resulted in the band becoming a favourite with rock and metal fans across the UK.

Although this time, it could be slightly different. The seemingly sudden departure of Mikey Chapman has lost Mallory Knox their unique vocals. Although from what we’ve heard of ‘Black Holes’, Mallory Knox’s co-vocalist and bass player Sam Douglas seems more than ready to take the reins.

Playing it safe with a string of intimate shows across the UK this spring, coming to Mama Roux’s in Birmingham on Tuesday 24^th April, it’s just exciting to see what Mallory Knox have in store for us next.

‘Black Holes’ – Mallory Knox

On Tuesday 24^th April, Mallory Knox play at Mama Roux’s with support from Dead! and JUDAS – as presented by Kilimanjaro Live. For online ticket sales click here. To visit the gig’s Facebook Event page, click here.

For more on Mallory Knox, visit www.malloryknox.com

For more Dead!, visit www.theinternetisdead.co.uk

For more on JUDAS, visit www.wearejudas.com

For more from Kilimanjaro Live, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.kilimanjarolive.co.uk

For more on Mama Roux’s, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.facebook.com/mamarouxs

April 19, 2018April 19, 2018

BREVIEW: Dragpunk Presents Candyland @ The Nightingale Club 06.04.18

Words & illustrations by Emily Doyle

On Friday 6^th April, queer art collective Dragpunk took over the middle floor of The Nightingale Club. This was the venue for their brand new performance night, Dragpunk Presents. For the uninitiated, we caught up with host Amber Cadaverous – who began by explaining the origins of the group’s name.

The ‘drag’ in Dragpunk recognises that, “drag artistry is the expressive and creative art for anyone regardless of their gender, sexual identity and orientation,” tells Cadaverous, “it knows no gender but subverts and mocks all gender and art norms.” The collective’s values of “expressive, individual freedom that is anti-establishment and anti-mainstream society,” are where the ‘punk’ comes in.

“Whether your interest is makeup, performance art, drag art, queer politics, or you’re simply in need of a safe space for fun, self-expression, and excitement, we want to provide this,” continues Cadaverous. “We plan and run all events as safe space for those across the LGBTQ+ community and allies. We only encourage fun and freedom – dress how you want and be who you want. We welcome all of those who just want to feel the love of a community.

Birmingham is our home, and Birmingham is brimming with art and creativity that needs an outlet and a voice.”

The theme for tonight is Candyland. Paul Aleksandr runs the door. Head to toe in neon pink, complete with bedazzled facial hair, he offers cakes and sweets to guests as they arrive. Hands are stamped and drinks are bought.

Around midnight, Cadaverous totters on stage. She wears platform heels, a paint splattered prom dress, and an enormous purple wig topped with an even bigger pink bow. Her face is painted with a Glasgow smile and heavily lined eyes, but her excitement about the evening shines through. She welcomes and introduces fellow Dragpunk, Lilith.

Lilith looks like she’s stepped straight out of your MySpace top friends from 2004. She’s dressing up a cinched and contoured club kid look with buckets of kimo-kawaii accessories. A dynamic routine to Blood on the Dance Floor’s ‘Candyland’ sets the tone (and the pace) for the night. Strobe lights illuminate her backcombed wig.

Eva Lution follows, serving a look described by Cadaverous as “glamour granny”. Her glamour is certainly timeless, as she performs the evening’s most articulate lip sync to ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’. Lution’s floor length gown ripples across the stage. It looks effortless, but the costume designer and fashion student later confirms that it was sewn by her own fair hands. When the music switches to Def Leppard, Lution shrugs the gown to the floor. She reveals fishnets and thigh high boots. This girl is no granny.

Ginny Lemon brings a change of pace to the stage next. Some may remember Lemon from an appearance on ITV’s X Factor in 2017, or perhaps from her regular turn as a host at The Village Inn on Hurst Street. Either way, her face is not one you’ll forget in a hurry. Looking like the bastard daughter of Marge Simpson and Velma from Scooby Doo, Lemon emerges from the DJ booth gesticulating along to Tori Amos’ ‘Sugar’ followed by ‘Candy Shop’ by Madonna. These go down like a delicious citrusy treat with the crowd, but her original composition (an a cappella ode to biscuits) is even better.

After a short interval, the room fills again for Mama Mamba. The 2017 winner of Church of Yshee has set the bar high. She perches on the side of the stage, legs bound into a mermaid tail. The room goes quiet. ‘Part of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid fades in.

Mamba flirts with the crowd, winking and pouting throughout the lipsync while she’s photographed. She checks her flawless makeup in a shell-shaped mirror and combs a fork through her turquoise hair. Slowly, she pulls herself up onto her fins and shimmies out of the tail, flaunting the best bum on Birmingham’s drag scene. Mamba struts across the stage in a iridescent miniskirt, and when the song reaches its falsetto climax she gleefully removes her seashell bra to reveal matching nipple tassels. It’s what Walt Disney would have wanted.

A new face on the local scene, Stormy Carl’s creator describes her as “a messy woman zoomed in on.” She wears a pink satin slip which clashes against her emerald curls. If you look down, pink stripy socks peep out the top of her platform sandals. Carl has taken the evening’s theme and run with it, crafting a playful mix for her routine that features Aqua, Austin Powers, and a smattering of Spongebob Squarepants dialogue.

She drizzles caramel over herself and throws her sticky dress to the ground, untangling it from her feet as the room takes in her pink paisley bikini. Her athletic, chaotic routine leaves the crowd wondering where she’s been hiding.

We caught up with Stormy Carl after the show for a few words. As one of Dragpunk’s female performers, she had a few words on the role of women within the scene:

“Drag at its core, to me anyways, is just about playing dress up,” explains Carl. “Historically it was a way to entertain and escape from society. You can be ANYONE in drag: yourself, an egg, a celebrity, or just whatever you perceive as beautiful. I like to take the idea of ‘woman’ that society has constructed and just times it by 100.”

Nora Virus opens the third and final set of the evening. A key player in Birmingham’s club kid community, Virus is a part of the Opulence collective and founder of another new drag event coming to Birmingham, Mother’s Meeting. Wearing a cropped, tie dye t-shirt and candy floss pink wig, she delights in completely desecrating ‘Pure Imagination’ from 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Beckoning fellow artist Liam Layland from the crowd, Virus invites him to reach inside the large, plush doughnut strapped around her waist and try his luck. What follows can’t be repeated here, but it ends with them skipping off stage together to the tune of ‘I’ve Got a Golden Ticket’.

Self-described ‘burlesquer and activist’, Petite, is a bundle of cardigan and big frothy petticoats. She dances to Jackie Wilson’s fitting ‘Reet Petite’, grinning at the crowd. This saccharine tone quickly dissolves when ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ starts playing for the second time this evening.

Petite takes this more literally than Eva Lution did and strips down to lingerie before liberally pouring a whole a bag of Tate & Lyle over her body. When the song’s over, the performers all scrabble to clear the floor of sugar, whipped cream, and cupcake crumbs in time for the final act.

The fourth and final member of the Dragpunk collective, Tacky Alex, is here to close the night. Joined on stage by Stormy Carl and Mama Mamba for a choreographed routine to Katy Perry’s ‘California Girls’, Alex begins pulling audience members up to join them. After the show, Amber Cadaverous picked this out as the highlight of her night.

“It felt so silly and fun but had a real community vibe and spirit; everyone was laughing and smiling. It just felt so right!“

It seems a fitting ending to a night celebrating the playful and inclusive nature of drag as an art form; everyone left feeling pleased to see the Dragpunk team pull it off.

”There is always something really magic about seeing all your plans come to life,” Cadaverous agrees. “Our ‘Presents’ night is going to be regular throughout the year, each time with a new theme and a production showcasing local and national UK drag of all genders, sexualities and abilities… expect us to release the next theme and line up shortly! As well as our performance night we also run a queer alternative party called I’m Not Okay and our next one of those will be at Birmingham Pride in Nightingales on the Future Stage.

We are also working on some events that will run during the day and outside of club spaces so our fans and friends under 18 will be able to enjoy queer performance art and community based events. Plans include film viewings, drag makeup workshops, drag queen life drawing, open mic performance segments and more!”

For more on the Dragpunk Collective, visit www.facebook.com/dragpunkcollective

For more from The Nightingale Club, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.nightingaleclub.co.uk

April 18, 2018

BREVIEW: Love from Stourbridge – The Wonder Stuff & Ned’s Atomic Dustbin @ O2 Academy 15.04.18

Words by Abi Whistance / Pics by Steven Cook

It’s 15^th April and the holy trinity of Stourbridge are steadily attracting the masses on a Sunday night, pulling nineties indie veterans out of their local legions and into the doors of the O2 Academy in Birmingham.

Veterans like my own dad, and it didn’t take much more than an invite for him to pull out his Adidas Gazelles and a wad of Ned’s Atomic Dustbin CD’s for the car journey there – and back.

Of course, there are the younger admirers of the West Midlands indie heavyweights like myself, but Love from Stourbridge is ninety-nine percent over forty with a sprinkling of those barely legal that they’ve hauled along with them. Not to bash the nostalgia train though; tonight is the final lap of their grand tour of the UK, ending where things kicked off thirty years ago.

First of the gang is Pop Will Eat Itself’s very own Graham Crabb with his eclectic DJ set, hopping from The Prodigy to Arctic Monkeys at a pace that requires rapid auditory adjustment. But hey, leave the kid alone. “Let’s fucking have it!” he shouts over a questionable dubstep tune, one hand punching the air to the fast-paced rhythm and the other firmly planted on his headphones. Crabb’s having the time of his life, and although no heads are turning away from the direction of the bar it’s pretty clear that he probably won’t notice.

Thrashing like a six-foot fish out of water, Jonn Penney flings himself onto the stage accompanied by the rest of the cohort as they begin their set – 100% Ned’s Atomic Dustbin style. With no signs of age other than the loss of Penney’s mane (rest in peace, you’ll be sorely missed) Ned’s storm through tunes like ‘Suave and Suffocated’ and ‘Until You Find Out’ leaving barely any time for this crowd to rise for air.

Like a Pogo stick on a shed load of coke (if such a thing were possible) eyes can’t help but to follow Penney as he goes up and down, up and down… and then up and down again. “So, here’s the prediction, you get an affliction” he belts, dangling his lanky torso over the audience and finishing fan favourite ‘Walking Through Syrup’ with a menacing smirk spread across his face. “You’re all very old, to remind you all of that.” He smiles even wider, but despite a middle-aged crowd this clearly isn’t a softly-gently warm up, this is a powerhouse.

There’s not much time to gather yourself when ‘Terminally Groovy’ isn’t far behind, anticipation generating before the line we’ve all been dying to hear since we got here. “So, come on…” is all it takes to set us off, a thumping bassline carrying the crowd right through till the very end.

Six minutes of dancing, shouting and cavorting is all we have left of Ned’s for tonight. An encore consisting of iconic tracks ‘Kill Your Television’ and ‘Selfish’ is deemed necessary to rejuvenate an exhausted crowd, somehow breathing life back into those gasping for air and gagging for another beer and a fag before the final power chord rings out.

Hard to beat? Sure. Impossible to beat? Not according to The Wonder Stuff on a Sunday night. Frontman Miles Hunt is on top form, and the rest of the gang follow suit with the addition of violinist Erica Nockalls as a rather attention-grabbing counterpart. An interesting addition at that, with tunes like ‘Red Berry Joy Town’ and ‘Don’t You Ever’ getting the barnyard treatment thanks to her country-esque style.

It doesn’t take long before beers are flying, shirts are removed and tossed above heads, and Hunt has something to say about it. “Are you the guy who didn’t get the selfie in the pub earlier? Bit pissed off are we?” he jeers at the crowd, but essentially just prodding the bear who’ll more than likely just chuck another beer and a middle finger your way, sorry Miles.

Blasting through the next handful of hits, The Stuffies manage to cram ‘Circlesquare’, ‘The Size of a Cow’ and ‘Cartoon Boyfriend’ into about nine minutes and thirty seconds; an impressive achievement and potentially a new record time for them, well done lads and lass.

Social media paves the way for a much-anticipated poll result regarding the next track. Will it be ‘Radio Ass Kiss’ or ‘It’s Yer Money I’m After Baby’? Trick question, the answer is both. The result of the poll did mean that it should have only been the latter, but this wasn’t what The Stuffies wanted and, after all, they’re clearly the ones in charge here.

After a solid eighteen track set, a conclusion in the form of ‘Unbearable’ seems inevitable for the majority, but the rest are happy following up with ‘Ten Trenches Deep’ to say adieu. It’s been as wild of a night as possible for a Sunday, reminiscent of most of the crowd’s teenage years back in 1988 when Ned’s were still normal and the Eight-Legged Groove Machine was still grooving without the responsibility of a mortgage.

For more on The Wonder Stuff, visit www.thewonderstuff.co.uk

For more on Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, visit www.nedsatomicdustbin.com

For more on Pop Will Eat Itself, visit www.popwilleatitself.net/pwei

For more from the O2 Academy Birmingham, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

April 13, 2018April 12, 2018

BREVIEW: Brighton Rock @ Birmingham REP until 14.04.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production shots by Karl Andre Photography

On reading the tag line for Pilot Theatre’s Brighton Rock on the Birmingham REP’s website I was a little apprehensive:

‘Romeo & Juliet meets Peaky Blinders in this gripping tale of crime and romance.’

Comparing Peaky Blinders with Brighton Rock misses the point somewhat; based on real gang violence that gripped Birmingham during the early 1900s, the BBC series takes real life events and dramatises them for an entertainment-hungry audience. As Greene stated, Brighton Rock started out as a “simple detective story”, but developed into a “discussion, too obvious and open for a novel, of the distinction between good and evil, and right and wrong and the mystery of the ‘appalling strangeness of the mercy of God’”.

For me, Greene’s Brighton Rock is a psychologically-complex and dark musing on the effects of upbringing, social change, violence-as-protection, and how far the belief in damnation can sustain a life of grotesque crime. So, prior to watching Bryony Lavery’s adaptation, I was concerned that the production would lack depth and eschew Greene’s problematic juxtaposition of the ethical and atheistic morality with Catholic dogma.

However, Lavery’s interpretation manages to untangle complex ideas that often bogged down Greene’s work. The themes, all concerning the root causes of evil, are delicately balanced to focus on psychological damage as a product of social conditioning and, most interestingly, the pre-conditioned religious understanding of good versus evil and heaven and hell. Pilot Theatre’s production of Brighton Rock is as multi-layered and complex as I had could have hoped for.

The opening scene brings together all the elements of the piece. We are introduced to Ida (Gloria Onitiri), who lives a hedonistic lifestyle in the pubs of Brighton, as she meets Fred (Marc Graham) who is being pursued by Pinkie’s (Jacob James Bestwick) gang.

The live, percussive, musical accompaniment conveys a sense of terror as the unfortunate Fred is stalked by Pinkie, a mood that is intensified by the jagged flashes of lighting and the choreographed ensemble. Graham slides across the stage in panicked frenzy, the choreography clicking to the rhythm of the drums which create the sound of a scared heartbeat. The live music is electrifying; the synth pulses throughout, suggestive of the frightening tight-rope line between good and evil that Pinkie and his gang are treading. This sets off the main events of the story, as Ida pursues justice for Fred and Pinkie desperately tries to remain in control.

Protruding from the back of the set is the battered and rusted remains of Brighton’s West Pier, which since the 1980s has fallen into disrepair, with most of the structure lost to the sea. The stage is innovatively used throughout, but most effectively during the chase for Fred. It acts as pier, seafront, guest house, the gang’s hideout, and the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Sara Perks has designed a fantastic homage to Brighton and its bawdy seaside past; the set works well as a metaphor for the decaying morals of Pinkie and his gang, as well as being evocatively suggestive of the future that ultimately befalls Pinkie.

Pinkie becomes embroiled in a relationship with Rose (Sarah Middleton), a naive waitress a year younger than him, initially in order to silence her when she witnesses evidence of the night of Fred’s murder. To maintain both her silence and love for him, Pinkie marries Rose in a sham wedding, bribing her parents with money to sign the consent form.

The evening of the wedding is a grotesque depiction of hatred; Rose asks Pinkie for a record of his voice and in a fit of madness he spits out a series of vitriolic statements. The consummation of their marriage shows Pinkie tussling with his emotions – anger, fear of sex, and loathing of the female body – while upholding his duty as gang leader and man. They both balance on a scaffold ladder that is twirled around by demons in black; their fight becomes a dance and they succumb to each other in a whirl of madness.

Pinkie might have a Peaky Blinders buzz cut, but he is far removed from the world of Brummie gangs and international gun running. Having installed himself at the top of his tiny seaside gang through viciousness and cunning, he is constantly struggling to assert his dominance yet haunted by the fragility of his position. He has something to prove, and his escalating attempts to control the fallout from a murder drive the story along.

Pinkie is preoccupied with his eternal damnation, which he avoids through reference to repentance before death; he behaves as if everything is permitted, and it is precisely his belief in damnation (and his disavowal of it) that allows him to do so. This all comes out in his performance, prowling around the stage and crackling with nervous energy. His exaggerated body language and twitchy head movements perfectly hints at his unpredictability and youth. Sara Perks’s costume for Pinkie is tailored and slim fitting, the jacket slightly too small in order to emphasises his sleight and teenage frame.

The cast are fantastic, each character is defined and clearly identifiable. Angela Bain is particularly good as Spicer, the older mob member whose poor memory and silly mistakes provoke Pinkie to have them killed. This moment at the racecourse is chilling and acts effectively as the beginning of Pinkie’s downward psychological spiral.

For me though, Onitiri’s performance as Ida is sublime and steals the limelight away from the brooding and erratic Pinkie. Throughout the play, Onitiri maintains the energy and exuberance that makes Ida so lovable and relatable.

Even during the second half, when the pace dropped considerably and the length of the piece started to bog down the energy of the cast, Onitiri managed to keep my attention fixed. Ida is the perfect foil for both Pinkie and Greene’s religious symbolism; her belief in right and wrong is driven by her admonishment of the Catholic Church’s prioritisation of the afterlife over human existence. Her singing is soulful, and during the last sequence after Pinkie has drowned in the sea, and Rose is left pregnant and forgotten, her final monologue about death is truly heart-breaking.

Bryony Lavery and Pilot Theatre’s adaptation of Brighton Rock is a well-balanced piece, perfectly acted and staged, and one I will go back to watch again and again. If this is Esther Richardson’s first major production for the York based theatre company, then I am excited to see what else she has up her sleeve.

Brighton Rock runs at the Birmingham REP until to Saturday 14^th April. For direct show information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/brighton-rock

For more on Pilot Theatre, visit www.pilot-theatre.com

For more from the Birmingham REP, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk