Reviews

Audience comments and review highlights since Spring 2017

Jack and the Beanstalk (March-April 2017)

  • “Excellent script, good audience participation & very funny. Great family entertainment for the weekend”
  • “Fantastic show. Cast were so good!!”
  • “So good we came twice!”
  • “Fantastic show. Fabulous cast. Amazing songs. Hilarious. Story had a great message. Good job!” (audience comments)

 

Three Men in a Boat (April-May 2017)

  • “A brilliant show. The cast were great with brilliant musical accompaniment and vocal performances. You won’t forget Montmorency in a hurry. Definitely worth going to see.”
  • “Bloody good local production. Go and see it – very enjoyable!”
  • “I can’t recommend going to see this enough, it’s a real little gem in a local venue, well worth going to see.” (reviews on local Sydenham forum)

 

600 Seconds (July 2017)

  • “We thoroughly enjoyed Spontaneous Productions’ 600 Seconds event in July 2017.  It was amazing to see such inspiring and original work from new local writers, sticking strictly to the 600 second / 10 minute limit.  The writers cleverly crafted very imaginative drama and comedy, which made for a highly entertaining evening. Great fun!” (Ramona Metcalfe, audience comment)

 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Sept-Oct 2017)

  • “Wonderful. Inventive. Entertaining.”
  • “Excellent!”
  • “Brilliant show! We loved it.” (audience comments)

 

Frighteners (Nov 2017)

  • “Always good to celebrate new writing even if it does leave you with the jitters! Fun night watching Frighteners” (audience comment)

 

Love Bites Again (Feb 2018)

  • “A  very entertaining evening – excellent performances all round and it’s wonderful to have such an event on our doorsteps in Sydenham…I also had a piece I’d written performed at Love Bites, and it was a fascinating experience to see it brought to life on the stage.” (Rachel Firth, audience comment)
  • “The acting was great and the constraints placed on the writers in terms of time and lack of props created focus pace and interest. A great evening “ (Daniel Harwood, audience comment)
  • “As a writer I was delighted with the interpretation of my play, and seeing it brought to life on stage in front of an audience was an incredible experience.” (Jane Walker, audience comment)

 

The Little Mermaid and Other ‘Tails’ (March-April 2018)

  • “Another superb show – we thoroughly enjoyed it! V. lucky to have this on our doorstep. Thank you!”
  • “Excellent production”
  • “I laughed all the way through”
  • “(We…) thoroughly enjoyed the production! The cast members were all fantastic. Staging and lyrics were clever as ever!”
  • “As good as the Polka this year!” (audience comments)

 

Eleanor and Friends – talk from Rachel Holmes and others (April 2018)

  • “This was a great complement to the play, very  informative with an interesting and inspiring line-up of contributors”
  • “A very enriching and heartwarming experience for me with wonderful people speaking about their passions. A wonderful event”
  • “Great event. A lot of different elements to this event. A lot of thought went into it – Speakers, Poetry, Theatre, Q&A. Like a mini arts festival!”

 

Eleanor Marx: The Jewess of Jews Walk (April-May 2018)

  • “That was wonderful! Amazing! A brilliant illustration of her life, superb direction, and a glorious take down of the patriarchy. Thank you!” (Carl Packman via twitter)
  • “Excellent play … excellently acted and directed, which I can thoroughly recommend. The central Marx/Aveling relationship is very convincing portrayed, with some fine dialogue. Don’t miss it.” (Robin Orton on Sydenham Town Forum)
  • “Loved the play last night. You managed to get so much of Eleanor’s life into it while focusing on her dreadful ‘marriage’ and the lead up to her tragic death… I do hope the play gets a transfer to West End – it deserves it.” (Lucille Grant, Twitter)
  • “Saw Eleanor Marx play last night & absolutely agree it deserves a West End run (plus Edinburgh)” (Rosalind Hardie, Twitter)
  • “Saw the play last night! Superb!!!” (Teresa Bristow, facebook)

 

Reviews

A 5***** review from The Morning Star:

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/poignant-tribute-foremother-socialist-feminism

A 4.5 star review from Breaking the Fourth Wall:

https://breaking-the-fourth-wall.com/2018/05/17/eleanor-marx-the-jewess-of-jews-walk-sydenham-centre-review/amp/?__twitter_impression=true  

A 4**** review from LondonTheatre1: https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/eleanor-marx-the-jewess-of-jews-walk-sydenham-centre-review/

A review from International Marxist-Humanist Journal (no star rating given): https://www.imhojournal.org/articles/a-revolutionary-betrayed-review-of-the-play-eleanor-marx-the-jewess-of-jews-walk/

 

600 Seconds: Conflict! (July 2018)

  • Fabulous evening
  • Excellent stuff!
  • Brilliant cast!
  • Great entertainment
  • Excellent!
  • Great evening with fab acting
  • Well acted and directed
  • All very good and the acting and directing was fantastic!!

 

 

Just a few examples of what the critics and audience members have said over the years:

  • “Brilliant” (Time Out)
  • “What an unexpected delight!…One word sums it up really… AWESOME!” (Remote Goat)
  • “Energetic, fast-paced and tremendous fun, Spontaneous Productions’ latest effort is hugely entertaining” (South London Press)
  • “A very welcome brand of community theatre.” (News Shopper)
  • “A compelling example of innovative fringe theatre” (review by Vincent Manning)
  • “The show was magical and brilliantly done” (South London Press)
  • “This brilliant production shouldn’t be playing in the garden of a pub in Sydenham, but at the National or at the West End. Each performance would be sold out and all these young actors would be famous” (review by author Stephen Vizinczey)
  • “It’s not often that you see a piece of theatre that makes you laugh and brings you close to tears at the same time, but Jonathan Kaufman’s drama succeeds in doing both…This is a very enjoyable play that deserves to be seen by a much wider audience.” (The Stage)
  • “Spontaneous Productions’ show was a real joy for any Roald Dahl fan.” (South London Press)
  • “There is no doubting the professionalism and talent of this local company” (News Shopper)

Audience comments

  • “We absolutely loved it! Thank you so much. Really fun and inspiring. Intimate and funny” (Sarah Flynn)
  • “A terrific play” (Joy Haney)
  • “It’s brilliant. It makes fantastic use of the space, the acting, especially from the lead actors is fantastic. Go and see it. It deserves every accolade. We are so lucky to have productions of this quality right on our doorstep. I’d happily have seen it in the West End” (Lee Newham)
  • “Fantastic Midsummer Night’s Dream. We’re still talking about it. I think it is the best I’ve ever seen a Shakespeare comedy done. [It] made great sense of the text, it was visual, dynamic, sharp and uplifting” (Jane Wiley)
  • “I was very impressed by the whole thing, it was gripping and poignant, and brought history alive.” (Suzy Gettrup)
  • “This was an exceptional piece of theatre, the writing, music and choreography were astonishingly good” (Sue and Steve Grindlay)