Words and photos by Rhona Murphy. The Grade 2 listed venue, Troxy, has hosted many different types of events since it started up in 1933 as a cinema. Since then it’s been home to the Royal Opera House (rehearsal space), and a bingo hall before morphing into live events...
Entertainment Reviews
Review: Millie Manders & the Shutup, 1865, Southampton, 25 October 2024
Words by Vicky Greer. Photos by Billy Perrett. It’s easy to feel like the music industry is broken. Hell, it’s easy to feel like the whole world is broken when you turn on the news. But every so often, there’s a voice that fights to prove you wrong. Millie Manders...
Review: Floella Benjamin’s Coming to England, MAST Southampton Studios
By Graham Hiley. Image: Mark Senior Floella Benjamin’s Coming to England. More specifically, Floella Benjamin’s Coming to Southampton. Again! Southampton was the young Floella’s first sight of England when she arrived here from Trinidad on the Marques de Comillas on September 2, 1960 – aged just 10. The now...
Review: Skating Polly, Ugly Ozo & Riteoff – The Joiners, Southampton
Words and pictures by Spring Wise. There was a lovely long queue of goth and goth-adjacent punters snaking by the Joiners, Southampton, on Sunday, which always warms my heart and hints at a good night about to be had. Opening the evening was local band, Riteoff, who had a...
Review: Lacuna Coil, Bournemouth Academy
Words and pictures by Billy Perrett. The energy for Lacuna Coil in Bournemouth last night was incredible (18/10/24). From the line outside until the very end of the show, everybody was so amped and ready for what was to come and rightfully so. Blind Channel kicked off the evening...
Review: Bastille Presents & – 1865, Southampton
Words by Sally Churchward. Photos by Bella Briscoe. There was something intimate, magical and raw about Bastille’s gig at Southampton’s 1865 last night (18/10/24). Obviously it was a much smaller venue than frontman Dan Smith typically plays with the band’s regular line up – who routinely sell out arenas...
Review – Wunderhorse, The 1865, Southampton
By Vicky Greer. Wunderhorse are a force to be reckoned with. Rising through the ranks with their debut album Cub back in 2022, they’ve swiftly become one of the most celebrated, thrilling voices in alternative music. On Monday hundreds of fans were crammed into The 1865 to see their...
Review – The Mountaintop, MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton
By Graham Hiley. The Mountaintop scaled new heights at MAST Mayflower Studios. Katori Hall’s re-imagining of Dr Martin Luther King’s final night on earth is utterly captivating and deeply thought-provoking – and superbly performed by two actors at the peak of their powers. Ray Strasser-King is completely convincing as...
Review – The Pirates of Penzance, Theatre Royal Winchester
By Charlotte Ndupuechi Sasha Regan’s all-male cast of The Pirates of Penzance returned to Theatre Royal Winchester, with a modern and playful twist on Gilbert and Sullivan’s timeless operetta (8/10/2024). The Pirates of Penzance is about a young man Frederic (Cameron McAllister) who is mistakenly apprenticed to a band of...
Review – War Horse, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
By Graham Hiley. I had always resisted every entreaty to go and see War Horse. I didn’t think it was my sort of thing. After being persuaded to see it at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre, I can honestly say it is everybody’s sort of thing – or at least it...