Author Archives: Paul T. Davies

Review: Boys from the Blackstuff at the Mercury Theatre

To help a younger generation understand the impact of Alan Bleasdale’s TV drama, I often [...]

30
May
Review: The Return at the Mercury Theatre Studio

Written and performed by Natasha Stanic Mann, The Return is an autobiographical piece about migration, [...]

29
May
Review: In Search of Goldoni at the Mercury Theatre Studio

The Mercury Theatre’s second space is on a roll at the moment, with touring productions [...]

23
May
Review: Camelot by Platform Musicals at the Headgate Theatre

Lerner and Loewe’s 1960 musical can seem like an odd choice for modern audiences. The [...]

14
May
Review: The Da Vinci Code at the Mercury Theatre

A few weeks ago, I was in the Mercury Café when a woman breezed through, [...]

12
May
Review: Bakla at the Mercury Theatre Studio

II first saw Max Percy’s extraordinary piece at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023, and [...]

10
May
Review: Third Class: A Titanic Story at the Mercury Theatre

Storytelling at its finest provokes strong mental imagery, and here we have a very good [...]

09
May
Review: Rum at the Mercury Studio

There are many plays currently exploring the construction of masculinity, and its toxicity and damaging [...]

30
Apr
Review: Flood 25 – The Story of Noah

The medieval mystery plays were performed by town guilds and local citizens. They were a [...]

27
Apr
Review: Whole at the Mercury Studio

“My sister smells of wood smoke, warm earth, oranges, and dust… we buried you in [...]

11
Apr
Review: Impromptu Shakespeare at the Headgate Theatre

Lights, action, codpieces! The Bard has been a bit lazy over the last 400 years [...]

29
Mar
Review: Sophia at the Mercury Theatre

Sophia Duleep Singh – princess, suffragette, and revolutionary. It is an East Anglian story crying [...]

23
Mar
Interview with Natasha Rickman, Artistic Director of the Mercury Theatre

Keep Colchester Cool’s Theatre Editor, Paul T. Davies, sat down with Natasha Rickman, the new [...]

20
Mar
Review: Toxic at the Mercury Theatre

Entering what has turned out to be, perhaps unintentionally, a mini LGBTQ+ festival in Colchester [...]

15
Mar
Review: The 39 Steps at the Mercury Theatre

There can’t be much more than thirty-nine steps from the stage to the audience in [...]

13
Mar
Review: Count Dykula performed at the Mercury Theatre

For the second week in a row, following the highly impressive Liberty Hall, audiences at [...]

06
Mar
Review: Liberty Hall at the Mercury Studio

LGBTQ+ History Month was well represented in Colchester last week, with The Killing of Sister [...]

02
Mar
Review: Bull at the Mercury Theatre

With his latest play, Unicorn, having just opened in the West End, now feels like [...]

21
Feb
Review: The Little Mermaid at the Mercury Theatre

One of Disney’s best-known features and musicals is brought vividly and confidently to life at [...]

02
Feb
Review: Father Brown and the Curse of the Christmas Fairy

Paul. T Davies reviews Father Brown and the Curse of the Christmas Fairy, presented by [...]

13
Jan
About the author:
Dr. Paul T. Davies was awarded his PhD from the University of East Anglia for his research on AIDS, Queer Theory, and Theatrical Discourses 1983-94. He is a playwright, and among his plays are the two Colchester Fringe award winners, The Miner’s Crow and Living With Luke, Jacky, and Bury Me In Colchester Mud. He is also a theatre director (NETG Award for Best Production, Frankenstein) and occasional actor, most recently in Tartuffe, NETG Award for Best Supporting Actor as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and Rupert in How We Love at the Vaults Festival 2020 and the revival at the Arcola Theatre in 2021. He is an active researcher, theatre reviewer, mentor, and teacher. He will be directing Dragging Your Heels, a new play with music by Terry Geo, at the New Wimbledon Theatre and the Camden Fringe in the summer of 2025, and is developing new scripts.

When reviewing for Keep Colchester Cool, we always aim to:

Provide a professional, fair assessment of the theatre we see, balanced in both praise and criticism.

Be sensitive to the non-professional aspect of community theatre when reviewing amateur productions.

Aim to post reviews within 48 hours of attending, or as close to as possible should circumstances prevent that.

Not review theatre we are personally involved in, but will ask a team member to review it.

Be accurate in terms of spelling names, respecting gender definitions, and providing information the reader may need, as long as the information is provided to the reviewers.