Phoebe Fox

Twelfth Night at The National Theatre - review

At a running time of around three hours including interval, there is nothing left out of this version of Twelfth Night but it's surprising how the time flies. This is a fun production with the emphasis on the many comedic elements of the story rather than dwelling on the melodramatic side. Everyone plays their part to produce a really great evening's entertainment and present the Bard at his absolute best.

Twelfth Night review

Director Simon Godwin and his doughty cast do not put a foot wrong in what must be the National Theatre's best Shakespearean production since Sir Nicholas Hytner's glorious Much Ado About Nothing, 10 years ago.

Review: Twelfth Night at the National Theatre

In all her scene-stealing cross-gartered glory: Rosemary Waugh writes a love letter to Tamsin Greig thinly veiled as a review.

Twelfth Night at the National Theatre review

The National Theatre certainly knows how to put a cast together. In its extravagant production of Twelfth Night almost every major British sitcom from the last two decades, including Green Wing, The Office, Peep Show, The Day Today and Black Books, is represented on stage. This is the theatre flying its comedic flag high, Shakespeare's play taking on a heightened, campy tone.

Switch is a comedy drama on a digital channel which has its work cut out. Mainly because it is on IIV2, which is quite possibly the worst TV channel in the country.

Switch is a supernatural comedy about a coven of four 20-something witches living in Camden. Each of the four witches, physiotherapist Grace (Phoebe Fox), travel loving Hannah (Hannah Tointon), fiery fashionista Jude (Nina Toussiant-White) and overworked Stella (Lacey Turner), each have their own problems - whether it is love, family relations or work - so not surprisingly they often end up using their magic to try and improve their lot, and more often than not it backfires.

In terms of laughs, it's somewhat thin on the ground. While the team behind the series have good experience with this kind of format (the show is made by the team who did Being Human), it all felt a bit thin. Part of the problem, I think, is that it's not in the right time slot. The target audience appears to be young women and girls, so why not make the show pre-watershed so that it could reach a bigger audience - and hopefully Switch would benefit from that.

The older actors, the authority figures in Switch, were the funniest - including Grace's old fashioned mother played by Caroline Quentin. There were also some good laughs from Stella's horrid boss Janet (Amanda Drew), who's placed under a spell to make her lose her short-term memory; but in the end makes her forget several decades. Good stuff.

There's one or two positive moments in Switch, but by and large it was a disappointment. That said, I think I'd recommend anyone reading this to watch Switch for two main reasons. Firstly (since just about everything else on the channel is rubbish), it's the best show currently on ITV2. By watching it, we might just encourage the executives at the network to buck up their ideas.

And secondly, as I mentioned before, the show is mostly targeted at young women. This is how Switch should be marketed. Forget the witches or merchandising. Just say that this is the show that could make Jeremy Clarkson's eyes bleed and you could well end up with a big hit.

Switch features four chums (Lacey Turner, Hannah Tointon, Nina Toussaint-White and Phoebe Fox) who with a bucket and a seemingly endless supply of feathers can turn back time, resurrect the dead (well, a cat) and use witchcraft to sort out their romantic lives. From the writers of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, it's sort of an anglicised Charmed.

Invariably, the spells don't quite work, and the hoops the girls go through to get out of trouble form the heart of the drama. It's all a little breathless - Caroline Quentin plays it larger than life as an über-earth mothery witch - and the London Borough of Camden must be overjoyed at the free publicity. But the episode ends with a neat touch of acid to temper the jollity.

Sweet new drama about four girls in Camden who happen to be witches. Sentimental rather than sassy, it is charmingly acted by the four leads - Lacey Turner, who plays put-upon career girl Stella, Nina Toussaint-White as fashion-loving Jude, Phoebe Fox as sensible Grace and Hannah Tointon as the free-spirited traveller Hannah. Witch apps and texts mean this is a very modern take on an old theme, but it needs more bite and the Camden sisterhood should use their powers for something more exciting than casting a spell on a nightmare boss.

How the witches cast their spells

ITV2's new show Switch (from the production outfit behind Being Human) follows a very modern "coven" of four young witches living in London, played by Lacey Turner, Nina Touissant-White, Phoebe Fox and Hannah Tointon. But how are the spells cast?