Caroline Worswick

London 50-Hour Improvathon 2025 – The Pleasance Theatre

12Apr

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

London 50-Hour Improvathon 2025 – The Pleasance Theatre

Improvisation - a theatre skill that is underrated, under paid, and underrepresented, but at the Pleasance Theatre from the 4th-6th April, the London Improvathon showed the audience, why the Improvathon, is in its 15th year. This fifty hour, or three thousand minute event, pushes the boundaries of what is physically and mentally possible for a group of improvisers (and some audience members), who create a story in a loose framework, with many deviations, but with a strong emphasis on character development, to give this event a soap-like feel. The inspiration for this event comes from the Canadian company Die-Nasty who originated the Soap-A-Thon and in 2005, the then director of Die-Nasty Dana Anderson worked with Ken Campbell the British theatre impresario to bring the Soap-A-Thon...

London 50 Hour Comedy Improvathon – Pleasance Theatre

28Mar

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

NEWS

London 50 Hour Comedy Improvathon – Pleasance Theatre

Spectacular, Spectacular! And it is sure to be a spectacular weekend of improvisation if previous events are anything to go by. Whether you love improv and wish to immerse yourself in the whole weekend, or if you wish to dip your toe into a pool of new experiences, then this is for you! Each year the creative team invent a new idea for this double marathon of none stop improvising, inviting the best in the world to take part in the whole event if they dare, or they may choose to perform in a few episodes. Adam Meggido and Ali James act as director, with Su Young Shon assisting, steering this improvising tanker through some choppy seas - lifejackets may be needed, but they have never not brought the tanker home, safely into dock. This year, the Pleasance Th...

Mrs Peacock’s Feathers – Alexander House, Auchterarder

21Dec

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Mrs Peacock’s Feathers – Alexander House, Auchterarder

In the depths of the Scottish countryside, I attended the birthday party celebrations of a close friend. Alexander House was the perfect setting to host such an event, and in the evening, it functioned as the stage for quite a different theatrical experience. The challenge for this company of actors, was to entertain the seventeen guests with a murder mystery evening, without prior knowledge that they were entertaining a theatre reviewer, and two police officers! The theatre company that was booked for the evening were ‘Can You Catch The Killer?’ a company specialising in staging murder mystery events at a location chosen by the client. Our remote house added another layer of eeriness to the proceedings, which were completely managed by the company. The evening c...

Seven Dials Playhouse – To be, or not to be…?

1Dec

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Blogs

Seven Dials Playhouse – To be, or not to be…?

As the campaign to reinstate The Actors’ Centre grows in intensity, with a lack of comment from the Seven Dials Playhouse’s trustees and CEO, it is concerning to hear that another London theatre is struggling with financial pressures. The Seven Dials Playhouse has been known by other names, but the ones that most people will be familiar, are The Actors’ Centre, and the Tristan Bates Theatre. Did you know that this theatre was once a thriving centre for actors to attend workshops, try out their work, and hone their acting skills using the previously named Tristan Bates Theatre as their launchpad? As we mull over the future of this theatre space, let us look back at why the theatre is now in this position. In 1978, The Actors Centre was founded as a charity by Clive Swif...

Joanna Carrick, writer, and director of The Ungodly at Southwark Playhouse Borough

24Oct

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Interviews

Joanna Carrick, writer, and director of The Ungodly at Southwark Playhouse Borough

As we move towards winter with its dark nights; Halloween, or to give it its Celtic name, Samhain; is our first festival to celebrate ‘as the dead walk the earth’ according to ancient myths. Witches have become a part of this festival, undoubtedly due to the witch trials, and the many ‘witch’ deaths. The Ungodly delves into the mid-17th century era of the witch trials, focusing upon Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins’ stepsister Susan Edwards. North West End UK’s Deputy Editor, Caroline Worswick, discussed the witch trials with the play’s writer and director Joanna Carrick. The Ungodly begins its story in 1645, set in the village of Mistley, on the Stour Estuary. Can you explain how the Witch Trials were introduced into 17th-century England? It was a t...

The New Real – The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon

11Oct

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

West Midlands

The New Real – The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon

David Edgar’s 10th premiere at The Other Place follows on from The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1991), Written on the Heart (2011), and A Christmas Carol (2022), and continues his relationship with the RSC following on from his appointment in 1989 as an Honorary Artist. The New Real, is a bringing together of Headlong, the RSC and David Edgar to produce a new political drama, staged in the RSC’s studio theatre, The Other Place. Set in a former communist country in Eastern Europe, two American political strategists are working for competing candidates and predict that they will teach the East how to do elections, but the tables are turned… Globally, we witness diplomacy a time when the Right competes with populist politics, as seen in Britain’s recent election wit...

Interview with Stella Powell-Jones, Director of Eurydice at Jermyn Street Theatre

5Oct

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Interviews

Interview with Stella Powell-Jones, Director of Eurydice at Jermyn Street Theatre

North West End UK’s Deputy Editor, Caroline Worswick, discussed Jermyn Street Theatre’s exciting new production of Eurydice with director Stella Powell-Jones. A play written by Sarah Ruhl, it draws its inspiration from the Greek mythical tale of the beautiful Eurydice and the musically talented Orpheus, whose doomed relationship has been re-told by many ancient storytellers, including Ovid and Plato. Eurydice was written in 2003 by Sarah Ruhl, why do you feel that now is good time to re-imagine the play? On one hand, Eurydice is about something pretty eternal: love and earth. How do we deal with death? Does love survive death? What would we do if we got a second chance? Sarah wrote the play while mourning her own beloved Father. My own Dad died unexpectedly when I was young...

17Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

South East

The Marlowe Sessions – Marlowe Theatre

Two years ago, I went along to watch the recording of Tamburlaine II, intrigued by this ambitious plan to record all seven of Christopher Marlowe’s plays in quick succession, here is the link to my interview with one of the cast members Alan Cox - https://northwestend.com/spotlight-on-actor-alan-cox-and-the-marlowe-sessions-at-the-malthouse-theatre-canterbury/, which sheds some light on this project. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) the poet/playwright, was controversial to say the least, his open homosexuality during a period of gay sex being outlawed, atheism, and his involvement as a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham, are evidence enough of his unorthodox thinking. This spilled over into his plays, the blood thirsty Tamburlaine, the gay Edward II, and the ambitious necromancer, Doc...

8Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Dionysa – C Arts Aquila

I am on a roll with Greek tragedies at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Wellington College Theatre Collective’s take on Euripides’ ‘The Bacchae’ is interesting. The company have loaded the play into a time machine and moved it into the 20th Century, 1920 to be exact. This play written by an Athenian playwright was set in Thebes, this remains the same, but we have a gender change, as the original play is based around Dionysus, a Greek god (also known as Bacchus to the Romans), of whom was originally a Thracian god, later adopted by the Greeks. This gender change makes Dionysus become Dionysa! The basic storyline is that Dionysa (Cressida Massey-Cook), is a god, born from a union between her father Zeus and her mortal mother Semele. Dionysa is enrage...

The Sex Life of Puppets – Pleasance Courtyard

8Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

The Sex Life of Puppets – Pleasance Courtyard

An interesting title, and an even more interesting show. Brought to the stage by Blind Summit Theatre, the play does exactly what the title suggests, it gives an insight into the private lives of a selection of puppets which sounds a wee bit twee, but this play is anything but twee! The puppets are not string puppets but hand-held puppets, which I assume would make them easier to manipulate for the subject of the show. The puppeteers use a table to sit the puppets down and the rest is down to the script and the puppeteers’ imagination. The puppets are all human puppets whose characters are brought to life by their handlers, they discuss subjects such as sexual wellbeing, what they like to name their genitals, nursing home sex, lesbian sex and many more. ...