Donna M Day, Author at North West End UK

Electric Dreams – Liverpool Theatre Festival

6Sep

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Electric Dreams – Liverpool Theatre Festival

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Shakespeare’s classic tale of love and longing set in a magical forest overrun by mischievous fairies. Every summer several companies around the country stage a version, usually promising their own unique twist on it, but rarely managing to do anything that hasn’t been done countless times before. Enter Electric Dreams, a 1980s themed jukebox musical version, under the artistic direction of Kate Allerston and artistic and musical direction of Chris Bastock, creating a truly refreshing piece of Shakespearean theatre which is a colourful and fun piece to welcome autumn in the spectacular grounds of Liverpool’s Bombed Out Church. Opening with a full cast performance of We Built This City, a solid wall of trench coats and sunglasses keeps the bright colour...

25Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Carmilla – Edinburgh Fringe

Carmilla, adapted and directed by Laura J Harris from Le Fanu’s original Gothic novella, is a tale of love, decorum, passion and vampires. The adaptation focuses on and enhances the LGBTQIA+ elements of the story, to create a piece of theatre which is haunting, tragic and wonderfully terrifying. The play opens with a dark and creepy stage with the background of a very Gothic castle. We see Dr Hesselius creeping across the stage with a lantern, towards a table holding an old book, glass of red wine and a delicate porcelain teacup. The good doctor is nearing the end of his life, and leafing through his casebook as he reflects on whether his future may lie in hell, or if the souls he saved were enough to gain passage to heaven. As he ruminates on what is to come, Laura rises from the be...

Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies – Edinburgh Fringe

24Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies – Edinburgh Fringe

Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies, written and performed by Jessica Sherr, and directed by Karen Carpenter relates the turbulent career of Bette Davis against the background of her relationship with her parents, her four marriages and numerous affairs, and bitter feuds with other actresses in Hollywood. The set is busy, filled with pictures, memorabilia, dresses and a half drunk bottle of whisky. From the moment Sherr bursts onto the stage she embodies Davis and her vibrant personality through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards which loop around to relate her entire life in miniature. It is the night of Vivian Leigh’s Oscar win for Gone with the Wind, and Bette Davis has left the ceremony in a temper. Using the excuse of needing to be up early to begin filming for Juarez in order t...

Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London – Edinburgh Fringe

23Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London – Edinburgh Fringe

Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London - Edinburgh Fringe Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London, is a new musical about an encounter a group of strangers have on a train to London. Dave is a student on his way to university in London, Alex is a fed-up student whose future career in childcare has become uninspiring, Marc has recently been jilted by his fiancée, Kate is a nervous young mother, and Emma is making her first major journey. Together with Rob, the train conductor, and an abandoned briefcase, these strangers battle with their own uncertainty in a fun musical set entirely in a single train carriage. The set consists of six chairs with the small band of musicians set off to the side. When the musical opens the abandoned briefcase sits ominously on one of the...

Madame Modjeska’s Fairytale – Edinburgh Fringe

23Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Madame Modjeska’s Fairytale – Edinburgh Fringe

Madame’s Modjeska’s Fairytale, co-produced by Counter Balance Theater and Helena Modjeska Foundation, is a beautiful piece of art, combining beautiful illustration, hypnotic narration, and original physical theatre and expressive dance. Adapted and directed by Annie Loui, and based on the original text and illustrations from Titi, Nunu, Klemobolo or the Adventures of Two Lilac Boys and a Six-legged dog, by Madame Helena Modjeska, this is a pretty and unique adaption. The piece opens with an embroidered book cover creaking open, and hand drawn illustrations dated 1896. A dedication to a grandchild is the opening to the magical and strange world of the fairytale, narrated in the dulcet tones of Ellen Dubin. Beautiful art and stunning footage are bordered by the page edges of the book t...

20Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

London

Murmur – Camden Fringe

Magpie’s Murmur, written and directed by Susanne Colleary, is a surreal fairy tale audio play, which explores trust and confidence against a backdrop of rich and intricate sound effects and a bizarre and original story of friendship and encounters with strangers. Ren (Orla McSharry) is the expectant mother of Baba who lives in a ramshackle dwelling in the woods. Mag (Isabel Claffey) spots her and points her out to Bee (Sandra O’Malley) who then invades Ren’s home and mind with talk of health and safety, responsibility and welfare, before offering a number of solutions. But this Emperor’s New Clothes style tale teaches Ren that not everything or everyone is as they seem, and the best person to keep her and Baba safe, is probably Ren herself. Haunting singing throughout the piece pairs...

Fairytale: 20/20 – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

18Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Fairytale: 20/20 – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Fairytale: 20/20, devised and performed by choreographer, Sheenru Yong, and actor, Sara Lessmann, shows the creative process as two live performers try and transfer their skills into filmmaking. Opening with a typewriter sound effect and take 68 ¼, both Lee and Jung describe their usual roles in the creative process and what they bring when devising a piece of art. They are aiming to make a film called Happily Ever After, but before they can they need to agree what “happily ever after” actually means in order for them to capture it. It’s also important that whatever they produce isn’t pretentious as they want to avoid that. It quickly becomes clear that neither of them really know what they’re trying to achieve with the end product, so they go out to get input from others on what “happi...

17Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Candy – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Reboot Theatre Company’s Candy is a tragic monologue about a man in love with his best friend’s drag alter ego. Written by Tim Fraser, and directed by Nico Pimparé, this unique piece of theatre gives a new slant to the star-crossed lovers story. The show opens with Will (Michael Waller) sneaking into the dressing room of an empty theatre. He gently caresses an abandoned blonde wig and microphone, before walking to the stage and attaching the mic. Beginning to speak, he is shocked by the high volume and wanders to one of the empty tables in the audience to tell his story. He says that he never believed in love at first sight before and when he first read Romeo and Juliet it struck him how impetuous they were to marry without having so much as a proper conversation about hobbies or any...

17Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

Scotland

Call Me Elizabeth – Edinburgh Fringe

Call Me Elizabeth, written and performed by Kayla Boye, is a sumptuous look at the life of Elizabeth Taylor shortly after she received her Oscar for Butterfield 8 and recovered from a bout the pneumonia which nearly killed her. A solo performance based around Taylor’s real-life conversations with biographer, Max Lerner, director Erin Kraft has created a piece of theatre which is both intimate and carefully guarded. Opening with a view of Taylor’s luxurious dressing table, the glamour and opulence which she exuded in public is made clearly a part of her persona even at this early point in her career. Stacks of gossip magazines with her face on the cover litter the coffee table and Boye elegantly stands, in a classic little black dress, with sparkling diamonds adorning her ears, before de...

17Aug

By Donna M DayNo Comments

London

Jam Tart / Lemon Kurd – Camden Fringe

Ragged Foils’ Jam Tart / Lemon Kurd are two monologues, directed by Natalie Winter, in which women explore their wants and desires in later life. Both Claire (Katy Maw) and Cathy (Mary Tillett), were wives, mothers and daughters, swept along in life’s journey realising one day that they had lived their lives for other people and finding a determination to break out of the mould and do something that is just for them. The first monologue, Jam Tart, written by Rhiannon Owens, tells Claire’s story after she flees her 54th birthday party in order to begin a new life. The piece opens with Maw staring nervously, too close to her wobbly webcam, before settling on an untidy bed, with a pretty landscape hanging above it, an idealistic image reminiscent of the stifling life Claire is trying to es...