Jackie Foottit, Author at North West End UK

24Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

& Juliet – Hull New Theatre

Hull New Theatre’s Autumn/Winter 2024 season got under way on Monday evening with the exuberant musical, & Juliet. After a fantastic run in London’s West End, & Juliet embarks on its first UK and Ireland tour, starting in Hull. We were kept waiting for quite a while before the auditorium doors opened, which meant the 7.30pm start stretched to 7.45pm to allow us all to be seated. The stage setting - a huge, colourfully lit “& Juliet” sign backed by an equally large black and white video screen depicting drawings of London - remained amazing throughout. There can’t be a person on the planet who hasn’t heard of William Shakespeare’s story of star-crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet. A happy ending it ain’t. But what would happen if the greatest love story ever told t...

Lord of The Dance: A Lifetime of Standing Ovations – Hull New Theatre

24Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Lord of The Dance: A Lifetime of Standing Ovations – Hull New Theatre

From its official debut on July 2nd, 1996, in Dublin, Ireland, Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance has enchanted more than 60 million people worldwide. And on Tuesday evening a packed Hull New Theatre added to that figure when Lord of the Dance: A Lifetime of Standing Ovations came to town. It was a thrill for me to review the 25th anniversary of Lord of the Dance, back in 2022 - a production I was “astounded” and “mesmerised” by. Would Flatley’s revival have the same effect on me in 2024? The answer is yes, with the prefix “more” added. As in 2022, the show opens and closes with on-screen performances from Flatley, who is still definitely the Lord of the Dance. The huge video screen played a very important role throughout, with fantastic scenes of forest fires, flower-fi...

10Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Syndicate – Hull New Theatre

Hull New Theatre was far from full on Tuesday evening, as it hosted the world premiere of Kay Mellor’s stage adaptation of The Syndicate, a BBC TV series that ran for four seasons. As the curtain rose, a realistic stage setting showing the interior of a small supermarket greeted us, giving a colourful first glimpse of proceedings. Manning the till is Denise (Samantha Giles of Emmerdale fame), a motherly figure who dutifully collects the lottery money each week for the syndicate she and her four co-workers have joined. While Denise goes about her business serving customers, single mum Leanne (Rosa Coduri-Fulford) half-heartedly sweeps the floor. This peaceful scene is interrupted by the arrival of shop manager Stuart (Benedict Shaw) who rushes in, barging into the manager’s offi...

Into The Woods – Hull Musical Theatre Company

9Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Into The Woods – Hull Musical Theatre Company

Members of Hull Musical Theatre Company it was a pleasure and an honour to see you in action, during your rehearsal for Into The Woods. It’s a brave crew who invite theatre critics to witness a production in which there are little, if any, props, not too many costumes and no microphones. And as I entered the Derringham Bank Methodist Church, in Hull, where the rehearsal would take place, I was more than curious to see how this local group would perform. After being introduced to the company’s chairman, Jane Bradley, and the show’s director, Martyn Payne, and our seating placed in a prominent position for us to view proceedings, we reviewers were made even more welcome by the arrival of coffee and biscuits. I could think of worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. Classed ...

3Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Guts! The Musical – Hull Truck Theatre

Hull Truck Theatre’s latest production, GUTS! The Musical, a world premiere, portrays the real-life struggle female fish packers at a local fish factory faced in their battle for equal pay. The stark stage setting of bare, “tiled” walls, soulless strip lighting and little else is what one imagines a processing frozen food factory to be like. The year is 1984 and the aforementioned workers are about to make and change history. Also making a bit of (theatrical) history of their own are the 57 members of the community who answered the call to bring this production to life. Space prevents me from naming them all, but what a fantastic job they each did. The factory in question, owned by a Mr Frank Fish (Andrew Clark) is based in Hull, with all the fishy business, historically, being...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Hull New Theatre

18Jun

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Hull New Theatre

This week Hull New Theatre plays host to the hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, a production inspired by the 2011 TV documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 which features County Durham lad, Jamie Campbell, who, from a young age, liked to dress in girls’ clothes. The theatre was packed on Monday evening; would everybody be talking about Jamie at the show’s end? Sixteen-year-old Jamie New (the super talented Ivano Turco) lives on a Sheffield council estate with his mum Margaret (a passionate performance from Rebecca McKinnis). Single mum Margaret’s best friend is bargain-loving Ray (the amusing, sassy and protective Sejal Keshwala). The opening scene shows Jamie and his classmates with patient teacher, Miss Hedge (the irrepressible Sam Bailey), discussing their career aspe...

7Jun

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Give Us A Sign – Bilton Theatre

Talk about life imitating art! On Thursday evening, as my sister and I tried to follow directions to Bilton Theatre (in between house numbers 17 and 19, Main Road), to watch its amateur dramatic production of Give Us A Sign, I mentally prayed for a sign. Lo and behold, a gentleman appeared carrying a huge sign with the theatre’s details on. Phew! Surely a good omen? Turns out it was. Members of Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society (BADS) tread the boards in the village of Bilton, a short distance, east, from the city of Hull. Taking our seats in this cosy little venue, reached via a narrow lane off the Main Road, we perused the printed programme thoughtfully left on our chairs and waited for curtain up. At 7.30pm sharp the heavy stage curtains parted to reveal a suburban sitting ...

5Jun

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Come From Away – Hull New Theatre

A complimentary badge was handed to me, along with a press pack, as I entered the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday evening, to watch the musical Come From Away. The badge depicted the Earth surrounded by the words “Wherever We Are”, words relating to one of the 14 songs in this uplifting musical. The story centres around the Newfoundland town of Gander whose inhabitants found themselves playing hosts to almost 7,000 passengers, as American and Canadian planes were grounded on September 11, 2001 after two planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. Although the tragedy was the catalyst for Gander’s upheaval, this lively musical doesn’t dwell on the bad stuff. The all-singing, all-dancing cast, accompanied by talented musicians, portray townsfolk who refuse to be downhearted by thei...

31May

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Mind Mangler – Hull New Theatre

My reviewer mind started to be slightly mangled as I was handed my press pack in Hull New Theatre’s foyer on Thursday night, and told there would be no programme available for Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle. No programme meant I had to really pull up my reviewer socks and, gulp, concentrate for the duration of the show. After the initial shock wore off, I took my seat in row N of the stalls, after being handed a pencil and a folded card upon which we were asked to write our full name and a secret about ourselves. Now, my regular reader will know I have an intense aversion to audience participation. So I tucked the blank card away from the prying eyes of the tall young man collecting completed cards from those eager theatregoers not as averse to the spotlight. However...

Little Shop of Horrors – Hull Truck Theatre

24May

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Little Shop of Horrors – Hull Truck Theatre

There was an air of excitement in the packed foyer of Hull Truck Theatre, on Thursday evening, as theatregoers entered in their droves to watch a production of Little House of Horrors. Taking our seats, we were faced with a stage setting showing a small florist shop, on Skid Row, in downtown New York, belonging to a Mr Mushnik. Customers are few and far between, with drunkards and drop-outs being the only passers-by. Mushnik (Andrew Whitehead) has two assistants - nerdy Seymour (Oliver Mawdsley), whom he took in as an orphan, and the lovely Audrey (Laura Jane Matthewson), regularly battered by her abusive boyfriend, Orin (Mathew Ganley). Things were much livelier outside the shop, mainly due to three characterful females - guitarists Crystal (Zweyla Mitchell Dos Santos) and Ron...