Paul Clarke, Author at North West End UK

<strong>Les Misérables – Leeds Grand Theatre</strong>

30Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Les Misérables – Leeds Grand Theatre

An expectant audience finally sat down after a two year wait for this musical juggernaut, and any fears that this wouldn't be the full West End experience were dashed from the first chord as massive sets rumbled on and off this vast stage. Les Misérables is an epic in every sense, based on Victor Hugo's sprawling novel of redemption and obsession set against the backdrop of a France riven by poverty and doomed petit bourgeois revolutionaries. It is perfect fodder for a sung through piece that sits somewhere between musical theatre and opera as reformed convict Jean Valjean seeks redemption after breaking his parole after stealing bread for his sick nephew, but is pursued over decades by implacable lawman Javert, who loses his reason as he tries to bring his quarry to justice. i...

<strong>The Shadow Whose Prey The Hunter Becomes – Leeds Playhouse</strong>

5Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Shadow Whose Prey The Hunter Becomes – Leeds Playhouse

It’s hard to think of many pieces of work where actors with disabilities are lead actors and even less so where they have roles that offer them much more. This powerful piece was devised by Australian people with disabilities working with Back to Back Theatre in Geelong. It’s performed by three actors with different intellectual disabilities (the term used in their native land) and is a breath of fresh air as it makes the audience understand them as people with the same hopes, dreams and faults as anyone else as they explore what true equality might look like. Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring and Scott Price have called a public meeting ostensibly to discuss what a civic society might look like, but soon turns into a passionate debate about what it means to be seen as just a disabled ...

Orpheus In The Record Shop – Leeds Playhouse

15Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Orpheus In The Record Shop – Leeds Playhouse

One of the rare bright spots during the pandemic was getting masked up between outbreaks up to see Orpheus In The Record Shop, and this unique collaboration between rapper Testament and Opera North is back as we return to whatever the new normal is. Fusing mysticism, rap, beatboxing and some of the country’s best classically trained musicians, Testament has boldly reworked the Orpheus myth of a musician descending into the underworld to reclaim his lost love. It’s a broad mix of influences that shouldn’t really work, but it does partly due to Testament’s confidence is his ability to beatbox and rap his way through this classic tale, and the fact that the members of Opera North’s Chorus and Orchestra have totally bought into his vision as they drift onto the stark Quarry stage through...

Rapper Testament is back in the record shop at Leeds

11Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Rapper Testament is back in the record shop at Leeds

World record-breaking beatboxer Testament is again joining forces with Opera North as they collaborate on his genre busting piece Orpheus in the Record Shop at Leeds Playhouse. The show was first seen during a short socially distanced run at the height of the pandemic that was filmed for BBC Four’s Lights Up series. Testament will be front of stage working with members of the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North, including soloist Helen Evora. Why is it important that audiences get a chance to see this show again in the Playhouse’s biggest theatre space? Performing this show live is bananas! A classical ensemble live on stage, with beatboxing, spoken word and comedy – it’s a unique thing to be part of. I’ve been telling all my friends and family to come along because it...

10Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Nine Night – Leeds Playhouse

As part of a large Irish family, I am only too aware of how tense a wake can get so it’s reassuring to know the same flashpoints can happen at a traditional Jamaican Nine Night. Great art takes you into worlds you have no experience of, and I had no idea that Jamaicans send off their dead off with nine nights of mourning, which is what one extended London family are doing for their mum Gloria It’s still that this funny and often emotionally raw play was Natasha Gordon’s debut, which a strong cast bring to life informed by a deep understanding of its meaning, and the Playhouse has revived it part of their Out of Many Festival that celebrates 60 years of Jamaican independence. Smartly Nine Night starts before the death as the seemingly saintly single mum Lorriane (Shereener B...

Testament is back for Orpheus in the Record Shop at Leeds Playhouse

4Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Testament is back for Orpheus in the Record Shop at Leeds Playhouse

World record-breaking beatboxer Testament brings Orpheus in the Record Shop back to Leeds Playhouse in a unique collaboration with musicians from Opera North. It was first performed as a socially distanced show at the height of the pandemic as a ground-breaking hour long piece working with featuring members of the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North, including soloist Helen Evora. Audiences join Orpheus as he plays tunes in his record shop, but after an old friend visits, strange things start to happen. Music, myth and reality collide as he goes off in search of something ancient, contemporary and hopeful. Orpheus in the Record Shop by Testament at Leeds Playhouse. Photograph Anthony Robling Testament took his inspiration from the Greek myth of Orpheus to create a challe...

Northern Ballet’s festive spectacular The Nutcracker is back again this winter

3Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Northern Ballet’s festive spectacular The Nutcracker is back again this winter

Northern Ballet are back this winter with their traditional festive spectacular The Nutcraker as one child’s Christmas magical dreams come true. The company will open at Woking New Victoria Theatre on Thursday 10th November and tour to Nottingham Theatre Royal, Norwich Theatre Royal and Hull New Theatre before arriving at Leeds Grand Theatre for their now traditional three week run over the Christmas period. In the midst of a festive party, as the fire crackles and the pile of presents grows ever higher, Clara is caught up in the warmth and excitement of Christmas and becomes enthralled by her new Nutcracker doll. But, as the clock strikes midnight, her Nutcracker proves to be no ordinary toy. After saving her Nutcracker from the wily Mouse King, Clara is whiske...

Chris Jack talks about why Noughts and Crosses matters as it goes back on tour

16Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Chris Jack talks about why Noughts and Crosses matters as it goes back on tour

Books for young adults tackling some tough issues are big business now and Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses is a work that has touched millions of teenagers. In Blackman’s dystopian world Sephy is a Cross, and Callum is a Nought, in a world with strict racial and social divides. As violence breaks out Sephy who is the daughter of the Home Secretary, and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger. The genius of Blackman’s vision is that racial power dynamics are flipped on their head asking us to think about how hatred destroys lives in a different way. Pilot Theatre commissioned Sabrina Mahfouz to adapt it for the stage before taking it on tour just before the pandemic closed theatres, where it was seen by over 30,000 people on tour with ...

Kofi Dennis takes a trip down the Road at Oldham Coliseum

16Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Kofi Dennis takes a trip down the Road at Oldham Coliseum

Not many debut works are voted as one the best 50 British plays of all time, but anyone who has seen Lancashire playwright Jim Cartwright’s searing indictment of deprivation on one northern street in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain knows exactly why. It’s still a powerful play that has been revived countless times. and now Oldham Coliseum are staging it starring Coronation Street legend Paula Lane, who was Kylie Platt in the Street, and ironically plays the equally feisty Lane in Road. She is joined by Coliseum regular Richard J Fletcher playing the well-oiled Scullery, who takes the audience on a riotous and ramshackle trip down the eponymous road. It’s a road that could be anywhere in the north where there’s no jobs and little hope, which sadly sounds very familiar in foodbank Britain ...

The Importance of Being Earnest – Leeds Playhouse

13Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Importance of Being Earnest – Leeds Playhouse

With this lively revival Sir Peter Hall Director Award winner Denzel Westley-Sanderson wanted to bust the myth that Black history started with migrants coming down the Windrush’s gangplank, and instead employs wealthy Black Victorians to reinvent this eternally witty study of manners and the corrosive nature of rigid societal conventions. It works because it actually reinforces the reality that conforming to pointless social niceties only reinforces baseless prejudices, no matter your ethnicity, as love rivals the dissolute Algernon and his social climbing friend John seek the hands of two women who are blissfully unaware they aren’t who they say they are. Throw in a snobbish matriarch, a deceitful governess, a randy vicar, plus knowing servants, and you have all the elements of a class...