Paul Downham, Author at North West End UK

Theatres need government support to survive

15May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

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Theatres need government support to survive

The news that Nuffield Southampton Theatres has gone into administration could be the harbinger of many more to come as venues and companies grimly hang on as the lockdown decimates their income. After 50 years Nuffield are the second venue to go under after Halifax’s Square Chapel, who shut their doors just as the full scale of the pandemic was becoming clear forcing theatres to close their doors to keep punters and creatives alike safe. Like most theatres Nuffield was faced with the double whammy of having no customers as well having to refund tickets with no significant income to replace it. But the virus closedown has only revealed the struggle our big and small theatres have been having before COVID-19 to keep going, especially if they’re putting on new or challenging work. E...

Lockdown Interviews – Peter Egan

Peter Egan has been appearing on stage and screen for over 50 years. He is probably most well-known for his roles as Paul in the television sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles with Richard Briers and as Hugh “Shrimpie” MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire in Downton Abbey. Despite being known for his numerous roles in TV and film he is an award winning stage actor and has acted with both the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and The National. I started by asking what inspired him to become an actor. “I left school at 15 with no qualifications. My prospects were pretty dismal. I did a series of jobs all of which I hated. “When I was 16, I stumbled into acting by joining an amateur group in Ladbroke Grove, West London. “I became fascinated by the process of acting by watching this group ...

Back to the Future – Opera House

There have been many a screen to stage adaptation over the years, some working better than others, but tonight in Manchester a capacity audience witnessed the World Premiere of what I believe to be the best adaptation of them all. Manchester’s Opera House is once again the setting for yet another World Premiere cementing itself as the go to place for some of the best theatre producers to showcase their new work before it invariably heads to the West End and beyond. It follows in the footsteps of Ghost the Musical, Bat Out of Hell and &Juliet to name just 3. Back to the Future the Musical has long been rumoured to come to the stage and trust me when I tell you the wait has been worth every single second. Staying true to the original movie written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale vi...