Sunday, January 12

Author: Paul Downham

Barnes’ People: Rosa – Perfectly Normal Productions
REVIEWS

Barnes’ People: Rosa – Perfectly Normal Productions

Dr Rosa Hamilton is a specialist in geriatrics. Sitting in her office dictating into a voice recorder, she is charged with assessing the elderly for council residential care. She's overworked, jaded after 20 years of trying to make a difference, frustrated by a system of what she sees as institutionalised injustice against the "undeserving poor" of London's East End. Yet her professionalism constrains her to continue referring elderly people to care homes that they believe will be an improvement on the conditions they are living in and remove the burden on their families. But Rosa recognises that the care homes are simply "waiting rooms for death", rather than the havens her patients expect. Rosa is a desperate, totally believable character full of self-doubt. She fears that, over the year...
Barnes’ People: Losing Myself – Perfectly Normal Productions
REVIEWS

Barnes’ People: Losing Myself – Perfectly Normal Productions

Adams is a man who feels he has lost everything, himself, his faith, his hope. He sits on a bench in a dilapidated cemetery that is about to be redeveloped, contemplating his life and chatting to the deceased Maurice as he tries to come to terms with who he has become. He used to be a trusted and dedicated doctor but, somewhere along the way, he realised that his ability to care was a sham and his concern for others was condescension. So he walked away from that life and became a cemetery attendant. This is a play about guilt and self-judgement, loss and rediscovery. The vastly under-rated Matthew Kelly is wonderful as the introspective Adams.  He's haggard but still smartly dressed, a man who "never thought there was anything serious enough in the world to care about." In talking ...
The Color Purple – Curve@Home
East Midlands

The Color Purple – Curve@Home

Based on the seminal prize winning novel by Alice Walker and later filmed by Steven Spielberg, Curve@Home in association with Birmingham Hippodrome presents this theatre in the round version of the award winning production. The Color Purple is a sprawling story about friendship and personal triumph through adversity as the main character Celie (played by the amazing T’Shan Williams) makes the journey from the dark heart of abuse and misery to the glories of personal fulfilment, kindness and love. In short, the story is about change and the power that it gives to the individual. It’s also a story about connection and the importance of community and family. This musical version (book by Marsha Norman with music by the fabulous Brenda Russell, Allee Willis & Stephen Bray) cleverly m...
“Save A Seat” Raises Funds For Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Birmingham Royal Ballet
NEWS

“Save A Seat” Raises Funds For Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Birmingham Royal Ballet

This past festive season, audiences were asked to Save A Seat as part of a new fundraising campaign by Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Today, both Birmingham cultural institutions are pleased to announce that over £15,000 in donations were raised thanks to the generosity of audiences and the incredible support of match-funders, global law firm DLA Piper in Birmingham. The fundraising initiative aimed to help cover the lost income from some of the seats left empty during the run of The Nutcracker at The REP after performances in front of socially-distanced live audiences were cancelled due to local tier restrictions. All proceeds will be split equally between The REP and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Audiences now have the opportunity to watch another extraordinar...
Jane Eyre – Hull Truck Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Jane Eyre – Hull Truck Theatre

Written by Charlotte Brontë, the classic that is Jane Eyre never fails to impress audiences - whether on film, TV or in the theatre. I viewed this particular performance (a world premiere) online - a necessity in these Covid lockdown times - and it wasn’t until the final words were uttered in the final scene, and I lifted my head from my computer, that I realised I had become totally and utterly engrossed in what I had witnessed on my 13ins screen. Filmed in Bracknell last November, it was originally scheduled to grace Hull Truck Theatre’s stage in March 2020, but the coronavirus put paid to that. So, settling down on my sofa at home, coffee and snacks at the ready and my husband promising not to utter a sound, I entered the fascinating world of the well-known orphan, Jane Eyre. ...
all on her own – MZG Theatre Productions
REVIEWS

all on her own – MZG Theatre Productions

Rosemary (Janie Dee) comes home from a London party near midnight. Alone in the living room where her husband died, she begins talking to him, breaking the silence on her emotions and guilt at his passing and, possibly, communicating with him one last time. This short play was written by Terence Rattigan, a great and undeservedly neglected British playwright who once wrote for Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe and is still the only playwright to have notched more than 1000 performances for two separate plays, namely, French Without Tears and While the Sun Shines. In these Covid-times many plays are being performed for the (laptop) screen, ostensibly still as a play. In the case of All On Her Own, this is in many ways a return home as the play, performed on stage at the Overgrou...
Deborah by Maud Dromgoole – The Living Record Festival
REVIEWS

Deborah by Maud Dromgoole – The Living Record Festival

Deborah is an immersive audio play that brings you face to face with the anxieties and demons of a lonely, aging mind. Written by Maud Dromgoole and directed by Bethany Pitts, this 30-minute piece takes you through an extraordinary day in the ordinary life of its titular character who finds herself isolated, confused and disoriented after an unexplainable, almost supernatural transformation. This is the story of Deborah, an elderly woman living alone in a house with limited human contact. She spends her days watching old videos of Art Attack, an arts and craft TV program suited more for kids than seniors, and tries to keep herself busy with some self-care rituals. She has a grandson whose selfies on her smartphone serve as a welcome distraction from the daily humdrum and is in touch wit...
Bleak House: A Radio Play – The Pantaloons Go Online
REVIEWS

Bleak House: A Radio Play – The Pantaloons Go Online

Charles Dickens first penned the satirical Bleak House as a 20-episode serial following which it was published as a novel in 1853. With its array of characters connected through the tale of a family waiting in vain to inherit money from a disputed fortune in the settlement of a lawsuit that has gone on for so long that no one knows what it’s about anymore, and despite criticism from the legal profession, it was eventually to influence judicial review and reform in the 1870s. Considered by many to be Dickens greatest work and the forerunner of the detective novel, given the abuse of power evident in recent times – PPE anyone? – who better than the critically acclaimed The Pantaloons to resurrect this indictment of the self-serving public life enshrined in Parliament, provincial aristocra...
Home Schooling 7 – Lockdown Love
NWE UK Live

Home Schooling 7 – Lockdown Love

She is back! Our very own Yazmin continues to assist others during lockdown, this time helping to try and spread a little romance. Does she succeed? Find out below! Written by Mark Davoren, performed by Yazmin Walker and edited by Paul Downham, you can view the previous 6 monologues in our North West End UK Live section on this site. https://www.youtube.com/embed/4z4ccEKCGSQ
Hansel and Gretel – Scottish Opera on Screen
Scotland

Hansel and Gretel – Scottish Opera on Screen

Take your favourite childhood story but turn it into an opera. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Well, I believe that the ‘Scottish opera’ took these two worlds and fused them together perfectly for any age to enjoy. Indulge in the breathtaking vocals and you might just find some darkness hidden behind the innocent sugar-coated façade. A mother tired of her son and her daughter misbehaving sends them off into the forest to pick berries, not knowing the dangers lurking within. Hansel and Gretel were taught to never speak to strangers. Although who could blame them for giving into the temptation of endless marshmallows, lollipops and pies galore! If only that wasn’t followed by getting kidnapped by a witch... The cast is made up of nine actors, four of them making up the ‘ensemble’ of the pe...