Paul Downham, Author at North West End UK

21Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Aftermath – The Piece Hall Halifax

One of the most depressing aspects of the pandemic is how quick people are to condemn parts of our communities for its spread and even more bizarrely putting a lot of the blame on young people as a group. That’s why a troupe of young dancers from across Calderdale, supported by Northern Broadsides, worked with choreographers Sam Ford and Anna Holmes to devise this original piece reflecting on their own experiences of living under the shadow of the virus, and to rebut the idea that mass infection is somehow all their fault. Led by professional dancers Daniel Phung and Soul Roberts they delivered what appears to be a clever, vibrant and challenging piece. I say appears because Aaron Howell’s film of their performance in the piazza of Halifax’s historic Piece Hall is a distraction. ...

21Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Falling Stars – Union Theatre

How can just two people command a stage and put on such a wonderful production in such a short time? Written and conceived by the male lead, Peter Polycarpou, who along with his female co-star Sally-Ann Triplett gave us a night and a show which will live on in the memory for a long time to come. Both are well established performers in their own right and their combined talents have resulted in an unforgettably entertaining history of the music from the glorious era of 1920’s musicals. The show has been put together in just three days and after the first day of rehearsals, Lockdown 2 was announced in England which put paid to many of the ideas for this production. The show’s title is taken from a Charlie Chaplin song and tells the story of the discovery of an old songbook found hidden aw...

Michael Ball and Alfie Boe join forces for an album of festive classics

21Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Michael Ball and Alfie Boe join forces for an album of festive classics

Christmas could be a bit grim this year so thankfully stage legends Michael Ball and Alfie Boeare joining forces again for a new festive album. Michael and Alfie have become some of a superstar duo and are using their powerhouse voices to bring some Xmas cheer on Together at Christmas after a long year of isolation and social distancing. The pair breathe new life into favourites such as It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Silent Night and ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’. Jazz singer Gregory Porter joins them on The Christmas Song, and the duo even perform a brand new song, My Christmas Will Be Better Than Yours’. “Me and Alfie, together at Christmas, I can’t think of anything better In these strange times,” says Michael Ball. “We wanted to create an a...

Everyman transforms into cabaret space to celebrate local artists across two weeks of shows

21Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Everyman transforms into cabaret space to celebrate local artists across two weeks of shows

This Christmas, the Everyman will be transformed into a lively cabaret space for two weeks of performance, songs and merriment, featuring local organisations and artists in the theatre’s main space. Split over two weeks from 10th – 24th December, the Everyman will showcase the talents of Liverpool through evenings of song and performance, in an Everyman auditorium designed with cabaret tables and intimate, socially distanced performances in mind. From 10th – 12th December, Everyman & Friends celebrates the rich tapestry of independent arts organisations from across Liverpool, and the diversity of theatre in our city. Everyman & Friends features performances from Everyman spoken word regulars A Lovely Word, the return of the sensational burlesque show DisabiliTease – hosted by...

21Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Berkoff’s Women – At Yours

Linda Marlowe has been working with Steven Berkoff since time immemorial and is often referred to as his muse, with this resurrection of her one-woman show – filmed at Charing Cross Theatre and directed by Josie Lawrence - perfectly suited to the performance constraints of the current pandemic as it provides a theatrical exploration of sensuality, revenge, pathos, heart-breaking loneliness, and riotous humour. The show is very simply performed with no set – just an elegant black dress and a chair with an occasional prop added for effect as necessary – as through a series of monologues Marlowe uses the prose of Berkoff to explore the many emotions of women with excerpts from his plays ‘Agamemnon’, ‘Decadence’, ‘East’, ‘Greek’, ‘Kvetch’, and ‘Sturm Und Drang’, and whilst there is li...

Panto.Demic – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

20Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Panto.Demic – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Pantomime is well and truly a British institution, and although the traditional festive offering might not be playing in theatres up and down the country this year as it normally would, the tradition of Panto has always had the capacity to adapt with the times, and even during a pandemic, the team at the fantastic Altrincham Garrick Theatre continue to entertain their audiences even during a national lockdown with a special pre-recorded ‘Panto-demic’ short for the whole family to sit down together and enjoy! The Altrincham Garrick have a well-deserved reputation for delivering one of the best family-friendly pantomimes in the North West and I’d be the first to say I was thoroughly excited to be sat in those red theatre chairs with a packet of wine gums in hand ready to sit back and enjo...

19Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Marry Me a Little – Barn Theatre

Hearing of a Stephen Sondheim revue, I don’t think you’d be alone in thinking that it's going to be a bunch of ballads. I’m happy to tell you that with Marry Me a Little, this is not the case. It’s much, much more. The Barn theatre have cleverly updated this celebration of Sondheim and have produced a fresh love story. A set of two apartments sharing the centre of the stage, splits the recently parted couple as they go about their newly single lives. The production is sung-through, but the plot is brought together by innovative use of the technical elements. With a genius addition of a phone-screen backdrop, and even a song brought on by tinder swiping, catapult the story into the modern day. Jukebox musicals have attempted to merge catalogues of songs and fluid storylines for years....

19Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Macbeth – The Shows Must Go On

Macbeth is a TV film version of the 2007 Chichester Festival Theatre production of William Shakespeare's tragedy directed by Rupert Goold and starring Sir Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood as Lord and Lady Macbeth. The film was shot entirely at Welbeck Abbey and makes full use of its larger halls and dingier corridors, and a much more limited use of its exteriors. These often almost empty but gigantic rooms (and peeling paint in the war scenes) and the almost total lack of exterior scenes in the first half evoke an almost apocalyptic underground world in which sunshine and fresh air may be (but seldom is) reached via the lift some characters disappear into. The costumes, props and stock footage evoke the Soviet Block in the Cold War, specifically Romania in the 1960s, thus establishing...

The Royal Variety Performance 2020 Comes to Blackpool

18Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Royal Variety Performance 2020 Comes to Blackpool

The Royal Variety Charity is thrilled to announce that the Royal Variety Performance 2020 will take place at the Blackpool Opera House, within the Winter Gardens complex, on Sunday 29th November. This year, the charity has continued to support current members of the entertainment industry with our own nationwide grants scheme, assisting many people who have found this year a particularly difficult one. Before Covid-19, it was only the top 4.8% of those working in the entertainment industry who earned above the average UK wage. Sadly, theatres, music and other entertainment venues have mostly had to close, so many more people, including those who usually work ‘job-to-job’, have sought out our assistance. The Royal Variety Charity has also continued to manage its own care home...

Frozen: A Musical Spectacular – Disney Cruise Lines

17Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Frozen: A Musical Spectacular – Disney Cruise Lines

This reviewer must be one of the few people to have never watched the film Frozen, although even then has been unable to entirely escape a certain level of knowledge! The film cast though were at least credited, whereas the cast of the stage show performed on the Disney Cruise Lines are forever doomed to anonymity thanks to the Disney policy of not crediting their live performers because they are the character. Frozen – A Musical Spectacular is an abridged version of the film, mostly the songs and some interlinking short scenes and feels like a cross between a spectacularly staged musical and a provincial pantomime. A small cast of principles and ensemble are tasked with creating a feel of a show that needs to be bigger. The cast, uncredited, vary in skill. The young woman playing An...