Paul Downham, Author at North West End UK

Rob Brydon is to take to the road in 2021 with his new show

4Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Rob Brydon is to take to the road in 2021 with his new show

Award winning comedian Rob Brydon and his eight-piece band will take to the road next year with his new show, Rob Brydon – A Night Of Songs & Laughter. The new dates follow the huge success of his 2020 Tour, and together mark the first time Brydon has created a show that includes songs and music as well as his acclaimed wit and comedy. Tickets across the tour are on general sale at www.robbrydon.live This extensive new tour begins in March 2021 and will travel to almost 20 venues across the country, opening in Rhyl on Saturday 27th March 2021, and playing through until the final date at Northampton Derngate on Sunday 2nd May. Further dates follow in September–December 2021. With songs from Tom Waits to Tom Jones, and Guys and Dolls to Elvis (and almost everything in between), ...

Wrongsemble returns with innovative COVID-safe Christmas show for all the family

4Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Wrongsemble returns with innovative COVID-safe Christmas show for all the family

Family favourite theatre company Wrongsemble return this Christmas with HUMBUG: a COVID-safe family show that promises to delight and unite all ages. This innovative digital production will allow families to enjoy seven filmed episodes of this exciting story throughout December, accompanied by an interactive HUMBUG ‘Fact File’ filled with 13 artefacts sent directly to their homes. HUMBUG takes place deep beneath the city, where a secret world full of wonder awaits; a place where wizards bake endless gingerbread, goblins bottle festive cheer, and there’s a whole department devoted to detangling fairy-lights! This is the Ministry of Make Believe… But recently, strange things have been happening at the Ministry. From nose-less snowmen, to exploding baubles, and a forest of bald Christma...

Theatre not cancelled: All HOME’s November shows to be streamed live

3Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Theatre not cancelled: All HOME’s November shows to be streamed live

All HOME’s November theatre shows will now be livestreamed from their Theatre 1 stage • Shows including World Premiere of David Hoyle’s A Grand Auction of My Life were part of Manchester venue’s reopening season • All tickets available on a pay-what-you-decide basis • Announcement of Covid-secure livestreams follows Government confirmation that performances can take place without an audience HOME have announced that all the theatre shows that were due to be on stage in November will be live streamed from their Theatre 1 stage during lockdown, with tickets available on a pay-what-you-decide basis. The shows include the World Premiere of David Hoyle’s A Grand Auction of My Life, along with Javaad Alipoor’s The Believers Are But Brothers, Bert and Nasi’s The End and Beats and E...

3Nov

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REVIEWS

Little Wars – Ginger Quiff Media

Ginger Quiff Media’s rehearsed reading of Little Wars by Steven Carl McCasland, is an emotional rollercoaster taking place against the backdrop of a literary salon in 1940s France. Gertrude Stein (Linda Bassett) and her girlfriend, Alice B Toklas (Catherine Russell) host the get together and their guests talk about everything from their lives as Jewish people during wartime to the role of female writers and their work. Directed by Hannah Chissick, the play opens with typewritten stage directions, which create a nice sense of the period and nods to the literary theme of the play. A good way to take advantage of the online format, the stage directions which appear throughout the piece create a good sense of the action that we are not seeing during the rehearsed reading. The play is ful...

3Nov

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REVIEWS

What A Carve Up! – Barn Theatre

There’s nothing the public loves more than a conspiracy. “True-crime” is becoming ever more popular. Podcasts and documentaries alike feed the audience’s appetite for a scandal. A showcase of evidence with an unravelling case and the viewer thinks that they’re more informed than the judge. Barn Theatre’s production satisfies this appetite with a helping of contemporary British satire. Six members of the influential Winshaw family are found butchered in their mansion. There is one clear suspect; the writer who is about to publish a tell-all account of their corruption. The writer’s son (Alfred Enoch) takes us through the case and exposes the coincidences and revelations that he has found. Enoch is the perfect narrator; instantly captivating and convincing. He guides us through the twi...

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: The Narrator – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd

2Nov

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REVIEWS

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: The Narrator – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd

The final episode of Tales from the Tombstone Tavern, the new six part podcast series written by Delmar Terblanche and directed by Jamie Boucher, is an existential meta-narrational crisis, which finds our monsters questioning their sense of reality thanks to the malevolent presence of the omnipresent and anonymous Narrator (Delmar Terblanche). An ominous musical opening dissolves into a panicked, blind and paralysed Vlad (Joshua Manning) who assumes that after a drunken evening he has managed to lock himself into his own coffin. However he soon realises there is more to his predicament than that and our Narrator begins to tell him off for his and his friends’ exploration of the deplorable genre of horror. The Narrator then begins working through the remaining monsters, pointing out t...

31Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS, NWE UK Live

Fireworks – Yazmin Walker

She's back! Our very own Yazmin tells us why this year's Halloween and Bonfire celebrations being cancelled may not be a bad thing after all! https://youtu.be/-HPwZpdVZzk

Casting announced for A Christmas Carol at Leeds Playhouse

31Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Casting announced for A Christmas Carol at Leeds Playhouse

Leeds Playhouse have announced the cast for their festive show A Christmas Carol which was a hit in the pop-up theatre created when they closed down for a multi-million pound refurbishment. This time audiences in the Quarry Theatre will be transported back to a traditional Victorian theatre where spectral performers have been patiently waiting for a chance to share a familiar adventure. Jack Lord, last seen at the Playhouse in Oliver Twist, will lead the cast as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who finds redemption after a night from hell. He’ll be joined by Stephen Collins and Nadia Nadarajah playing Bob and Mrs Cratchit. The cast also includes some familiar faces from the Leeds Playhouse Pop-Up theatre ensemble, including Dan Parr as Young Scrooge and Fred, Tessa Parr who played Ham...

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: Vlad – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd

31Oct

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REVIEWS

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: Vlad – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd

The penultimate episode of Tales from the Tombstone Tavern, the new six part podcast series written by Delmar Terblanche and directed by Jamie Boucher, takes a terrifying turn into the dark and murky world of the occult with a disturbing tale narrated by Vlad Dracul (Joshua Manning). This episode opens with our monsters discussing zombies and their place in the horror genre. While Wolfgang (Percival Fagent) and Vlad maintain that they aren’t scary anymore, unless they are given a gimmick, Adam (Delmar Terblanche) wonders if they have a place, otherwise why would people keep coming back to them when creating new stories? Vlad answers this question by outlining his theory that horror reflects our own anxieties and zombies are scary because they represent the worst fear of all: the loss...

31Oct

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REVIEWS

Midnight Tango – The Shows Must Go On

As part of the Shows Must Go On season, the 2011 production of Midnight Tango takes to the stage with a dazzling, vibrant and totally beguiling production. Framed by a simple tale of two people who meet at a seedy late night bar in Buenos Aires circa 1947 and eventually fall in love, this magnificent dance show is simply breath-taking both in concept and delivery. Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, both from Strictly Come Dancing lead the cast of eight other professional tango dancers in a superb sequence of both traditional and Argentine tango and they both prove to be two of the finest exponents of this complicated and passionate dance. The show is produced by another Strictly legend Arlene Philips and superbly choreographed by Simone and Cacace who both brilliantly highlight th...