Wednesday, December 17

Author: Paul Downham

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: Shirley – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd
31Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

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

Episode 4 of Tales from the Tombstone Tavern, the new six part podcast series written by Delmar Terblanche and directed by Jamie Boucher, delves into the classic genre of ghost stories as we hear from one of the ironically quieter monsters around the table, Lady Shirley Edith James, the Wailing Woman (Anna Chedham-Cooper). When this episode opens our monsters are ill at ease with Adam (Delmar Terblanche), in particular, being on edge and Annie (Sena Bryer) agreeing that something doesn’t seem quite right. Coming back to the point of the challenge, Shirley brings the discussion around to what it is we actually want from horror. For her, the shock factor of Wolfgang’s (Percival Fagent) story is not enough. There needs to be more to create genuine fear, the emotional response audiences ...
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Philharmonia: ‘American Dreams’ – Royal Festival Hall
31Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
London

Philharmonia: ‘American Dreams’ – Royal Festival Hall

After being away from their London home since March 2020, Philharmonia have come together (albeit in a socially distanced way), to stage this concert celebrating the work of Aaron Copland, Florence Price, Steve Reich and Igor Stravinsky.  Conducted by the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor Designate Santtu-Matias Rouvali, this is a wonderful opportunity for the Orchestra to celebrate their 75th Anniversary and to help to raise funds to enable them to continue to produce their lively performances.  The performance begins with Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, written in 1943-4, this piece was composed for choreographer Martha Graham who asked Copland to write a new ballet.  The story centres around a young couple in 19th Century Pennsylvania who meet, marry and set up home ...
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Adult Panto returns to Birmingham this December
27Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Adult Panto returns to Birmingham this December

Due to popular demand, professional Adult Panto returns to Birmingham this December as The Blue Orange Theatre announce Blow White is selling fast! After the “side-splittingly funny!” production of Tinderella last year, The Blue Orange Theatre are delighted to announce another laugh-a-minute, cheeky show that is definitely not for kids or the faint-hearted! Just when you thought you knew this timeless tale… SHA-BLAM! You were wrong. Blow-White raised by an Evil Queen, poisoned by a pink lady, looked after by 7 (technically 8) sisters of perpetual indulgence, and best friends with a rabbit. Is there a Prince who can save her from this nightmare? We can only hope. Come and see the sexy Blow White, gorgeous Prince Charming, naughty Seven (well, 8) and all the gang for this unforgetta...
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Leeds Playhouse’s James Brining talks about staging work in a pandemic
27Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Leeds Playhouse’s James Brining talks about staging work in a pandemic

Leeds Playhouse was one of the first big regional theatres to reopen their doors after lockdown offering some short works in partnership with Opera North and now they’re back with a more expansive winter season. The team used that short Connecting Voice season to test their safety measures which included temperature checks and rigorous social distancing in the spaces. The fact it was both safe and pretty much sold out made Playhouse Artistic Director James Brining even more determined to offer a bigger winter season to resume playing an active role in the city’s life during this pandemic. “Ultimately the way I feel is we get public money, and are here to give people in the city for lots of different reasons a focus, and some way of connecting and exploring the human predicament,” say...
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Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: Wolfgang – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd
27Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

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

Episode 3 of Tales from the Tombstone Tavern, the new six part podcast series written by Delmar Terblanche and directed by Jamie Boucher, takes a violent plunge into the slasher genre, with a gruesome camp-side tale narrated by Wolfgang the Wolfman (Percival Fagent). The episode opens where we last left our group of classic monsters, with Annie, the Mummy (Sena Bryer) still enthusiastically discussing the darker sides of biology to the delight of Wolfgang and the equal disgust of Vlad Dracul (Joshua Manning). Vlad takes advantage of his supernatural powers and hypnotises Wolfgang to force a change of subject which Lady Shirley Edith James, the Wailing Woman (Anna Chedham-Cooper) eagerly supplies. But the vampire’s effect on Wolfgang does not last and he is soon once again declaring t...
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The Lure (2020) Horror Short Film – Hounds of the Round Table
26Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

The Lure (2020) Horror Short Film – Hounds of the Round Table

This psychological thriller will have you on edge and avoiding your mobile phone. Hounds of the Round Table is a small, talented and resourceful independent production house from Liverpool. The Lure is where they announce their presence and their intentions to the world. The film tells the story of Toby a depressed man grieving over the death of his girlfriend Laura. Most of the action takes place in Toby’s untidy apartment where he chooses to sleep on the sofa each night and drink himself silly with only his dog, Sergeant, to keep him company. Things quickly take a bizarre twist when Laura starts calling Toby from beyond the grave. A disturbing feature of the film is the image of Toby’s phone lit up with ‘Laura calling’ and the persistent ring tone which blends in seamlessly with...
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Theatre makers Slung Low promise free books to local kids
26Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Theatre makers Slung Low promise free books to local kids

Theatre company Slung Low have never taken the conventional route and before the pandemic they took a big risk in taking over a struggling South Leeds working men’s club to better engage with their local community. The Holbeck has become a place where Slung Low produce their own work, run a free community college and as the virus struck they staged outdoor events in their car park.  But as Leeds battles COVID their artistic director Alan Lane decided his team needed to do more. They have pledged to give every child in the area a free copy of a picture book ‘Emergency Story Penguin’ which they created based on one of their touring shows. Kids at those shows were told that every theatre had an emergency story unit in it, and they needed to join Slung Low on a journey to save stori...
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Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: Adam – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd
26Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

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

Episode 2 of Tales from the Tombstone Tavern, the new six part podcast series written by Delmar Terblanche and directed by Jamie Boucher, continues with its analysis of different types of scary stories, with a brilliant example of science fiction horror narrated by Adam, Frankenstein’s Monster (Delmar Terblanche). This episode opens with a discussion about conspiracy theories led by Wolfgang the Wolfman (Percival Fagent). Wolfgang insists that Stanley Kubrick directed The Shining to apologise for his role in the faking of the Moon Landing which leads to more general conversation about which genre The Shining actually falls into. As Edith, the Wailing Woman (Anna Chedham-Cooper) insists it is a classic ghost story, Annie, the Mummy (Sena Bryer) falls back on Lovecraft, linking back to ep...
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The Creepy Cabaret Cabin – Edinburgh Horror Fest2020
25Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
Scotland

The Creepy Cabaret Cabin – Edinburgh Horror Fest2020

The Zoom/Skype/online world of Lockdown has provided ample opportunity for family members to wobble uninvited into our worlds of work and/or creativity and delivered unscheduled contributions. Thus it was as one sat down to review The Creepy Cabaret Cabin this evening, a collection (one says ‘a curation’ these days) of Drag, Burlesque and Circus performers undressing to various degrees spiced with blood, wine, food and scary stuff, the results alternately comic, stomach-churning and plain unsettling. ‘She’s drinking Irn Bru at breakfast!’ shouted my little one as Roxy Stardust opened with a tale of domestic shenanigans demonstrating that you should ‘ne’er underestimate yer Granny’. Sobering advice upon this evidence. And to the tune of ‘Hoots Mon’ by Lord Rockingham’s XI. Next up was...
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Stowaway – Liverpool Irish Festival
25Oct By Paul DownhamNo Comments
North West

Stowaway – Liverpool Irish Festival

Liverpool Irish Festival was established to provide a permanent, annual event to celebrate the Irish contribution to Liverpool’s cultural identity and heritage, regularly providing a rich array of arts, literature, film, music, and drama. The current pandemic has provided a new challenge for the Festival to overcome with normally staged performances now transferred to Zoom and Barbara Marsh’s fifth play is no exception to the rule, with the romantic drama – written in response to a Scriptshop theme of ‘leaving’ – put together as a scratch reading under the direction of Zara Marie Brown. Ted (Steve Dean) works as a steward on a passenger ship with Paddy (Daryl Holden), and is bringing pregnant wife Annie (Mairi-Claire Kennedy) and teenage son Jimmy (Lew Freeburn) on the next sailing as a...
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