Paul Downham, Author at North West End UK

The Secret Love Life of Ophelia – Greenwich Theatre

9Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

The Secret Love Life of Ophelia – Greenwich Theatre

Steven Berkoff’s The Secret Love Life of Ophelia provides the backstory to one of the Shakespeare’s most tragic couples. Adapted directly in response to the closure of theatres during the coronavirus pandemic, Greenwich Theatre’s new version, directed by James Haddrell, has taken the epistolary nature of the play and converted it into a series of video messages, which makes it a perfect piece of drama for an online production. The piece opens with a clever and imaginative explanation of what is about to be shown, creating a believable world from the off and providing the opportunity for a large cast of forty actors to play the roles of only two characters, alongside a special guest appearance from Dame Helen Mirren. There are some nice special effects which emphasise the technical backs...

BBC England’s Rozina Breen becomes Chair of Leeds Playhouse

9Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

BBC England’s Rozina Breen becomes Chair of Leeds Playhouse

BBC England’s Head of North Rozina Breen will be the new Chair of the Board at Leeds Playhouse leading the theatre’s recovery plans for when it reopens its doors after the pandemic. Rozina succeeds Sir Rodney Brooke, who steps down after a decade as Chair, and current board member Neil Adleman will be her Vice Chair As Head of North for BBC England, and previously Head of News for BBC 5 Live, Rozina Breen has been a real ambassador for the north. She thrives on telling untold stories in new and creative ways to amplify the narrative of the region. Neil Adleman is a Partner at market leading law firm Harbottle & Lewis, where he heads the firm’s theatre group. Neil was previously a Trustee and then Chair of Sheffield Theatres Trust until 2015, before becoming a Trustee at Le...

Children’s theatre makes a socially distanced return to Leeds

9Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Children’s theatre makes a socially distanced return to Leeds

Leeds theatre-makers tutti frutti, Wrongsemble, Unlimited Theatre, 154 Collective, Blah Blah Blahs, Alive & Kicking, Interplay, Fidget Theatre and Slung Low joined forces to bring live theatre back to children across the city. Coming together under the Live Little Stories for Leeds they perform socially distanced theatre shows for free to pre-invited families and children at six locations in Leeds. This unique the collective was pulled together by tutti frutti as a pilot and all performances during Live Little Stories for Leeds took place outdoors to small audiences following strict social distancing guidelines. Other adaptations new to theatre makers included the provision of PPE equipment on site, one-way systems into locations and safety measures being incorporated in a fun wa...

Dear Beryl – The Moonlighters Collective

31Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Dear Beryl – The Moonlighters Collective

Dear Beryl is a work in progress piece from The Moonlighters Collective, presented as part of Command Fringe Festival, a line-up of online performances being showcased over one weekend. Social media influencer Lyla (Amy Allenby) is on the brink of creating the life she’s always dreamed of when she finds herself trapped in a prison of sorts and unclear as to how she has got there. Also present is the mysterious Ruth (Hannah Roze-Lewis) who is clearly from a different social circle and apparently unaware of the workings of the modern world. Lyla wants answers to her current predicament, but Ruth appears determined to keep what little knowledge she may have of their current situation to herself. As Lyla explains the marketplace nature of current technology to Ruth, where everything come...

Freedom Studios are looking for experienced Yorkshire writers for free playwriting course

31Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Freedom Studios are looking for experienced Yorkshire writers for free playwriting course

Bradford theatre company Freedom Studios are looking for experienced writers to join Street Voices 8, the company’s popular free six-month playwriting course. They want to support distinctive voices who can offer new perspectives, but have an ability to write, and the potential to develop their skills. They will work under the guidance of playwright and previous course graduate Zodwa Nyoni, who went on to write Boi Boi is Dead for Leeds Playhouse, Tiata Fahodzi, & Watford Palace Theatre. Freedom are looking for writers who may have been writing creatively in other forms and are looking to broaden their practice. All applicants must have a willingness to take risks, and try out new ideas, along with a commitment to attend all course dates, which will run from 10th October 2020 til...

31Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Myles Away – Chronic Insanity

Chronic Insanity has been making theatre since 2012. Set up by Nat Henderson who, in typical small theatre company fashion, combines many roles such as playwright, director, performer, costume designer, make up artist and still finds time for her Artistic Director role and studying for her Masters in English Studies. Her Co-Artistic Director Joe Strickland is also a good juggler and combines being an up and coming director with being a writer, producer and performer whilst researching for a PHD looking at Future Experience Technologies with a focus on Drama and Performance. Their interest in this area has prompted them to look at a slightly different approach to theatre using technology to give the ‘theatre goer’ interactivity so that each viewer may have a slightly diffe...

31Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – The Globe

As part of the BBC Culture in Quarantine season, we are offered a selection of Shakespeare’s plays performed at two of the UK’s most well known theatres for Shakespeare. Written in 1596, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a regular feature in theatres’ Summer calendars for their Summer season. We have seen many adaptations of this play as theatres become more creative, but this version is like the making a cocktail, the ingredients can be the same, but it is how much of each ingredient that creates its individual flavour. In Emma Rice’s first play as Artistic Director of The Globe, we were treated to a feast of energy and colour. The play positively buzzed with excitement as we experienced an adventurous modernised version of this much-loved play. The play is ...

27Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Beethoven’s Fidelio – Royal Opera House

Recorded just prior to lockdown and largely unedited, conductor Antonio Pappano introduces a new production of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, from the Royal Opera House, a story of risk and triumph against a backdrop of revolution, with Tobias Kratzer’s new staging, including some dialogue changes, bringing together the dark reality of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution and the conflicts of the modern age to illuminate Fidelio’s inspiring message of a common humanity. This is very much an opera of two halves with Act One in period as Leonore (Lise Davidsen) attempts to locate her husband, Florestan (David Butt Philip) who is a political prisoner incarcerated in a secret dungeon and subject to torture from the governor of the prison, Don Pizarro (Simon Neal). To secure a ...

SLEEPLESS Musical To Begin Testing Backstage

27Jul

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NEWS

SLEEPLESS Musical To Begin Testing Backstage

SLEEPLESS, A Musical Romance, which announced last month it would begin socially distanced indoor performances at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre from 25 August, will begin using a new accurate COVID-19 test on cast, musicians, crew and theatre staff on a daily basis during rehearsals and during the run of the show. The test is called FRANKD (Fast, Reliable, Accurate, Nucleic-based Kit for Covid19 Diagnostic Detection). Testing will be carried out on-site, since the FRANKD technology does not require a laboratory. Tests results will be sent directly to crew, cast and staff phones via a secure app within an hour of a swab being taken. Michael Rose and Damien Sanders, on behalf of Encore Theatre Productions, the producers of SLEEPLESS, said, “We are so excited to be leading the way fo...

Final casting announced for ‘Fanny and Stella’

27Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Final casting announced for ‘Fanny and Stella’

Final casting announced for the first London Fringe show since Lockdown, a new version of the acclaimed musical ‘Fanny and Stella’ by Glenn Chandler and Charles Miller and Directed by Steven Dexter. Final casting is announced for the first London Fringe production since Lockdown, a brand new socially distanced open-air production of ‘Fanny And Stella’, a musical with Book and Lyrics by Glenn Chandler, the creator of ‘Taggart’, and Music by Charles Miller. Joining the previously announced Jed Berry as Ernest Boulton/Stella and Kane Verrall as Frederick William Park/Fanny are: Kurt Kansley (Lord Arthur Clinton) was Coalhouse in ‘Ragtime’ at Regents Park and Shultz in ‘Miss Saigon’ in the West End. In Australia, he was twice nominated Best Actor in a Musical, as Che in ‘Evita’ and Co...