Interviews Archives - Page 9 of 10

Daniel Bye takes to the road with a new play about running and freedom

19Jan

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

Daniel Bye takes to the road with a new play about running and freedom

Daniel Bye made his name with a series of challenging interactive works he wrote and appeared in, but now he’s teamed up with musician Boff Whalley to create These Hill Are Ours that’s nominally about their shared love of running. Daniel and the former Chumbawamba songwriter are also using songs and words to explore who should own the land they run on, and thanks to the virus they’ve been waiting for a year to perform it in front an audience. The idea began life when they were working together on projects around the country. “We go for a run from wherever we were out of the town, or city, towards the peak overlooking the place and that kind of grew into a project,” recalls Daniel about a work that developed as they put the hard miles in over the last three years. “But as we rep...

23Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored

Nana-Kofi Kufuor discusses his debut play My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored Fair play to Nana-Kofi Kufuor who has decided to take on an interrogation of black identify in modern Britain for his debut play. My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored began life during a year-long writing commission for Manchester based Box of Tricks. Misha Duncan-Barry is teacher Gillian who finds herself in a tricky situation with student Reece played by Jelani D’Augilar. “It sounds a bit heavy, but to me the themes are race, gender, black masculinity black femininity, toxic masculinity” says Nana-Kofi. “It’s a two hander about a teacher and student, both black, and she sees the student stopped and searched outside of work. “He calls for her to help, and she doesn’t, so the next day with al...

Dreamgirls and Hairspray star Marisha Wallace releases her debut album

22Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

Dreamgirls and Hairspray star Marisha Wallace releases her debut album

One of the staples of musical theatre is the rags to riches story and Marisha Wallace is living proof of that making her way from a rural farm in North Carolina to starring in the West End. Then when she was recovering from COVID-19 her home recorded version of Tomorrow went viral and Decca Records signed her to make an album. But her first really big break came in this country after she’d just finished Something Rotten on Broadway when she was asked to understudy Effie White in the West End version of Dreamgirls. “I had five days to rehearse and go on for the role because Amber Riley had gotten pneumonia,” recalls Marisha. “You know, usually when Effie comes out everyone goes ‘Yeah’ and my first night they go ‘oh’ as they didn’t know who I was. I'm telling you ever...

Imitating the dog are the first company to get back on the road

5Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews, NEWS

Imitating the dog are the first company to get back on the road

If you had to put your money on any company having the balls to get back on the road in the midst of a pandemic a strong favourite would be imitating the dog. Over the last 20 years they have never been afraid of a challenge and they have been busy devising a new outdoor show Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show that kicks off a national tour at Leeds Playhouse. Co-Artistic Director Pete Brooks is hard at work with the cast at the Playhouse but says that a company famed for their innovative use of technology are taking inspiration from an ancient theatrical tradition for their latest adventure. “It’s not set in mediaeval times, but it’s a sort of mediaeval morality tale when groups of traveling players told stories,” says Pete in a break from final rehearsals. “The idea is that there is...

Derby Theatre is back with a show all about community

21Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

Derby Theatre is back with a show all about community

Like many spaces Derby Theatre is dipping its toe back into live shows with a socially distanced performance bringing together voices in the local community and professional performers. Their Artistic Director and CEO Sarah Brigham says they could have just thrown on a murder mystery one hander for their return, but instead they have gone for something deeper to reopen their stage with a community devised event billed as Derby Rises on Sunday 27th September. “When we were thinking about reopening the theatre we were all expecting this big grand opening, standing ovations, massive shows and it’s become clear that’s not going to happen,” observes Sarah in the midst of pulling the show together and deep cleaning the venue. “We felt the most important thing was that the first thing on...

Josephs Assemble……for a special online production of a timeless classic!

10Jul

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Interviews

Josephs Assemble……for a special online production of a timeless classic!

In the same way the Avengers assemble to fight baddies a crack squad of Josephs have come together to perform an online megamix version of that classic musical for showbiz charity Acting For Others. As well as Darren Day, Jess Conrad and Jaymi Hensley, who have all played the man with the multi coloured coat over the last 52 years, the Josephs are joined by a team of 30 former ensemble performers. The original idea of this charity event came from Jordan Doolan who runs a Facebook fan site. His suggestion caught the attention of West End performer and producer Adam Lacey who decided he wanted to help turn the idea from a concept into a production. “Jordan had this idea that everyone is in lockdown and the London production we saw with Sheridan Smith, Jac Yarrow and Jason Donovan wa...

Hard hitting urban drama No Milk for the Foxes makes a welcome return online

30Jun

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Interviews

Hard hitting urban drama No Milk for the Foxes makes a welcome return online

Try as it might theatre all too often gets working class culture badly wrong unless it is created by people who have lived experience of daily struggle and social disadvantage. That’s exactly why the online revival of Beats & Elements’ 2015 production of No Milk for the Foxes is very welcome. Using spoken word, beatboxing and live looping Beats & Elements founders Conrad Murray and Paul Cree explored David Cameron's England from the perspective of their own class. It’s the tale of security guards Marx, a white working-class male from Croydon, and Spaxx, an Anglo-Indian from Mitcham, counting down the hours on a zero hours nightshift. So did Conrad base these two funny and angry men on anyone he knew, or they are composites? “It is when it comes to Spaxx, and it is a...

11Jun

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Interviews

Lockdown Interview – Willy Russell

On 11th May as part of Bloomsbury Academic and Stage-ed, I had the pleasure of being involved in a Q&A session with writer, composer, and lyricist Willy Russell, best known for Blood Brothers, Educating Rita, and Our Day Out, to name but a few of his celebrated works. I have a confession to make: on a personal level, Russell had a huge influence on me both as a writer and actor. Our Day Out was the first musical I was cast in and Blood Brothers was the first musical I watched. So, to be part of this was something really special for me. Russell spoke openly and honestly as to how Blood Brothers came about and how he wrote and composed the songs for the show, and in a session that was scheduled to last one hour, ever the gentleman, he gave us ninety minutes. With the soundtrack for...

Elizabeth Newman finds new ways of making work

2Jun

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Interviews

Elizabeth Newman finds new ways of making work

In the second part of an interview with Pitlochry Festival Theatre Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman our Features Editor Paul Clarke hears about the innovative work her team are doing to stay connected to their audience and community. Like most artistic directors Elizabeth Newman was focused on staging her next season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and then COVID-19 struck forcing her to abandon most of that work as the theatre closed its doors. That meant Newman and her team at the Perthshire venue had to quickly pivot away from the traditional way of making theatre into a very different way of connecting with their audience at the self-styled ‘theatre in the woods’. “As we entered lockdown we launched some really key initiatives,” recalls Elizabeth. “The first was PFT ...

Elizabeth Newman is keeping theatre alive in the hills

31May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews

Elizabeth Newman is keeping theatre alive in the hills

In the first of a two-part interview with Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Elizabeth Newman our Features Editor Paul Clarke asks her about the challenges of being an artistic director in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. After eight successful years as Bolton Octagon’s Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman moved across the border to lead the team at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, but just as she was preparing to launch a new season of productions COVID-19 struck. Elizabeth and her team at the Perthshire venue are in lockdown after scrapping that season of work. They’ve been using that time to create online work in the maelstrom of a totally unprecedented challenge for the theatre world that managed to keep the lights on even as the Luftwaffe were dropping bombs on London. There's not ...