Latest Articles - Page 364 of 645

Let North West End UK promote your show!

17Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Let North West End UK promote your show!

At North West End UK we support many amateur productions and understand the need for full houses at your shows for the short periods they run for. We are reaching out to amateur societies until the end of April with an offer to promote your production free of charge on our website, www.northwestend.com To qualify for this offer please email a press release and suitable image to support your show to info@northwestend.co.uk before the 25th April 2023. Please include links to your social media pages within the email to allow us to tag you in the article. For clarification, your show can be staged at anytime in 2023, not only before the end of April, although submissions need to be sent by the 25th April. We will publish your press releases as soon as we can after receiving them, h...

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Southwark Playhouse

17Mar

By Anisha AnantpurkarNo Comments

London

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Southwark Playhouse

Covered in mud and dirt, we see all cast members on stage as we enter the theatre. The stage is bare, with percussion instruments set up at the back. The performers are clad in beige tank tops and long skirts that look like sack cloth. Their presence creates an ambience in the room; you can feel it in the air, here a tragedy will take place. As we walk in, the theatre staff gives us a warning that the performance will be quite loud. When the show begins, the sound of the drums reverberates in the space generating an immediate sensory impact. The Tragedy of Macbeth is Flabbergast Theatre’s first narrative production of Flabbergast Theatre. The production is supported by Arts Council England and was researched and developed at the forest base of the Grotowski Institute in Brezinka, Wrocla...

Marjorie Prime – Menier Chocolate Factory

17Mar

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

Marjorie Prime – Menier Chocolate Factory

Portraying several disturbing, existential, and poignant thoughts about humanity massively engulfed by technology, Marjorie Prime is set in a futuristic world that doesn’t seem so far. Written by Jordan Harrison and directed by Dominic Dromgoole, it is an important piece of theatre, more relevant than ever before. The play opens with Marjorie (Anne Reid), 88, born in 1977, suffering from dementia, conversing with an android 30-something version of her husband Walter (Richard Fleeshman). As the story progresses and the characters die, they are replaced with their humanoid versions programmed by those who are alive. At the heart of this play are questions about identity, memory, and life-death paraphernalia- “Living is a distraction from death.” Dramaturgically brilliant, packed with m...

16Mar

By Luke StephensonNo Comments

North West

Bingo Star – Liverpool’s Royal Court

A new show is bestowed on the Royal Court stage in Liverpool called Bingo Star written by Iain Christie and directed by Emma Bird. Bingo can offer a mixed bag of emotions such as excitement, suspense, tension and laughter. This was certainly inhibited the same feelings when watching bingo star. I say this in a literal sense because audience members can have a chance to win £50 per game of bingo (3 in total) if you’re lucky enough to win the game the cast sing a ballad to the winner such as We Are The Champions by Queen. As well as getting the audience members involved with various call outs. For example, if you’re a lucky winner you don’t shout bingo, no you shout EE ah Lad. But as bingo caller Arthur says you don’t win until he says the win is legit and audience members have to shout b...

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

16Mar

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Week 3 of a 40-week tour of the UK, the long-running musical Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, lands at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. The multi award winning globe-trotting show, first performed in 1989, has clocked up an impressive 10,000+ performances in the UK, putting it firmly in the top 10 of UK musicals and can fairly promote itself as the forerunner of the now very popular Juke Box musical. Typical of this style of musical, the script and acting play very much second fiddle to the music, which to be fair is practically non-stop. The story, what there is of it, by Alan Janes, focuses on the last 18 months, between 1957 and 1959, of Charles Hardin Holley’s, too short 22 years. The script could do with a reboot and the delivery is patchy, but gratefully, the music is never far away....

15Mar

By Marita MatarNo Comments

London

Farm Hall – Jermyn Street Theatre

“Did you try to build a bomb? On some mornings yes, and on others, no” - Heisenberg 6th August 1945, Hiroshima was completely devastated. History witnessed the detonation of an atomic bomb by the United States. Human’s scientific capabilities and moral consciousness failed to comply with ethical quandaries. In a different part of the world, six of Germany’s prominent scientists are detained in England; the Uranverein known as the ‘Uranium Club’. Whereas the Germans were very close at possessing atomic power in a time were the Führer favoured conventional weapons, they are shocked by the news “The Americans have built an atom bomb. They have dropped it on Japan”- HAHN. An outstanding piece that brilliantly showcased the moments and discussions that followed the scourge. Based on decla...

15Mar

By Gill LewisNo Comments

North West

Animal – Hope Mill Theatre

A hilarious, laugh out loud comedy which at the same time punches you straight in the gut. Animal is an unapologetic portrayal of a young gay man’s sexual expression and exploration as a person with a severe physical disability. David (Christopher John-Slater) is 'gay, disabled and profoundly horny'. Cerebral palsy affects his mobility and co-ordination which hampers his enjoyment of his 'auto-suck' sex toy, leaving him unfulfilled, frustrated and annoyed. David's friends/carers, Jill, brilliantly played by Amy Loughton, Mani, pitched perfectly by Harry Singh, and Derek, splendidly portrayed by Matt Ayleigh, who David refers to as ‘his arms and leg’ as they assist with all elements of his care needs. The differences in approach by Jill, Mani and De...

Brodsky Quartet: Celebrating 50 Years – St George’s Hall, Liverpool

15Mar

By Donna M DayNo Comments

North West

Brodsky Quartet: Celebrating 50 Years – St George’s Hall, Liverpool

The Brodsky Quartet are currently celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, and this concert was a recognition of that milestone in the beautiful setting of St George’s Hall Concert Room. The quartet played a selection of string music featuring both for reflective and joyful themes. The concert opened with Bach’s Solo Violin Sonata in G minor, arranged for quartet by violist Paul Cassidy. The opening bars of the first movement have a haunting feeling which evoke a feeling of nostalgia on theme for the event. A change in tempo leads to a brighter tone with some pizzicato maintaining a haunted and reflective feeling. There is a defiance in the drama of the piece with the second movement being melancholy and the final movement’s much quicker tempo feeling rebellious. Regular eye contact amon...

15Mar

By Bo WarnerNo Comments

North West

Rock of Ages – Opera House, Manchester

The West-End & Broadway juke-box musical ROCK OF AGES, full to the brim with classic rock head-bangers, is making a 2023 farewell tour around the UK. I was lucky enough to catch them at the Manchester Opera House. Rock of Ages is a tongue-in-cheek, sexy, glam-rock romance about two kids trying to make it on the LA strip. Meanwhile, the Bourbon bar is being threatened by the gentrifying influence of German investors looking to make a quick buck. It features nostalgic hits like “I Wanna Rock”, “Dead or Alive” and “Feel The Noize”, pumped up with powerful vocalists and high-adrenaline dance numbers. There’s a reason why this musical keeps coming back after over 15 years of UK and US performances (and why it is one of my guilty pleasure favourites!). The unapologetic campiness of eig...

The Memory of Water – Birkenhead Little Theatre

15Mar

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

The Memory of Water – Birkenhead Little Theatre

Can you remember things that didn't happen? What about remembering other people's memories as if they were your own? The Memory of Water, written by British playwright Shelagh Stephenson, is directed by Brian Dickson and performed by the Carlton Players of Birkenhead's Little Theatre. The play explores the complex relationships between three sisters who come together for their mother's funeral and must confront their pasts, their feelings and the memories they share. Does everyone experience the past the same way? The relationship between the three leading sisters is fractious. Each is striving to make sense of their own identity and grief and each deal with stress and emotion in different ways - the youngest, Catherine (Zoe Howe) has a taste for taking the edge off reality with d...