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Their Finest Hour – Waterloo East Theatre

13Mar

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Their Finest Hour – Waterloo East Theatre

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few." Churchill's famous speech highlighting the role of the RAF crews whose sorties and bombing raids did much to help bring the Second World War to an end, has become one of his most legendary moments. Writer Steve Darlow bases his play on hundreds of interviews conducted with the real-life pilots, air- and ground-crew who lived this story, the men and women who served in the RAF, The Few. Told through narration, the songs of the period and war poetry, this is an emotive piece that is both of that period of history and a tribute to the RAF personnel who served so heroically. The story starts on the day of RAF pilot Bert's funeral, as his family go through his things after finding a suitcase of photos and memorabilia that chart Bert'...

Gianni Schicchi – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

13Mar

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Gianni Schicchi – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Gianni Schicchi is one part of Il trittico, a collection of three one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini, with the link in the final work illustrating that each opera deals with the concealment of a death. Whilst originally intended to be played as a set, it has been more usual to play individually or pair with another one-act opera by another composer. Here, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dominic Hindoyan, serve up a further variation with excerpts from different composers providing the warm-up in the first half before the comic deception of Gianni Schicchi, performed in Italian with English surtitles, is unleashed. Commencing proceedings were a couple of Puccini pairings with La Tregenda (Le Villi, Act II) making for an energetic and frenetic start before slipping ...

The Phantom of the Opera extends bookings until 2024

12Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Phantom of the Opera extends bookings until 2024

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at Her Majesty’s Theatre announces today that booking is now extended until Saturday 2nd March 2024. With new production images also released. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA currently stars Earl Carpenter as The Phantom alongside Holly-Anne Hull as Christine Daaé, Matt Blaker as Raoul, Kelly Glyptis as Carlotta, Matt Harrop as Monsieur Firmin, Adam Linstead as Monsieur André, Greg Castiglioni as Ubaldo Piangi, Francesca Ellis as Madame Giry and Ellie Young as Meg Giry. At certain performances the role of Christine Daaé is played by Paige Blankson. From Monday 3rd April Jon Robyns joins the company as The Phantom. The cast is completed by Hollie Aires, Connor Carson, Corina Clark, Michelle Cornelius, Edward Court, Lily De-La-Haye, Hywel Dowsell, Serina Faul...

Blanket Ban comes to Southwark Playhouse

12Mar

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

NEWS

Blanket Ban comes to Southwark Playhouse

Following its hit run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, theatre makers and activists Davinia Hamilton and Marta Vella bring their rallying cry for Maltese reproductive rights to Southwark Playhouse. Blanket Ban was performed as part of New Diorama and Underbelly’s Untapped Award, and combines the artists’ lived experience with interviews, stories and video footage of Maltese women who have suffered the life-changing and life-threatening consequences of the country’s blanket ban on abortion. Malta: a country of Catholic kitsch, golden sun, deep blue sea and Eurovision fanatics. It leads internationally on progressive LGBTQIA+ rights, including trailblazing transgender laws — but also has some of the strictest abortion laws in the world. Taking a fondly critical look at their home country and...

Dare you spend Halloween in a haunted West End theatre?

12Mar

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

NEWS

Dare you spend Halloween in a haunted West End theatre?

Theatres are alive. They have a soul. And they all have supernatural stories to tell.... Every theatre has ghosts and sightings, spectral visions reported backstage by terrified actors, mysterious apparitions that walk the stage at night, corridors and stairwells that are avoided by staff who have experienced a sudden drop in temperature... Do YOU believe in ghosts? And are YOU feeling brave? The West End premiere of ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?’ at London’s Adelphi Theatre on Halloween, October 31st (with more West End dates to be announced), has enough chills and shocks to convince even the most die-hard sceptic! Packed with stories of things that go bump in the night - or the day - and things that just don’t add up, ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?’ is unlike any other ghost story y...

Nothing Happens (Twice) – Jacksons Lane Theatre

12Mar

By Gonzalo SentanaNo Comments

London

Nothing Happens (Twice) – Jacksons Lane Theatre

Two Flamingos dance and invite you to visit Andalusia, and then they do it again, and then again. And their suffering and their meaninglessness becomes apparent as they try to find reasons to keep doing what they are doing. In this piece, that one could argue is a study on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the actors Mercè Ribot and Patricia Rodríguez take us in an irreverent trip through stages in the present and towards the present. Playfully delving into the process of trying to act and survive as performing artists in a foreign land, their personal lives become a moving and intense experience amid laughter and music. The audience will see the appearance of several pairs of characters through the play, and the actors will impersonate themselves, and break the fourth wall more th...

New Vic Theatre revives cult classic The Killing of Sister George

12Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

New Vic Theatre revives cult classic The Killing of Sister George

New Vic Theatre and physical theatre company Told By An Idiot have joined forces for a rare revival of sixties cult classic The Killing of Sister George. The Newcastle-Under-Lyme theatres in the round space is perfect for the acerbic comedy drama by Frank Marcus observing the life of June Buckeridge, who plays the role of kindly district nurse Sister George in fictitious radio soap opera 'Applehurst'. In reality June is a swaggering foul-mouthed loose cannon whose career and lifestyle is under threat. Set during the 1960s, the play explores the volatile relationship between June and her partner Alice, and the effect the demise of her fictional character has on her. Famously adapted into a dark cult film in 1968 starring Beryl Reid, the play incorporates wicked humour with m...

Amy Leach talks about a new version of Lord of the Flies at Leeds Playhouse

12Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Amy Leach talks about a new version of Lord of the Flies at Leeds Playhouse

In the 70 years since the publication of Lords of the Flies it’s been a staple on the national curriculum as young readers have been entranced by schoolchildren going feral on a desert island. Leeds Playhouse's Deputy Artistic Director Amy Leach is directing a new version of William Goldman’s classic study of human nature as Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon and Roger battle to survive, or just stay alive. “We often think about Lord of the Flies as a reaction to the Second World War, but when I came back to the story as an adult, I realised it’s actually set against a background of nuclear war – a war of the future,” says Amy Leach. “It felt important to embrace that by setting it now, to find a new and interesting way to restage a classic story and make it connect with audiences in 2023....

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Festival Theatre

11Mar

By Louise BalaguerNo Comments

Scotland

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Festival Theatre

Award-winning South African choreographer Dada Masilo has embarked on a UK tour of The Sacrifice, and it is not one that you want to miss – with its last date in Newcastle on 12th April 2023, it will fly by as quickly as this performance did. Revisiting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and inspired by Pina Bausch’s performance of the same name, the amount of influences that Dada draws upon make for a deeply compelling piece of storytelling: with a mixture of classical and contemporary dance forms, and drawing on her own cultural heritage, incorporating ‘Tswana’, the traditional dance of Botswana, into the movement, The Sacrifice is a beautiful piece about ritual, sacrifice, and healing. Featuring its own original score, performed live on stage (with the spellbinding voice of Ann ...

11Mar

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

After The Act – New Diorama Theatre

On the 18th November 2003, Section 28 Local Government Act 1988 was finally wiped from the statute books. This Act was established to silence teachers and other educators from discussing same-sex relationships in any form. A whole generation of children who were lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or trans were ostracised, taunted by their classmates for being ‘different,’ ‘not normal’. In the anniversary year of its repeal, Breach Theatre are dancing on the grave of this act, which acted like a festering wound, its bacteria growing and infecting society, and in a way, we are still feeling it today. From the beginning, Breach hit the ground running with their passionate musical delivery of this extremely well-written piece of theatre. Taking their storyline from original dialo...