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Sunday, March 30

Latest Articles

Wake the Dragon – St Luke’s Bombed Out Church
North West

Wake the Dragon – St Luke’s Bombed Out Church

Wake the Dragon was a free event and part of Liverpool Ignitus Festival of Performing Arts and the event managed in partnership with St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, Bring the Fire Project, and Zest Event Management, and with funding from Culture Liverpool’s Without Walls scheme. With a focus on wellbeing, the event was a platform for some of Liverpool’s finest performing artists and organisations to flex their creative muscle and do what they do best: perform and connect with their audience, this time with the added constraint of social distancing. There were three specific acts listed, opening with international theatre company Teatro Pomodoro who also served as MC for the night. Our bubble of four (two couples in case you’re wondering), all of whom met at the celebrated École Phillipe...
Insulted.Belarus(sia) – Slung Low
NEWS

Insulted.Belarus(sia) – Slung Low

Protests continued this week in Belarus, after newly elected Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in as President. Playwright Andrei Kureichik, has penned a piece of verbatim theatre in which Slung Low and more than 40 theatre companies from more than 10 countries, have organised readings of the play in order to shine a spotlight and metaphorically join hands with the people of Belarus. Kureichik’s play consists of a series of monologues communicating the feelings and plight of several Belarusian’s who experienced the protests, the alleged rigged election voting system and were the victims of the over-zealous arrests of the protestors. Many theatres in Belarus are controlled by the state, much the same as Russian theatres, so their artists are ultimately controlled by a need to earn money....
Madama Butterfly – Royal Opera House
London

Madama Butterfly – Royal Opera House

A staple of the operatic repertoire around the world, this was my third Madama Butterfly this year although in contrast to the first two live productions, this was a televised performance of ROH’s 2017 offering, directed by Moishe Leiser and Patrice Caurier. We open with marriage broker Goro (Carlo Bosi) showing US naval lieutenant Pinkerton (Marcelo Puente) round the home he will share with his Butterfly bride-to-be. Pinkerton is obsessed about possessing her even if he crushes her fragile wings, whilst American Consul Sharpless (Scott Hendricks) warns him of the tragic consequences his game could have. The Butterfly duly lands in the form of young Japanese girl Cio-Cio-San (Ermonela Jaho) supported by maid Suzuki (Elizabeth DeShong), and they are married by the Commissioner (Gyula Nag...
The Show Must Go On: Fame the Musical – YouTube
REVIEWS

The Show Must Go On: Fame the Musical – YouTube

The Show Must Go On YouTube channel makes a timely return to bring some theatre back into our lives. This week’s offering is Fame the Musical, the 30th anniversary production filmed at the Phoenix Theatre in London last year. Fame the Musical is based on the 1980’s film of the same name. It follows a group of students through their time at the School of Performing Arts in New York from their first day to their graduation. Many issues are briefly portrayed in this show, illiteracy, drug abuse, sexuality, weight worries, prejudice and the need to succeed. Cramming all of this into a small space means that each subject is merely touched upon. This keeps the pace up but at times makes the story feels disjointed. What the story lacks in cohesion the cast make up for in energy. The ...
Tonight at the London Coliseum: Carrie Hope Fletcher
London

Tonight at the London Coliseum: Carrie Hope Fletcher

From the moment I saw Carrie Hope Fletcher, I was mesmerised. A petite girl-next-door with a big voice, she blew me away when I saw snippets of her 3-year stint as Les Misérables’ tragic demi-heroine Éponine at the Queen’s Theatre, London, from 2013-2016. So, naturally, I jumped at the chance to review a one-time exclusive pre-recorded event - a night at the London Coliseum with Fletcher herself, delivered by Broadway on Demand. As the show was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance took place in front of an empty theatre, but Carrie’s talent is such that all she needed was a microphone, a piano, and her tremendous voice. That was enough to fill the London Coliseum twice over, with plenty more to spare. What a performance it was! The only thing that was missing was th...
La Bohème Live at The Drive-In – ENO, East Car Park, Alexandra Palace
London

La Bohème Live at The Drive-In – ENO, East Car Park, Alexandra Palace

Monty Python used to say, and now for something completely different, and ne’er was a truer word said than with ENO director P.J. Harris’ contemporary English language adaptation of Puccini’s classic opera, and it is also transformed from its 19th C Parisian location to a modern-day encampment in a disused London car park, where we meet our four struggling hipsters: poet Rodolfo (David Butt Philip); painter Marcello (Roderick Williams); philosopher cum photographer Colline (William Thomas); and musician Schaunard (Benson Wilson), who arrives having had some good fortune. They are interrupted by Benoît (Trevor Eliot Bowes), a security guard, but cleverly trick him to avoid paying him his dues. Whilst the others leave, Rodolfo remains but is interrupted by a young lady needing a light for...
Romantic Anonymous Live Broadcast – Bristol Old Vic
South West

Romantic Anonymous Live Broadcast – Bristol Old Vic

Wise Children and director Emma Rice serve up a delightful musical comedy confection based on the quirky French film Les Émotifs Anonymes, written by Jean-Pierre Améris and Philippe Blasband, with this real-time broadcast from Bristol Old Vic. Angélique (Carly Bawden) is a gifted chocolate maker inhibited by social anxiety and Jean-René (Marc Antolin) the boss of a failing chocolate factory. Angélique is so timid, she faints when people look at her; Jean-René is so awkward he relies on self-help tapes and is prone to embarrassing sweating. When Angélique takes a job in Jean-René’s struggling factory, a fragile love affair unfolds. Funny, tender, and painfully awkward in moments we will all recognise, Romantics Anonymous – book by Emma Rice, Lyrics by Christopher Dimond, Music by Mich...
Liverpool Irish Festival returns with a virtual programme in 2020
NEWS

Liverpool Irish Festival returns with a virtual programme in 2020

Liverpool Irish Festival 15th – 25th October ●    Ten days of music, performance and conversation shifts online for 2020 ●    Patrick Kielty spearheads programme exploring theme of “exchange”. Liverpool Irish Festival returns with a virtual programme in 2020, celebrating the connections between Liverpool and Ireland. In a year of change and turbulence, the Festival explores exchange through art, conversation, music and history, how it connects communities and crosses borders. A series of events examine how exchange has played out through conflict, cultural exchange and artistic practice, while diverse conversations expose dual-heritage lives, reconciliation and collective trauma. Irish Comedian and TV presenter Patrick Kielty headlines the programme with a special event, Har...
Hope Mill Theatre announces its long-awaited cast of RENT
NEWS

Hope Mill Theatre announces its long-awaited cast of RENT

The cast and full creative team has been announced for Hope Mill Theatre’s hotly anticipated revival of the classic rock musical RENT, directed by Luke Sheppard. RENT will play at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester from Friday 30th October to Sunday 6th December 2020. The 12 company members, who were originally cast back in February are finally getting the opportunity to come together for this special revival of the much-loved musical.  The cast will receive a Covid-19 test prior to being placed in one household (bubble) for the length of the run in Manchester. Jocasta Almgill (& Juliet, Dreamgirls – West End) will play Joanne; Blake Patrick Anderson (Be More Chill – The Other Palace, Closer to Heaven – Off West End/Above the Stag) will play Mark; Tom Francis (Arts Ed 2020 g...
The Curtain Rises on Live Performance at The Dukes
NEWS

The Curtain Rises on Live Performance at The Dukes

Following a successful reopening of their cinema back in August, Lancaster arts organisation The Dukes have announced that audiences will be able to enjoy the return of live performance at their venue this autumn. The season of live theatre and comedy will be housed in Moor Space, The Dukes’ second site on Moor Lane, beginning with a hop back on board the hilarious and heart-warming comedy-drama Ladies That Bus from Tuesday September 29th – Thursday October 1st. Inspired by the passengers, travels and tales of the Route 555 bus between Lancaster and Keswick, and originally borne out of a collaborative project between The Dukes, Kendal’s Brewery Arts Centre and Theatre by the Lake, the popular play made its debut at The Dukes in February this year to critical acclaim. Audiences wil...