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Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show opens at Leeds Playhouse

16Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show opens at Leeds Playhouse

imitating the dog and Leeds Playhouse are joining forces once again for the première of the raucous and dark Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show. This show is part of Leeds Playhouse’s reopening season to safely reintroduce audiences to the live theatre experience. Directed and written by imitating the dog’s Co-artistic Directors Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks they open outside on Playhouse Square from the 7th – 8th October and tour until 24th October. imitating the dog bring all their theatrical and technical acumen to this unique outdoor live theatre experience creating a tale of mischief and immorality, drawing on classic horror movies and the traditions of carnival and medicine shows. It’s set in a mythical 'North' as Dr Blood and his motley crew tell a tale of the price paid for pur...

The Very Best Of Tommy Cooper (Just like that!) – Liverpool Theatre Festival

15Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS, North West

The Very Best Of Tommy Cooper (Just like that!) – Liverpool Theatre Festival

I backed a horse today at 20 to 1… it came in at 20 past 4 As a child I remember sitting with the family and on came this man in a fez he was funny and very silly his name was Tommy Cooper. I remember thinking I’d love to see this man live but sadly he passed away. So, when I saw that the Liverpool Theatre Festival had a Tommy Copper show, I jumped at the chance to go. Daniel Taylor a local Liverpudlian actor best known for his tenure as Sammy Johnstone in Blood brothers in both the tour and West End show was playing the Magician. Upon entering the St Luke’s Church venue, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I can tell you is that I didn’t expect what I saw. Daniel Taylor was the living embodiment of the late great Tommy Cooper. His voice, tone, mannerisms were nailed to a tee. ...

St Helens Announce Cast For Christmas Panto 2020 – Beauty And The Beast

15Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

St Helens Announce Cast For Christmas Panto 2020 – Beauty And The Beast

St Helens Theatre Royal is thrilled to announce the full cast for its Covid-secure Christmas pantomime for 2020, the enchanting tale of Beauty And The Beast. Producers Regal Entertainments recently announced that the panto would still go ahead in St Helens this Christmastime, despite a change to the previously announced show. Beauty And The Beast will now run at St Helens Theatre Royal from Friday 11th December 2020 through to Sunday 3rd January 2021. Tickets are on sale now. The countdown is now on to bring Beauty And The Beast to life on stage in St Helens, with all the high production values and comedy that audiences have come to enjoy. The highly anticipated show is sure to be a popular choice this festive season, especially given the lack of theatre productions over the la...

The Lowry saves Christmas by announcing TWO huge shows

15Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Lowry saves Christmas by announcing TWO huge shows

The Lowry in Salford has confirmed plans to go-ahead with not one, but two Christmas shows this November and December. The arts centre on Salford Quays will offer theatregoers the choice of the international smash hit musical SIX (27th November 2020– 10th January 2021) and family favourite The Gruffalo (12th December 2020 – 10th January 2021). Both shows were originally set to take place in the venue’s 450-seat Quays Theatre- but have now moved into the much larger 1,700-seat Lyric Theatre which can allow for 1m+ social distancing between each booking. All existing ticket holders for SIX and The Gruffalo are being contacted about the new arrangements. The new seating configuration allows for COVID-secure deep-cleaning of the auditorium between each performance and ensures zero ...

Hope Mill Theatre confirms RENT will go ahead this year and it’s set to be the hottest ticket in town!

15Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Hope Mill Theatre confirms RENT will go ahead this year and it’s set to be the hottest ticket in town!

Hope Mill Theatre has announced its hotly-anticipated revival of classic rock musical RENT will run to socially distanced audiences this autumn – with the 12-strong cast forming a ‘bubble’ for the duration of the show’s run in Manchester. RENT, directed by Luke Sheppard, was due to play at the venue in July, but the run was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The venue has been working hard and keeping updated with new guidance being released regarding inside performances and after much careful consideration are excited to announce the production is scheduled to go ahead as planned. Hope Mill Theatre will be operating with strict Covid guidelines in place in line with the Government guidance for the performing arts. This will include operating at 50% capacity per show with ...

York Theatre Royal pantomime goes uber local

15Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

York Theatre Royal pantomime goes uber local

As venues are still locked down York Theatre Royal is taking its pantomime around all of the historic city’s 21 wards during December and January The Travelling Pantomime’s pop-up show will be staged in non-traditional locations from community halls to social clubs and sports centres with all venues and performances adhering to current government guidance on COVID-19. In an unusual twist audiences will have a say in which of three of the most popular pantomime titles they want to see - Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk or Aladdin. Award-winning pantomime writer Paul Hendy is writing three scripts with the actors performing whichever show the audience choose on the night. The Travelling Pantomime will feature a cast of local actors, including entertainer and magician Jos...

Deathly Confessions – Liverpool Theatre Festival

15Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Deathly Confessions – Liverpool Theatre Festival

Amidst a global pandemic we laugh about death in these four darkly comic monologues. On an unseasonably warm September evening Liverpool Theatre Festival hosted this performance written by Emma Culshaw and David Paul in St Luke’s Church, the socially distanced venue for the festival, which is an iconic roofless, bombed out church building which has become a centre for arts and performance. There was a cautious audience keen to welcome back live theatre, the stage was sparse with wooden boxes and very little in the way of costume, lighting or audio effects, so it was the ability of the actors that was to keep the audience enthralled. First up was Thomas Galashan as a guilt-ridden ex-soldier revisiting the site of a war time tragedy. Telling his tale whilst swigging from a hip flask an...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Queer Shakespeare Project

14Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Queer Shakespeare Project

The Queer Shakespeare Project’s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s dream is an all singing, all dancing salute to the LGBTQ+ community, rehearsed and recorded entirely in lockdown. Thanks to these remote circumstances, the show, directed by Zach Waddington, features an international cast. The play opens with overlapping dialogue led by Philostrate (Kit Foreman) which becomes an overwhelming blend of emotive language of which key words are only audible, setting the scene of a complex play with multiple storylines and characters. Following this we meet Puck (Sadie O’Conor) whose costume and make up, together with filming location, stand out for their ethereal beauty within the show. Due to the circumstances of production, costume and setting does vary massively, but this glimpse int...

Crowd funder launched to create new The Wedding Present musical

13Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Crowd funder launched to create new The Wedding Present musical

Fans of indie legends The Wedding Present are being asked to back a new Crowdfunder campaign to create a musical based on songs from their 30 year career. It’s the brainchild of writer and director Matt Aston who met Tony Ereira, director of Leeds record label Come Play With Me at a Wedding Present gig last year, and he also loved the idea. “I first saw The Wedding Present in Derby in 1988, so you could say this musical is over 30 years in the making,” says Matt. “I’ll always be grateful to my older brother and his mates for taking his little 15-year-old brother to his first ever gig. I got a t-shirt, a set of badges and a nosebleed. Not to mention a new favourite band.” Matt and Tony put the idea to Wedding Present main man and songwriter David Gedge, along with an earl...

Leeds Playhouse and Opera North join forces for socially distanced live shows

13Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Leeds Playhouse and Opera North join forces for socially distanced live shows

It’s now six months since live theatre was first locked down but Leeds Playhouse are back joining forces with Opera North for a series of socially distanced live events over three weekends. Connecting Voices will take place across the various stages within the Playhouse bringing together artists and audiences safely to examine the power and expression of the solo voice as they re-engage people in communal creative activity. Orpheus in the Record Store is a newly commissioned piece by Leeds based beatboxer Testament and director Aletta Collins fusing spoken word and beatboxing with players from the Orchestra of Opera North that gives the Greek myth of Orpheus a contemporary Yorkshire twist. "There is much to say and share right now, and I passionately believe theatre has an a...