Monday, February 16

Latest Articles

Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London – Edinburgh Fringe
23Aug By Donna M DayNo Comments
Scotland

Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London – Edinburgh Fringe

Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London - Edinburgh Fringe Alex – Or, What Happened on the Train to London, is a new musical about an encounter a group of strangers have on a train to London. Dave is a student on his way to university in London, Alex is a fed-up student whose future career in childcare has become uninspiring, Marc has recently been jilted by his fiancée, Kate is a nervous young mother, and Emma is making her first major journey. Together with Rob, the train conductor, and an abandoned briefcase, these strangers battle with their own uncertainty in a fun musical set entirely in a single train carriage. The set consists of six chairs with the small band of musicians set off to the side. When the musical opens the abandoned briefcase sits ominously on one of the...
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Madame Modjeska’s Fairytale – Edinburgh Fringe
23Aug By Donna M DayNo Comments
Scotland

Madame Modjeska’s Fairytale – Edinburgh Fringe

Madame’s Modjeska’s Fairytale, co-produced by Counter Balance Theater and Helena Modjeska Foundation, is a beautiful piece of art, combining beautiful illustration, hypnotic narration, and original physical theatre and expressive dance. Adapted and directed by Annie Loui, and based on the original text and illustrations from Titi, Nunu, Klemobolo or the Adventures of Two Lilac Boys and a Six-legged dog, by Madame Helena Modjeska, this is a pretty and unique adaption. The piece opens with an embroidered book cover creaking open, and hand drawn illustrations dated 1896. A dedication to a grandchild is the opening to the magical and strange world of the fairytale, narrated in the dulcet tones of Ellen Dubin. Beautiful art and stunning footage are bordered by the page edges of the book t...
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Northern Ballet are back with three Yorkshire shows
22Aug By Paul ClarkeNo Comments
NEWS

Northern Ballet are back with three Yorkshire shows

Northern Ballet are back with a trio of shows including a brand-new production of Merlin, the return of David Nixon’s bodice ripping Dangerous Liaisons and the world première of a new children's ballet Pinocchio.  Merlin will be one of the first productions created during the pandemic to visit theatres across the country. Following its world première in Nottingham in September, Merlin tours to Hull New Theatre, Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, Leeds Grand Theatre.  Created by the British choreographer Drew McOnie, Merlin tells the tale of a young and inexperienced sorcerer mastering his magic to unite a warring kingdom. The ballet explores Merlin’s teenage impulses and his quest for acceptance set against a backdrop of conflict and divide. For Olivier winner...
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Drama takes to the Leeds Liverpool Canal
22Aug By Paul ClarkeNo Comments
NEWS

Drama takes to the Leeds Liverpool Canal

This September the Leeds Liverpool Canal will become a moving stage as traditional 1930s canal boat The Ribble hosts a play discovering how the waterway and River Aire have shaped local communities. This Island’s Mine is part play and part friendly chat around the kitchen table as audiences join two characters played by Claire-Marie Seddon and Steve Scott-Bottoms in conversation as the boat tours Yorkshire’s Aire Valley discovering the rich history and heritage of West Yorkshire’s waterways.  Using simple props and humour friends Barbara and Danny, who grew up in Dockfield, Shipley, help audience members can help the characters build a map detailing the history of the waterways and shared stories which will be displayed at Leeds Industrial Museum in Armley. “Dockfield, is a s...
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AngloViking Invasion Before Naptime – Edinburgh Fringe Festival
20Aug By Melissa JonesNo Comments
Scotland

AngloViking Invasion Before Naptime – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Thor and Joshua were right. No one saw an invasion quite like this one. As Joshua Mason Wood waited on a boat with his bohemian parents, Thor Stenhaug stopped by the job centre and stumbled into comedy. The result? For the cost of nothing, you can see them for free. Yes, the Edinburgh Fringe is notorious for being hit and miss with it’s coming and goings of rising stars, especially amongst the free arm of the festival. But these guys stand out amongst what can be tawdry offerings of festival’s past and find themselves somewhere on the journey to paid tickets. While this may not be the gem of the Fringe (yet), they are the gem of the Free Fringe. Appreciating Stand Up is based on taste, and while I thought Stenhaug at times a little safe and Mason-Wood a little too crude, it’s undenia...
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Murmur – Camden Fringe
20Aug By Donna M DayNo Comments
London

Murmur – Camden Fringe

Magpie’s Murmur, written and directed by Susanne Colleary, is a surreal fairy tale audio play, which explores trust and confidence against a backdrop of rich and intricate sound effects and a bizarre and original story of friendship and encounters with strangers. Ren (Orla McSharry) is the expectant mother of Baba who lives in a ramshackle dwelling in the woods. Mag (Isabel Claffey) spots her and points her out to Bee (Sandra O’Malley) who then invades Ren’s home and mind with talk of health and safety, responsibility and welfare, before offering a number of solutions. But this Emperor’s New Clothes style tale teaches Ren that not everything or everyone is as they seem, and the best person to keep her and Baba safe, is probably Ren herself. Haunting singing throughout the piece pairs...
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The Complications of Being Ernest – Edinburgh Fringe Festival
20Aug By Nicky LambertNo Comments
Scotland

The Complications of Being Ernest – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Take a famous Oscar Wilde play, throw in some actors with personal problems, questionable acting ability and over-large egos, perform the whole thing via Zoom and what do you have? An absolutely hilarious hour of entertainment written by Kieron Rees and brought to you by The Unknown Theatre Company. The entire play is done live via Zoom and you watch it via Zoom but with your own camera turned off and the sound muted. We join the actors a few minutes before the play starts and unbeknown to them, we have all been let in out of the Zoom waiting room so we see and hear all their issues with each other. Jen and Ren (Vicky Davies and Michelle Kay) are scrapping over Ben (Harri Herniman) and Shaun, the Director (David Millard) is a man on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Rebecca (Kimber...
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Tell Me Straight – King’s Head Theatre
19Aug By Gaurav SinghNo Comments
London

Tell Me Straight – King’s Head Theatre

Tell Me Straight is a new two-hander play written by Paul Bradshaw about a gay man on a path to self-improvement. Staged as part of the Queer Season at the King’s Head Theatre, the show is produced by Gartland Productions and directed by Imogen Hudson-Clayton. With inimitable performances and quick-witted dialogues, the audience witnesses the many layers to dating in the modern age and how our relationships with our sexuality, identity and self-worth are far more intertwined than what we perceive.  The lead character, played by Bradshaw, has set himself a solid 30-day plan to bring order back to his life – no booze, no fast food and most importantly, no more random hookups. His friend Dani (voiced by Stephanie Levi-John), whose disembodied presence is manifested through funny voice...
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Dark Spirits, Black Humour – Edinburgh Fringe
19Aug By Nicky LambertNo Comments
Scotland

Dark Spirits, Black Humour – Edinburgh Fringe

Billed as “a love letter to haunted stages, story-soaked speakeasies and the other strange places and lengths we go to find community”, ‘Dark Spirits, Black Humour’ is a one man show presented by InHouse Theatre and Assembly. The platform is Zoom so he can see us and we can all see each other. The setting is a low lit, atmospheric cocktail bar with our barman, played by Mark Jude Sullivan. He’s very personable and immediately likable. He spends some time mixing a (very strong) cocktail and speaking about the ingredients. He then encourages us all to share something or someone we would wish to commemorate from the past year and most of us do this, myself included. He offers condolences to those of us who wish to commemorate a lost loved one. He then goes on to tell a story from his li...
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Jersey Boys – Trafalgar Theatre
19Aug By Eugene GriffinNo Comments
London

Jersey Boys – Trafalgar Theatre

Jersey Boys has always been a huge favourite amongst the group of Jukebox Musicals. It is not difficult to see why: A compelling story to success, the music of the Four Seasons is perfectly structured and paced to allow each member of the Four Seasons to have their full character explored through monologues, which are spoken directly to the audience. Brickman and Elice’s book moves at a thunderous pace with numerous scene changes happening within a single song. As soon as the show opens, you are whisked away with Tommy De Vito’s snappy account of the boys meeting and the formation of the group. Benjamin Yates' performance as Tommy bounces off the stage with energy, wit and humour- a great way to open the show! A recent Mountview graduate, Ben Joyce takes on Frankie Valli with youthfu...
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