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Casting announced for Decades: Stories from the city at Leeds Playhouse

10May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Casting announced for Decades: Stories from the city at Leeds Playhouse

Leeds Playhouse has announced the six actors who will perform in their Decades: Stories from the city season as they reopen their doors for their 50th anniversary celebrations. They will perform short monologues by a heavyweight group of writers including Poet Laureate Simon Armitage who will be joined by Leanna Benjamin, Kamal Kaan, Alice Nutter, Maxine Peake and Stan Owens. All the writers have strong connections to the Playhouse, so have each taken a particular decade from across the Playhouse’s lifespan covering the 1970s to the 2020s tracing the city’s changes over that time. Isobel Coward will star in Alice Nutter’s Nicer Than Orange Squash, Eva Scott is in Maxine Peake’s Don’t You Know It’s Going To Be Alright and Cassie Layton performs Kamal K...

Boney M, Russell Watson, Katrina And The Waves And 5 Star Headline Hale Barns Carnival 2021

10May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Boney M, Russell Watson, Katrina And The Waves And 5 Star Headline Hale Barns Carnival 2021

Hale Barns Carnival returns for 2021 – and the hugely popular festival is bigger than ever with a brilliant line-up over three unmissable nights. When it was staged in 2019 the festival raised more than £100,000 for the local community. This year’s event takes place across the weekend of Friday 16 July, Saturday 17 July and Sunday 18 July 2021 – with demand for tickets meaning the live music has been extended to three evenings for the first time. Organisers are delighted to announce the headline live acts performing at Hale Barns Carnival 2021 are disco legends Boney M – featuring Maizie Williams, opera vocalist Russell Watson, and 80s favourites Katrina and the Waves and 5 Star featuring Denise Pearson. And as another new addition for 2021 a preview party concert at the Garric...

10May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Northern Chamber Orchestra return to the live stage to close its 2020-21 season

The Northern Chamber Orchestra will be joined by cellist and baritone Matthew Sharp to play works by Tchaikovsky and Mozart on Saturday 22nd May (5.30pm and 8.00pm) Matthew Sharp an award-winning, internationally recognised cellist, baritone, director, recording artist and educator. He is the NCO’s Artist in Association and has previously performed with Opera North, Manchester Camerata, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert includes Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme and Mozart’s Madamina from Don Giovanni, and socially distanced tickets for the concerts, along with online streaming passes, are available now from www.ncorch.co.uk. Matthew has worked with cultural leaders across music and the arts: in classical music, Sir John Tavener, Errollyn Wallen CBE; in...

Ross and Rachel – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse Online

10May

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

REVIEWS

Ross and Rachel – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse Online

What happened after friends ended? When there was no one to tell us that life was gonna be this way? After the will-they-won’t-they became they will? Ross and Rachel was written by James Fritz and isn’t actually about the couple we spent ten years screaming at the television to get together. An unnamed couple, in their 40s who are perceived to be ‘meant-to-be’. However, whilst he is still madly and deeply in love with her, she has doubts and feels that the relationship has been over for years. Then, like in all 90s/early 2000s sitcoms that we know and love, throw in a curveball… a brain tumour. With references to not only the fan-favourite sitcom, but other pop-culture films and shows too, the play is definitely a reflection on modern relationships, with a dark twist that touches on ser...

Les Dennis joins the huge-hearted Hairspray at the London Coliseum

9May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Les Dennis joins the huge-hearted Hairspray at the London Coliseum

Entertainment legend Les Dennis is to join the huge-hearted new production of Hairspray the Musical which is set to play a limited season at the magnificent London Coliseum from Monday 21st June – Wednesday 29th September 2021. As a comedian, impressionist, game show host, reality TV star, soap, screen and stage actor, Les Dennis’ showbiz career has spanned 50 years. Now, he is to return to the West End in the multi-award-winning smash hit musical as Wilbur Turnblad having previously performed the role on tour. He stars alongside Michael Ball, who returns to his legendary, Olivier Award-winning role of Edna Turnblad. Les replaces Paul Merton in the role of Wilbur. Following the delay to the production because of the pandemic, Paul is unfortunately not able to join the company due to ...

9May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Celebrity chef James Martin is hitting the road with a brand-new tour for 2022

James Martin Live will visit 18 towns and cities across the UK including a entertaining audiences with live demonstrations, cooking tasks and featuring some very special guests. And the exciting and fast-moving show includes a date at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Sunday March 20th 2022. Tickets go on sale at 10am Friday May 7th from www.ticketmaster.co.uk James has been entertaining and educating the nation for almost three decades with his expert culinary skills both on screen and through his best-selling cookbooks. Following the phenomenal success of his previous tours, with James Martin Live audiences can expect to be dazzled as James rustles up mouth-watering dishes with complimentary courses of fun and laughter in this exclusive gastronomic experience. And he...

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People gets its stage premiere

9May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People gets its stage premiere

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People which started life as a radio play makes its stage debut at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It was first commissioned as part of Pitlochry’s cancelled 2020 season and subsequently became a radio play on BBC Radio 3. Now it’s set to have its world stage première from 10th June to 4th July in the theatre’s outdoor amphitheatre as part of their Summer Season. Greig’s first new play since 2013’s The Events will be directed by Pitlochry’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman, and is a love story exploring the value of history and the power of writing. Lucius is a cultured Roman officer captured by the Picts and about to be sacrificed. Eithne is a wise Pictish woman, who wants to record her people's history in writing - a skill ...

Manchester all-female play ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ among the first in country to re-open theatres

9May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Manchester all-female play ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ among the first in country to re-open theatres

One of the first plays in England to take to the stage after lockdown will be at a much-loved Manchester theatre. HER Productions is bringing all-female play ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ to Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, from May 25th – 29th, after seven months of closure. The Covid-compliant show stars local actors Helen O’Hara and Susan Jayne Robinson, who play a couple who wash up on a distant shore after a boating accident. The 80-minute show, full of fantasy and plot twists, will also be live streamed on May 26th for those unable to attend in person. HER Productions was set up in 2019 by Manchester-based actor Hannah Ellis-Ryan, best known for her role as Coronation Street baddie Hannah Gilmore, who pretended to be Liz McDonald’s dead daughter in the controversial storyline in 2018. ...

8May

By Louise PennNo Comments

REVIEWS

Deep Blue – Paperwork Theatre

Riley is a woman of a certain age, caught in-between two worlds, above and below the water. Deep Blue is a show about what it means to belong and the importance of human connection when you live alone. Its Twitter tag is #StopLoneliness and the original music is by the Mono LPs. The four-person cast (Danielle McLauren, Tom Wilson, Edalia Day and Holly Phelps) play all the characters and the indie-rock soundtrack in this honest, heartfelt and humorous show from a company who explore theatre, community and workshops across the North West of England. Fully aware of both the changes in climate and the need for humans to have friendships, families, or a transient chat with a stranger on the street, Deep Blue presents Riley as an ordinary woman who creates her own little worlds while she s...

8May

By Rachel FosterNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Sorrows of Satan – Online

The Sorrows of Satan is a musical melodrama filmed in the ballroom in the sumptuous surroundings of a quintessential stately home in the South of England, which, follows a successful run at the Tristan Bates Theatre some time back, now returns digitally, directed by Adam Lenson. The team also behind The Fabulist Fox Sister at Southwark Play House, Luke Bateman and Michael Conley have reimagined the story of Faust in 1920’s London. Geoffrey Tempest played by Luke Bateman is a struggling penniless writer who chances upon a mysterious benefactor in the form of Prince Lucio Rimanez. A tense and provocative mix of comedy, thought provoking and humorous slapstick unravels. This performance is intriguing, sometimes dark and claustrophobic. The set and lighting gave it an authentic at...