Saturday, December 6

Latest Articles

Now or Never – The Barn Theatre
2Apr By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

Now or Never – The Barn Theatre

The Barn Theatre present an ambitious ‘one-shot’ song cycle for their latest lockdown offering, Now or Never. Matthew Harvey has written a collection of songs exploring how seven characters face a potentially life changing world event.  His aim was to look at individual responses to global adversity without referencing the pandemic.  Whilst he has managed to do this to an extent, the spectre of COVID-19 and its long-term impact looms large over the production, as characters decide to travel more, love without reservation, embrace adventure or quit that soul-destroying job. The songs are well sung by a talented cast (with standout performances from Irvine Iqbal, Ahmed Hamad and Eloise Davies) and Creative Director Ryan Carter provides the innovative approach as the audience are...
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Flavour Text – Chronic Insanity
2Apr By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

Flavour Text – Chronic Insanity

Flavour Text is a new interactive online theatre piece by Nottingham-based company Chronic Insanity that invites the audience to participate in an internet-wide treasure hunt on their laptops. Part of Chronic Insanity’s 12 shows in 12 months, it is directed and designed by Joe Strickland and is produced by Charlotte Holder. The show is experienced across numerous different websites, online forums and chat threads that help you uncover the truth about several people who have gone missing in and around Bermondsey in South East London. Described as “the written equivalent of a found footage film” by the creative team, this show asks you to put aside your conventional notions of “online theatre” and instead, put on your detective hat as you wade through a series of hidden clues, discreet co...
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Spotlight on David Shopland and Shereen Roushbaiani, Co-writers of Saving Britney and Saving Britney: Prologue
1Apr By Caroline WorswickNo Comments
Interviews

Spotlight on David Shopland and Shereen Roushbaiani, Co-writers of Saving Britney and Saving Britney: Prologue

A few months ago, Britney Spears superfan Jean was ready to tell the world her story Saving Britney, live from The Old Red Lion Theatre in the heart of Islington... until the government placed the country in lockdown.  Jean has agreed to host a very special and exclusive Facebook Live session only available digitally via The Old Red Lion Theatre website. Join her as she attempts to make sense of the pop princess in the age of conservatorship, cyberbullying and the #MeToo movement in the pre-show Saving Britney: Prologue in advance of the live show co-devised by David Shopland and Shereen Roushbaiani.  We caught up with David and Shereen to shed some further light on this exciting new play. Please follow the link for Saving Britney: Prologue tickets https://www.oldredliontheatr...
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream – SHAKE Festival
1Apr By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – SHAKE Festival

For one night only, SHAKE Festival presented a confident, rehearsed reading of Shakespeare’s much beloved romantic comedy, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ starring Rebecca Hall (Titania/Hyppolita), Luisa Omielan (Bottom/Pyramus) and Dan Stevens (Oberon/Theseus). Set in a mystical woodland surrounding Athens, and loaded with a dizzying fizz of magic, love, and poetry, one of Shakespeare’s most accessible plays was brought into our homes live via Zoom and served a delightful and welcome addition to the many online productions that have graced our computers and devices during lockdown. Given that the play explores inner desire, passions, sexuality and gender, tonight’s reading maintained a somewhat traditional and straightforward delivery of the work. That said, Director, Jenny Cannon Hall ...
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West End women unite for a digital retelling of hilarious hit musical Disenchanted
31Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

West End women unite for a digital retelling of hilarious hit musical Disenchanted

The hilarious hit musical Disenchanted will get a showstopping West End digital revival, as leading ladies of the stage transform into the princesses we all know and love… but with a twist! Taking on these iconic heroines will be Jodie Steele as Snow White (SIX The Musical; Heathers), Sophie Isaacs as Cinderella (SIX The Musical; Heathers), Grace Mouat as Pocahontas (&Juliet; SIX The Musical), Millie O’Connell as The Little Mermaid (Be More Chill; SIX The Musical), Shanay Holmes as The Princess Who Kissed The Frog (RENT; The Bodyguard) and more. The production will be available to stream for a limited run via Stream.Theatre from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th April. Revamping the tales of ‘happily ever after’ in an empowering all-female musical romp, Disenchanted brings together a band o...
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The Storm Shepherd – a new interactive, audio experience for families from All Things Considered Theatre, in partnership with Alder Hey & Unity
29Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

The Storm Shepherd – a new interactive, audio experience for families from All Things Considered Theatre, in partnership with Alder Hey & Unity

• Tickets are on-sale for Unity’s first event of their 2021 Season – The Storm Shepherd by Liverpool-based All Things Considered Theatre. • The Storm Shepherd is an interactive, audio experience for families and is also the opening event in Unity’s Open Call Programme. • The Storm Shepherd is available to experience from home from Wednesday 21st – Sunday 25th April. Families who book will receive an online audio link and physical storytelling pack (pictured right) in the post. • At the same time, The Storm Shepherd will also premiere at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, allowing children who have been hospitalised the past year to momentarily escape their beds through this new, magical adventure. Tickets are now on-sale for the first event in Unity’s 2021 Season. The Storm Shepher...
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Cast announced for The Barn Theatre’s LIVE ‘One-Shot’ song cycle Now or Never
29Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Cast announced for The Barn Theatre’s LIVE ‘One-Shot’ song cycle Now or Never

The Barn Theatre have today announced the full casting and creative team for upcoming livestream Now or Never. Now or Never is a British song cycle with an exciting and ambitious digital twist. Now or Never is a song cycle written by associate artist Matthew Harvey, which follows 7 people as they each take a defiant act of positivity in their last week on Earth. The inaugural cast of Now or Never includes Eloise Davies (Be More Chill, Grease), Ahmed Hamad (Rent, Stay Awake Jake, The Boy in the Dress), Matthew Harvey (Les Misérables, Violet, Jesus Christ Superstar, Murder Ballad), Irvine Iqbal (The Boy in the Dress, Aladdin, Broken Wings), Lucy St Louis (Man of La Mancha, Motown, Beautiful), Katie Shearman (The Sound of Music UK Tour, Evita) and Courtney Stapleton (Dear Evan Hansen, S...
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Hairy Hands FM – Chronic Insanity
29Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

Hairy Hands FM – Chronic Insanity

Hairy Hands FM is a new immersive audio experience by Nottingham-based company Chronic Insanity that seeks to recreate a century-old urban legend inside your room. The story is derived from the real-life sightings of a pair of mysterious ‘Hairy Hands’ that motorists blame for causing numerous road accidents in Dartmoor, Southwest England since the 1920s. Combining binaural sound design with an interactive web app design, the 20-minute experience invites audiences to tune in to a fictional local radio station wherein something dark lurks about and the radio host asks for your help to put away this mythical creature once and for all. Written and directed by Joe Strickland with Hannah Parsons on production and sound design, this show was commissioned by New Creatives – a talent development sc...
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Don’t lose your head, SIX is heading to Blackpool this summer!
28Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Don’t lose your head, SIX is heading to Blackpool this summer!

SIX the international smash hit musical will head to the Opera House Blackpool from Wednesday 07th July – Saturday 10th July 2021 as part of a major UK Tour. Multi award-winning, with a spectacularly successful sound-track storming charts across the globe, this sell-out Tudor take-off has ‘an incredibly strong and powerful message. Boundary-pushing, genre-redefining’ (The Australian) and is ‘pure entertainment’ (The New York Times). Tickets from £20.00 are on general sale now!  Picture: Pamela Raith Michael Williams, Winter Gardens Blackpool Managing Director, said “We are delighted to announce that SIX, will head to Blackpool this July. The smash hit show has wowed audiences across the globe and gained a loyal and devoted fan base, it’s a fantastic addition to our reopeni...
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Love Letters becomes the first socially distanced play… for the second time!
28Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Love Letters becomes the first socially distanced play… for the second time!

Bill Kenwright presents the anticipated return of A.R. Gurney’s heart-warming play Love Letters to the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited season of only 32 performances from 19th May – 13th June 2021. Directed by Roy Marsden, Love Letters received probably its best ever reviews when Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove were reunited in the play last year. Their special chemistry led to highly acclaimed performances in this uplifting tale of long-distanced love and enduring friendship. The critically lauded production of Love Letters originally opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket to a clamour of four star reviews on 3rd December 2020. It was the first post-lockdown play to open in the West End since the pandemic began, before sadly being forced to close on 14th December due to...
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