Latest Articles - Page 582 of 737

2Mar

By Karen Morley-ChesworthNo Comments

North West

The Glee Club – Theatre by the Lake

The wheels of the pit shaft create the backdrop for this coming of age play, writes Karen Morley-Chesworth. Music has always been at the heart of mining communities - and the latest production at Theatre by the Lake takes us back to 1962 to join the five pitmen who aren't in the brass band but singers in The Glee Club. This is a beautiful ensemble of five actors who take us back to when coal was king and the men who dug it out, deep in the bowels of the earth, were hard-working, hard-drinking and resolved issues with their fists. The Glee Club is an outlet for emotion and sensitivity that appears on the surface to be missing from the lives of these men - and we get to enjoy some great singing. Under the veneer of laughter, the older men are still scared by their loss and experi...

Mimma: A musical of war and friendship – Cadogan Hall

2Mar

By Louise PennNo Comments

London

Mimma: A musical of war and friendship – Cadogan Hall

Playing for one-night only in a charity gala concert performance for the Prince’s Trust, Mimma is a story of personal sacrifice in war that seems glumly relevant in the current climate. Sadly, despite a 48-piece BBC Concert Orchestra and a starry cast led by Sir David Suchet, Celinde Schoenmaker, Louise Dearman, John Owen Jones, plus opera stars Ashley Riches and Elena Xanthoudakis, this show is uneven from the start and is neither musical, war drama, or opera. The opening scene set in July 1940 hints at conflict, but we then go back to 1938 and a Turin where the young Mimma (Schoenmaker, enigmatic) is at a family party. Her uncle and mother conspire to send her to safety in London, where Uncle Lorenzo (Jones, underused) has a café in Soho, as war fizzles on the horizon. Her uncle...

Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! – Liverpool Empire

2Mar

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! – Liverpool Empire

So, after saying White Rabbits this morning for luck brought on 1st March, St. David’s Day, I thought having the opportunity to watch the amazing Matthew Bourne’s production of the Christmas phenomenon that is “Nutcracker!” was already all the luck I needed. I adore Bourne’s productions, having seen the Red Shoes, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake twice and so was enthralled to see this luscious show and their depiction of the classic ballet about a wooden Christmas toy that comes alive. I adore the Liverpool Empire, having been brought up in Liverpool it always feels like home and has a grandeur all its own. The house was, as expected, full and the audience, like me, poised with anticipation as the curtain rose. The opening scene of waif-like children walking upon an empty stage glarin...

Idlib – The Uniting Church in Garden Lane, Chester

28Feb

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Idlib – The Uniting Church in Garden Lane, Chester

Written and directed by Kevin Dyer, and produced by Laura Duncalf, Idlib started as a piece of prose as a prelude for a play that morphed into a short story before becoming the script for a monologue performed online in 2021. Based on the story of a Syrian baker who wanted to go home and real interviews with Syrian refugees and escapees across Europe, it tells the story of a woman (Paislie Reid) who has hope. Drawing upon this background, the evening began with the making of bread, an act so simple and pure that it is a mainstay in many communities around the world with its rich metaphors resonating throughout religious communities from Christianity to Islam to Judaism. As Dyer mixed the essential four ingredients, adding a glug of oil and yoghurt to replicate the Levant, the guar...

28Feb

By Julia PanovaNo Comments

London

God of Carnage – OSO Arts Centre

Children get themselves into a bucketload of trouble these days. Yet can we blame them? After all, their loving, nurturing, “responsible” parents seem to do even worse... “God of Carnage” follows Alain and Anette Reile and Veronique and Michel Vallon (two seemingly happy, married couples) as they meet to attempt resolving a scuffle between their sons. We watch as their demeanours fade from respectable and polite to reckless and crude to a point where the situation at hand is forgotten and replaced with, well to say the least: Carnage. As the train speeds along beside the Vallon home, one wonders if discussion will get back on track. I was personally enthralled by this adaptation performed at the OSO Arts Centre. The staging of this production perfectly complemented its naturalistic s...

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Leith Theatre

28Feb

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Leith Theatre

The story of Jekyll and Hyde has had many a version or retelling over the years, usually focusing on Dr Jekyll’s battle with himself and his genetically mutated personality of Mr Hyde however this production takes a very different angle. The script sticks closer to that of the original text by Robert Louis Stevenson, making Utterson (Lorn Macdonald) the lead and having Dr Jekyll (Henry Pettigrew) take a back seat. The story follows Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer who goes to visit his old friend Harry Jekyll when finding a strange note within Jekyll’s will. This leads Utterson down a very dark rabbit hole when he discovers Jekyll has been helping out a certain barbaric and mysterious Mr Hyde. Building an obsession over capturing and punishing Hyde for his wicked crimes, Utterson finds himsel...

28Feb

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Acosta Danza – Hull Truck Theatre

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the dancers I saw on the Hull New Theatre stage on Friday evening had molten rubber running through their veins, not blood - so supple were they. Acosta Danza 100% Cuban, the brainchild of international ballet star Carlos Acosta, is a mesmerising concoction of fast & furious and slow & sensuous - with effortless acrobatics thrown in. The most fantastically hypnotic and unforgettable music assaulted our senses throughout each performance, of which there were five. Liberto, Hybrid and De Punta a Cabo were all UK premieres, and according to the programme, Impronta and Paysage, Soudain, la nuit were both back by popular demand. So, five rousing chapters, each telling a different story. However, I have to confess that I could...

Jack and the Beanstalk at the London Palladium

25Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Jack and the Beanstalk at the London Palladium

Michael Harrison for Crossroads Pantomimes today (25 February 2022) announced the return to the West End of The London Palladium Pantomime for a seventh year, with Dawn French and Julian Clary leading the cast in a brand-new production of Jack and the Beanstalk. For a strictly limited five-week run at The London Palladium, French and Clary will be joined by returning Palladium panto favourites Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers and Gary Wilmot. Dawn French said: “Roll up! Roll up! Much merriment and happiness and downright cheek and cheeks going to be happening onstage at The Palladium this Christmas with a brand spanky new Panto at last! We’ve waited two years to bring you Jack & The Beanstalk and I’m deblimminlighted to be part of it. See you there folks!” Michael Harrison, ...

Rehearsals start for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice UK Tour

25Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Rehearsals start for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice UK Tour

Rehearsals have started this week for the new UK touring production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice by Jim Cartwright. Directed by Bronagh Lagan (Cruise, West End) and starring international YouTube sensation Christina Bianco (Funny Girl, Theatre Marigny Paris) in the title role alongside Shobna Gulati (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Coronation Street, Dinnerladies) as Mari Hoff, Ian Kelsey (Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Doctors) as Ray Say, Akshay Gulati (East is East; The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Bolton Octagon) as Billy, William Ilkley (War Horse, UK/ International Tour, The Full Monty, UK Tour) as Mr Boo, Fiona Mulvaney (The Ferryman, West End; Silent Witness, BBC) as Sadie, and James Robert Moore (All That, Lion and Unicorn; Fanny & Stella, Above the Stag) as Phone Ma...

25Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Cher Show announces casting

The producers of the brand new production of The Cher Show are delighted to announce that the role of Cher will be played by Debbie Kurup, Danielle Steers and Millie O’Connell. The production features the actresses portraying Cher in three different ways throughout her iconic career, with Debbie as ‘Star’, Danielle as ‘Lady’ and Millie as ‘Babe’. Further casting is to be announced. With book by Tony and Olivier Award-winning Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, Peter and the Starcatcher), direction by Arlene Phillips (Saturday Night Fever, Starlight Express, Grease), choreography by Oti Mabuse (two-time Strictly Come Dancing champion) and costume design by Gabriella Slade (Six, In The Heights, Spice World 2019 Tour), the UK & Ireland Tour will open at Leicester’s Curve ...