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English Touring Theatre Announces Phoenix by Mike Bartlett

6Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

English Touring Theatre Announces Phoenix by Mike Bartlett

New Mike Bartlett audio-drama read by Bertie Carvel in rapid response to the present moment, marking the beginning of a new lockdown. ETT (English Touring Theatre) announces Phoenix, an audio drama written by Mike Bartlett and read by Bertie Carvel, Olivier Award winners, who previously collaborated on the BBC’s Doctor Foster. The production is part of Signal Fires, a project conceived by ETT and Headlong to bring together over forty of the UK’s leading touring companies to tour an idea at a time when traditional touring isn’t possible. Phoenix was released on Thursday 5th November on ETT’s website and social media channels ahead of a release on iTunes and Spotify. Phoenix is a story about fire, destruction, and rebirth; about the impact an individual’s choice can have on the nationa...

6Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Wales

Missing Julie – Theatr Clywd

August Strindberg’s naturalistic play, Miss Julie, written in 1888, tackles a number of themes sparked by the author’s interest in psychology, including female degeneracy, class and gender conflict, idealisation and degradation, and hypnotism. Whilst considered a classic of modern theatre, the author’s own misogyny which pervades the work often presents a challenge to a successful production in these more enlightened times so it was with some interest that I turned to Theatr Clywd’s live-streamed reading of Kaite O’Reilly’s new version, introduced by Artistic Director Tamara Harvey, which has been freely adapted from Strindberg’s original to give it a twentieth century twist. Miss Julie (Sophie Melville), the heiress of a Welsh stately home, finds herself in a world radically changed...

Oldham Coliseum to remain dark until early 2021

5Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Oldham Coliseum to remain dark until early 2021

In order to safeguard the future of Oldham Coliseum Theatre and our vital role in the communities of Oldham and Greater Manchester, it is with heavy hearts that we announce that the Coliseum will remain closed to the public until early 2021. The Coliseum was less than two weeks from reopening with a season of Covid-secure, socially distanced events when the Government announced that a further UK lockdown would commence from Thursday 5 November. We do not know for certain whether theatres will be permitted to reopen on Wednesday 2 December, what the Tier system will mean for the Coliseum, or if - as reported - the national lockdown is extended beyond that date. We have cancelled our festive production of A Christmas Carol as we cannot guarantee at this stage that it can go ahead...

5Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

RENT – Hope Mill Theatre

Seasons of Love 525,600 minutes 525,000 moments so dear 525,600 minutes How do you measure, measure a year? The opening refrain of the most iconic song in Jonathon Larson's stunning 1988 reimagination of Puccini's 'La Bohème', never felt more timely and relevant than it did last night. As the first night of this radical and exciting new production simultaneously became the closing night, due to the imposition of the latest lockdown, we were left to ponder how much more the theatrical community has to do in order to be allowed to make a living in 2020. It has been 229 days since I last was allowed to review a live piece of theatre (329,760 minutes if you're counting), and I floated on air past the temperature checks, socially distanced staff and in house screens, just so hap...

Rob Brydon is to take to the road in 2021 with his new show

4Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Rob Brydon is to take to the road in 2021 with his new show

Award winning comedian Rob Brydon and his eight-piece band will take to the road next year with his new show, Rob Brydon – A Night Of Songs & Laughter. The new dates follow the huge success of his 2020 Tour, and together mark the first time Brydon has created a show that includes songs and music as well as his acclaimed wit and comedy. Tickets across the tour are on general sale at www.robbrydon.live This extensive new tour begins in March 2021 and will travel to almost 20 venues across the country, opening in Rhyl on Saturday 27th March 2021, and playing through until the final date at Northampton Derngate on Sunday 2nd May. Further dates follow in September–December 2021. With songs from Tom Waits to Tom Jones, and Guys and Dolls to Elvis (and almost everything in between), ...

Wrongsemble returns with innovative COVID-safe Christmas show for all the family

4Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Wrongsemble returns with innovative COVID-safe Christmas show for all the family

Family favourite theatre company Wrongsemble return this Christmas with HUMBUG: a COVID-safe family show that promises to delight and unite all ages. This innovative digital production will allow families to enjoy seven filmed episodes of this exciting story throughout December, accompanied by an interactive HUMBUG ‘Fact File’ filled with 13 artefacts sent directly to their homes. HUMBUG takes place deep beneath the city, where a secret world full of wonder awaits; a place where wizards bake endless gingerbread, goblins bottle festive cheer, and there’s a whole department devoted to detangling fairy-lights! This is the Ministry of Make Believe… But recently, strange things have been happening at the Ministry. From nose-less snowmen, to exploding baubles, and a forest of bald Christma...

Theatre not cancelled: All HOME’s November shows to be streamed live

3Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Theatre not cancelled: All HOME’s November shows to be streamed live

All HOME’s November theatre shows will now be livestreamed from their Theatre 1 stage • Shows including World Premiere of David Hoyle’s A Grand Auction of My Life were part of Manchester venue’s reopening season • All tickets available on a pay-what-you-decide basis • Announcement of Covid-secure livestreams follows Government confirmation that performances can take place without an audience HOME have announced that all the theatre shows that were due to be on stage in November will be live streamed from their Theatre 1 stage during lockdown, with tickets available on a pay-what-you-decide basis. The shows include the World Premiere of David Hoyle’s A Grand Auction of My Life, along with Javaad Alipoor’s The Believers Are But Brothers, Bert and Nasi’s The End and Beats and E...

3Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Little Wars – Ginger Quiff Media

Ginger Quiff Media’s rehearsed reading of Little Wars by Steven Carl McCasland, is an emotional rollercoaster taking place against the backdrop of a literary salon in 1940s France. Gertrude Stein (Linda Bassett) and her girlfriend, Alice B Toklas (Catherine Russell) host the get together and their guests talk about everything from their lives as Jewish people during wartime to the role of female writers and their work. Directed by Hannah Chissick, the play opens with typewritten stage directions, which create a nice sense of the period and nods to the literary theme of the play. A good way to take advantage of the online format, the stage directions which appear throughout the piece create a good sense of the action that we are not seeing during the rehearsed reading. The play is ful...

3Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

What A Carve Up! – Barn Theatre

There’s nothing the public loves more than a conspiracy. “True-crime” is becoming ever more popular. Podcasts and documentaries alike feed the audience’s appetite for a scandal. A showcase of evidence with an unravelling case and the viewer thinks that they’re more informed than the judge. Barn Theatre’s production satisfies this appetite with a helping of contemporary British satire. Six members of the influential Winshaw family are found butchered in their mansion. There is one clear suspect; the writer who is about to publish a tell-all account of their corruption. The writer’s son (Alfred Enoch) takes us through the case and exposes the coincidences and revelations that he has found. Enoch is the perfect narrator; instantly captivating and convincing. He guides us through the twi...

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: The Narrator – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd

2Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Tales from the Tombstone Tavern: The Narrator – Ameena Hamid Productions Ltd

The final episode of Tales from the Tombstone Tavern, the new six part podcast series written by Delmar Terblanche and directed by Jamie Boucher, is an existential meta-narrational crisis, which finds our monsters questioning their sense of reality thanks to the malevolent presence of the omnipresent and anonymous Narrator (Delmar Terblanche). An ominous musical opening dissolves into a panicked, blind and paralysed Vlad (Joshua Manning) who assumes that after a drunken evening he has managed to lock himself into his own coffin. However he soon realises there is more to his predicament than that and our Narrator begins to tell him off for his and his friends’ exploration of the deplorable genre of horror. The Narrator then begins working through the remaining monsters, pointing out t...