Wednesday, June 24

Latest Articles

Tennis Elbow – Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
2May By Paul ClarkeNo Comments
REVIEWS

Tennis Elbow – Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

The good folk of the Nitshill Writing Circle have gathered together to eulogise the life of writer and painter Pamela Crichton Capers, but the conceit of John Byrne’s first play for 13 years is that their late mentor’s career is one of utter mediocrity at best. This is a companion piece with a gender twist to Byrne’s seventies hit show Writer’s Cramp that explored the life of another mediocrity Frances Seneca McDade. Fans of that earlier work will relish his fleeting appearances in this radio play produced by Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh as part of their Sound Stage season. Byrne traces Pam’s life story from her early days as a pretentious schoolgirl in a crummy religious boarding school where we are treated to one of her dreadful poems, and the veteran pla...
Read More
Rocky Road – stream.theatre
2May By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments
REVIEWS

Rocky Road – stream.theatre

Having been a long admirer of Shaun McKenna’s writing for both theatre and radio I looked forward to seeing his latest thriller from Stream Theatre and I wasn’t disappointed. Filmed at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London, Rocky Road is a dark and quite intense thriller that has revenge as its central theme. Basically McKenna’s play is a powerful two-hander that explores not only revenge but the power of grief and the inability to move forward. Zoe (Kirstin Foster) moves into a new apartment and meets up with the buildings young caretaker Danny (Tyger Drew-Honey) and at first everything seems normal enough except (as we all know in any great thriller) things are not what they seem and soon we come realise the terrible crime that has brought Zoe and Danny to this place. To reveal an...
Read More
Freedom Studios offer free playwriting course with award winning writer Lisa Holdsworth
2May By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Freedom Studios offer free playwriting course with award winning writer Lisa Holdsworth

Bradford theatre company Freedom Studios is offering an eight week Introduction to Playwriting course this summer aimed at people with little or no experience of writing for the screen or theatre. The course will focus on the basics of theatre writing including character, story, structure, plot development, writing realistic dialogue and theatricality. The course will be run by writer Lisa Holdsworth, a BAFTA-nominated television writer who has also written several acclaimed theatre productions including the critically acclaimed Freedom Studios production of Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile. On television Lisa has written for Emmerdale, All Creatures Great and Small, A Discovery of Witches, New Tricks and Waterloo Road. She is also the chair of the Writers Guild of Great Britain....
Read More
Casting announced for UK tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
1May By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Casting announced for UK tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Disney’s Olivier Award-winning stage musical Beauty and the Beast today announces the cast to star in the re-imagined and re-designed new production. Staged by members of the original award-winning creative team, Beauty and the Beast will open a UK & Ireland Tour at The Bristol Hippodrome on Wednesday 25th August 2021. Courtney Stapleton and Emmanuel Kojo will play the iconic lead roles, Belle and her Beast, as spectacular new designs and state-of-the-art technology fuse with the classic story, bringing the beloved tale to new life. Courtney’s credits include Dear Evan Hansen, Six, Les Misérables and Bat Out of Hell, and Emmanuel is best known for performing in Oklahoma!, Girl from the North Country, Show Boat and The Scottsboro Boys. Also announced today are Gavin Lee (Mary P...
Read More
18 West End shows and an all-star musical theatre cast come together for a unique one-off concert
1May By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

18 West End shows and an all-star musical theatre cast come together for a unique one-off concert

After a record breaking on-sale in November, the producers of THE SHOW MUST GO ON LIVE! are delighted to announce 18 West End shows and an all-star musical theatre cast coming together for a unique one-off concert in the biggest West End celebration this summer. The show will run for seven performances only from 2nd – 6th June 2021 at The Palace Theatre, full details and tickets can be purchased from www.theshowmustgoonlive.com The concert will be hosted by musical theatre legends, Bonnie Langford (“9 to 5 the Musical”, “42nd Street”) and Trevor Dion Nicholas (“Hamilton”, “Aladdin”).   Bonnie said today, “I am delighted to be hosting this special night where all of these West End musicals will be per...
Read More
New Perspectives and The Brighton Festival presents: House Mother Normal
1May By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

New Perspectives and The Brighton Festival presents: House Mother Normal

New Perspectives and The Brighton Festival presents: House Mother Normal Directed by Tim Crouch, a digital installation on the fiftieth anniversary year of B.S. Johnson’s nursing home novel, part of Brighton Festival. Adapted from the novel by B.S. Johnson in its fiftieth anniversary year, New Perspectives present a digital installation telling of the lives of eight characters in a nursing home under the watchful eye of House Mother. Directed by Tim Crouch, the production, which can be viewed online or at 6 Dukes Lane, Brighton, merges the individual chapters of B.S. Johnson’s novel to give a moment in time from nine different angles, each giving a powerful perspective on what it is to live life and grow old.  Ron, Rosetta, Ivy, Charlie, Gloria, Sarah, Sioned and George. Un...
Read More
Money – Southwark Playhouse
30Apr By Samantha CollettNo Comments
REVIEWS

Money – Southwark Playhouse

Money. It makes the world go round. We all need it to live. But where does it come from, and does its source really matter? That’s the question at the heart of ‘Money’ by Isla van Tricht, a digital co-production with Southwark Playhouse. The Nyoni Youth and Community Project does great charitable work to help local people, but the pandemic has decimated its finances. Enter the Anders Corporation who have offered a large donation. Not only will it help the struggling charity and so many worthwhile causes, it will enable the charity to thrive – helping more and more people. But is it worth it? What cost does this money have? What are the implications of accepting such a large donation? How do the Anders Corporation make their money and is it ethical? The questions are real...
Read More
imitating the dog take on the Prince of Darkness
30Apr By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

imitating the dog take on the Prince of Darkness

imitating the dog are back with a radical new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula telling this gothic classic from the perspective of the novel’s heroine Mina Harker. Written and directed by imitating the dog’s co-artistic directors Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, Dracula: The Untold Story will open at Leeds Playhouse from 25th Sept – 9th Oct ahead of a UK tour. New Year’s Eve 1965, London, England. Just before midnight, as revellers celebrate the beginning of another year, a young woman enters Marylebone Police Station and confesses to a brutal murder. She claims to be Mina Harker, the last living survivor of the intrepid group that brought about Count Dracula’s destruction some 70 years before. But Mina Harker has not been seen since 1901, and if she were alive she would be ninety...
Read More
Leeds Playhouse announce summer season and their big festive show
30Apr By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Leeds Playhouse announce summer season and their big festive show

As part of its 50th anniversary year Leeds Playhouse has announced a bold summer season and Wendy & Peter Pan will be the theatre’s now traditional festive blockbuster. The festive are now part of the city’s winter theatrical experience and this year family audiences are off to Neverland with Ella Hickson’s Wendy & Peter Pan. This adaptation of the J M Barrie classic uniquely retells the story from the viewpoint of Wendy Darling, with plenty of flying, laughs and even some Japanese video anime artistry blended with a reinvigorated classic British story. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be returning to Wendy & Peter Pan,” said co-director Jonathan Munby. “The new version will be created by an international team of artists including those from the UK and Japan. I’m overjoyed to ...
Read More
Incredible cast announced for the premiere of The Global Playground by Theatre-Rites
30Apr By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Incredible cast announced for the premiere of The Global Playground by Theatre-Rites

Casting has been announced for the return to the stage of Theatre-Rites, the highly acclaimed children’s theatre company who celebrate their 25th anniversary this year. Amplifying diverse voices from a team of international collaborators, The Global Playground will premiere at the Manchester International Festival and online this July. The cast is comprised of acclaimed dancers Jahmarley Bachelor (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, ZooNation; Mariposa: A Transgender Tragedy, Denada Dance), Annie Edwards (A Kate Prince Company; ZooNation), Kennedy Junior Muntanga (Phoenix Dance Theatre; Chotto Xenos, Akram Khan Company) and Charmene Pang (Iceland Dance Company; Isadora Now: A Triple Bill, The Barbican). They are joined by puppeteer and actor Sean Garratt (A Christmas Carol, National Theatr...
Read More