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RashDash are back with a world premiere at HOME Manchester

9Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

RashDash are back with a world premiere at HOME Manchester

RashDash return to live action with a world premiere live performance of their Part concept album, part documentary Don’t Go Back To Sleep: The Lockdown Album The album’s 11 songs takes the words of people in the middle of a pandemic and turns them into song in this new production which opens on Wednesday 21st October and runs to Saturday 24th October, 18 participants from across 12 countries have added their voices to the album, including a mother in Milan, a professor in Britain, a student in China and a doctor in Sweden. RashDash sampled these interviews and wove the text into songs that hope to shine a light on the personal and political, the anxieties, realisations, and moments of joy when we find ourselves confined to our own homes. The trio say this show is pop, punk,...

9Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Seeds – No Stone Theatre

No Stone Theatre were developing a play looking at the legacy of Nikolai Vavilov when everything was stalled by the Covid-19 pandemic. So instead the focus was shifted to create an audio drama podcast drama series, the first of which has been released this week. The subsequent seven episodes will be released weekly on a Wednesday. Nicolai Vavilov (1887-1943) was a Russian botanist, agronomist and geneticist He was very concerned over the inability of much of the world to escape famine and worked to improve wheat and other cereal crops in the hope of sustaining the world population. He started the world's first seedbank in Leningrad as part of his ambition to create an easily maintained food source. Unfortunately, he fell foul of Stalin and was arrested and imprisoned in Saratov, dying t...

8Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Alty Fringe Announce Its All Star Festival Programme

Live Theatre returns to Manchester next month with a new Covid-Secure live arts event staged at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse over 2 weeks. Alty Fringe will showcase the amazing talent from our region and beyond, with everything from live theatre, children’s shows, comedy, and live music. The festival was originally being staged from Monday 23rd to Sunday 29th November, however an extra week has now been added and will now end on Saturday 6th December with even more shows to be confirmed. Event Organiser Max Eden has been working with the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse to bring live theatre and the arts back safely to the community, by staging the ‘Fringe Style’ series of events. putting in place several Covid safety measures which include - reduced socially distanced capacity in th...

Casting Announced for North West End UK Live at The Garrick

7Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS, NWE UK Live

Casting Announced for North West End UK Live at The Garrick

North West End UK are thrilled to announce casting for our one night only concert which concludes the first week of the inaugural Alty Festival taking place at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse on the 29th November 2020. Since our creation North West End UK has championed amateur theatre on the same platform as their professional counterparts, and this concert cements our belief that both genres are equal in every way. We have brought together three sensational multi award winning vocalists for a very special evening of musical theatre. Featuring some of the most memorable show tunes from productions including Ghost, Miss Saigon, Annie, Jekyll & Hyde, Matilda, We Will Rock You, Waitress and SIX, Bethany Heywood (Wedding Singer – PAP Productions), Sophie Lord (Little Shop of Ho...

6Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Connecting Voices – Leeds Playhouse

There’s no doubt that after seven months away most theatre lovers were so desperate for any live experience they’d watch pretty much anything – good, bad or indifferent. But that low benchmark was never going to be good enough for Leeds Playhouse and Opera North who have teamed up to create Connecting Voices as their comeback socially distanced mini-season of four very different short pieces. These two powerhouses have carefully crafted stripped down pieces almost devoid of any staging focusing instead on both the safety of the creatives, and the small audiences safely dotted around the Playhouse’s different spaces. It is a smorrebrod of styles that can be enjoyed in one sitting over a few hours that begins with Francis Poulenc’s short opera La Voix Humaine based on Cocteau’s play...

6Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Il Trovatore – Royal Opera House (2017)

Verdi wrote Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) – with libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano – hot on the heels of Rigoletto, with its premiere in 1853 a mere two months before that of La Traviata. German director David Bösch made his UK debut with his original production at the Royal Opera House in 2016 with this revival in 2017 overseen by Julia Burbach. The Count di Luna (Vitaliy Bilyy) loves Leonora (Lianna Haroutounian), but she loves Manrico (Gregory Kunde), the Count’s military enemy. Manrico’s mother Azucena (Anita Rachvelishvili) tells him how her mother was burnt to death for supposed witchcraft against the Count’s baby brother. Azucena intended to throw the baby onto the fire – but blinded by revenge she lost her own child to the flames. The Count captures Manrico and ...

5Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Alty Fringe brings live theatre back to Manchester

Live Theatre returns to Manchester next month with a new Covid-Secure live arts event staged at the Altrincham Garrick Theatre. The #AltyFringe will showcase the amazing talent from our region and beyond, with everything from live theatre, dance, comedy, and live music staged from Monday 23rd to Sunday 29th November. Event Organiser Max Eden has been working with the Altrincham Garrick Theatre to bring live theatre and the arts back safely to the community by staging a week-long ‘Fringe Style’ series of events. They have been working together to create a great re-introduction programme to theatre for the local community following its temporary closure earlier in the year; putting in place a number of Covid safety measures which include - reduced socially distanced capacity in ...

Imitating the dog are the first company to get back on the road

5Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Interviews, NEWS

Imitating the dog are the first company to get back on the road

If you had to put your money on any company having the balls to get back on the road in the midst of a pandemic a strong favourite would be imitating the dog. Over the last 20 years they have never been afraid of a challenge and they have been busy devising a new outdoor show Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show that kicks off a national tour at Leeds Playhouse. Co-Artistic Director Pete Brooks is hard at work with the cast at the Playhouse but says that a company famed for their innovative use of technology are taking inspiration from an ancient theatrical tradition for their latest adventure. “It’s not set in mediaeval times, but it’s a sort of mediaeval morality tale when groups of traveling players told stories,” says Pete in a break from final rehearsals. “The idea is that there is...

5Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Wait For Me – Online

In the week that we are told that arts jobs are “not viable”, I was introduced to a unique dance musical that brings together creativity and impassioned storytelling. It’s a traditional love story; two lovers meet, go through hardship, and come back together. But not every romance adds spirits and singing inner voices into the mix. The two guardian angels, unbeknownst to their human counterparts, are guiding and influencing them in their movements, as in their life. When the characters’ emotions are elevated, the singers add another layer to convey their feelings. It is a very clever concept from writer, Sam Cassidy, and one that culminates in a full-circle romantic ending. The lovechild of Cassidy and Ainsley Ricketts (choreographer, director and performer in the piece) was mean...

North West End UK set to go LIVE in rescheduled Covid secure concert

4Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS, NWE UK Live

North West End UK set to go LIVE in rescheduled Covid secure concert

We are thrilled to announce that we are performing as part of the inaugural Alty Fringe which is to be staged at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse from the 12th - 28th March 2021. The show, and festival has been rescheduled from November 2020. Alty Fringe has teamed up with the Altrincham Garrick to produce a 17 day long festival of Covid secure theatre designed to appeal to all tastes with comedy, dance, drama and music all featuring during an action packed month. North West End UK go LIVE with an exciting concert celebrating musical theatre on the 21st March at 7:30pm. Featuring three of the very best female vocalists in the North West, all award winning performers, we'll serve you up a mixture of old and new musical theatre anthems. Full details and casting for the show, as ...