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A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Queer Shakespeare Project

14Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Queer Shakespeare Project

The Queer Shakespeare Project’s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s dream is an all singing, all dancing salute to the LGBTQ+ community, rehearsed and recorded entirely in lockdown. Thanks to these remote circumstances, the show, directed by Zach Waddington, features an international cast. The play opens with overlapping dialogue led by Philostrate (Kit Foreman) which becomes an overwhelming blend of emotive language of which key words are only audible, setting the scene of a complex play with multiple storylines and characters. Following this we meet Puck (Sadie O’Conor) whose costume and make up, together with filming location, stand out for their ethereal beauty within the show. Due to the circumstances of production, costume and setting does vary massively, but this glimpse int...

Crowd funder launched to create new The Wedding Present musical

13Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Crowd funder launched to create new The Wedding Present musical

Fans of indie legends The Wedding Present are being asked to back a new Crowdfunder campaign to create a musical based on songs from their 30 year career. It’s the brainchild of writer and director Matt Aston who met Tony Ereira, director of Leeds record label Come Play With Me at a Wedding Present gig last year, and he also loved the idea. “I first saw The Wedding Present in Derby in 1988, so you could say this musical is over 30 years in the making,” says Matt. “I’ll always be grateful to my older brother and his mates for taking his little 15-year-old brother to his first ever gig. I got a t-shirt, a set of badges and a nosebleed. Not to mention a new favourite band.” Matt and Tony put the idea to Wedding Present main man and songwriter David Gedge, along with an earl...

Leeds Playhouse and Opera North join forces for socially distanced live shows

13Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Leeds Playhouse and Opera North join forces for socially distanced live shows

It’s now six months since live theatre was first locked down but Leeds Playhouse are back joining forces with Opera North for a series of socially distanced live events over three weekends. Connecting Voices will take place across the various stages within the Playhouse bringing together artists and audiences safely to examine the power and expression of the solo voice as they re-engage people in communal creative activity. Orpheus in the Record Store is a newly commissioned piece by Leeds based beatboxer Testament and director Aletta Collins fusing spoken word and beatboxing with players from the Orchestra of Opera North that gives the Greek myth of Orpheus a contemporary Yorkshire twist. "There is much to say and share right now, and I passionately believe theatre has an a...

Laughterhouse Comedy – Liverpool Theatre Festival

13Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Laughterhouse Comedy – Liverpool Theatre Festival

Theatre is alive once again here in Liverpool, the Bombed-out Church is hosting the Liverpool Theatre Festival by Bill Elms Associates. Offering theatre from plays to comedy and even music. Its fair to say its been a rather odd few months with the Corona Virus but last night felt like theatre has never been away. Each pod was socially distanced, and it was seat service when it came to ordering drinks. Before entering your temperature is taken and hands are sanitised. The staff of the festival were on the ball when it came to safety. Last night’s entertainment was a comedy night from Laughterhouse Comedy. Opening the night was Compere Chris Cairns whose fast-witted humour had the audience laughing as soon as he started speaking. His humours and quick-fire nature started the night right. ...

9Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Rose – Hope Mill Theatre

Rose is sitting shiva, participating in the Jewish tradition of mourning someone who has died and sharing stories about their life. And this particular death turns out to be tangled up with her story in a way that is really quite unexpected. As she sits, she shares snapshots from her own life that sometimes seem a little disconnected, as she wanders through the images in her memory, trying to separate the things that actually happened to her from the movies she has seen over the years and the stories she has been told; recognising that there are some things that she just doesn’t want to remember. Rose begins by talking about growing up in a Jewish village in Ukraine, her relationship with her parents and siblings, and the civil war and its consequences. She talks about following her bro...

Revolutionary production Mr. Adam to make its UK premiere at The O2 in 2021

9Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Revolutionary production Mr. Adam to make its UK premiere at The O2 in 2021

Coming to the O2 this March for its UK premiere, Mr. Adam is a dynamically modern multi-arts cross-media extravaganza. The work of Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins has been transformed into a narrative piece by Kairat Kulbaev, Marat Bisengaliev, Vasily Barkhatov, and The Almaty Symphony Orchestra, who have combined digital design with powerful performance for a classical concert like no other! The production integrates innovative Black Trax technology to enable real-time tracking of 14 frames onstage so that compelling projections are layered with seamless choreography and symphonic performance to create a revolutionary approach to presenting classical music. CREDIT TIMOFEY KOLESNIKOV This live digital experience sees sixteen musicians perform live alongside pre-filmed scenes of th...

9Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Macbeth reboot set for this October

Tradition requires that a ‘ghost-light’ be left on while the theatre is dark, to ward off restless ghosts and protect its magic from harm. The lights are off, but the magic is not gone. A closed theatre is a perfect playground for mischievous spirits intent on wreaking havoc. Three witches usher, stage manage and execute the tragedy of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, two innocents trapped in a Truman-esque reality which is both virtual and brutal. This October, Big Telly Theatre Company invites audiences to draw their curtains tight, turn off the lights and enter the realm of the witching hour for an up close and personal theatrical reboot of one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays. Directed by the theatre company’s founder Zoe Seaton, this atmospheric Macbeth is a timeless...

32 Above Brings a Taste of NYC to Liverpool

8Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

32 Above Brings a Taste of NYC to Liverpool

As live performance begins again across the country, a series of socially distanced cabarets featuring West End stars and the city’s finest musical theatre performers will be staged in Liverpool this autumn. 32 Above is inspired by New York City’s iconic 54 Below and will take place at The Pillbox @ Frederiks on Hope Street, a street that is regarded as the heart of the Liverpool’s theatre scene. Produced by Musical Director, George Francis (Amelie, Liverpool Everyman Rep Seasons, Miracle on 34th St) and friends. 32 Above promises an evening of song led by the house band featuring George Francis (Musical Director/Keyboard) Danny Miller (Bass) Emily Linden (Guitar) Rhys Jiang (Drums) sound design by Will Miney. The cabarets will initially take place over three dates thro...

Shakers – RTB Productions / Liverpool Theatre Festival

8Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Shakers – RTB Productions / Liverpool Theatre Festival

It was an absolute pleasure, as always, to catch up with producer Siobhan Noble of RTB Productions and get the lowdown on their upcoming production of Shakers, written by John Godber and Jane Thornton, as part of the Liverpool Theatre Festival. Like most involved in theatre, Noble has had to put many a well-made plan on the backburner in 2020, so when opportunity came calling from fellow producer Bill Elms to feature in this outdoor theatre spectacle she jumped at the chance and began kicking ideas round with fellow creatives Margaret Connell, Jennifer Vaudrey, and Danielle McLauren. In a moment of life imitates art – two of the crew work part-time in bars –a play presented by four waitresses, each under pressure in different ways, and which describes a typical night at a bar called ...

My Beautiful Laundrette – Curve Theatre Leicester

8Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

East Midlands

My Beautiful Laundrette – Curve Theatre Leicester

Britain in the 1980’s – a time of division and change and this is the setting for an adaptation and stage revival of Hanif Kureishi’s screenplay from that era. First off, I must say that it hasn’t worn that well and suffers from some shameless stereotypical characterisations that modern audiences would find hard to accept. Having said that, the company under the direction of Nikolai Foster provide a lively and thoughtful rendition of Kureishi’s script and most of the acting is fine throughout. This is a recording of a dress rehearsal for the actual stage show from 2019 and it does show somewhat – the sound quality is poor and the staging does seem a little slapdash, which is a shame because I’m sure the actual performance would’ve been so much better (there is a fuller review in our ...