Bea Glancy Archives - North West End UK

2Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

A Christmas Carol – Leeds Playhouse

The festive extravaganzas at Leeds Playhouse have become a must see for Yorkshire theatre fans, and this year for A Christmas Carol they have thrown their big guns at yet another version of this hoary old favourite. This is director Amy Leach’s fifth go at Dickens’ classic tale of a damaged man’s redemptive journey, and it’s her biggest yet. She joins forces for the 22nd time with set and costume designer Hayley Grindle as they cleverly move the action from Victorian London to the cotton mills of Leeds. That works really well as it’s a reminder this great city’s wealth was also built on ruthlessly exploiting the working class. Unusually for a Playhouse festive show we are not in the round on the huge Quarry stage. Leach’s typically dynamic and witty direction makes the most of Grindl...

Escaped Alone & What If If Only – Royal Exchange

Caryl Churchill has been feted amongst the theatrical fraternity for over half a century. Through her associations with The Royal Court and Joint Stock companies and their exploration of feminist themes and sexual identity, she was in the vanguard of gender politics, her style of writing and staging drawing comparisons with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. My exposure to her work has been limited to a production of ‘The Skriker’ at this theatre for the Manchester International Festival a decade ago, so I was keen to delve deeper into her worldview with this presentation of two of her later works as a double bill. Photo: Johan Persson Helmed by Sarah Frankcom, who, as the acclaimed former Artistic Director of this theatre, knows the opportunities and pitfalls of directing in this uni...

Les Misérables: School Edition – The Renaker Theatre, Z Arts

This is the second staging of Boublil and Schoenberg’s Les Misérables School Edition for the fabulous Manchester Musical Youth theatre company during its ten years of producing award-winning youth theatre. With a cast of sixty-two talented young performers and directed by the phenomenal Dave Holden they have brought this sensational musical score to life at its finest. Les Misérables: School Edition is based on Victor Hugo’s humongous historical novel of 1862 that covers the twists, turns and tales of the French Revolution. Despite its inherent theme of adversity and misfortune along with the weight of the title, Les Misérables it is not all misery and no-joy-show rather it beautifully brings to stage the profound realities of our deep dark history. This well-known epic story follows...