Elizabeth Newman Archives - North West End UK

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

16Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

Writer Brian Friel is universally regarded as one of the leading figures in English language drama, a reputation which seems to grow with every passing year since he died in 2015. The style of his work, examining the transitional culture and politics in Irish society in the 20th Century, has drawn serious comparisons with Miller, Williams and especially Anton Chekhov. This Autumn, in a continuation of their recent return to form, the Royal Exchange has teamed up with The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to produce a spellbinding production of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’, Friel’s exploration of his memories of growing up in rural 1930s Ireland. The comparisons of Friel with Chekhov are a serious one; both writers work is set in communities on the cusp of radical change from rural to industrial ec...

19Sep

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dancing at Lughnasa – Crucible Theatre

Riveting and far reaching, a masterclass of storytelling. The Sheffield Theatres and Royal Exchange Theatre Production of Dancing at Lughnasa is inspired by its renown writer’s own life and Brian Friel’s powerful play is given an outstanding outing by the new Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Elizabeth Newman. Newman’s vision is crisp, captivating and concise, disregarding sentimentality and instead allowing the audience to witness the societal change on a generation with great intricacy and care. It is harvest time in 1936, rural Donegal, Ireland and we meet the five unmarried Mundy sisters. Their lives are marred with hardship yet laced with unfulfilled and often hidden dreams and in one season their mundane lives are changes irrevocably. Enter Uncle Jack, a clergyman of the...

The Great Gatsby – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

19Jul

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

The Great Gatsby – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Set in the grand manor of Jay Gatsby in 1922, Pitlochry Festival Theatre presents us with Elizabeth Newman’s dreamy adaptation of The Great Gatsby as part of their 2025 Summer repertoire. With a winding imperial staircase, sheer curtains that drift in the breeze, and a magnificent art-deco style glass chandelier, Jen McGinley’s set design establishes the splendour and veil over New York in the roaring twenties. The band sits atop the staircase, observing the mayhem below them unfold from behind their white-rimmed glasses. As in Pitlochry’s latest production of grease, the cast act in the play as well as making up the band. Accompanying the play with classic jazz standards, setting the tone for Gatsby’s (played by Oraine Johnson) raucous parties. The story unfolds...

A Streetcar Named Desire – The Lyceum, Edinburgh

28Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

A Streetcar Named Desire – The Lyceum, Edinburgh

This is a thrilling production of a great play by Tennessee Williams. It pulsates with raw energy and gripped the packed house at The Lyceum. The Pitlochry Festival Theatre production, directed with panache by Elizabeth Newman, has a stellar cast and an innovative creative team. When 30-something Blanche DuBois unexpectedly turns up at the small downstairs apartment rented by her younger sister, Stella, and her husband, Stanley, she thinks she’s come to the wrong address. Blanche was expecting something better than this poky apartment in a poor area of New Orleans ironically called ‘Elysian Fields’. Blanche has been used to the grandeur of Belle Reve, the family plantation in Mississippi. But although Blanche has a trunk full of pretty clothes, she has to admit to Stella that ...

Elizabeth Newman talks about Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s 2024 Summer season

28May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Elizabeth Newman talks about Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s 2024 Summer season

Under Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman’s astute leadership Pitlochry Festival Theatre has not only undergone a massive refurbishment but delivered a range of challenging and popular pieces of work for their loyal Perthshire audience. This year’s summer season in their Main Auditorium includes a revival of the 80s classic Footloose, and their version of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. There’s also a world première of Frances Poet’s new stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and the welcome return of the theatre’s award-winning production of Shirley Valentine that really pulled in the crowds last time they staged it. In The Studio space there are premières of Harry Mould’s new play The Brenda Line, and a production of Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed. Outside i...

Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman talks about the new season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre

27Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman talks about the new season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Since taking over at Pitlochry Festival Theatre Elizabeth Newman has delivered some really exciting work as their Artistic Director, as well as working round a multi-million pounds refurbishment of the Perthshire venue. The new look theatre now has a main auditorium, a studio space where they can try out new work and even an outdoor amphitheatre where customers take a punt on the Scottish weather. They've recruited a 20 strong ensemble of actors for their new season, which includes a world premiere of a new Peter Arnott play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Noel Coward's Brief Encounter and a long awaited revival of Broadway classic Gypsy in May. Our Features Editor Paul Clarke spoke to Elizabeth Newman ahead of the new season. Astonishingly it's been 20 years since there's been a produ...

Sunshine on Leith – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

9Jun

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Sunshine on Leith – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

Just before closing for renovations, the iconic King’s theatre is lifting its curtain to David Shrusbsole’s latest version of Sunshine on Leith, an essential musical by Scottish playwright Stephen Greenhorn which was first performed in 2007 and subsequently adapted to the big screen in 2013. Directed by the harmonious tandem of Elizabeth Newman & Ben Occhipinti, this time it is the well established Pitlochry Festival Theatre in collaboration with Capital Theatre to bring this renovated version of the play to the Scottish capital. In essence, Sunshine on Leith is an open love letter to Edinburgh. By using memorable songs from the Proclaimers-Scotland’s most beloved twins-it manages to tell a universal story of belonging and finding your place in the world. In Newman’s words: “[Sun...

Donald and Benoit are at Pitlochry Festival Theatre this Christmas

26Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Donald and Benoit are at Pitlochry Festival Theatre this Christmas

Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Prime Theatre are staging new audio play Donald and Benoit as their Christmas treat. This whimsical and musical tale for children tells the tale an unlikely friendship between a man and a cat that has been brought to vivid life by playwright John Patrick Byrne and adapted by award winning theatre maker Jeanine Byrne. Benoit lives a life of mundane ordinariness in his Scottish seaside town, but he is feeling very lonely with no mother and his father lost at sea. Enter Donald, a small and mischievous kitten, to cheer him up. Sound Stage is a new audio-digital venture, designed by theatre makers and leading technologists, giving audiences a unique and engrossing online theatre experience of new plays from the best in British theatre which in the future ...

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People gets its stage premiere

9May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People gets its stage premiere

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People which started life as a radio play makes its stage debut at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It was first commissioned as part of Pitlochry’s cancelled 2020 season and subsequently became a radio play on BBC Radio 3. Now it’s set to have its world stage première from 10th June to 4th July in the theatre’s outdoor amphitheatre as part of their Summer Season. Greig’s first new play since 2013’s The Events will be directed by Pitlochry’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman, and is a love story exploring the value of history and the power of writing. Lucius is a cultured Roman officer captured by the Picts and about to be sacrificed. Eithne is a wise Pictish woman, who wants to record her people's history in writing - a skill ...

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...