Emma Rice Archives - North West End UK

Brief Encounter – Church Hill Theatre Edinburgh

1Apr

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

Brief Encounter – Church Hill Theatre Edinburgh

Brief Encounter started as a play called Still Life before Noel Coward translated it to the stage with his immortal screenplay. Emma Rice’s highly rated re-adaptation of Brief Encounter for the stage meets both mediums somewhere in the middle. The original screenplay is pastiched beyond belief- even if you’ve never seen it, you will have seen at least one comedy skit. Married suburban mother Laura Jesson is passing through the train station when a piece of grit gets in her eye. Saved from potential blindness by fellow train traveler, the married Dr Alec Harvey, passions are ignited. The trouble is, it’s the late 1930s, and their burning love for each other is ruinous, so here their love story pans out against a motley crew of other travelers, clientele and servers in the train station c...

14Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Blue Beard – The Lyceum, Edinburgh

In the early 1400s, a French nobleman, Gilles de Rais, was found guilty of kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering children. He got away with his heinous crimes for longer than he should due to high birth rate and fear, amongst the lower classes, of retribution, should they speak up. This true story became the legend of Blue Beard and the children he murdered morphed into a series of murdered wives, whose mutilated bodies Blue Beard hid in the cellar. The fairy tale explores and warns of the perpetual fear, always in society, of abuse and cruelty forced upon the innocent and the weak. Emma Rice has reworked this famous Bartók opera into a modern-day musical, balancing fresh, boozy, party-loving female confidence against the scales of ongoing malevolence towards specific, known, w...

14Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Bluebeard – HOME, Manchester

Lighter nights and the promise of Spring is in the air as I sit in Tony Wilson Place outside HOME, Manchester’s gorgeous arts venue, which is finally delivering on its promise of new and interesting devised work as well as the best in challenging theatre from the UK and beyond. ‘Bluebeard’, the new offering from Wise Children, the company formed by Emma Rice in 2018, certainly falls into the latter category and offers an evening of music, magic and bizarre humour with a hard-hitting message wrapped in sumptuous theatrical style. We are led into this world by Mother Superior (Katy Owen), resplendent in the eponymous beard of the title, relating the cautionary tale of Treasure (Patrycja Kujawska) and her two daughters Trouble (Stephanie Hockley) and Lucky (Robyn Sinclair) as they become i...

Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre

8Dec

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of music in cinematic history, the dark strains being synonymous with the 1945 David Lean directed 'Brief Encounter', its tone of repression and guilt defining a certain very English attitude to love and sex in the immediate post war period. The film was based on Noel Coward's pre war one-act play 'Still Life', and this festive season the Royal Exchange Theatre has turned this melancholy tale of squandered opportunity into a quirky and witty musical using songs exclusively from Coward's extensive back catalogue. The resulting Christmas confection is a soft fondant of nostalgic memory wrapped round a bittersweet centre. The central love story is the paper thin tale of Laura (Hannah Azuonye), an upper middle c...

Wuthering Heights – King’s Theatre Edinburgh

26May

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Wuthering Heights – King’s Theatre Edinburgh

Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights takes its form as a creative and all together magical adaptation of the 1847 Emily Bronte novel: Wuthering Heights. It’s serves to tell the story of two young lovers whose social status, race and upbringing become their own downfall. Heathcliff (Liam Tamne) is a young man found and adopted at Liverpool docks only to live his life in the shadows due to his ethnic background and darker features, when he meets adoptive sister Catherine (Lucy McCormick) he falls in love with the strange and mentally unstable young lady. Unfortunately, Catherine has other ideas and instead of pursuing her romance with Heathcliff she marries another man to attain her rank in society and so Heathcliff vows to get his revenge on those he blames for the loss of his happiness. This ...

5May

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Wuthering Heights – The Lowry

“How is anyone expected to follow this? All the names sound the same and everyone is so very, very cross with me!” So, laments Mr Lockwood, new tenant of literary anti-hero Heathcliff, and our introduction to an irreverent and unique take on the Emily Brontë classic. For those not familiar with the text, it follows Heathcliff, taken in as an orphan from the docks of Liverpool to the wild moors of Yorkshire by the well-meaning Mr Earnshaw. He is bullied and resented by Earnshaw’s son Hindley, but finds solace in his friendship with daughter Cathy, which evolves into an intense and toxic love affair. The fact that Emma Rice is the wizard behind tonight’s curtain is the first and biggest clue that the famous novel is likely to have been turned on its head. Her short-lived tenure as A...

Flying Lovers of Vitebsk – Bristol Old Vic

5Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

South West

Flying Lovers of Vitebsk – Bristol Old Vic

As theatre continues to adapt to the restrictions of a pandemic. Wise Children and the Kneehigh Theatre follow suite as they perform live at the Bristol Old Vic for an online audience. Thank goodness as this is keeping the spirit of the theatre alive, while giving many the opportunity to watch a live show and enjoy a joyful experience, from the comfort of their own homes. Directed by Emma Rice, of Wise Children, (Wise Children, Malory Towers, Romantics Anonymous) the story is written by Daniel Jamieson. It centres around artist Marc Chagall and his partner Bella. A generally romantic story set against the backdrop of the early 1900’s. Chagall’s paintings made a beautiful use of colours and flying lovers were an ongoing theme that featured in many of his works, thus the title refle...

Kneehigh’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk Extends

30Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Kneehigh’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk Extends

Bristol will be going into Tier 3 when lockdown ends on Wednesday, which means there will be no live audience watching Wise Children broadcast Kneehigh’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk from Bristol Old Vic at the end of this week. But, as a gift to audiences still locked down round the country, and due to incredible demand for tickets for the live streams, the three companies today announce an extension to the show’s run. From today, Monday 30th November, the production can be purchased in advance and watched at any time from 11th – 18th December 2020. The production reunites the original cast Marc Antolin (Marc Chagall) and Audrey Brisson (Bella Chagall) with musicians Ian Ross and James Gow, with performances broadcast live to audience’s homes nationally and globally. To buy tickets for...

Romantic Anonymous Live Broadcast – Bristol Old Vic

24Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

South West

Romantic Anonymous Live Broadcast – Bristol Old Vic

Wise Children and director Emma Rice serve up a delightful musical comedy confection based on the quirky French film Les Émotifs Anonymes, written by Jean-Pierre Améris and Philippe Blasband, with this real-time broadcast from Bristol Old Vic. Angélique (Carly Bawden) is a gifted chocolate maker inhibited by social anxiety and Jean-René (Marc Antolin) the boss of a failing chocolate factory. Angélique is so timid, she faints when people look at her; Jean-René is so awkward he relies on self-help tapes and is prone to embarrassing sweating. When Angélique takes a job in Jean-René’s struggling factory, a fragile love affair unfolds. Funny, tender, and painfully awkward in moments we will all recognise, Romantics Anonymous – book by Emma Rice, Lyrics by Christopher Dimond, Music by Mich...

Emma Rice’s theatre company Wise Children bring digital tour of Romantics Anonymous to Liverpool

21Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Emma Rice’s theatre company Wise Children bring digital tour of Romantics Anonymous to Liverpool

A live performance of Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic and Plush Theatre Productions’ acclaimed Romantics Anonymous will be performed live and broadcast directly to Liverpool audiences on Tuesday 22nd September. In an act of industry solidarity, partner theatres across the world will sell tickets for director Emma Rice’s acclaimed musical on different nights of the week, with the Everyman & Playhouse joining eight other venues from the North of England for the Tuesday evening performance. Each night will be tailored to audiences at those different theatres, with a sprinkle of local flavour added before the stream begins. The musical, which will be performed live in Bristol Old Vic, is part of a five-day digital ‘tour’ involving 34 different theatres from 22nd – 26th September. ...