Helen Parry Archives - North West End UK

29Sep

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

North West

Silent Approach – New Adelphi Theatre

Silent Approach is a sobering play depicting a timeline of emotional battles, with mental health, guilt and feelings of overwhelming shame to a place of “triumphant recovery”. Marcella Hazell is Rebecca House, a Lancashire serving policewoman who tells her story through an unfiltered lens. A raw hard-hitting portrayal of life as a respected functioning police officer protecting the public to a time in slow motion when she couldn’t even protect herself from her dark thoughts and suicidal ideations. The scenes are a hybrid between video footage to on stage performance which is becoming popular in small stage productions and is highly effective. At times it felt a little uncoordinated as the scene changes came quickly but this didn’t distract too much from the essence of the meani...

We Wish You Long Life – Synagogue Scratch at Manchester Jewish Museum

Performing as part of Manchester Jewish Museum’s inaugural Synagogue Scratch season, We Wish You Long Life, written by Amy Lever and directed by Helen Parry, explores cultural integration, shared memory, and family ties, when Steven (Robin Simpson), raised Catholic, is brought begrudgingly by his wife, Mary (Orline Riley), to a Jewish house of mourning for a person he doesn’t seem to remember. Father and daughter, David (Danny Ryder) and Katie (Lever), await the arrival of the Irish Catholic side of their family whilst food caterer Karen (Tilly Sutcliffe) begins to wonder if this is the strangest event ever. A Q&A session with the writer, director, and cast followed which provided useful background on the piay which began life as a ten-minute piece as part of a short play festival ‘...

The Day the World Came to Huddersfield – King’s Arms

Did you know that the UK’s first ever national Pride took place in Huddersfield in 1981? A diverse ensemble revisits this forgotten but significant chapter of LGBT+ history through a series of rousing vignettes. Unsettled by homophobic political figures likening sexuality to fashion trends as well as the lack of historical records about this unique Pride march, producer Stephen M. Hornby felt urged to create ‘The Day the World Came to Huddersfield’. The stories are inspired by those who attended it; adroit direction from Helen Parry and Olivia Schofield ensures each one is dynamic and punchy throughout. To kick off the evening, John Addy (Simon Hallman) recounts how his running of Huddersfield’s gay night club, The Gemini, became fraught with difficulties when new, anti-LGBT law enfo...