Jasmine Swan Archives - North West End UK

13Jun

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

London

Babies: The Musical – The Other Palace

After a rise in teenage pregnancies a school sex education department felt compelled to act and educate their year 11 students by rolling out a 5-day project in which the students were given their own baby to ‘parent’. Let the mayhem begin. Babies is a new (born) rock fuelled musical featuring nine, year 11 classmates who whilst living through their own personal life challenges, of being teenagers and self-discovery dealing with interrelations not only with their families lives but with each other had the task of being responsible for someone else, a baby! The story follows each character and their personal journey and tribulations of comparisons, judgements and relationships. It is funny, energetic and uplifting peppered with real serious moments of challenges they face day to day. Rig...

The Full Monty – Opera House, Manchester

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of watching the comedic triumph ‘The Full Monty’ at the Manchester Opera House. Our director (Michael Gyngell), the show’s designer (Jasmine Swan) and the producer (David Pugh) has immense shoes to fill, and certainly did not disappoint. Being incredibly familiar with the show, and having watched it previously in an amateur capacity, I was very much looking forward to this brand new adaptation, featuring some well-known faces. The musical is cleverly adapted from the late 90’s British film of the same name, six unemployed Northern steelworkers, all low on cash, decide to present a strip act, for one night only, their local conservative club after seeing their wives' enthusiasm for a touring company of Chippendales. Danny Hatchard played the prot...

The Full Monty – Bradford Alhambra

The Full Monty was one of a group of films shining a light on the traumatic impact Thatcherism had on Northern communities, but unlike the risible Billy Elliot it did it by never pulling its punches. Simon Beaufoy has adapted his movie script for a stage version of how six jobless Sheffield blokes fought back to become unlikely strippers and let it all hang out to pay off their debts. The stage version is far funnier than the film, although it still tackles some big themes including class, suicide, ageism, body shaming, gay visibility, and the utter corrosion of the human spirit when you’re cast on the scrapheap. Beaufoy wisely still holds it together round the core theme that hope can spring from despair in often the most unlikely of ways like getting your kit off. For fans of the m...