Tuesday, November 5

Tag: Original Theatre Company

Into The Night – Original Theatre Company
REVIEWS

Into The Night – Original Theatre Company

On the 19th December 1981, the Penlee lifeboat the ‘Solomon Browne’ was launched with a crew of eight men (including the coxswain), to rescue the crew from a coaster, the ‘Union Star’, which was in danger of foundering on the jagged rocks of the West Cornwall coastline.  There were sixteen lives lost that terrible night as the bad weather conditions made the rescue impossible.  The Original Theatre Company, in collaboration with writer Frazer Flintham and the author of ‘Penlee – The Loss of a Lifeboat’, Michael Sagar-Fenton, have brought together their skills as theatre makers, with North South who specialise in bringing the stage to the screen.  Writer Frazer Flintham had the difficult task of bringing together the historical detail, whilst always considering that the viewe...
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Theatr Clwyd
Wales

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Theatr Clwyd

Original Theatre Company and Octagon Theatre Bolton present The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conon Doyle at Theatr Clwyd. Sherlock Holmes is on the case to figure out the mystery of the Baskerville deaths and to try and break the chain to keep Sir Henry alive. But this is not your ordinary Sherlock Holmes story. This is done with a very clever and extremely funny twist. That being, there are only three cast members who play every part in the play. We realised very early on that we were in for something different when the cast broke the fourth wall pretty much straight away, talking to the audience and explaining part of the plot but many twists and turns were a complete surprise that kept the evening very entertaining. The cast were made up of Jake Ferretti as Holmes, Sere...
Being Mr Wickham – Original Theatre
REVIEWS

Being Mr Wickham – Original Theatre

When Pride and Prejudice is mentioned, many of us think back to the 1995 BBC version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Now Adrian Lukis who played Mr. Wickham in that infamous adaptation returns to the role in this live streamed performance at the Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmonds. In this one man play, Wickham is at home on the eve of his sixtieth birthday retelling what has happened in his life since his run in with Elizabeth Bennett and her family decades ago. Cleverly, this one hander is effectively produced for an online audience so that those watching can view the theatre at various moments in the show. As the theatres have been closed for so long, seeing the theatre lit up and the stage full was an exciting and heart-warming moment, even before the production had begun. Prior to the...
David Jason, Stephanie Cole & Anton Lesser for One Night Only
NEWS

David Jason, Stephanie Cole & Anton Lesser for One Night Only

Original Theatre Company, in association with Perfectly Normal Productions, is delighted to reunite David Jason, Stephanie Cole and Anton Lesser, the original stars of the BBC Radio 4 play, A Cold Supper Behind Harrods, for a one night only, semi-staged, rehearsed reading to be live streamed from the stage of the Oxford Playhouse at 7.30pm on Friday 11 June. The play, written by David Morley and originally presented on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 7 September 2012, will be directed by Philip Franks, who also directed the original radio play. Tickets are on sale now via www.originaltheatreonline.com  The performance will be followed by a Q&A with the cast and creative team. 50 years after the war that first brought them together, three Special Operations Executive agents meet once a...
A Splinter of Ice – Original Theatre
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A Splinter of Ice – Original Theatre

This is story of two friends, Kim Philby and Graham Greene, two ex-spies, one turned traitor and one turned author. If you're interested in the story of these two men and their friendship but don't know many details, don't worry: this three-hander tells pretty much the entire story of Kim Philby's part in one of the biggest spy scandals of the 20th Century through one conversation between them. Written by Ben Brown and directed by Alastair Whatley with Alan Strachan, the team behind the play which inspired the Oscar-winning film Darkest Hour, the play imagines the final reunion between them just a year before Philby's death, their only meeting since the latter was revealed as a member of the Cambridge Spy Ring and fled to the USSR. I say “imagines” because, though the circumstances behi...
Ben Brown’s new play A Splinter of Ice begins UK Tour on 8th June
NEWS

Ben Brown’s new play A Splinter of Ice begins UK Tour on 8th June

Following a highly productive and successful season of online productions, Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce its first live stage production since March 2020.  The UK Tour of Ben Brown’s new political drama, A SPLINTER OF ICE, will open on 8th June in Malvern and will tour until 31st July.  The production, starring Oliver Ford Davies as Graham Greene and Stephen Boxer as Kim Philby and directed by Alan Strachan with Alastair Whatley, has also been filmed on stage at the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and will be released online via originaltheatreonline.com from 15th April until 31st July 2021.  Whilst Sara Crowe will play Rufa Philby in the online version, she is unavailable for the tour, so the casting for Rufa on tour is to be confirmed. Moscow 1987 and th...
Good Grief – Platform Presents and Finite Films
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Good Grief – Platform Presents and Finite Films

Written by Lorien Haynes and Directed by Natalie Abrahami, Good Grief is a romantic comedy which takes us on a journey of loss, hurt, love and memories. Filmed on location at Coptic Street Studios, London, the one act piece follows Adam (Nikesh Patel) and Cat (Sian Clifford) after the loss of someone close to them over a 10-month period, taking us through different scenarios and many different emotions. The piece takes place in one room which is dressed between ‘scenes’ to create different places, from a living room to a car park and even a hotel room. The set is extremely basic, using chairs and cardboard boxes to build different looks and situations. At first this comes across as quite bland and uninspiring but as I went with the piece, I started to feel the lack of scenery reflect...
Birdsong – Original Theatre Company Online
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Birdsong – Original Theatre Company Online

Written by Sebastian Faulks and adapted by Rachel Wagstaff, Birdsong was first staged by Original Theatre and toured between 2013 and 2018.  It was hugely successful with 4- and 5-star reviews and was seen by more than 250,000 people in 75 theatres across the UK and Ireland. As we pass the 104th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, this play is a timely reminder of the severe loss of life between 1st July and 18th November 1916.  On the first day of battle a man was killed every 4.4 seconds, the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army.  The battle was described by war poet Siegfried Sassoon as a “sunlit picture of hell”. The play begins in France 1916. The Sappers (a team of ex-miners) were conscripted as tunnellers, setting mines an...