Peter Quilter Archives - North West End UK

6Mar

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

Glorious! – Hope Mill Theatre

The fascinating story of Florence Foster Jenkins was brought back to mainstream attention by Hollywood in 2016. Hope Mill Theatre’s production of Glorious! covers much of the same ground but does so in a way that feels a lot more focused and a lot less condescending about the ‘worst singer in the world’. The ever-versatile Ancoats stage is, once again, utterly transformed. Clam shell footlights, a dusky velvet curtain and a vintage gramophone player set the scene. Charlie Hiscock’s Cosmé McMoon emerges to assure the audience he is not a pseudonym and that what we are about to see is all true. He also plants the core message: that maybe Jenkins was living in a cocoon, but that perhaps that’s a lesson for us all. The curtains open, McMoon and Jenkins meet, and we are away. Swift sto...

The Actress – Players Theatre, Cheadle

Lydia Martin is an actress of a certain age… her words not mine! She has decided that she no longer wishes to wait around for the decreasing number of roles that could come her way, and so she is set to retire to Geneva with her new fiancé, Charles, where life will be calm and quiet and clean. Set primarily in Lydia’s dressing room, this 2014 play by Peter Quilter takes us through the night of her final performance. We meet the key people in her life and try and get to the bottom of her monumental decision. First, a word about the design. Peter Thorburn, who also directed the piece, has created a very authentic space for this grande dame of theatre to hold court on her closing night. However, this set holds a secret – which I will not spoil here – to enable the audience to be transpo...

Curtain Up! – The Little Theatre

As theatre companies continue to return to live performances following enforced hiatuses from the Covid-19 pandemic, tonight’s performance possibly hits a bit closer to home than it usually would. Curtain Up! by Peter Quilter introduces us to five women who inherit a dilapidated theatre and set about trying to raise funds for its revival. They settle on hosting a charity concert, with a guest turn from the global megastar, Liza Minelli, who has shocked them by agreeing to appear. But when things go awry, the troupe go to great lengths to keep the truth from their audience. Directed by Eliane Davie, this is a gentle comedy very much reliant on the dynamic between the very different women. Carlton Players’ veteran Elizabeth Youster takes on the role of Pam, ex-wife of the theatre’s pre...