Simon Armitage Archives - North West End UK

7Dec

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Hansel and Gretel – Shakespeare’s Globe

A new version of the classic tale ‘Hansel and Gretel’ directed by Nick Bagnall takes us through a journey of abandonment, survival by all means and some slightly odd creatures luring the kids astray along the way. Ned Costello as Hansel has a fiery spirit who uses his intelligence and determination to keep the pair hopeful. Yasemin Özdemir as Gretel is just as powerful in spirit and never shy to show how angry she may feel, staying smiling all through the hardships of finding their way back home. Supported by an incredible cast, narrator Jenni Maitland is cheerful and engaging keeping everyone on their toes for what could possibly happen next. Photo: Ellie Kurttz As to where it goes, it is slightly confusing on what message we can take from this new adaptation by Simon Armitage. A...

Decades: 1970s/1980s/2000s – Leeds Playhouse

To kick off their delayed 50th birthday celebrations the Playhouse team commissioned both experienced and newer creatives to create short monologues boldly trying to meld the history of Leeds and events across the north over six decades since they opened their doors.. They are offering all six as the King Lear of monologues, or two lots of three like tonight’s offering spanning three decades. There may be some obscure artistic reasoning behind this but it seems odd to run them out of sequence as doing so might have added to their power. As a veteran of the eighties Leeds anarchist and squat scene it must have tempting for Alice Nutter to offer a sugar-coated version of that scene, but typically in Nicer Than Orange Squash she offers an often funny indictment of the hypocrisy an...

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Maxine Peake pen monologues for new season at Leeds Playhouse

Yorkshire’s Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Maxine Peake have written brand new monologues as part of Leeds Playhouse’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The Playhouse will be welcoming audiences back next month for the first time since November with monologues written by six writers offering their own perspectives on Leeds and the north playing in the Courtyard Theatre as Decades: Stories from the city. Leanna Benjamin, Kamal Kaan, Alice Nutter, Stan Owens, Peake and Armitage have each taken a particular decade from across the Playhouse’s lifespan covering the 1970s to today offering a diverse collection of stories firmly rooted in the North. Leeds Playhouse’s Artistic Director James Brining, Associate Director Amy Leach and RTYDS Resident Assistant Director Sameena Hussain will be...