Stephen Tompkinson Archives - North West End UK

To Have and To Hold – Hull Truck Theatre

8May

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

To Have and To Hold – Hull Truck Theatre

The stars shone brightly over the city of Hull on Wednesday evening, but none shone brighter than those gracing the Hull Truck Theatre stage, when they brought to life Yorkshire playwright Richard Bean’s bittersweet comedy To Have and To Hold. The star-studded cast did a marvellous job with a wonderful script, on a magnificent stage setting. Before “curtain up” and from my vantage point on the front row, I was able to admire the stage setting of comfy Dralon-covered sofa, recliner armchairs, Ercol-type tables, corded phones and stair-lift - obviously a well-loved, but dated home of an elderly couple. The pair - Florence (Paula Wilcox, star of 1970s sitcom Man About The House), and 91-year-old Jack (Ian Bartholomew, of Coronation Street fame) - bicker their way through their twilig...

Drop The Dead Donkey – Liverpool Playhouse

15May

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

North West

Drop The Dead Donkey – Liverpool Playhouse

For an up-to-date satirical comedy on stage, look no further than Drop The Dead Donkey – The Reawakening! 34 years after first airing on Channel 4, the cast of Drop The Dead Donkey reunite for the first time, and for their first time on stage. From the GlobeLink newsroom, the team have been hired to be part of the brand-new Truth News channel. The original cast members Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Neil Pearson, Jeff Rawle, Stephen Tompkinson and Victoria Wicks reprised their roles from the TV show, with a touching tribute to the two late members of the cast, David Swift and Haydn Gwynne and the iconic and award-winning TV show is reimagined in this topical commentary on the world of 24 hours news. With original writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin (who also wrote Outnumb...

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – Leeds Grand Theatre

10Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – Leeds Grand Theatre

It is scarcely believable, but once upon a time British TV viewers had the choice of only four terrestrial channels, and Drop The Dead Donkey was an early hit for Channel 4. It was set in the dysfunctional newsroom of satellite channel Globelink, and its unique selling point was it was recorded just before broadcast so writers Andy Hamilton and Andy Jenkin could slip in some topical gags amongst the mayhem. For anyone like me who has worked in a TV newsroom it was an unsettlingly accurate portrayal of the damaged flotsam and jetsam who wash up there, with egos running rampant as monstrous presenters smile away onscreen before turning their ire onto the troops. That meant I was a massive fan at the time when you had to be sat in front of your gogglebox to catch your favourite programm...

Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – The Lowry

14Feb

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – The Lowry

The 90s were famous for a lot of things such as Britpop, Cool Brittania and the Teletubbies and casting an acerbic eye on the news at that time was an award-winning sitcom ready to take a satirical swipe at the great and the good of the day. Recorded close to transmission the gags were bang up to date and like Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You, it was must see TV for satire junkies. Aside from its topicality the show had a great bunch of misfit characters who were, like in any great sitcom, trapped together, in this case in a news station. It had a bumbling editor, George (Jeff Rawle), a womanising gambling addict, Dave (Neil Pearson), the attention seeking Damien (Stephen Tompkinson), perfectionist Helen (Ingrid Lacey) and the sociopathic Joy (Susannah Doyle). It was a workpla...

9Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Educating Rita – Rose Theatre, Kingston

Willy Russell’s Educating Rita is a story about a girl from Liverpool who enrols in an open university course with a nihilistic and hedonistic tutor. Rita (Jessica Johnson) who came from a restrictive learning background wants to learn critical thinking and to change herself and her life through learning. She tries to find common ground and a genuine connection with her tutor as she emulates his identity of a Scholar and intellectual. She tries to find purpose, an appreciation for life and to change her culture, lifestyle and identity to something greater. Rita moves her apartment, changes her company to university students, changes her job and identity to lead a more enriching and authentic life. While encouraging her tutor (Stephen Tompkinson) to find a love for life through pursuing his...