Month: October 2019

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh – until 26 October 2019

Reviewed by James Knight

3***

Frankenstein is a difficult beast – writer Rona Munro has admitted as much. It’s been performed through the ages, being re-invented and adapted countless times. Indeed, at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, I saw two very different versions: one a live silent film with shadow puppets and actors, another a beatbox concept album.

Another difficulty is how is the story relevant to todays audiences? This is perhaps an easier obstacle – the story of a brilliant scientist creating life from death and his creation ruining and destroying him is one that has resonated for decades, in moral essays, debates about genetic manipulation, artificial intelligence, and many other issues.

In this production, Rona Munro has placed a major emphasis on Mary Shelley (Eilidh Loan). Some productions would draw attention to the reason she wrote the book (a competition between writers to create the most frightening horror story), or the tragic losses she suffered throughout her life. Instead, Munro focuses on Mary’s choices as a writer. The show opens with Mary editing her writing – unhappy with that although she may have stumbled across some horror, the purpose behind it is not clear. Throughout the play, Mary questions her characters, delights in wicked glee at an upcoming death she is about to spring upon her readers and the audience (“It’s been a long time since somebody died…”) and unlike her title character, encourages the creature to wreak havoc.

At the opening of the second act it is unclear if Mary is writing the book, or if it is writing her, a concept that, if expanded upon would be interesting for audiences to unpack. But it is here that the production suffers – there’s a lack of clarity in what it wants to be. Is it the story of Frankenstein that everybody knows? Is it the story of the creative process? Is it a development of how the creation affects the creator?

Add to this multiple knowing asides that reduce the fear factor, the two hundred year old story is rendered rather toothless. Mary’s rage at powerful men who neglect the consequences of their actions couldn’t be more timely, yet there is little space for this as we are whisked along a pace with very little time to let scenes settle and relationships to properly develop. We’re expected to know the story back to front already, and this means that characters are thin.

It’s a shame, because the icy set with lightning trees by Becky Minto, and chilling sound design and music by Simon Slater sets up a tension-filled production, but with such a lack of focus, this particular creation is left stumbling around.

FAME – THE MUSICAL 30^TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION

TO EXTEND FOR CHRISTMAS RUN AT Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

Due to huge demand at the Peacock Theatre, West End the critically acclaimed 30^th Anniversary production of Fame the Musical will extend its current run will play for a strictly limited season at the newly opened Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, located in the heart of North West London’s new cultural neighbourhood from 21 Dec – 26 Jan.

Based on the 1980 phenomenal pop culture film, Fame – The Musical is the international smash-hit sensation following the lives of students at New York’s High School For The Performing Arts as they navigate their way through the highs and lows, the romances and the heartbreaks and the ultimate elation of life. This bittersweet but uplifting triumph of a show explores the issues that confront many young people today: prejudice, identity, pride, literacy, sexuality, substance abuse and perseverance.

David Da Silva – the conceiver of Fame who is known as ‘Father Fame’ – said of this anniversary production, “What makes a musical ‘a classic’ or ‘a masterpiece’?  It takes time. It passes from one generation to the next. It translates from one language to many.  It entertains an audience with both laughter and tears. It inspires youth with passion and parents with nostalgia. The brilliantly directed and choreographed 30th anniversary Fame UK production of the show by Nick Winston is the best I’ve ever seen.”

With full cast to be announced Fame the Musical is  presented by Selladoor Productions (Footloose, Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors and Flashdance –  The Musical) with Gavin Kalin Productions, Dan Looney & Adam Paulden, Stephen McGill Productions and Jason Haigh-Ellery in association with BrightLights Productions and Big Dreamer Productions.

Fame is Directed and Choregraphed by Nick Winston with Design by Morgan Large, Lighting design by Prema Mehta and Sound Design by Ben Harrison. Mark Crossland is Musical Supervisor.

Featuring the Oscar-winning title song and a cast of outstanding dancers, singers, musicians and rappers as they transform from star struck pupils to superstars. Fame – The Musical will indeed live forever.

Tickets are on sale now at www.troubadourtheatres.com. – 0844 815 4865 or visit www.fameuktour.co.uk  for more information. 

Harts Theatre Company and The Bunker
Little Miss Burden
The Bunker, 53A Southwark Street, London, SE1 1RU
Tuesday 3rd – Saturday 21st December 2019, 7.30pm

Little Miss Burden, coming to The Bunker this December, is a vital tale of growing up with a wheelchair in the ‘90s – a poignant new coming-of-age story from award-winning playwright and screenwriter Matilda Ibini.

Mashing together some serious ‘90s nostalgia, a Nigerian family in East London and Sailor Moon, Ibini’s new play draws on her own experiences as a teenager to tell the tricky, but often funny, truth about growing up with a physical impairment.

De-mystifying the stereotypes and tropes of disabilities, Little Miss Burden provides a crucial platform for disabled people’s voices, lives and stories to be heard. This is not a triumphant tale about overcoming a disability, but rather a meaningful and refreshing story of acceptance and understanding, of love and survival.

When thirteen-year-old Little Miss receives a gift, she must learn not just to live with it, but use and get on with it: they can’t both be Player One, and Little Miss needs to keep up with Big Sis and Little Sis. A story of self-love and sisterly love, Little Miss Burden follows the trio of sisters as Little Miss learns to understand her disability and how to live with it as part of her.

Matilda Ibini comments, The story of Little Miss Burden has been a long time coming. It felt apt to tell the story of a black disabled woman growing up in the UK at a time when a) the government is actively decimating disabled lives via stringent cuts to benefits and welfare and b) at a time when the country is calling into question its identity and in its crisis is scapegoating immigrants. I think the story of someone rejecting the labels and assumptions put on them is needed. If I was ever going to write about the disabled experience it was always going to be on my own terms i.e. magical realist as fuck, brutally honest and funny, because there is always light to be found in the darkest of worlds. And how existing at all these intersections isn’t a life
sentence or a tragedy but a key to freedom.

A THEATRICAL TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

A two-part theatre production that opens with a celebration of the history of Leeds theatres will take to the stage of the country’s longest running music hall next month.

Twice Nightly is at Leeds own City Varieties Music Hall on Saturday November 9th at 7pm

It sees two women, Gladys and Ethel, narrate the stories of a Leeds passed using the theatres and cinemas that once graced many of the city’s streets.

Its writer Liz Coggins, who also takes the role of Ethel said “If you walk from Briggate to the central bus station you’ll have passed the sites of where three theatres and four cinemas once stood.”

“Today they are department stores, office blocks and car parks but to the citizens of yesteryear Leeds they were places of dreams.”

Dialogue is mixed with music to tell the tales of the late great houses of entertainment and the people that graced their screens and stages.

“Magnificently built theatres and music halls were on almost every street corner – Leeds has a great history of entertainment and I want to share those stories with audiences young and old; I’m delighted to be able to do so at such a historic venue.” says Liz.

In the second act the production stays in the past but moves further east to Scarborough. Three Ships Came Sailing is a moving new work by Liz and was first performed at Scarborough Open Air Theatre in August this year.

It tells the story of the Scarborough bombardment, the first attack on civilian soil in the early months of World War One.

“Scarborough is a place close to my heart,” says Liz. “I have worked on its newspapers and grew up with my Grandmother telling me about the raid in December 1914. It resulted in 17 deaths and hundreds of casualties which had a huge effect on the sleepy seaside town and indeed on the country as a whole.”

Three Ships Came Sailing will tell the real stories of the people who lived through the raid.

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Twice Nightly and Three Ships Came Sailing

City Varieties Music Hall, Swan Street, Leeds

Saturday November 9th at 7pm

Tickets are priced from £21.60 to £24.60

Book online at cityvarieties.co.uk or call 0113 243 08 08

Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – until 26 October 2019

Reviewed by Ian K Johnson

3***

This classic Alan Ayckbourn comedy Ten Times Table written in 1977 is the inaugural production of The Classic Comedy theatre company produced by Bill Kenwright and his team.

This production has a cast which includes an array of television celebrities includes Ray (Robert Daws – The Royal, Outside Edge), Donald (Mark Curry – Blue Peter, Junior Showtime), Mrs Evans (Elizabeth Power – Eastenders), Helen (Deborah Grant – Bread, Not Going Out, Bergerac), Sophie (Gemma Oaten – Emmerdale), Eric (Craig Gazey – Coronation St), Laurence (Robert Duncan – Drop the Dead Donkey) with Tim (Harry Gostelow) and Philippa (Rhiannon Handy) completing the cast.

Committees come and go but committees like the one formed for the Pendon Folk Festival are seen far and wide. The organiser Ray, willing to become the chairman, his dogmatic wife Helen with her own bone to contend with. The quiet school teacher Eric, who becomes such a Marxist fighting for his cause, the local business woman Sophie, who’s had her share of difficulties with men but still willing to please. Involve a local councillor, Donald and his ageing mother Mrs Evans, he’s a professional committee member and shes a retired teacher of piano but still tries to keep her hand in.

Sheffield Lyceum theatre is suitably transformed into the faded 3 star ballroom of the Swan hotel. In its heyday it was the place to be seen, not any more but still an ideal place to hold committee meetings of this sort. All banded together around a large table and various chairs to arrange the forthcoming Pendon Festival/pageant for local celebrant ‘John Cockle’.

This is an excellent production which certainly shows its audience that the Olivier Award winning playwright has once again captured such dark humour which shares and resonates with today’s current political climate.

Ayckbourn has always been a pure genius at seeing ordinary people in everyday/ordinary situations. This is no exception and the cast capture Ayckbourn’s satire with every line spoken.

Special mention has to be given to Mrs Evans (Elizabeth Power) who hasn’t many lines but steals the scenes in which she delivers with perfection.

Eric (Craig Gazey), Helen (Deborah Grant) and Donald (Mark Curry) all shine in the build up to the pageant and come the second half Tim (Harry Gostelow) certainly comes into his own as the robust army officer.

Any slight niggle with the piece would be that the meek and mild Philippa (Rhiannon Handy) was too meek, so much so I couldn’t hear a word she said.

Also at over 90 minutes long I felt the first half was a little too long.

This production is on tour until December.

Host, presenters and further details announced for 2019 UK Theatre Awards

Jodie Prenger will host this year’s UK Theatre Awards, which take place on Sunday 27 October at London’s Guildhall. The Blackpool-born actor has spent 2019 touring the UK in a succession of hit productions including Abigail’s Party and Annie, and is currently starring in the tour of the National Theatre’s production of A Taste Of Honey, which transfers to the West End in December.

Awards will be presented by performers Denise Black, Lesley Joseph, Gary Wilmot and Ashley Zhangazha, with Emma Rice being presented with the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre by her regular collaborator, the designer Vicki Mortimer.

This year’s recipient of the Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts is the theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh. The award will be formally presented at a separate event at the Gielgud Theatre on 28 October, marking the 25th anniversary of the theatre’s renaming.

The Gielgud Award was established by The Shakespeare Guild in 1994. Previous recipients include Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Christopher Plummer, Patrick Stewart, Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Eyre.

The full list of nominations for this year’s UK Theatre Awards is available on the UK Theatre website.

@UK_Theatre #UKTawards

COLLABORATIVE LGBTQ+ THEATRE FESTIVAL LAUNCHED BY HOPE MILL THEATRE & SUPERBIA

RUNNING IN JANUARY 2020, TURN ON FEST WILL FEATURE THEATRE, DANCE, CABARET, POETRY, WORKSHOPS AND MORE

A new LGBTQ+ theatre festival is to run for three weeks in January 2020 at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre, a collaboration between the venue and Manchester Pride’s cultural programming arm Superbia and featuring theatre company Mother’s Ruin.

TURN ON FEST will be a showcase of Manchester-based LGBTQ+ artists, theatre, new commissions, cabaret, panel discussions, development workshops and much more. 

TURN ON FEST is the first arts festival to be hosted by Hope Mill Theatre – already a thriving venue for established LGBTQ+ work.  It will run over three weeks in January 2020, and includes a variety of programming from Superbia, Manchester Pride’s year-round cultural programme designed to curate, fund, support and promote LGBTQ+ events.

There will be new work commissions and various development opportunities for Greater Manchester-based LGBTQ+ artists.  Also featuring in TURN ON FEST will be Manchester-based Qweerdog Theatre, presenting ‘Absolute Certainty?’ playing from the 28th of January to 1st of February. A favourite from the Greater Manchester Fringe, being revived for TURN ON FEST. There will also be performances from other prominent Manchester-based LGBTQ+ artists.

The festival will support new work through the Arts Council England funded TURN ON FEST commissions. Four LGBTQ+ companies or individuals wanting to showcase and develop new work which each receive £1,000 per commission, which will also include marketing support, mentorship and rehearsal space. 

Joseph Houston, Artistic Director of Hope Mill Theatre, said: “We are proud to be hosting our first ever arts festival at Hope Mill Theatre opening our doors to wider demographic of LGBTQ+ artists in Manchester. We are passionate about supporting the community and will be holding focus groups and open socials in the lead up to January, to learn more about what the community want out of a new festival, and how TURN ON FEST can provide the best platform in our exciting and diverse city. 

“We are looking forward to three weeks of theatre, dance, cabaret, literature, open mic, conversation and new work. Turning words and ideas into performance for, by and about the LGBTQ+ community. We hope that the festival will eventually become an annual event for our great city.”

Greg Thorpe, Project Manager for Superbia at Manchester Pride, said: “Superbia at Manchester Pride works with LGBTQ artists all year round and we are so excited to support this new platform to share their work at one of our favourite venues in the city. We will be co-curating the TURN ON FEST for 2020 and we know it will be a thrilling and necessary addition to our queer arts calendar.”

Lisa Lee, Artistic Director of Mother’s Ruin, said: “Mother’s Ruin have been producing Queer performance in Manchester and beyond for 10 years. We are thrilled to be invited to bring bold, radical work by emerging and established LGBTQ+ artists to TURN ON FEST 2020.”

Absolute Certainty and Mother’s Ruin events are on sale now, with more programming to be announced soon.

Commission applications are now OPEN for Manchester-based LGBTQ+ artists. See https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/blog/ for more details and email [email protected] with any questions or further information. The deadline for submissions is Monday 11^th November.

Turn up, turn heads, see a turn, take a turn!

www.hopemilltheatre.co.uk

www.superbia.org.uk/

www.mothersruin.co.uk/about/

Richmond Theatre – until 26 October 2019

Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert

4****

Back to the 1960s: we’re in a kitchen in Wolverhampton with a boy and his mum, happily cooking and larking about. Life is practically perfect, although dad can be rather hot-tempered. Mum burns the toast and can’t follow a recipe, but she radiates joy. There are friends, trips to the sweetshop, Christmas… Then mum dies, and a bleak adolescence follows.

This is the childhood of food writer Nigel Slater, adapted by Henry Filloux-Bennett from Slater’s autobiography Toast. It’s both very funny and awfully moving. Giles Cooper plays shorts-wearing schoolboy Nigel, frequently turning to the audience to comment on what’s going on. Katy Federman is the adorable, idealised 1960s mum. Flour flies, cakes and pies appear from the Aga, Dad (Blair Plant) gets twitchy about Nigel liking girlie sweets. At one point, the audience gets to share the sweets. You are right there with Nigel, in a home where cooking is beyond plain, but intensely sensitive to the scents, feel and flavours of food, and indeed everything else.

In the second half, an empty fridge sums up the void in his life, and a vampish stepmother appears. Joan (Samantha Hopkins) can actually cook, but turns food into a weapon of emotional warfare. Walnut Whips are eaten, and The Persuaders is on TV. With the help of ghastly cookery lessons at school and an angelic employer-mentor, Nigel discovers his art, grows up and moves out. At this point the theatre is filled with the tantalising scent of the garlic and mushrooms he has been cooking on stage, and we head home feeling more than a little peckish.

Come to think of it, this is all just like one of Nigel’s recipes – a deceptively simple, seemingly homely but meticulous and clever combination of emotional flavours. The play exactly captures the quality of Slater’s writing and television work. Jonnie Riordan directs, and the delicious kitchen set is by Libby Watson.

Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff – until 26 October 2019

Reviewed by Rhys Payne

3***

On Your Feet is a new musical which landed in the Wales Millennium Centre, which shines a spotlight on the life and journey to fame of Latin superstar Gloria Estefan – who is someone who I don’t know a lot about. It is a high energy, family-friendly and fun show that everyone can find something to enjoy from the nostalgia to the vibrant routines to the emotional story run constantly throughout the show.

The iconic role of Gloria Estefan was played by Philippa Stefani who showed a physicalised tribute to Gloria in an accurate and respectful way. She was fun and bouncy in the numbers where required, was reflective when needed and showed realistic determination when facing troubles. Philippa took on this role and excelled in every aspect of it which goes to showcase her experience in the business as well as her pure talent for musical theatre. In my opinion, Gloria had many of the best outfits in the entire show which shows the costume designers must have thought carefully about balancing the fame/money side of Gloria’s character alongside the area she lived it, her star quality and nature of the show among other things. This is an incredibly difficult task and so to see this balanced perfectly is a great testament to the team behind the curtains.

Gloria’s mum (Gloria Fajardo) in this production was played by Madelena Alberto who filled this role perfectly. The character is supposed to be cynical of the newfound fame but at the same time protective over her family which is a very realistic depiction of any families mother. Although she is shown as one of the more ‘bad’ characters in this show it is incredible to dislike Gloria Fajardo as she is doing what any mother would do. This again shows the talent of Madelena as she can keep the audience’s sympathy while doing some questionable things which is a very difficult thing to do. The development of this character continues even after the narrative finishes as she is given a solo during the ‘mega-mix’ section at the end of the show. The directorial team thought carefully about the progression of the character when distributing these solos which were great to see but also made sense from a story perspective which is great. Gloria Estefan’s grandmother (Gloria Farajados mother) also appears in this show and my opinion was one of the most entertaining characters. This very stereotypical Nan was played excellently by Karen Mann who delivered many of the more comical lines which had the audience laughing.

I was expecting a big, over-the-top, almost carnival feel to this musical which at certain points it was with massive dance routines and crazy lights but a lot of the numbers in this show was a lot timider than I had anticipated. Upon reflection, however, I believe this was done intentionally to dispel some pre-convinced ideas of Latin communities. In real life its not always a big celebration and the story in this show could not make it this any. The reason not every number is over-the-top is to be a true reflection of people’s whose lives are, like Gloria Estefan where they face serious issues. However when they did, strategically, try to make the party feel it was done excellently. Especially during the club scene which ended act one where dancers came down into the audience and danced with the viewers which was a nice touch.

One scene which will be etched into my brain forever is a scene involving a car when the backdrop of the stage was lit up like a truck/car and the rest of the lights were dim. This was an intense scene where even I in the audience felt scared which is exactly what this effect was supposed to do. The lights and staging for this scene was amazing although what wasn’t was the flailing arms that could be the scene on the lights. I understood what this was supposed to represent but surely they could have thought of a more skilful way to depict it which was on the same level as the fanatic lights and staging in the same scene. The whole show ended with a mega-mix which was made up of Gloria Estefan’s songs which made me realise that I knew a lot more of her songs than I thought. This section involved great choreography and singing which also encouraged the audience to get up and dance. By the end of the mega-mix the entire audience were on their feet which means the songs did what they needed to.

This is an incredibly fun show that will fill your brain with catchy dance music for a long time after the show. It also educated me on Gloria Estefan’s life which is the most basic purpose of the show. I do believe that I may have missed some of the nostalgia of this Jukebox musical but I still left with a happy soul. I would rate this show 3 out of 5 stars.

Epstein Theatre, Liverpool – 20 October 2019

Reviewed by Amy Nash

5*****

Emma Dears and Olivia Brereton joined Roy Locke in Matinee Musical Classics and Music of The Night on the 20th October: a delightful double bill of tributes to iconic musical theatre. The three widely acclaimed local performers delivered two very different but equally enchanting shows, packing a wide variety of musical classics into only a few hours.

For the matinee performance, Musical Classics, great emphasis was placed on Roy Locke’s career as a crossover performer – someone who performs both opera and contemporary roles professionally. The show itself is a crossover show, in essence, marrying well-known tunes like “That’s Amore” and Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” with a love letter to opera performances from the likes of Joseph Locke (no relation, apparently) and Puccini’s aria “Nessun Dorma”.

Roy Locke doesn’t just showcase his incredible voice, but his charming personality and quick wit, as both shows are peppered with comedic breaks between the musical performances. What particularly stood out was the context he provided for some of the music choices: he moved the discussion effortlessly from jokes about his German heritage over to an explanation of the origins of The Ballad of Mack the Knife, covering not just where it was from (Brecht’s Die Dreigroschenoper) but why it was written in the first place.

Insight like this was the real appeal of Music of the Night’s pre-show talk “Secrets of a Phantom”. Roy Locke not only shared photos and stories about what working on Phantom of the Opera was like, including exciting tales of the actress playing Christine taking her life into her hands with the falling chandelier in the days before workplace safety was prevalent, but kept the talk personal and authentic by injecting it with more personal anecdotes about meeting his wife, Emma.

It’s that very Emma who he credits as the writer of both shows, and the composition is fantastic. The music they chose is often distinctly personal and explained as such to the audience, making it all the more meaningful. This includes medleys from musicals with significant meaning to Roy Locke, such as West Side Story in Music of the Night with a seamless mix of “Something’s Coming”, “Tonight”, “Maria” and “Somewhere” paying tribute to his career as a crossover performer and his parents’ first date seeing the film version.  There are also subtler touches which showcase their excellent song selection; in reference to Tom Chester, the Musical Director and on-stage pianist, they throw out a joyful “play it again, Tom” before a performance from Casablanca. In the Musical Classics matinee, all of Emma Dears’ pre-interval performances are from different musicals but share a common theme. “My Man” from Funny Girl, “As Long as He Needs Me” from Oliver! and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar are presented as separate pieces, performed in between songs from Roy Locke, but their longing, loving messages make them cohesive. Post-interval Emma Dears sparkled as Liza Minnelli performing “Cabaret”, “Liza” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in tribute to Judy & Liza, the musical biopic she wrote as it approaches its 10th anniversary.

Despite their outward similarities, the two performances had drastically different atmospheres. The Musical Classics matinee featured far more audience participation, regularly bringing the lights up on the audience while we sang along to classics like “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from Oklahoma, “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kitbag” and “Rule Britannia”. There was even a section where Roy Locke attempted to very, very quickly teach the audience some Italian opera which was hugely entertaining. While Emma Dears and Rock Locke performed together beautifully, they did so rarely, their performances often kept separate from one another.

By contrast, Music of the Night featured the audience far less – we were invited to sing along with a few classics, but the focus was primarily on the performers, who sang far more duets. Olivia Brereton and Roy Locke’s onstage chemistry was magical to watch unfold as they relived their classic roles. They truly showcased their acting chops here: rather than sticking to what you’d expect, the concert version where the focus is only on their astonishing singing talent, performances like “The Music of the Night” featured props like the famous Phantom mask and plenty of movement. Olivia Brereton shines as Eponine, with one of the most heart-wrenching performances of “On My Own” I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Witnessing Roy Locke transform from the traumatised Marius in “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” to the desperate Jean Valjean in “Bring Him Home”, especially in contrast to his bone-chilling prior performance of “My Friends” from Sweeney Todd was a real spectacle.

Both performances were exceptional, with the audiences giving a standing ovation and demanding an encore, and they showcased every one of Roy Locke and his two guests’ talents.

They were a wonderful taste of West End magic, marrying the classic with the new, the operatic with the contemporary – a crossover display perfectly in tune with Roy Locke’s crossover career.