Torn Apart (Dissolution)

November 29th – 30th 2015, 3pm and 8pm, Theatre N16

This is a love story. A love story in three different times and three different bedrooms…

West Germany, Bremen, the early 1980s. The universities and cafes are full of young people who escaped from the East, the bars are full of American soldiers. Alina, a Polish literature student, bumps into one of them. London, 1999. The turn of the century. Elliott, a young chef, is dating Casey, an Australian backpacker. Whilst eating Indian food and listening to RHCP, Elliott talks to Casey about his orphanage and his love for her. She listens knowing that, sooner or later, her Visa will run out. London, now. Holly married a perfect man, had a child and achieved her white picket fence fantasy, but this is in the past now. Molly has fallen in love with Erica, an ex-sex worker, and she will do anything to rationalise her feelings.

Torn Apart (Dissolution) is about many things, but it is mostly about love. The play deals with issues such as feminism, male repression, fate, homosexuality, but above all it explores the most painful aspects of human conditioning.

No Offence Theatre is an emerging theatre company, founded by an Australian and a Pole, born from the need of creating contemporary, challenging and political work and bringing theatre back to the people.

Theatre N16 is a trailblazing company founded by young people, for young people. It is London’s newest fringe venue, and is dedicated to creating a creative hub where new and existing works can be explored and pushed into new realms. Theatre N16 is proud of their commitment to the welfare of creatives, operating without a hire fee for external companies. This promoting and nurturing of talent means that Theatre N16 is a bastion for development within the context of a society in which the arts are increasingly struggling to stay afloat.

 

Title Torn Apart (Dissolution)

Company No Offence Theatre

Performance Dates November 29nd 2015, 3pm and 8pm – November 30th 2015, 8.00pm

Running Time 80 mins

Venue Theatre N16, The Bedford Pub, 77 Bedford Hill, London SW12 9HD

Ticket Price £12 (£10 concessions)

Box Office Ticketsource (www.ticketsource.co.uk/theatren16)

Travel Balham station (2 min walk)

Streatham Hill station (20 min walk)

Cast Nastazja Somers

Simon Donohue

Elliott Rogers

Hannah Kerin

Katharine Eskenazi

Monty Leigh

Writer/Director Bj McNeill

 

November 22nd –26th 2015, 8.30pm, Theatre N16

“There’s no such thing as countries….” George is in search of England, or to be more precise, what it means to be English. He was born English, his parents are English, but he’s not sure whether he is any more. So he’s back to find out. At least, that’s what he says. A play about nationality, immigration and love, and the next production by East London-based Fox Theatre Company.

Inspired by the great travel book of the same name, written by legendary writer, H V Morton, the play has been written by Essex journalist and author Neil D’Arcy-Jones. Neil says: “I’ve been thinking of a way of staging what is essentially the archetypal travel book for many years now, but I didn’t really get to grips with it until I went abroad myself. I was in Australia and New Zealand, and people kept asking me where I was from. After a while I thought ‘who cares where I’m from, what does it mean to be English anyway’ and that’s where the seeds of the play started.” Having written plays primarily for children before, this production not only marks Neil’s ‘grown-up’ debut, but also the first time any of his work has been performed in London.

Director Sarah Chapleo set up Fox Theatre last year and, while still studying for her final degree in English and Drama at Queen Mary University in London, put on her first professional production at the Courtyard Theatre in Hoxton, her own adaptation of Émile Zola’s Thérése Raquin.

Theatre N16 is a trailblazing company founded by young people, for young people. It is London’s newest fringe venue, and is dedicated to creating a creative hub where new and existing works can be explored and pushed into new realms. Theatre N16 is proud of their commitment to the welfare of creatives, operating without a hire fee for external companies. This promoting and nurturing of talent means that Theatre N16 is a bastion for development within the context of a society in which the arts are increasingly struggling to stay afloat.

 

In Search of England

Company Fox Theatre Company

Performance Dates November 22nd 2015 – November 26th 2015, 8.30pm

Running Time 80 mins

Venue Theatre N16, The Bedford Pub, 77 Bedford Hill, London SW12 9HD

Ticket Price £12 (£10 concessions)

Box Office Ticketsource (www.ticketsource.co.uk/theatren16)

Travel Balham station (2 min walk)

Streatham Hill station (20 min walk)

 

Having been seen by over 10,000 people the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain’s West End Season at the Ambassadors Theatre London, must end on 4 December 2015.

The season marks the latest success for the NYT’s West End REP residency, now in its third year. The season, instilling companys of the NYT’s very best actors into West End theatres, gives members a chance to train by performing in front of paying audiences. The majority of the sixteen company members have already been signed by leading talent agents including Markham Froggatt and Irwin, Independent Talent and United Agents.

The three shows in this year’s West End rep season include: Consensual – a brand new and acclaimed play exploring issues and experiences around sexting, young people and sexual consent written by Evan Placey and directed by Pia Furtado which was documented in development as part of a new collaboration with Sky Arts; Wuthering Heights, in a new adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel by Stephanie Street directed by Emily Lim and The Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare’s play abridged especially for schools by Tom Stoppard, directed by NYT Associate Director Anna Niland.

Written by Writer’s Guild Award winner Evan Placey (Girls Like That, Holloway Jones),Consensual is directed by Pia Furtardo (Dirty Great Love Story at Soho Theatre and L’Elisir D’Amore at Opera Holland Park).  Exploring teenage testosterone, teacher pupil relationships and the age of consent in the UK, Consensual examines the relationship between PSHE teacher Diane and her class, specifically fifteen year-old Freddie. “Think of Sexual Relationship Education as a war zone and you’re the journalist. Give the facts, show the photos, but don’t get too close unless you want your head blown off”.

Wuthering Heights is adapted by Stephanie Street (Sisters) from the Gothic novel by Emily Brontë and directed by Emily Lim (Brainstorm, The Kilburn Passion and The Wardrobe). When Heathcliff, a mysterious child is rescued and brought to Wuthering Heights, he develops an inseparable bond to Cathy, a friendship which soon develops into a passionate and iconic love spanning generations and ending with tragedy.

NYT Associate Anna Niland directs Tom Stoppard’s abridged version of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Stoppard’s version, originally abridged especially for the NYT to perform at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing and the subject of a BBC documentary, is a 90 minute whirlwind which has delighted audiences and schools alike for the past decade.

More information at www.nyt.org.uk

 

FAIRPORT CONVENTION

Grand Opera House York

Tuesday 1 March 2016 at 7:30pm

 

Fairport Convention is still one of the busiest bands around. The current line-up of Simon Nicol (lead vocal, rhythm and electric guitars), Dave Pegg (backing vocals, bass guitar, mandolin), Ric Sanders (violin), Chris Leslie (lead vocal, fiddle, bouzouki, banjo, mandolin and woodwind) and Gerry Conway (percussion and drums) still packs venues on its frequent tours.

Each year starts with Fairport covering the length and breadth of Britain on its Winter Tour. This is followed by a more relaxed Spring tour and in August, the band stages Fairport’s Cropredy Convention music festival in Oxfordshire.

Each December the band’s time is occupied by side-projects and their respective Christmas tours. Simon tours with The Albion Christmas Band; Peggy with both The Dylan Project and Peggy and Anthony John Clarke; Ric with the Ric Sanders Trio; Chris with ST Agnes Fountain and Gerry with both Fotheringay and The Dylan Project.

Tickets from £22.50 in person from the theatre box office, or call ATG Tickets on 0844 871 3024, for online booking go to www.atgtickets.com/york

 

THE KENNETH BRANAGH THEATRE COMPANY’S
PRODUCTION OF THE WINTER’S TALE WILL BE BROADCAST LIVE TO CINEMAS ON 26 NOVEMBER

THE SOLD OUT WEST END PRODUCTION STARS KENNETH BRANAGH AS LEONTES AND JUDI DENCH AS PAULINA

TRAILER AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD HERE

The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company, in partnership with Picturehouse Entertainment, will broadcast the first Branagh Theatre Live production to cinemas worldwide at 19:00 onThursday 26 November 2015.

The Winter’s Tale, which is now sold out at the Garrick, will be screened in more than 1300 cinemas worldwide, including over 500 in the UK. Tickets are now on sale and participating cinemas can be found at www.branaghtheatrelive.com

The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare’s timeless tragicomedy of obsession and redemption, which opened to critical acclaim at London’s Garrick Theatre on 7 November, is reimagined in a new production co-directed by Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh. Judi Dench plays Paulina opposite Kenneth Branagh as Leontes.

The cinema broadcast of The Winter’s Tale will be directed by Benjamin Caron, who has also recently collaborated with Kenneth Branagh on the forthcoming series of Wallander, due to be broadcast on the BBC in 2016.

The Winter’s Tale will also be screened in US cinemas on 30 November. Encore broadcasts will be held across the UK throughout the Christmas period.

Kenneth Branagh said: “In 2015, where theatre making and film making meet is exciting. The cinema broadcasts of our plays hope to challenge the possibilities of this relationship. We have a team of people who are experienced in both worlds. The potential results, particularly in exploring the magic of Shakespeare, should be fascinating. 

I am very pleased indeed to be working with Picturehouse to bring The Winter’s Tale and subsequently Romeo & Juliet and The Entertainer live into cinemas around the world. These plays have epic dimensions but also great intimacy, and I believe that, working with the talented director Benjamin Caron, we can bring the immediacy and excitement of the live stage production into cinemas. We will employ film techniques to make these broadcasts truly cinematic, without in any way compromising the theatrical experience. 

The Winter’s Tale is a play I have been drawn to through my entire career. Judi Dench has famously been in the play as Hermione and Perdita, but to have her in the company as Paulina and for us to work together on Shakespeare, which we have not done since Coriolanus in Chichester twenty years ago, is very rewarding.”

The full cast for The Winter’s Tale includes: Pierre Atri (Mamillius), Jaygann Ayeh (Archidamus & The Old Shepherd’s Servant), Tom Bateman (Florizel), Jessie Buckley (Perdita), Vera Chok(Dorcas & First Lady), Jack Colgrave Hirst (Clown), John Dagleish (Autolycus), Hadley Fraser(Polixenes), Adam Garcia (Amadis), Rudi Goodman (Mamillius), Matthew Hawksley (Aegeum),Taylor James (Capnio), Pip Jordan (Shepherdess), Ansu Kabia (Cleomenes), Stuart Neal (Dion),Michael Pennington (Antigonus), Zoë Rainey (Emilia), Miranda Raison (Hermione), Michael Rouse (Gaoler & Mariner), John Shrapnel (Camillo), Kathryn Wilder (Mopsa) and Jimmy Yuill(The Shepherd).

The broadcast date for Romeo and Juliet, which plays at the Garrick from 12 May to 13 August, will be announced shortly. The Entertainer will also be screened later in 2016.

The Winter’s Tale, Harlequinade / All On Her Own, Red Velvet, The Painkiller, Romeo and Juliet and The Entertainer make up the inaugural Play at the Garrick season for the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company. For more information and to buy theatre tickets for these productions please see www.branaghtheatre.com

 

GARY BARLOW TAKES LEEDS BY SURPRISE AT THE GRAND THEATRE

Take That star Gary Barlow gave Leeds a rare treat last night (Monday 16^th November) when he took to the stage for the curtain call of his new musical The Girls which is currently having its world premier at Leeds Grand Theatre until December 12^th.

Barlow, with his childhood friend Tim Firth – the writer of both the film and play The Calendar Girls – joined the cast as they took their bows much to the audiences delight.  After thanking the cast and the Leeds audiences he lead a rousing rendition of the Show’s opening number, simply titled ‘Yorkshire’.

“The atmosphere in the auditorium was electric,” said Producer David Pugh. “The audience were already giving a standing ovation and when Gary and Tim came on there was an uproarious cheer!”

At the end of the anthemic show number, the original Calendar Girls also took to the stage to great applause. The show has received standing ovations at each performance so far though whether Gary is due to appear again remains a mystery.

David concludes: “Gary and Tim enjoyed it very much so you never know.”

The Girls is a brand new musical based on the true story of the Yorkshire Women’s Institute who appeared nude, but for carefully placed buns, teapots and other such props, for a calendar back in 2000. The calendar was an immediate success and the women took the world by storm spawning a film and award-winning play, both of which were written by Tim Firth.

This musical comedy shows the women’s life in a Yorkshire village, how the story began, the effect on husbands, sons and daughters and how a group of ordinary women achieved something extraordinary.

The Girls is making its world premier at Leeds Grand theatre until Saturday 12^th December

 

Tickets are still available priced from £10 to £45

 

Book online at leedsgrandtheatre.com or call Box Office on 0844 848 2700

 

Civic Theatre, Darlington – 16 November 2015

Rude, crude, lewd and very very funny, The Full Monty arrived in Darlington this week.

In a packed to the rafter theatre, on a wet and cold Monday evening, there was an air of expectation in the predominantly female audience.  The oestrogen overloaded ladies weren’t all young either, there was a large number of women who wouldn’t see 60 again and a few who’d not see 70 either!

The 1997 a film about six Sheffield steel workers who decide to try and make a bit of cash by putting on a strip show became something of a sensation and Oscar-winning writer Simon Beaufoy has adapted his hit film into a stage show, complete with music, dancing and – of course – stripping.

Much of the dialogue was taken directly from the film, but the storyline held up well and often the translation from stage to screen was impressive, with jokes and situational comedy well adapted for the surroundings.

Those who were there for more than to admire a soap star body or two were also treated to some cracking acting performances, it would be very easy to write Gary Lucy off as just another soap actor but you’d be a fool to do so.  Aside from a dodgy Sheffield accent (I was brought up near Sheffield and I’m a purist) he did pull off the part quite well.  He gave depth to the part of an unemployed, part time dad, desperate to see his son, Nathan,  but too skint to pay the child maintenance.

With four boys playing the part of Nathan – James Burton, Brook Exley, Fraser Kelly and Ewan Phillips who was on stage at press night. Nathan was a loveable character. It wasn’t a cutesy child part by any stretch of the imagination, with the character having to cope with the break up of his parents marriage, his fathers unemployment and the ongoing court procedures, but he had faith and love for his father and its a touching father and son relationship.

There is superb work, too, from Martin Miller as the obese Dave, who has been rendered impotent by the emasculation of unemployment, and a delightfully oddball performance from Bobby Schofield as the gay and initially suicidal Lomper.  The scene in the job club is a joy, where Lomper is happy to be there as he never saw anyone when he was a security guard but now he has friends, warmth, dominoes and tea.

Comical Horse (Louis Emerick ) has the audience in stitches as he arrives for his dance audition supported by a walking stick and struggling with a dodgy hip!  Pompous gnome-loving Gerald (played by Andrew Dunn) is desperate to hide his redundancy from wife Linda.

Rupert Hill’s character of Guy makes up the rest of the troup complete with prosthetic penis, the sight of which brings down the curtain on the first half

The play touches on some serious issues – unemployment, depression, poverty, body image and homosexuality to name a few – but as well as being touching it is also very funny.  Beaufoy’s  play has warmth of characterisation and camaraderie that the men find in each other, and keeps lot of jokes from the original film. It has the added pleasure of a cast who make it enjoyably fresh, but there’s not an Adonis amongst them

Robert Jones’ set is huge and magnifient, working well as a disused steel works, job club, Conservative club and the stage where the action finally takes place and the Ian West’s choreography is also fabulous.  The soundtrack that includes songs by Donna Summer, Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones is familiar and you know what to expect.

And do they go the Full Monty?  Only a trip to Darlington Civic before Saturday 21st November will answer that question!

 

 

Theatre N16  8 – 19 November.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Steve Thompson’s Spin Cycle, set in an advertising agency, is billed as relevant and timely. This may well have been true when it was written in 2003, but the world has moved on, and today, when politicians with a lack of media savvy polish are a breath of fresh air, the play feels very dated. We are all too aware of the media’s manipulation of the public, even though we still fall for the tricks, and have seen this all before.

The TV series “Absolute Power” with John Bird and Stephen Fry absolutely nailed the mercenary and hypocritical world of advertising agencies, so why the Canting Crew chose to stage this inferior version is a mystery. Thompson has written other, better plays. This was Thompson’s first play – he has gone on to write some brilliant Sherlock and Doctor Who episodes, and there are some signs of that promise here. There are wonderfully acerbic lines and moments, but they are surrounded by lots of fluff.

Poor Anneli Page as Jane has to deliver the exact same sentiment in nearly every scene – it is as if Thompson was challenged to find as many different ways as possible to pronounce the dishonesty of the industry. Completely unnecessary. The cast do well with the material – Mary Looby is a hoot as the snooty Tory wife, insulting all and sundry with impeccable manners. Gregory A. Smith as Miles was fantastically arch and manipulative (with shades of the ballroom dancer from Hi-de-Hi), although he did seem to be under the impression that he was at the Globe with helicopters hovering overhead – stunning voice projection, but a little too much in such a small space. The whole cast give good performances, it’s just that their characters are all very, very familiar stereotypes now – the bitchy workaholic career woman, the loyal PA, the innocent intern etc. etc.

The plot, about relaunching a Tory MP’s image and the damage control necessary when a tabloid is about to reveal he is secretly gay, against the backdrop of office politics and plots, is busy but ultimately as shallow as the characters. The story Ash Merat’s Piers tells to explain his leaving the industry is so banal that I hope it was about his character’s delusional self-justification rather than a serious plot point. The shift to verse during presentations and meetings is a clever idea to highlight the hypnotic allure of media imagery, but just doesn’t sit right with the rest of the play.

Stephen Oswald’s direction is brisk and noisy, and highlights the fact that this could work so much better as a TV play. The noughties’ music playing as the cast shifted furniture around the stage sometimes lasted longer than the following scene. Perhaps a sharper, immediate cut to the next scene could benefit the flow of the piece.

This isn’t a bad play, it just doesn’t have anything new to say that hasn’t already been said better before. The game cast are very entertaining – worth seeing if you are nostalgic for the noughties.