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Musical Rewrites – Shoots: Wonky Musicals!

Aldridge Studio, The Lowry, Manchester – 20th September 2017.  Reviewed by Julie Noller

3***

This is an important week for The Lowry Members, it’s also a week I would’nt normally witness and get to see, so I feel very priveledged. It’s a chance to see snipets of various works at various stages. Fresh raw talent, from early budding careers, a chance to showcase early writings. It’s all brand new and quite possibly over a year away from being stage ready.

The evening was hosted by Sam Brady who as a comic is himself being supported through The Lowry’s Developed With programme. He brought humour to a rather tense and nervous room, introduced each of the acts after they’d set up their stage dierection. I did feel somewhat like I was walking into a drama workshop at school on arriving, but it was my first time inside Aldridge Studio and being honest a workshop is exactly what was happening.

We watched each of the four acts perform two songs, each one very different in design and ideas. Below is a quick synopsis of the four musicals to look out for over the next year.

Witches of the World Unite (working title)

By Ali Matthews and Leo Burtin; with Julia Nelson, Sophie Galpin & Sashwati Mira Sangupta, supported by Arts Council England.

It’s billed as a piece of protest theatre, a call to arms for feminists to form a magical thinking sisterhood. It’s a fun idea to see a witch rockstar on stage with her punk band. Perhaps to see more of the witch rockstar belting out her rock classics would suit, as I loved the rough and ready screeches of punk rock.

Ubuesque! The Scientific Musical of Imaginary Solutions

Directed by Collette Murray and Mark Winstanley. Music and Performance by Alex McCoy and Sarah Coyne.

It’s not entirely clear from the title, but I feel it’s a very tongue in cheek retelling of that age old story of political aspirations. Using song which borders into Opera, I found it confusing to follow the story. I am aware that we only saw a snipet, I have to say the audience was giggling and I know my teenagers would’ve loved the very obvious toilet humour.

Operation Mincemeat

By David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts.

This is already quite polished and the humour flowed, a very British story, told in a fun musical hall way. Ian Fleming (yes the creator of 007) was a central character and his input into the mission devised by secret services had the audience giggling over tuxedos, vodka martinis, beautiful women. Not to mention the whole team getting carried away by fights on top of moving trains. This slapstick comedy will draw the crowds in as it covers not only comedy but also historical genre too.

Writer Writes (working title)

By Derek Martin and Giles Deacon. Directed by Dan Jarvis. Performed by Robert Clement-Evans, Lara Hancox, Tom Lloyd and Rebecca Ward.

What happens when you get writers block? What happens to your characters when they take over your imagination? Watching this musical develop you realise the possibilities are endless including the chance to adlib. It will take some good acting and singing to change direction with different direlects but ultimately could be a very good fun packed to the rafters comedy.

Well done to everyone who got up in front of the small audience and also their peers to showcase their talents, I enjoyed watching a different aspect of theatre life, saw the hard work and dedication that goes into producing plays. Each snipet was delivered professionally, the singing was great. Good luck to each team for future development, I hope I get to see the finished acts and compare the fresh, rawness to the polished, finished article.

CHRISTOPHER HARPER AND JOHN MIDDLETON

LEAD A STAR CAST WITH

JACK ASHTON AND HANNAH TOINTON

IN

A major new production of Strangers on a Train is set to steam into theatres across the UK next year. The masterful and gripping thriller is based on the taught psychological drama by the celebrated writer Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol), immortalised by Hitchcock’s Academy Award-winning film.

Opening at Brighton’s Theatre Royal on 5^th January 2018, Strangers on a Train is presented byAmbassador Theatre Group and Smith and Brant Theatricals, and directed by Anthony Banks – the team behind the critically acclaimed and phenomenally successful tour of Patrick Hamilton’sGaslight.

Casting is led by John Middleton (Detective Arthur Gerard) who left Emmerdale earlier this year in a deeply moving storyline, having played the village’s beloved Vicar Ashley Thomas for over 20 years.

Christopher Harper – currently appearing on the nation’s screens as Coronation Street’s Nathan Curtis in the show’s explosive grooming storyline – plays the charismatic and manipulative Charles Bruno, a psychopathic playboy who has a chance encounter with a troubled stranger, Guy Haines (played by Jack Ashton, Call The Midwife). Hannah Tointon, starring as Guy’s fiancé, Anne Faulkner, is famed for her roles in Mr Selfridge (alongside her sister, Kara), The Inbetweeners and Hollyoaks.

A fateful encounter takes place between two men in the dining carriage of a train crossing America. Guy Haines is the successful businessman with a nagging doubt about the fidelity of his wife. Charles Bruno is a cold, calculating chancer with a dark secret. A daring and dangerous plan develops from this casual conversation, setting in motion a chain of events that will change the two men’s lives forever.

Strangers On A Train was written by Craig Warner and based on the world renowned 1950 novel byPatricia Highsmith, latterly made universally famous by the classic Alfred Hitchcock film. In the great tradition of Hitchcock, this spine-chilling tale will delight audiences with its marriage of dark wit and edge-of-the-seat tension.

Director Anthony Banks’ credits include this year’s hugely successful production of Gaslight starring Kara Tointon and Keith Allen, as well as Dennis Kelly’s DNA (National Tour); Bryony Lavery’s Cesarioand More Light, Lucinda Coxon’s The Eternal Not and Michael Lesslie’s Prince of Denmark (National Theatre); Snoo Wilson’s Pignight (Menier); Mark Ravenhill’s The Experiment (Soho Theatre & Berliner Ensemble); Tennessee Williams’ The Hotel Plays; Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie (Theatre Royal Bath & National Tour). Anthony was an associate director at the National Theatre until 2014 where he commissioned and developed one hundred new plays for NT Connections.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

2018 TOUR DATES

5 – 13  January                                                  0844 871 7650

Theatre Royal, Brighton                                www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-brighton/

15 – 20 January                                                 0114 249 6000

Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield                          www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

22 – 27 January                                                 0844 871 7647

Theatre Royal, Glasgow                                www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-glasgow/

29 January – 3 February                                0844 871 3011

Birmingham New Alexandra                       www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-alexandra-theatre-birmingham

5 – 10 February                                                 0844 871 3018

Opera House, Manchester                          http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/manchester/

12 – 17 February                                              0844 871 7645

New Victoria Theatre, Woking                   www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-victoria-theatre

19 – 24 February                                               0844 871 7651

Richmond Theatre, Richmond                    www.atgtickets.com/richmond

26 February – 3 March                                   01223 503333                                    

Arts Theatre, Cambridge                              www.cambridgeartstheatre.co.uk

5 – 10 March                                                      0844 871 3024                                                                   

Grand Opera House, York                            www.atgtickets.com/york

19 – 24 March                                                    0844 871 7607

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre                    www.atgtickets.com/venues/aylesbury-waterside-theatre

27 – 31 March                                                    029 2087 8889                                   

New Theatre, Cardiff                                     www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk                                                

Wilton’s Music Hall, 12 – 23 September.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

Wales Millennium Centre’s production of Man to Man is a tour de force of storytelling. Inspired by the true story of Ella Gericke, who took her dead husband’s identity in the Weimar Republic era, Alexandra Wood’s translation of Manfred Karge’s 1982 play portrays the lengths to which a person will go to survive in a hostile and dangerous world.

Beginning with bitter pensioner Max alone in his apartment, complaining bitterly about the attitude of the unemployed loitering on the streets below, we are rapidly taken back to Ella’s youth, and her lost loves, before she tells the story of her brief marriage to Max. When he dies of cancer, desperately needing his wages, Ella buries him under her name in her home town, and begins her new life as Max the crane operator.

As political upheaval erupts in Germany, and Hitler rises to power, Max keeps his head down, knowing that he has an escape plan if the Nazis ever come for him – he can use Ella’s old passport and slip back into that identity. When Max uses the passport for a different purpose, the choice made is selfless and self-serving, as becoming Ella would kill Max all over again. This ambiguity of identity is always present as Max’s thick Glaswegian accent switches with Ella’s soft English tones throughout the narrative. The story continues throughout the war, the cold war, and up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, by which time Max has become disillusioned with society and his fragmenting mind intertwines his story with traditional German tales. The language is poetic and sometimes meandering, but these are the recollections of an old man, and Wood’s translation keeps Max/Ella’s history completely gripping and convincing.

This tradition of storytelling is mined beautifully by the creative team. Richard Kent’s design is deceptively simple, a chair and bed in a room with bare slatted walls and a single window is transformed repeatedly by Andrzej Goulding’s inspired projections and Rick Fisher’s lighting effects. As Ella describes the frost flowers on the window, they spread across the wall producing a magical effect that elicited gasps of wonder from the audience. The use of shadow projections illustrates some heart-breaking episodes in Ella’s story, and Mike Walker’s sympathetic sound design ensures a feast for the ears as well as the eyes.

The show belongs to Maggie Bain. She transforms herself with nuanced movements into a multitude of characters. Her physicality adds extra layers to the narrative as she climbs the walls, throws herself around the stage and squeezes herself into the window frame as she describes Max’s life.

A spellbinding performance to compliment this amazing story – Man to Man is a visually stunning and thought provoking show. Grab a ticket and see for yourself.

Tour Dates

Birmingham, REP 26 – 30 September

Edinburgh, Traverse Theatre 11 – 14 October

Newcastle, Northern Stage 17 – 18 October

Liverpool, Everyman Theatre 25 – 28 October

New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music 7 – 11 November

Dust by Milly Thomas
Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE
Tuesday 20th February – Saturday 17th March 2018, 7.15pm
Press Night: Friday 23rd February 2018, 7.15pm

Fresh from an award-winning, sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe 2017, Dust by Milly Thomas (Clique, BBC3; Clickbait and A First World Problem, Theatre503), directed by Sara Joyce, now transfers to London’s Soho Theatre. Dust is a refreshing, caustic and comedic treatment of one woman’s depression, suicide and everything that happens afterwards.

A woman. A suicide. A choice. A fly on the wall. A funeral. A Bakewell tart. A life. A lie. A truth. An ending. Of sorts. Alice thinks that life isn’t worth living. So she kills herself. Sort of. She is stuck, a fly on the wall. Forced to watch the aftermath of her suicide and its ripple effect on her family and friends, Alice quickly learns that death changes people. And that death is not the change she hoped for.

Milly Thomas comments, I’m beyond excited to bring Dust to a London audience. For the show to come to Soho Theatre after the support and nurturing they have given me from the very start of my career feels like a dream come true. So much of my very favourite work have grown from this venue and I’m hugely excited for this next chapter in Dust’s afterlife.

Written using Thomas’ own experience of depression and her desire to talk more about suicide and mental health in society today, Dust is very much about life, about those who remain behind and how squeamish we are around death. How do you quantify a life? What if you lived as an arsehole but suddenly, in death, you’re a saint? And, if push came to shove, would your mother get your funeral right?

Written and performed with dynamism by Thomas herself, there’s a candour about Dust that looks the audience in the eye and dares it to either pass judgement or else be sympathetic. Alice wouldn’t be satisfied with either, one suspects, in a show where sex is a matter of life, death and much more besides (The Herald).

Thomas was awarded a Stage Edinburgh Award for her performance in Dust in Edinburgh 2017

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR SMASH HIT MUSICAL

SUNSET BOULEVARD

One of the all-time great musicals, Sunset Boulevard, is returning to Newcastle Theatre Royal this Autumn (Mon 9 – Sat 14 Oct ’17).

Ria Jones stars as ‘Norma Desmond’ – a role she received rave reviews and standing ovations for every night when performing at the London Coliseum – with Danny Mac as ‘Joe Gillis’, the impoverished screen writer who stumbles into her reclusive world and is seduced by her and her luxurious lifestyle.

They are to be joined by Adam Pearce as ‘Max Von Mayerling’, Molly Lynch as ‘Betty Schaefer’, Dougie Carter as ‘Artie Green’ and Carl Sanderson as ‘Cecil B DeMille’.   The rest of the company includes Bernadette Bangura, Matthew Barrow, Benjamin Chambers, Joanna Goodwin, Kristoffer Hellström, Iain Mattley, James Meunier, Gemma Naylor, Fiona O’Carroll, Joanna O’Hare, Jessica Paul, Sam Peggs, Tom Vincent and Barney Wilkinson

Ria Jones has recently starred as ‘Dorothy Brock’ in 42nd Street at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Her West End credits include ‘Fantine’ in Les Misérables, ‘Grizabella’ in Cats and ‘Florence’ inChess.

Danny Mac made it all the way to the 2016 final on BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing. He most recently starred as ‘Gabey’ in On The Town at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. His other musical theatre credits include Wicked and Legally Blonde.

Adam Pearce’s many West End credits include Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre, Love Never Dies, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Sweeney Todd all at the Adelphi,The Light Princess at the National Theatre and Urinetown at the St James Theatre.

Molly Lynch most recently appeared in English National Opera’s Carousel at the Coliseum, where she has also appeared in Sweeney Todd.

Dougie Carter recently played ‘Jean-Michel’ in the national tour of La Cage Aux Folles. His West End theatre credits include Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre and Alice at St James Theatre.

Carl Sanderson’s many West End credits include Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Acorn Antiques – The Musical and Starlight Express. His other theatre credits include the national tours of My Fair Lady and Hairspray as well as Guys and Dolls, The Music Man and The Pajama Game all at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award-winning masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is a compelling story of romance and obsession, based on Billy Wilder’s legendary film, with Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s wonderful book and lyrics. This much-loved score includes the title number Sunset Boulevard, With One Look, As If We Never Said Goodbye, The Greatest Star Of All and The Perfect Year and will be performed by a full orchestra.

In her mansion on Sunset Boulevard, faded, silent-screen goddess, Norma Desmond, lives in a fantasy world and persuades Joe Gillis, on the run from debt collectors, to work on her ‘masterpiece’, a film script that she believes will put her back in front of the cameras.  Joe becomes entrapped in a claustrophobic world until his love for another woman leads him to try and break free with dramatic consequences.

Sunset Boulevard plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Mon 9 – Sat 14 Oct 2017.  Tickets are from £17.50 and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).

Casting announced for Daniel Kehlmann’s
CHRISTMAS EVE
At Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio

• NIAMH CUSACK AND PATRICK BALADI WILL STAR IN DANIEL KEHLMANN’S CHRISTMAS EVE, TRANSLATED BY CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON AND DIRECTED BY LAURENCE BOSWELL
• FORMS PART OF THE USTINOV STUDIO’S SEASON OF INTERNATIONAL UK PREMIERES
• PRODUCTION WILL RUN FROM 19 OCTOBER – 18 NOVEMBER, WITH PRESS NIGHT ON 25 OCTOBER

Theatre Royal Bath announces full casting for Christmas Eve, which today begins rehearsals.Niamh Cusack will play philosophy professor Judith and Patrick Baladi will play police officer Thomas. The new thriller is the latest play from multi-award winning writer Daniel Kehlmann and will be directed by Laurence Boswell, in a translation by Christopher Hampton. The production will run at the Ustinov Studio from Thursday 19 October to Saturday 18 November, with opening night for press on Wednesday 25 October.

On Christmas Eve 2017, a philosophy professor is on her way to celebrate Christmas when she is bundled into police headquarters and an interrogation room. Opposite her the senior officer is cynical, smart and relentless. Played out in real time, two powerful antagonists are pitted head to head against each other. Both think they are saving their country but only one of them will win.

Niamh Cusack (Judith) has recently been seen on screen in feature films including The Ghoul andTestament of Youth. Television credits include Rebellion (RTE / Netflix), The Best of Men (BBC) andThe Hollow Crown (BBC). Her extensive theatre work includes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (National Theatre and West End), Playboy of the Western World, Cause Celebre andDancing at Lughnasa (The Old Vic), The Enchantment, His Dark Materials (National Theatre) andBreathing Corpses (Royal Court).

Patrick Baladi (Thomas) is known for his television roles which include Neil Godwin in The Office, Stephen Holmes in Marcella, Michael Jackson in Stella and Jimmy Lakewell in Line of Duty. Theatre credits include Loyalty (Hampstead Theatre), Albert Speer, Battle Royal (National Theatre) and Camino Real (RSC).

Daniel Kehlmann is a German-language author whose novel Measuring the World, sold three million copies in Germany alone and has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Christopher Hampton previously translated Florian Zeller’s play The Father for the Ustinov Studio, launching its international success. He won an Academy Award for the adaptation of his own play, Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurence Boswell is an Olivier Award winner, Artistic Director of the Ustinov Studio and an Associate Artist of the RSC. His recent productions include The Mentor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Theatre Royal’s Main House, and Trouble in Mind, The Mother, Intimate Apparel and The Spanish Golden Age Season in the Ustinov Studio.

Christmas Eve is the first play in the Ustinov Studio’s season of International UK Premieres. It will be followed by Will Eno’s The Open House, directed by Michael Boyd, which will run from Thursday 23 November to Saturday 23 December.

LISTINGS

Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath, BA1 1ET
Box Office: 01225 448844
Website: www.theatreroyal.org.uk
Facebook: TheatreRoyalBath
Twitter: @TheatreRBath

Christmas Eve
By Daniel Kehlmann
In a translation by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Laurence Boswell
Dates: Thursday 19 October – Saturday 18 November
Press Night: Wednesday 25 October, 7pm*
Performance schedule: Mon – Sat 7.45pm, Matinees Thu & Sat 2.30pm
Tickets: £22.50 / £17.50 discounts (Preview Perfs and Mondays, all seats £15)

*Please note updated press night date

Park Theatre, 19 September – 14 October.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

5*****

Well, that was emotional. Neil Anthony Docking’s play is sidesplitting and heart breaking in equal measure. Based on the true story of the mothers who met regularly (and still do) after losing their children in the Aberfan disaster, The Revlon Girl captures the grief and strength of the women perfectly.

The play is set in 1967, 8 months after the colliery waste slipped and engulfed Pantglas Junior School, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The women secretly arrange for a Revlon representative to visit their group – the constant indecision about whether to say she is from the W.I. or another respectable organisation is a wonderful running joke that underlines their guilt about wanting something as trivial as makeup tips. In a poky room above the hotel, with a leaky roof – another running joke – Sian prepares for the meeting. Jean, Marilyn and Rona arrive early, and they convince “Revlon” to give them a preview.

Docking’s characterisation is pitch perfect, and these women are instantly recognisable to anyone from the Welsh valleys. Sian (Charlotte Gray) is the smiling peacemaker who would do anything to help anybody, but has a habit of putting her foot in it; Jean (Zoe Harrison) is one of the crachach, the wife whose husband has a higher status job, and looks down her nose at her school friends’ coarse behaviour; Marilyn (Michelle McTernan) is the quiet, dour member of the group and Rona (Bethan Thomas) is the mouthy, sweary one. They all went to school together, and all married miners. Listening to the rhythm and humour of the women’s language, and all the offers of cups of tea, transported me back home to South Wales. Revlon (Antonia Kinlay) is bewildered by the women’s attitudes, but gets a chance to pull one over on the overbearing Rona, and ultimately helps the women reconnect with each other.

The women all have different ways of coping with or denying their grief and each character gets a moment to bring tears to your eyes. When each character allows their true feelings to burst through it is cathartic and devastating, especially when Sian finally breaks down. The cast effortlessly portray the rage that is inside the women. Their explanations about how the disaster should have been avoided and their treatment by the coal board are written sympathetically, feeling organic rather than included as a history lesson.

The women’s fractious relationships, but underlying deep bond of friendship and shared grief treats the audience to a laugh-out-loud sob fest – honestly, I have never heard so much snuffling in a theatre as I did in the last 20 minutes of this play.

The cast are all fantastic – beautifully nuanced performances and onstage relationships. This is basically a masterclass in ensemble acting.

At one point in the play, Rona rails that in 50 years nobody will remember what happened in Aberfan. The Revlon Girl ensures that the strength and spirit of those left behind is immortalised and celebrated. A true Welsh wonder – I urge you to go see this play.

Slot Machine Theatre with Turtle Key Arts present
Your Toys
Press Night: Sunday 24th September 2017, artsdepot

Turtle Key Arts, one of the UK’s most exciting creative producers, have partnered up with Slot Machine Theatre for Your Toys – a innovative family show that incorporates the children’s toys as puppets into the story.

Using their unique style of puppetry, original live music and quirky humour, Your Toys takes your beloved friend on a gigantic adventure. Enjoyed by both adults and children, there is no limitation to whose toy can take part. Everyone is invited to hand in their toy at the beginning of the show to see them included in this magical journey

Your Toys was developed by Slot Machine Theatre, an associate company at Norden Farm Arts Centre in Berkshire. Experimenting with the idea of creating a show that taps into children’s extensive imaginations, Your Toys brings to life the world that they only could imagine.

Nick Tigg, one of the Artistic Directors from Slot Machine Theatre comments, Having made a number of shows over that included puppetry we were struck by how strongly both children and adults relate to these make-believe beings – especially if the object being animated has some relationship with them already. Many children imagined their toy going on an adventure – and we loved this idea. Some children had fantastical suggestions about where these adventures might take place – in the mountains, a storm at sea, in the desert, flying with eagles. We also loved the idea of unlikely characters being thrown together and having to work as a team.

Your Toys is an accessible show and has worked really well when performed in Special Education Needs schools as part of Turtle Key Arts’ extensive work into forging the path for disabled and socially disadvantaged people by ensuring that participation and education is embedded into the heart of everything they do.

Development Director of Turtle Key Arts, Shaun Dawson, comments, “When Slot Machine Theatre first mentioned the concept of Your Toys we instantly loved it and wanted to make it a reality, now here we are touring it nationally and we’re looking forward to hearing the gasps of excitement, when their toy appears on stage, from hundreds more children.”

Magical, an ideal introduction to the theatre for children (The Stage)