Home

Volta International Festival presents:
Four playwrights. Four directors. Four ground-breaking new plays.

For its first year Volta International Festival has carefully selected four award-winning writers from across the world to present four new plays, translated into English for the first time. Staged at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, the plays will be directed by four award-winning UK based directors.

The writers are Austrian playwright Ewald Palmetshofer, American playwright Christopher Chen, Swedish playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri and German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig. The programme will also feature two staged readings by Guillermo Calderon (Chile) and Milo Rao (Switzerland), which will take place in Studio 2 every Saturday at 2pm and 4pm.

Artistic Director Andrea Ferran said: “I’m delighted to present these new plays from across the world that have most challenged and provoked us. Individually, these plays look at themes of persecution, power and abuse; guilt, memory and reconciliation. Together, they explore the challenges and responsibilities we encounter as international citizens, reflecting on how we choose to live in a diverse, cosmopolitan world.”

The cast includes: Amber Aga, Stuart Bowman, Elizabeth Chan, Nicky Goldie, Jack Gordon, Siubhan Harrison, Nabil Elouahabi, Eugene O’Hare, Kathryn O’Reilly, Richard Pryal, Rachid Sabitri, Kevin Shen and Ony Uhiara.

Hamlet is Dead. No Gravity by Ewald Palmetshofer
2 – 12 September Studio 1, 7pm (no performances 6 – 7 September)
Something’s rotten in Mani and Dani’s childhood home.  Bine and Oli got married, but did they make the right choice? Kurt has a secret, and his wife Caro knows it.  Hannes is dead, but who pulled the trigger? With cruel comedy, past recriminations and sensational revelations, Ewald Palmetshofer presents a dark vision of a family in crisis.

Caught by Christopher Chen
2 – 12 September Studio 2, 9.30pm (no performances 6 – 7 and 13 – 14 September)
15 – 19 September Studio 2, 9.00pm
Chinese artist Lin Bo’s harrowing story of imprisonment has the world standing to attention. His fame, however, is short-lived, as an American publisher begins to question the authenticity of his story. Is he telling the truth or has he been caught? Accusations fly as Christopher Chen’s inventive new play exposes the thin line between fact and fiction, where it is often difficult to tell the difference between the con artist and the conned.

I Call My Brothers by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
2 – 12 September Studio 2, 7.30pm (no performances 6 – 7 and 13 – 14 September)
15 – 19 September Studio 2, 7.00pm
A car has exploded. A city has been crippled by fear. Amor wanders the city, doing his best to blend in. He must not attract any suspicious glances. But what is normal behaviour? And who is a potential perpetrator? Over twenty-four hours, Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s explosive play explores where the lines between criminal and victim, where fantasy and reality, blur.

Ant Street by Roland Schimmelpfennig
2 – 12 September Studio 1, 9pm (no performances 6 – 7 September)
A snowstorm in a heatwave.  A mysterious package delivered forty-two years late. A young man who speaks the poetry of the Gods. And a girl who can fly. Something strange is happening in Havana. Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Cuban fantasia imagines a family gripped by a miracle and a neighbourhood seduced by dreams of the past.

www.arcolatheatre.com
Twitter: @VOLTAFestival
Facebook: /voltaplayfestival

Waving Goodbye – A brand new play by Andrew Shakeshaft. Presented by Tree Shadow Theatre Productions in association with Swan Club.

Premiere at THE PHOENIX ARTIST CLUB at 6pm on the 22nd August 2015 as part of the Camden Fringe

Waving Goodbye; Burkha or jeggings? Twisting fast-paced black comedy.
Waving Goodbye is an emotionally charged black comedy which asks fundamental questions about existence and our relationships with each other.

“All those people who died young; you’ve got their life, you’ve got the chances they never had and what are you doing with it?”

Tree Shadow Theatre put out a call for new, contemporary scripts that didn’t fight shy of exploring big issues and what it is to be a young woman in today’s world. This two-hander comedy was the outright winner. Directed by Anita Parry (What Would Helen Mirren Do?)

Cast: Louisa Wilde and Lucy Theobald
Playwright: Andrew Shakeshaft
Tickets are £8 with £6 concessions.
The Pheonix Artist Club is underneath The Phoenix Theatre on the Charing Cross Road.
Running from 22nd to the 27th August daily
22nd at 6pm. All other performances at 7pm
Running time 45minutes
website: www.treeshadow.co.uk

When the actor Benedict Cumberbatch met with fans — and the glare of flash from their cameras — after a weekend performance of “Hamlet” at the Barbican Theatre in London, he had a message to send.

He told them that while he doesn’t use social media, he would be very happy if they did, just not during his performance.

“Can I ask you all a huge favour?” the actor said to fans gathered outside the stage door. “All of this, all these cameras, all these phones,” he said pleadingly, his voice trailing off. “What I really want to do is try to enlist you.”

“I can see cameras, I can see red lights in the auditorium. And it may not be any of you here that did that but it’s blindingly obvious, like that one there, that little red light,” he said, pointing into the crowd.

He referred to a disruption during that night’s performance in which he had to stop and then resume his delivery of the soliloquy beginning “To be or not to be,” which he noted was not the easiest place to have to restart.  Cumberbatch said he could see a “little red light” near the third row during the performance. “It’s mortifying,” he said. There is “nothing less supportive or enjoyable.”

“And I can’t give you what I want to give you, which is a live performance that you will remember hopefully in your minds and brains, whether it is good, bad or indifferent, rather than on your phones.”

It was reported that Cumberbatch’s performance was halted because of a technical problem.

The actor said there would be strict rules in place on Monday, with devices that will detect audience members using their phones and cameras during the show and lead to their eviction. “I don’t want that to happen; that’s a horrible way to have to police what is a wonderful thing.”

“So this isn’t me blaming you, this is just me asking you to just ripple it out there,” he said, “with your funny electronic things.”

Cumberbatch has spoken out previously on the topic. At a “Letters Live” performance at the Freemasons’ Hall in April, he stopped his reading to ask people in the audience to stop taking pictures with their phones.

He was adding his plaint to those of a number of actors who have tried to address the scourge of cellphone use during performances — often less eloquently.

During a recent matinee, Patti LuPone’s “Shows for Days” was interrupted four times by phones. At another performance last month, she left the stage at the end of a scene and took a phone from a woman who had been texting, making Ms. LuPone a viglante heroine to those frustrated by breaches of theatre etiquette.

In 2009, she stopped a performance of “Gypsy” to berate someone who was taking photographs. The same year,  Hugh Jackman told an audience member, “We can wait” when the person’s phone rang during a performance of “A Steady Rain.”

At London’s Old Vic in 2014, the American actor Kevin Spacey told an audience member whose phone was ringing during a performance,  ” If you don’t answer that, I will, “

For ongoing ticket availability please check the Barbican website at hamlet.barbican.org.uk

This production is being broadcast LIVE – broadcast to cinemas around the world on Thursday 15th October 2015 as part of National Theatre Live. http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/

 

Hamlet
Directed by Lyndsey Turner
starring Benedict Cumberbatch
5th August to 31st October 2015

Whitley Bay Film Festival present
Payroll (1961)

Sunday 30th August 2015
7.30pm

After the huge success of ‘TOMMY’ with special guest appearance from Roger Daltrey, we are excited to announce the next instalment from Whitley Bay Film Festival will be on the 30th August in the form of the crime drama Payroll which was filmed in the Newcastle, Gateshead, Tynemouth and Seaton Sluice.

Gritty north east crime films didn’t start with Get Carter, Payroll, a superb British thriller filmed around iconic locations in Newcastle and Tynemouth from 1960. From the moment the blag starts on The Tyne bridge, the tension mounts.

Michael Craig & Billie Whitelaw star in this classic heist movie. A gang
of hoodlums carry out an audacious daytime robbery of a security van but
things go seriously amiss. The stakes are dramatically raised when a
security man is murdered.  Things rapidly spiral out of control.

Although the film is a stark and paranoid depiction of early 1960s England,
it’s delivered with perfect pace and cool. The action is nonstop and the
film is underpinned throughout by the hippest Brit Jazz score from Reg
Owen.  Payroll is a compelling ride with great local resonance.

Tickets for the film screening are priced at £5 and available to purchase now.

Tickets are available from the Box Office open Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm, Saturday 10.30am -2.30pm plus until show start on event days. Tickets can also

be purchased on the booking hotline 0844 248 1588 or online at www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk.

Last year Newcastle Theatre Royal had its most successful year since records began – attracting a total of 405,681 customers through its doors, as revealed in the company’s Annual Report out today.

 

Newcastle Theatre Royal’s Annual Report for 2014/15 details record breaking figures for the charity despite a drastically reduced level of funding and a tough economic climate, and points to an unprecedented success story.

 

Between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015 the Grade 1 listed Theatre welcomed 44 visiting theatre, opera, ballet and dance companies and presented 406 performances to a staggering 405,681 people. The attendance for the year was at 80% capacity, which is an astonishing 21% above the national average.

With a turnover of £12.4 million (up £2.6m on last year), the not-for-profit Theatre supported 50 full time equivalent jobs across the North East and returned £338,652 to the Government in Tax, National Insurance and VAT.

 

The year 14/15 has been the Theatre’s best ever in terms of ticket sales, with a total of £10.3m worth of tickets sold.  This comes in the same year when it received a lower level of funding than ever before (and in 15/16 will receive no ongoing revenue funding). This success is down in a large part to shrewd management, in particular the programming of another blockbuster pantomime that smashed all previous records and a run of hugely successful musicals which did storming business in the Box Office, including Cats, Top Hat, Dirty Dancing and The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time.

Newcastle Theatre Royal Trust is an independent registered charity (No.504473) operating not-for-profit and keeping only a small percentage of the ticket price as a contribution towards the running costs of the Theatre.

 

Chief Executive Philip Bernays said: “The year 2015/16 will be the first year we  receive no funding from the City Council, so to have such a successful year in 14/15 is a hopeful indication of our strength and success in our new autonomy.

 

“We strive to excel in everything that we do in order to attract audiences in what is a very competitive market, and the word ‘Welcome’ continues to be our central mantra. We always try to give our customers the best experience without charging inflated prices – in fact the average price paid at the Theatre Royal in 2013/14 was £22.39 which is slightly below the national average for theatre tickets, and considerably lower than the price of a ticket for a Premier League football match!

 

“The report shows outstanding figures, which are testament to the quality of the programme, of the building and, most importantly, to the efforts of all our staff through the strength of teamwork and of the team.”

 

Over the course of 14/15 38,267 people bought tickets for the first time, and across the board the most popular show genre was Musicals (accounting for 32.7% of visitors), closely followed by the famous annual pantomime at 24.4%.

 

Highlights of the past year include the commencement of the Theatre’s major Back of House refurbishment – a renovation of backstage areas, including the Green Room and dressing rooms. It is the first time the backstage area has been refurbished or decorated since 1988 and represents the second act in a major facelift, ‘Act One’ being the Theatre’s award winning £4.9 million auditorium restoration which took place in 2011. The refurbishment is well on track and set to be complete by the end of August.

 

As well as proving another blockbuster of a show, our panto was once again broadcast to hospitals across the UK via Hospedia TVs.  This year it was also screened in Northern Ireland for the first time, and so reached more patients than ever before.

 

2014/15 also saw the Theatre become the first theatre in the UK to be presented with the Autism Access Award, following a year-long project to develop an all-inclusive approach in relation to the specific needs of theatre-goers with autism. Local firms ITPS and The Benfield Trust supported the Theatre’s relaxed performances, and The Monument Trust and Benfield Trust enabled them to purchase additional captioning screens for their Access performances.

 

The Theatre was also shortlisted for Most Welcoming Theatre in the My Theatre Matters awards and was presented with an Association of Building Engineers Gold Laurel Award, for the restoration of the auditorium.  Furthermore, we added a second star to our Industry Green accreditation in recognition of our further commitment to managing carbon and improving environmental performance.

 

The Learning programme has also been reinvented and reinvigorated, focusing more on the Theatre building and main stage programme, and is proving a great success – last year the Theatre engaged with 7,142 people.

 

The Theatre is also famous for having the most generous Friends scheme in the UK and the largest arts membership scheme in the region – last year it attracted a total of 6,902 Friends & Advantage members.  It’s also a favourite among the business community and received support from a number of local businesses.

 

For more information visit http://www.theatreroyalannualreport.co.uk/

 

Sonia Friedman Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Tulchin Bartner Productions
in association with 1001 Nights, Rupert Gavin, JFL Theatricals, Scott M. Delman
Scott & Brian Zeilinger/James Lefkowitz
present the Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production of
1984
By George Orwell
A new adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan

Last chance to see critically acclaimed 1984 at the Playhouse Theatre

Final performance is 5 September

More than 264,000 people have now seen 1984 across 459 performances since its original opening in Nottingham in 2013

More than a third of tickets for the run at the Playhouse sold at the accessible price of £19.84

Production embarks on an international tour following end of West End run

The Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre five star production of 1984 must end its limited run at the Playhouse Theatre on 5 September 2015. Following hugely successful runs at the Almeida and in the West End last year, two national tours and prior to a forthcoming international tour, 1984 has been revived to continued success at the Playhouse Theatre this summer.

More than a third of the tickets for this year’s run (38%) have been sold at the accessible £19.84 price band. This ticket initiative was set up by the show’s producers to encourage new audiences. As a result, 1984 has one of the youngest audiences in the West End.

Since 1984’s first performance in 2013, 264,000 people have seen the show across 459 performances in 18 different venues across 3 countries.

1984 is adapted and directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, and designed by Chloe Lamford, with lighting designed by Natasha Chivers, sound designed by Tom Gibbons and video designed by Tim Reid.

George Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, is one of the most influential novels in recent history, with its chilling depiction of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind-control.  Its ideas have become our ideas, and Orwell’s fiction is often said to be our reality.

Filtering the spirit and the ambition of the novel through the lens of contemporary culture, this radical new staging explores surveillance culture, identity and thinking two plus two can equal five.

 

 

BOOK TICKETS NOW

    

THE STAGE 4*

“..galvanising new production”

JONATHAN BAZ 5*

“Tommy is unmissable and up there with the very best of musical theatre on offer in London today. See it, hear it!”

PLAYS TO SEE 4*

“..this is a first rate production which deserves to be seen.”

WEST END WILMA 5*

“..a phenomenal group of talent”

LONDON THEATRE 1 5*

“So, 46 years after being first released as a concept album, does this new production of “The Who’s Tommy” deliver? You bet it does.

Pics by Claire Bilyard

BOOK TICKETS NOW

BOOK TICKETS NOW

 CARNS THEATRE PASSION 4*

 

Pics by Claire Bilyard

BOOK TICKETS NOW

Following yesterday’s tragic incident and as messages come in from around the world, Matthew Bourne, Artistic Director of New Adventures issues the following tribute on behalf of the company:

“Yesterday we lost our “Swan” and our “Car Man” – Jonathan Ollivier was one of the most charismatic and powerful dancers of his generation: An intensely masculine presence tempered with tenderness and vulnerability made him the perfect casting for a string of triumphant roles in the New Adventures repertory including “The Swan”, the enigmatic “Speight” in “Play Without Words” and his final role as Luca in “The Car Man” which he was due to dance at last nights final performance at Sadler’s Wells.

A man of great warmth and charm, Jonny was a true gent, loved and respected by his colleagues and adored by audiences who were mesmerised by his memorable performances on stage as well as his friendly and genuine personality at the Stage Door. He was also an inspiration and role model to several generations of young dancers who strived to emulate his enviable technique and majestic stage presence.

Yesterdays events have ripped at the heart of the New Adventures family and we join together to send our heartfelt condolences to all of Jonny’s family and friends. In our grieving for this irreplaceable artist we take some comfort in the legacy of memories that he has left behind”

 

 

CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR ‘F*CK THE POLAR BEARS’ BY TANYA RONDER
SURREAL FAMILY DRAMA ABOUT THE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO AFFECT CHANGES TO OUR PLANET

The cast for the world premiere production of F*CK THE POLAR BEARS by Tanya Ronder is: Jon Foster, Salóme R Gunnarsdóttir, Susan Stanley and Andrew Whipp.

The production, directed by Caroline Byrne, previews from 11 September (press night 16 September).

F*CK THE POLAR BEARS is a raucous new environmental comedy about a family with the world at their feet, but plagued by the everyday hypocrisies and First World Problems of a prosperous life.

Gordon and Serena have worked hard to get where they are. He’s on the verge of a massive promotion at an energy company. She’s preparing for a move into the house of their dreams. The family appear to be cooking on gas.

But behind their perfect front door, light bulbs are blowing, the drains keep blocking, and a phone inexplicably refuses to charge. Not to mention that daughter Rachel’s adored toy polar bear is nowhere to be found.

As Gordon chases the spectres behind these mysterious events, he spirals out of control and the family are forced to ask whether the life they desire is worth its cost.

Andrew Whipp and Susan Stanley will play Gordon and Serena, seemingly the perfect couple. Salóme R Gunnarsdóttir takes the role of Blundhilde, their long-suffering idealistic au pair, with Jon Foster as Gordon’s troubled brother, the black sheep of the family. Bella Anne Padden and Eléa Vicas will share the role of the couple’s young daughter Rachel.

Jon Foster‘s theatre work includes buckets (Orange Tree Theatre), All I Want (Jackson’s Lane)Idomeneus, Trojan Women, Dream Story, Mud (Gate Theatre), Cheese (fanSHEN), A Beginning, A New Way to Please You, Sejanus: His Fall, Speaking Like Magpies, Thomas More (RSC), How to Tell the Monsters from the Misfits (Birmingham Rep), Long Time Dead (Paines Plough) and After Heggarty(Finborough). Television includes Da Vinci’s Demons, New Tricks, Law and Order, The Bill, The IT Crowd, The Last Enemy, Instinct and Silent Witness.

Salóme R Gunnarsdóttir makes her London theatre debut in F*ck the Polar Bears. Orignially from Iceland, theatre work includes The Crucible, Spamalot, Assumblywomen and Óvitar, all at the National Theatre of Iceland. Film and television credits include The Lava Field: Hraunið (Pegasus Pictures),Stelpurnar 5 (Saga Films), Autumn Lights, Bakk (Mystery Island), Paris of the North, Megaphone (Zik Zak Filmworks). She has most recently filmed the role of Toma in Legends for Fox 21.

Susan Stanley most recently played the title role in Portia Coughlan (The Old Red Lion; nominated Best Female Performance, Offies 2015). Other theatre credits include: The Separation (Theatre503), Almost Maine (Park Theatre), The Separation (Project Arts Centre, Dublin), The Last Confessions of a Scallywag (The Mill at Sonning) and Bedbound (The Lion and Unicorn).

Andrew Whipp’s theatre credits include Now This Is Not the End (Arcola), Farragut North (Southwark Playhouse), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Belgrade Theatre), Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe),Celebration, Arcadia (Gate Theatre, Dublin; The Sunday Times Irish Edition Best Performance 2012),Before the Flood (Royal Court), Much Ado about Nothing (Stafford), Best Men (The Sticking Place), The Misanthrope (Bury St Edmonds), King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe) and The Child (Gate Theatre).Television includes Death in Paradise, A Song for Jenny, Holby City, EastEnders, Heartbeat,Doctors and Emmerdale.

Tanya Ronder’s adaptations for theatre include Dara and Liolà (National Theatre); Macbett (RSC);Filumena and Blood Wedding (Almeida); Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, 02 and USA tour; Vernon God Little (Olivier nomination for Best New Play, What’s on Stage nom. for Best New Comedy) andPeribanez (Young Vic). Vernon God Little was revived by the Young Vic in 2011 as part of their anniversary season.  Her first original play Table (National Theatre) opened the Shed to critical acclaim in 2013. Films include the short, King Bastard (dir Rufus Norris).  Tanya is currently developing a series for BBC, Big Amy, with co-writer Deborah Bruce.

Caroline Byrne’s directing credits include Electra (RWCMD, Cardiff), Eclipsed (Gate Theatre), Gate 35 Gala (Louise Blouin Foundation), Leaving Home Party (Farnham Maltings Tour), By Mr Farquhar (UK City of Culture 2013), Text Messages (Project, Dublin), Shakespeare in a Suitcase (co-directed with Tim Crouch for RSC),The Recovery Position (Lion and Unicorn), Twizzler Soaked Ecstasy (devised, Bernhard Theatre Studio), The Children (Embassy Theatre), Attempts on her Life (Durham Theatre, Berkeley, USA). As Assistant Director: Adler and Gibb (Royal Court), Wendy and Peter Pan (RSC) and King Lear(RSC Tour). As Associate Director at the Gate Theatre (2014/15): Grounded and Purple Heart.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s THE INVISIBLE is currently playing at the Bush until 15 August.

F*CK THE POLAR BEARS will be followed in the Bush’s autumn season by RADAR, the Bush Theatre’s annual festival of new writing (November 2015; on sale September 2015) and FORGET ME NOT by Tom Holloway (8 December 2015 – 16 January 2016), a co-production between the Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival Theatre.

LISTINGS
11 September – 24 October 2015
F*CK THE POLAR BEARS
By Tanya Ronder

Press night 16 September, 7pm

Mon to Sat at 7.30pm
2.30pm Saturday matinees (from 19 September)
2.30pm Wednesday matinees (from 23 September)

BushGreen Live Debate: Can the world economy survive without fossil fuels? 30 September

Captioned performance 9 October, 7.30pm
Audio described performance 3 October, 2.30pm

Ticket prices:

Evenings: £20

• £12.50 concessions (registered unemployed and disabled)
• £15.50 for Senior Citizens
• £12.50 for students/under 26s
• 10% off for Bush Local members

Previews: £15.50

• £10.50 concessions (registered unemployed and disabled)
• £12.50 for Senior Citizens
• £10.50 for students/under 26s
• £12.50 for Bush Local members

Matinees: £15

• £10.00 concessions (registered unemployed and disabled)
• £10.00 for students/under 26s
• £10.00 for Senior Citizens
• 10% off for Bush Local members

Season Offers*

Season 3 for 2
See 3 shows for the price of 2. Valid for top price tickets only, shows must be purchased at the same time. Not valid for previews, matinees or RADAR.

Live or work locally – Join our free local membership scheme Bush Local for £12.50 preview tickets, 10% off all other performances and a 10% discount at the Cafe Bar. For more information and to become a member, visit bushtheatre.co.uk

Educational Groups – Schools tickets are £10 (matinees) and £12.50 (evenings), plus one teacher goes free with every 10 pupils. To reserve tickets, please call the Box Office between 12 – 8pm.

Bush Connect scheme – A free membership scheme for students and under 26s, BUSH CONNECT offers its members £10-£12.50 tickets for all Bush Theatre productions, a 10% discount at the Cafe Bar, special offers, giveaways and competitions, and exclusive events and networking opportunities.

Group Bookings – Book for a group of 11 or more people and the 11th person will go for free.

*Terms and conditions apply, see the Bush website for further information.

West End Wilma is the Theatre world’s favourite nana. Running around the West End interviewing stars and reviewing as many shows as she can fit in to her busy OAP lifestyle. Wilma was awarded the 2014 Ticketmaster Blog of the Year Award and has a great engagement with the theatre world through social media.

She launched the hugely succesful Wilma Awards in 2014, and Wilma is delighted to announce that the 2015 awards will take place again this year on Friday 30 October 2015.

Lets start with some favourites

Favourite show (whether you have reviewed it or not)?

Chicago

Favourite book?

The Davinci Code

Favourite theatre?

Any with cheap wine that aren’t too busy!

Favourite song?

I quite like that angry song by Taylor Swift I heard on the radio today. Bad Blood I think it might have been called. I don’t know any of her music but I might give it a little listen now. I know she’s very famous!

Favourite music?

Musicals!!

Favourite food?

Good old fashioned East End London Pie and Mash!

Favourite line from any show?

It’s hard to pick a favourite line. There are so many. I love the words to the song ‘With You’ from Ghost the Musical. It’s like a really sad poem so maybe that can count as one really long line?

What is your favourite role?

I think that there are so many great roles out there. Obviously Elphaba in Wicked is one and I wouldn’t mind having a crack at Momma Rose in Gypsy or Eponine in Les Mis

And, what show would you loved to have written?

Vieux Carre by Tennessee Williams

Do you ever think I really don’t want to review this in case I don’t like it?

Sometimes but it isn’t really about whether I like it. I can watch a show and think it’s not my kind of thing but I can appreciate its merits for the audience it is aimed at.

If you could be anyone else for the day, who would it be?

Meryl Streep (who doesn’t want to be her?!)

What was the last stage show you saw and really enjoyed?

Dear Lupin at the Apollo Theatre. It’s a wonderful book and the stage show was even better as it added layers to it that the book couldn’t.

What advice would you give 16 year old Wilma?

It’s all going to be ok

If you weren’t a reviewer what would you be?

Maybe working in battersea dogs home looking after them. That would be nice and rewarding.

What was your first reviewed show?

MasterClass at the Vaudeville Theatre

Do you go to the theatre purely pleasure any more or is it all reviewing?

Sometimes I do go to the theatre purely for pleasure. Because I see so much I tend to try and go by the rule that if I have paid for the ticket myself then I won’t review it and will just enjoy the show. Sometimes I like to take people to shows that I’ve already reviewed that I think they will like so obviously I wouldn’t review it again. It’s nice to be able to have a few drinks and not worry about what is happening too technically!

How did you end up being a theatre critic?

A friend of mine said that I should start a blog because I see so many shows. It sounded like a fun challenge so I gave it a go. I still don’t really believe anyone reads my reviews. I just tap away at the computer and apparently people are finding it useful!

You have your “Tea with Wilma” section – who would you like to have tea with that you haven’t yet?

Patti Lupone! What a hoot she would be!

What made you decide to have the WILMA Awards?

I just thought ‘why not?’. After putting together a cabaret show I thought it would be a similar thing to arrange and I liked the idea of being able to pick my own categories and deciding on the nominees.

Can you tell me what you will be up to next?

Well the awards are taking up quite a lot of time as you can imagine. I’m also now editing a monthly theatre news magazine for ShowFilmFirst.com which is quite a task! Once the awards are out of the way I’m thinking about possibly putting on another cabaret show with some west end performers but I have no idea when that might be.