Experimental Experience presents the
UK Tour of Sex Worker’s Opera
Saturday 4th November – Saturday 2nd December 2017
Press Night: Thursday 23rd November 2017, Ovalhouse

What do you think of when you hear the words ‘Stripper’, ‘Escort’, ‘Pornstar’?
Originally devised in 2014, the award-winning Sex Worker’s Opera will tour the UK for the first time this autumn following a multitude of sell-out performances around the UK, Ireland and Greece. Comprised of 50% Sex Workers, this provocative show gives platform for sex workers – tired of being spoken for – to finally tell their own stories on their own terms.

Smashing together genres, Sex Worker’s Opera collides opera with hip-hop and incorporates sound art, projections and poetry to showcase an unflinchingly honest and upliftingly human insight into the lives of Sex Workers around the world.

Experimental Experience provides a platform to tell the unheard stories of Sex Workers from 17 countries across five continents, exploring a street worker giving marital advice, a webcam model and her ventriloquist dummy and a daughter making career choices in a male-dominated world.

Co-Director, Siobhan Knox, comments, Everyone has an opinion about sex work, even if it’s a joke or something they’ve heard on TV. Art and the media portray sex work in a very one dimensional way, it is either extremely glamorous or extremely tragic, and one of the messages of the show is that sex work is human, it is not good or bad it’s just complex.

Cast member (anonymous), comments, It has given me the chance to explore my happiness in my career as a sex worker, to heal all my pain, to make poetry with my life.

Slaps tropes round the face with a PVC glove (Time Out)

What every great opera should do. (Royal Opera House)

Theatre N16, 30 August – 16 September.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

Having spent a lifetime watching Wales failing to qualify, getting fanatical about football was a mystery to me. Wrong shaped balls I’m afraid. Although I’ve always loved a good football film – never passed up an opportunity to shout “Give it to Gordon” at kids playing football. Then I spent time with the Scots Guards and was immersed in total Rangers mania. Mention the C word and you got an hour’s lecture about how superior Rangers were, and how Celtic were, in fact, “a sack of shi*te, Miss” – and that was from the 5-year olds in my Reception class.

Luckily, Deadline Day makes no mention of the offside rule or any other arcane mysteries, and is accessible and entertaining for football pundits and footballphobics alike. Apparently, there are transfer windows for selling and buying players every year and fans get excited and/or livid about the comings and goings and the vast amounts of money changing hands, and Deadline Day deals with events on the last day of the window.

Newcastle United player Danny and his agent Rachel need to get down South for a medical with Chelsea before he signs the new contract, and the airport is closed, so Trevor is hired to drive them. Trevor is a lifelong fan of United, and can’t understand why Danny would want to leave. Especially for Chelsea. Trevor has lots going on in his personal life, and news of Danny’s transfer adds to this pressure causing him to implode, putting Danny’s future in jeopardy. That’s about it plot wise, but writers John Hickman and Steve Robertson have managed to cram the nubs of every possible pub argument about football into just under an hour – players’ salaries, club loyalty, insensitive chairmen and owners, greedy agents, intrusive press, sexism and nostalgia for the good old days, they’re all in there. But instead of being a random parade of clichés, the characters’ arguments about all of this feel natural and authentic. And it’s full of brilliant Northern humour.

Danny isn’t the stereotypical thick ego with boots – he’s a fairly grounded, innocent kid who’s worked his way up through the club and takes care of his family after his father’s death. Tevye Mattheson, in his professional debut, keeps Danny likeable and frustrating in his indecision. His relationship with Rachel is well layered, with the power dynamics shifting as the play progresses. Victoria Gibson impresses as Rachel, full of fire and bravado, but allowing the true affection she feels for Danny to shine through. Mike Yeaman’s passionate performance as Trevor is remarkable, convincing as a lost and hopeless soul, and then spouting misogynistic bile that makes you want to jump up and slap him. The writers wisely counter this with a fantastically powerful speech from Rachel about surviving in the male-dominated world of football.

Set in a car, the actual set is just 3 chairs, but director James Callas Bell has the characters moving around and making eye contact, even sitting on the floor to listen sympathetically to each other’s stories, that amplifies their connection, but doesn’t lose the claustrophobic atmosphere. The action is interrupted by occasional sports broadcasts commenting and speculating on the day’s events that are a lovely contrast to the dark goings on in the car.

I suppose I should end with a host of football clichés, but the only time I take notice of Gary Lineker is in those crisp adverts. I’ll do my best…

Deadline Day is a fantastic, funny and intimate play about the beautiful game that is premiership material. And it’s MUCH more entertaining than watching Chelsea. Get your ticket now.

To celebrate the release of his highly anticipated fourth album, join Keith Jack on his Movie Nights tour, where he will be performing tracks from iconic movies; The Bodyguard, Dirty Dancing, Jailhouse Rock, Batman Forever plus so much more. 

Keith is best known for coming second in the BBC show Any Dream Will Do a decade ago. Since then, he has played several lead roles such as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Charlie in the new musical Only the Brave. He also played the role of Alistair in the UK premiere of Sincerely Mr Toad, then came the role of Ralph in HMS Pinafore, followed by Sparky in the hit musical Forever Plaid. Most recently, Keith has been touring on Saturday Night at the Movies with Joe McElderry.

AUSSIE STAR ADAM HILLS AT LEEDS GRAND THEATRE

Aussie favourite and star of Channel 4’s The Last Leg, Adam Hills, is bringing his critically acclaimed show Clown Heart to Leeds Grand Theatre for one night only on Sunday 22^nd October 2017. The show will be accompanied by a BSL interpreter.

Adam Hills has fast become one of the most popular comedians in the UK with 15 tours that have travelled internationally. His combination of positive, uplifting comedy and dynamic spontaneity has seen him receive numerous awards, glowing reviews and a legion of fans around the world.

As host of Channel 4’s ground-breaking The Last Leg, Adam won ‘Best Breakthrough Act’ and was nominated for ‘Best Entertainment Personality’ at the British Comedy Awards in 2013. The show itself won ‘Best Entertainment Programme’ at the 2015 Royal Television Society Awards and received another nomination in that category in 2016, while Adam himself was nominated for ‘Best Entertainment Performance’. 2017 has seen The Last Leg win ‘Best Entertainment Show’ at the Broadcast Awards, as well as gain a double nomination at the BAFTA’s and a nomination at this year’s NTA awards.

Other recent notable UK TV appearances include co-host of Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer alongside Alan Carr and Davina McCall in October 2016 and host of Celebrity Fifteen to One (Channel 4).

Adam Hills is at Leeds Grand Theatre on Sunday 22^nd October 2017

Tickets are priced at £25.00

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

Theatre 503, 30 August – 30 September.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

3***

Mick and Sylv’s house is a place of refuge for kids who don’t belong. There are parties, cigarettes and alcohol, and love and warmth, but there are also rules. When Dummey comes to the house, he thinks he has finally found a family, but his presence creates rifts and tension that lead to the real world intruding into the misfits’ home.

Set on a fictional estate in Northumberland in 2003, Philip Correira’s debut play shows great promise, with a sharp and fast-moving script that twists about enough to keep the audience guessing what Mick’s motives are as he grows closer to Dummey, the doppelganger of his son, Michael. The character of Dean, mostly silent or monosyllabic in the early part of the play, creates an increasing atmosphere of unease and foreboding, with dark comments about what everyone is saying about Mick on the estate.

The play is episodic, but the swift scene changes and shifts in tone match the chaotic lives of the characters. The set is simply brilliant – think of your dotty great aunt’s front room, full of tat and knick knacks but with added handcuffs and dildos for decoration.

Charlie Hardwick is fantastic as Sylv. Deliciously dry and snarky, but full of love for Mick and the kids, Hardwick is at her best when Sylv feels threatened. The façade slips and you realise that it’s Sylv who’s set all the rules as you see the fear in her eyes as she does whatever she can to protect Mick.

Patrick Driver’s Mick completely creeped me out when he was around Dummey, but I don’t know if that says more about me than the actor. (Too many safeguarding training days attended – had to keep telling myself that it was just a play!) Driver shifts from menacing to childlike in a heartbeat, making Sylv’s love for the mercurial character more believable. The younger cast members all shine, and bring a wonderful energy to the play. Ryan Nolan is sweet and vulnerable as Dummey, with a fantastic repertoire of gormless facial expressions. Aimee Kelly gives the self-obsessed Laura a lovely warmth. Joe Blakemore is superb as Dean, allowing the scared, abandoned teenager within to slowly emerge, and Sarah Balfour steals every scene as Shelley – full of wild eyed innocent honesty, and speaking with no filter at all.

HYEM has a huge heart and has lots to say about the meaning of family and the effects and danger of public opinion and rumours without overegging the pudding, but I must admit to a little disappointment at the ending. Charlie Hardwick gives a barnstorming rant, but the Michael explanation felt a little wishy-washy after the rest of the play’s ballsiness.

HYEM is a feisty and clever debut play that will make you squirm and laugh out loud in equal measure – well worth a look.

The Lyric Theatre, London – 4 September 2017.  Reviewed by Sharon Hinds Kennedy

4****

From the beginning to its finale this production captivated the audience with brilliant renditions from the Simon and Garfunkel song book. The musicians, including a brass ensemble were very talented. The two main characters sang their way through the evening without dropping a note. In fact I closed my eyes and I thought I could actually be listening live to Simon & Garfunkel. Their voices harmonising perfectly.

The songs were performed in historical order of what was happening in the personal lives of Simon and Garfunkel but also placed in historical context of what was happening in the wider world. A slide show in black and white was shown on a large screen behind and above the performers. This historical back drop, included famous scenes from twentieth century America, such as John F Kennedy’s fatal trip to Dallas, race segregation, the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jnr. A gallery of famous faces of from the 1960s – although most were well known, one or two could have been labelled – this would have helped some of us in the audience who were trying to remember who was who instead of focusing on the music!

This is not a tribute act but a show that gets to the heart and at times the profound meaning and historical narrative that Simon and Garfunkel were addressing through their lyrics and music.

This production is highly recommended and I would award it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fresh from his critically acclaimed turn in Ken Loach’s multi award winning film I, Daniel Blake, Newcastle comedian Dave Johns brings his hit one-man show I, FILLUM STAR to Newcastle Theatre Royal for one night only on Sunday 1 October 2017.   

It’s the stuff of fairytales – a stand-up comic is plucked from the circuit by a world famous film maker and cast in the title role of one of the most acclaimed British films in recent years.  For Dave Johns, the last two years has been a rollercoaster ride of red carpet surrealism. In his new stand-up show he supplies a gripping and down-to-earth account of how an affable Whitley Bay lad ended-up as the toast of the Cannes Film Festival, winning BAFTAS and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Woody Allen, Stephen Spielberg and Meryl  Streep.

Following a hit run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Dave brings his I, Fillum Star show to the city closest to his heart, where the film I, Daniel Blake is set and his own career began.

In 1989 Johns’ launched the Comedy Café on Westgate Road and invited  the emerging Jack Dee and Jo Brand to appear, but realising they needed an MC stepped-up and did it himself.  Finding he was rather good at it and pricing tickets at £3.75 including soup and a bun, the club became a city hot spot and Dave went on to host many more comedy stars including Eddie Izzard, Steve Coogan, Harry Hill and nervous 14 year old lad called Ross Noble who went on to do rather well for himself.

So Johns became a successful comedian, touring throughout the UK, a regular with the Comedy Store Players and appearing on much loved TV shows like Never Mind the Buzzcocks and 8 Out of Ten Cats. 

But just when he was thinking of giving-up comedy and running donkey rides on his beloved North East beaches he sent a speculative, jokey text to the casting director of I, Daniel Blake.  Twelve months later he was shocked to pull in multiple Best Actor awards as the film secured a plethora of international plaudits and the Cannes Festival’s Palme d’Or.

A must-not-miss opportunity to see a Newcastle legend telling his fairytale story in his hilarious own words for one night only.

Dave Johns appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal on Sunday 1 October 2017 at 7.30pm. Tickets £19.50.  Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge) or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk

Whatever Guise Productions presents
Gin For Breakfast
By Jess Moore

At Tristan Bates Theatre
World Premiere Run

After-show Guest Speakers including Stephen Fry and Frank Turner announced today

Whatever Guise Productions, producer of Gin For Breakfast at the Tristan Bates Theatre, has announced its line-up of after-show talks, including contributions from Stephen Fry, Frank Turner, Mat Horne, Hugo Rifkind and Oliver Kamm.

The talks will centre around mental health and are presented with support from CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), which works to prevent male suicide by providing frontline services for men, promoting culture change and campaigning for better understanding of suicide and prevention. The play’s director, Ryan Gage, and writer, Jess Moore, will also be featured.

The talks will be held after selected performances of Gin For Breakfast, Jess Moore’s debut play, which will open at the Tristan Bates Theatre on Thursday 28th September for a strictly limited four-week run.

Frank Turner will attend on the 11th October and Stephen Fry on the 18th October. Dates for the other speakers will be announced soon.

The play follows childhood friends, Jen and Robbie, who are all grown-up now and galaxies away from where they imagined they would be. With their world-views set on a collision course, and their dreams imploding, Gin for Breakfast explores whether or not they can save themselves, and each other. And, when everything’s just star-stuff, does it matter?

Tristan Bates Theatre showcases new writing and contemporary writing and is establishing its reputation as one of London’s most prestigious fringe venues.

The play opens on Thursday 28th September and runs until Saturday 21st October, with previews on the evenings of Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th, and a matinee performance on 28th September. Tickets are on sale at https://www.tristanbatestheatre.co.uk/whats-on/gin-for-breakfast.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Tuesday 26 September – Saturday 21 October 
Standard Tickets: £18 / £16 Concessions.
Thursday Matinees: £10
Group Booking: £15 for 8+ tickets booked in a single transaction (bookable over the phone or in person).

Tristan Bates Theatre
1a Tower Street
London
WC2H 9NP

Box office: [email protected] // 020 3841 6611

Tickets are on sale here: https://www.tristanbatestheatre.co.uk/whats-on/gin-for-breakfast

ROBERT MACKINTOSH

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE OTHER PALACE

PRESENT
ALAIN BOUBLIL’S

IN THE STUDIO AT THE OTHER PALACE FROM

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 21 OCTOBER 2017

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Robert Mackintosh in association with The Other Palace are delighted announce a ‘Work in Progress’ production of Alain Boublil’s MANHATTAN PARISIENNE. The show will have public sharings in The Studio at The Other Palace between Tuesday 10 and Saturday 21 October 2017. Schedule below.

Alain Boublil said today “Robert Mackintosh invited me to visit the theatre one day last year. I was amazed to discover how perfect a setting The Studio was for Manhattan Parisienne. Exactly what I’d dreamed of. I mentioned to Robert how much I’d love to do the show there and gave him a copy of the play. He also gave a copy to Paul Taylor Mills, who liked it too. I am beyond thrilled that things have come together now so that Robert and The Other Palace, along with myself, can present a new development of the show”.

MANHATTAN PARISIENNE is a New York story of differences and attraction, of two struggling artists and an unlikely meeting of minds.  She is a French actress/singer.  He is a Manhattan musician who has a history with Paris.  Connected by music, they embark on a surreal journey through New York.  MANHATTAN PARISIENNE features excerpts of songs from the classic French and American songbooks by songwriters including Jacques Brel, George and Ira Gershwin, Michel Legrand, Cole Porter and Charles Aznavour.  The play, by Alain Boublil, made its debut at 59E59 theaters in New York. Marie Zamora, who played Eve, is to reprise the role here.

LISTINGS

MANHATTAN PARISIENNE

The Studio, The Other Palace

Tuesday 10 October 8pm

Wednesday 11 October 8pm

Thursday 12 October 3pm and 8pm

Friday 13 October 8pm

Saturday 14 October 3pm and 8pm

Monday 16 October 8pm

Tuesday 17 October 8pm

Wednesday 18 October 8pm

Thursday 19 October 3pm and 8pm

Friday 20 October 8pm

Saturday 21 October 3pm and 8pm

Tickets £20

Online: www.theotherpalace.co.uk

Phone: 020 7087 7900

In person:  Box Office is open from 10.00am-6.30pm on show days and 10.00am – 6.00pm on non-show days.  Sundays and Bank Holidays may vary.

Address: 12 Palace St, Westminster, London SW1E 5JA