The Pleasance announces winners of Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund for theatre as Unpolished Theatre.

Elliot Warren and Olivia Brady’s Unpolished Theatre, established in 2016, is announced as the winner of Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund for theatre. Its first ever show Flesh & Bone will premiere at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2017.

At the very heart of the Pleasance’s curated programme at both the Festival Fringe and at the Pleasance in London, is the development arm of The Pleasance Theatre Trust, Pleasance Futures. The Pleasance’s enduring mission is to provide a launch pad for the very best emerging talent and the brightest new ideas. The Pleasance Theatre Trust has provided financial support to up and coming talent both on and off stage through a number of Pleasance Futures projects such as Kidzone, Young Pleasance, XYP, Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund and various co-productions.

The Charlie Hartill Special Reserve is a designated, rolling Fund towards the production costs of bringing selected projects to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and consists of two strands: comedy and theatre.

The Pleasance is delighted to announce the winners of the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund for theatre as Unpolished Theatre, selected from the largest ever number of applications.

Unpolished Theatre was created by Elliot Warren and Olivia Brady in 2016 alongside the idea of their first production Flesh & Bone which they will now premiere at the Pleasance this coming August.

Flesh & Bone was performed at the Etcetera Theatre in December in its initial version, but the company are planning extensive re-writes before the Fringe. It will be the company’s debut on the Fringe.

Elliot and Olivia studied together at Drama School in Bournemouth and forged a brilliant working relationship and friendship creating work throughout and afterwards. In early 2016, both back home in London, Elliot wrote a short film called Stick Up which Olivia produced and which garnered quite a bit of attention, going viral on the internet and gaining 2.2 million views on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/stickupmovie/). In the same year, both Elliot and Olivia were in a production of East by Steven Berkoff and remembered their shared love of his style. Once the run had finished they were afire with ideas and energies that needed put onto a stage, igniting a similar style to Berkoff but with contemporary ideas and subject matters.

And so Flesh & Bone was conceived. Flesh & Bone gives the gritty residents of an East London Tower Block a stage, through their wickedly eloquent voices and their outpourings of uberly bloated tongue, we are thrust into their stories, held by the scruff of the neck, and made to listen.

Anthony Alderson, Director of the Pleasance said: “Having received over 100 applications, we are thrilled to announce Unpolished Theatre’s Flesh & Bone as the recipient of this year’s Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund. As a company making their ambitious first show, they will benefit from not only the experience of presenting it at the Edinburgh Fringe, but also developing their company with support and mentoring from the full Pleasance team. Flesh & Bone has an electricity and eloquence rarely seen from such a young company.”

Elliot Warren, writer, co-director and performer in Flesh & Bone said: “This fund seriously means the world to us. We have never performed at Edinburgh and it is a life-long dream to be at The Pleasance. The fund allows us to create a fantastic show and dedicate our time to making it the best it can be on and off the stage. We don’t have investors and we don’t have much money, just a show that is itching to be seen!”

The purpose of the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund is to offer financial support to the writers, directors, technicians, producers and performers of the future to give them an opportunity to hone their talents and present a show at the world’s biggest arts festival.

The Fund was established in 2004 in memory of Charlie Hartill, a writer, performer and for eight years a Festival Fringe director, who died in January of that year.

The recipient of this prestigious Fund is awarded a prime slot at the Pleasance during Edinburgh Festival Fringe, mentoring from the Pleasance’s administration and technical team, and in-kind support up to the value of £10,000.

The winners of Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fun for comedy will be announced soon.

Compagnie XY present It’s Not Yet Midnight…

Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8EH

Monday 10 – Sunday 23 April 2017

Press Night: Tuesday 11 April, 7.30pm

“Alone we go faster, together we go further…”

Returning to London for the first time in seven years, French Compagnie XY bring their spectacular show It’s Not Yet Midnight… to the Roundhouse for its UK premiere.

Featuring over 20 awe-inspiring acrobats, It’s Not Yet Midnight… is a show about togetherness; a timely reminder that if we come together, accept and look out for one another, we can achieve more

Blending beautiful choreography with exceptional circus skills and physicality, this show is poignant and humorous, playful and uplifting.

Their hand to hand … their takeoffs, their five-storey human towers, the care with which they ensure the landing of their somersaults describes an ideal world where risk-taking, generosity and solidarity rule the roost (Le Figaro).

Widely regarded as one of the leading contemporary circus companies in the world, Compagnie XY create jaw-dropping and poetic spectacles. They are unique in their company set-up, operating as a collective who live and work together.

It’s Not Yet Midnight… is Compagnie XY’s third creation, following Le Grand C (2009) and LaissezPorter (2005). With more than 500 performances worldwide, the company’s success has enabled them to challenge acrobatic technique from a creative perspective working with large numbers of artists.

It’s Not Yet Midnight… is supported by French cultural department (DGCA-DRAC Nord-Pasde‐Calais) by regional council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, and by Adami (association for artists and musicians performers rights).

Phil McIntyre Entertainments proudly presents

DANNY BAKER

CRADLE TO THE STAGE

GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

Wednesday 26 April

 

Tickets on sale now

 

Broadcasting legend Danny Baker is on tour for the first time ever in his illustrious and varied career.  ‘Cradle To The Stage’ will come to the Grand Opera House York on Wednesday 26 April as part of a 35 date tour across the UK. Tickets are on sale now.

To hear more about his live stage debut, over to Danny himself:

“The stage has always been my first love. Let me put that another way. I have never done anything like this before in my life. However, to travel from town to town addressing a fabulous gathering of like-minded chums each night seems to me exactly what Shakespeare would have done, had not the hefty rent at The Globe kept him in London. As a consequence, William Shakespeare toured about as frequently as Kate Bush. Well not me. I own very few theatres anymore and so I am now totally free to charge about here and there wowing the folks with my anecdotal back catalogue, games involving sausages and impressive six octave range.

No two nights of this extravaganza will be the same. This is less of a boast than admission that a) I am hopeless at learning scripts and b) I still have no idea what I am going to include. Perhaps you can help?  If you’ve read my books, watched the series based on them or, indeed, ever caught anything I have presented on television/radio then maybe you might contribute to the feast of reason and flow of the soul that I guarantee these evenings will contain. Questions like, “Did your friend really eat saveloys from a pith helmet” or “What was meeting John Lennon/Michael Jackson/David Bowie/Kenneth Williams like?” or, I suspect, most popular of all “How comes you’ve made so many rotten TV programs, Dan?”

“I will of course arrive in front of you going off like a Cacophonous Catherine Wheel of Chat, armed with hundreds of tall tales to tell many complete with proof from my family picture album to stop you thinking I am simply raving. I’ve been at this showman racket a full 40 years now my friends – there is truly much to discuss and plenty to be held to account for.

A night at the theatre can either be deep dish or high kicking. What I promise to haul before you is very much in the latter category. Content wise I will make Springsteen and Dodd look like short changing slackers. I can’t wait. This is the sort of radio I’ve always wanted to do, ie, radio without radio. Just me and you.

In fact, if you don’t show up I’m going to do it in your local theatre anyway. So you may as well come. Why should the ushers have all the fun?  So, in short, roll up, pile in and hang onto your hats. I am back where I belong. On the stage! Shove over Tommy Steele – there’s a new sheriff in town!  See you there.”

Danny Baker is a broadcaster and writer who has worked throughout print, television and radio for over 30 years. His recent bestselling autobiographies were adapted into the hit BBC series Cradle to Grave and he is currently working on the third instalment. He can be heard Saturdays mornings with his multi award winning BBC Radio 5 Live show which includes his usual mixture of music, sport, guests and, of course, Danny’s signature encyclopaedic wit.

 

 

Listings Information:

Ticket prices: £21.25 (Concessions: £19.25)

Box office: 0844 871 3024

For tickets: www.atgtickets.com/york  www.ticketmaster.co.uk

RUNNING WILD
UK Tour until 10 June 2017
Based on an inspiring true story, Michael Morpurgo’s RUNNING WILD is about a girl named Lilly who is saved from a tsunami by an elephant named Oona. Miles from civilisation, at first there’s wonder, discovery and tree-top adventures with the orangutans, but, as thoughts turn to her mother left behind on the beach, and wild tigers prowl, and hunger hits, Lilly must now learn to survive the rainforest. Adapted by Samuel Adamson and co-directed by Chichester’s Festival Theatre’s Education Director, Dale Rooks and Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Timothy Sheader, with puppetry design and direction by Finn Caldwell and Toby Olié for Gyre & Gimble, both previous Associate Puppetry Directors on War Horse. Complete with spectacular life-size puppets, RUNNING WILD tells an emotional and moving story of love, loss and loyalty and of living for the moment. RUNNING WILD is produced by The Children’s Touring Partnership with Arts Council funding and the production will work to support the Born Free Foundation’s global elephant conservation projects.
Suitable for all ages 6+
Duration: 110 minutes including interval
www.runningwildlive.co.uk

 

MAMMA MIA!
Novello Theatre

Currently booking until 14 October 2017

From West End to global phenomenon, MAMMA MIA! is Judy Craymer’s ingenious vision of staging the story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs with an enchanting tale of family and friendship unfolding on a Greek island paradise. To date, it has been seen by 60 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages grossing more than $2 billion at the box office.The London production of MAMMA MIA! has been seen by more than 10% of the entire UK population. The show will celebrate its 18th London Birthday on 6 April 2017. The current cast stars Linzi Hateley as Donna Sheridan, Mazz Murray as Tanya, Jo Napthine as Rosie and Sanne Den Besten as Sophie Sheridan.
Duration: 2 hours 35 minutes
http://www.mamma-mia.com/

STOMP
Ambassadors Theatre
Currently booking until 7 January 2018
STOMP, created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, is the inventive and invigorating stage show that blends dance, music and theatrical performance into one electrifying rhythm. One of Britain’s greatest exports, STOMP, which celebrated its 25th birthday in 2016, having opened at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991, has toured the globe for 22 years, playing over 20 thousand performances to more than 12 million people in 53 countries on 6 continents. The show played Sadler’s Wells Theatre in 1994 and won the Olivier Award for Best Choreography, before opening in New York, where it celebrated its 21st birthday in 2016.
Duration: 100 minutes with no interval
www.stomplondon.com

A MONTH AT LEEDS GRAND THEATRE

 

As Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games gets ready to hot foot it into Leeds this week, it high-kicks-off a month of drama, musicals and comedy at The Grand Theatre.

Celebrating 20 years since he debuted Lord of the Dance, this new show is produced, choreographed and directed by Michael Flatley and stars his protégés; catch it from Tuesday 28^th March to Saturday 2^nd April.

The following week the theatre welcomes Jodie Prenger to the stage in Shirley Valentine and another celebration as this tour marks the play’s 30^th anniversary. The play became an instant hit in 1986 with Shirley famously talking to the kitchen wall and making her husband’s tea – chips and egg. And nothing has changed; Jodie will command the stage alone and cook chips and egg whilst telling the much-loved story.  Shirley Valentine is at The Grand from Monday 3^rd to Saturday 8^th April.

 

Count Arthur Strong is a comedy character created by Steve Delaney and Graham Linehan.  He is an eccentric, semi-retired music hall performer from Doncaster who has delusions that he is a showbiz legend – fortunately his creators are legends having been nominated for British Comedy Awards, Best Comedy Breakthrough, Best Comedy Writers and Best Situation Comedy.  Count Arthur’s new show The Sound of Mucus is at The Grand for one night only on Sunday 9^th April.

 

Those with a passion for Michael Jackson’s music are in for a treat from Tuesday 11^th to Saturday 15^thwhen Thriller Live moonwalks into Leeds. Direct from London’s West End, where it is now in its record-breaking 9^th year, Thriller Live is a spectacular concert of non-stop hits that pay homage to his legendary live performances and innovative dance moves.

 

Last year’s Strictly Come Dancing winner Joanne Clifton is next up at The Grand in the jazz-tasticThoroughly Modern Millie. Based on the Academy Award-winning film, the show is set in the height of New York’s Jazz Age when ‘moderns’ – including a flapper named Millie Dillmount – were bobbing their hair, raising their hemlines, entering the workforce and rewriting the rules of love.  Featuring a Fred and Ginger dance routine the family show is on from Monday 17^th to Saturday 22^nd April.

Drama and intrigue fill into the last week of the month with Ruth Rendell’s A Judgement in Stone.  An all-star cast present a grizzly murder mystery from the much-respected crime writer.

And finally, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here runner up, comedian Joel Dommett takes over for just one night on Sunday 30^th April with his solo show.

For more information on all shows at Leeds Grand Theatre and to book tickets go to leedsgrandtheatre.com or call Box Office on 0844 848 2700

PAUL MASON’S WORLD PREMIERE AND DEBUT PLAY ‘DIVINE CHAOS OF STARRY THINGS’ COMES TO THE WHITE BEAR THEATRE

 

• An extraordinary piece of theatre exploring revolution, hope, defeat and exile based on the memoirs of 19^th century French feminist icon Louise Michel
• Running 25th April – 20th May The White Bear Theatre
• Written by award-winning journalist Paul Mason

 

 

‘As of Today we refuse to stand in line’

 

Paris, 1871. A revolt seizes control of a global city. In its final days, working class women – from seamstresses to teachers to sex workers- take up arms, desperate to defend the freedoms they have fought for and won. And then it is over, in a sea of blood.

 

In Divine Chaos of Starry Things, award-winning journalist Paul Mason explores the agony of the defeat and exile of the Parisian women revolutionaries deported to the remote Pacific island of New Caledonia, their depression and isolation upon arrival and loss of hope as dreams of escape fade and a new reality descends. Tension simmers amongst the island’s indigenous people as resentment and rebellion hang in the air.

 

Based on the memoirs of 19^th century feminist icon and revolutionary Louise Michel, this piece of theatre looks at what happens when downtrodden people experience the transformative power of mass action, only to be defeated. In our current world increasingly scarred by torture, mass incarceration, censorship and razor wire, the play looks at key questions surrounding oppression and resistance; what makes people refuse to surrender in the face of repression and how do people survive once the exhilaration of revolt is over?

 

About to star in his self-penned show ‘Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere’ at the Young Vic, Divine Chaos of Starry Things reflects Mason’s extensive research of the former French penal colony of New Caledonia, his travels there and his interviews with both descendants of the deportees and oral historians of the indigenous Kanak people. Post-show talks will be held after selected performances, hosted by Mason himself and including an exclusive look at his short video documentary ‘Traces of Louise Michel’.

 

Mason says: “After the miners’ strike, in 1984, I saw a whole generation of people struggle with the psychological impact of defeat. It made me want to discover how people survive. When I started writing this play, during the mass upsurge of revolt and optimism we call the Arab Spring and Occupy, these problems – of despair in the face of injustice – seemed very distant. They seem totally relevant now. Hundreds of thousands of people have experienced the exhilaration of revolt, followed by the reality of defeat.”

 

101

April 4th – 8th, Theatre N16

Press Night: April 5th 2017, 7.30pm

After creating a splash on the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringes, including winning the FringeGuru Editor’s Choice Award and being nominated for ‘Most Groundbreaking Act’ by Latest 7 Magazine, ONEOHONE returns to London with a mix of old and new scenarios.

★★★★ Hot Show – Daily Pick of the Fringe “Very empowering (…) feels special” The Scotsman

In 101, a small audience is directly involved in an interactive performance grounded in the fundamental values of traditional and classical storytelling. Guided by the cast using a mixture of suggestion technique, physical theatre and improvisation, every audience member is personally involved in the performance.

There are 5 separate performances: KNOW ME (…at my worst to know me at my best. The others have two faces / I place myself in your hands / Peel away my skin); FIND ME (…under the moon; chase me laughing through the trees. Keep true, love); SAVE ME (…from the dark; innocence crumbles. You are my teacher); TRUST ME (…and only me; you face betrayal. Mark me, and stay close); BIND ME (…so we’ll never break apart; don’t break the circle. I’ll never let you go).

★★★★ “I was acutely aware of how rare it is for a performance to provoke such extreme emotions (…) the ultimate in exciting and experimental theatre” ThreeWeeks

ONEOHONE Theatre Company is a performing arts group founded in 2009 to develop new, accessible and democratic approaches to theatre. We’ve performed our critically-acclaimed signature piece, 101, throughout the UK, in Croatia as part of the NU:Write Festival, and in the USA, where we were visiting artists at Northwestern University, Chicago. We have also performed immersive adaptations of several classic texts, including ‘Dracula’, ‘Woyzeck’ and Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’. Now in our sixth year, we’re devising new shows and looking for new performance opportunities.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd.

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY

Tuesday 2nd May – Saturday 3 rd June 2017

Press Night: Thursday 4 th May 2017, 7pm

Following a sell-out, award-nominated run at the White Bear Theatre, Keith Stevenson’s comedy Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. transfers to Trafalgar Studios this May.

Things could not get any worse for Mitchell, who just lost his girlfriend, his apartment, and his job. With nowhere to go, he answers an ad for a roommate and finds himself in a West Virginia countryside motel with JD, an affable hillbilly of mysterious origins. Soon JD’s neighbours – curmudgeonly Flip, meth-head Marlene, and her hot-headed boyfriend Tommy – have all but taken over the tiny room. When the zany group find themselves in a hostage situation, Mitchell must decide to save himself or join this dysfunctional family and let his freak-flag fly.

Writer and actor Keith Stevenson comments, It warms my heart that this little story set in Appalachia has received a universal response from people of all colours and creeds in places like London and Los Angeles. They come to the theatre and a little over an hour later they walk out feeling better than they did coming in. They’re buoyed by a fortified hope that goodness and kindness still have a shot.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. became a cult hit amongst fans following its six month highly acclaimed run at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles in 2012 – audience members returned again and again to watch the show. Fried Meat re-opened later that year with the festive sequel A Fried Meat Christmas. Then, in the summer of 2014, Stevenson thrilled audiences yet again with the third part in the series, The Unfryable Meatness of Being. The three plays were revived in December 2014 and December 2015 as The Fried Meat Trilogy. Stevenson who originated the role of JD in Los Angeles, hails from Keyser in West Virginia – the hometown of the actual Fried Meat Ridge Road.

Sometimes, a play just works on every level. Writing, directing, acting, costumes, lighting and sound all working in perfect harmony to present the audience with something they will remember for all the right reasons… A thoroughly brilliant show (London Theatre1).

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. is the first ever show to transform Trafalgar Studios 2 into an end-on space.