Tyne Theatre &Opera House, Newcastle – Tues 12th to Sat 16th July 2016

We’re kicking off our Sunday shoes, to cut loose to Footloose in Newcastle this week

Based on the 1984 film starring Kevin Bacon, Dean Pitchford has adapted his own screenplay into a stage show.  Moving in from Chicago, newcomer Ren McCormack is in shock when he discovers the small Midwestern town of Bomont, he now calls home has made dancing and rock music illegal. As he struggles to fit in, Ren faces an uphill battle to change things.

This is a deliciously corny story, with comedy pal Willard for Ren to coach in dance and love, and the production is delightfully cheesy, but it just didn’t feel like a coherent show. There are some great one liners, but it is the musical numbers that let it down. Apart from Footloose (full of energy and fun), Holding Out For A Hero (belted out with glee and VERY tongue in cheek), Let’s Hear It For The Boy (hysterical) and a couple of other familiar songs, the remainder are forgettable,  the elements just don’t gel. Maybe the way forward would have been to use the film soundtrack and be a jukebox musical instead

Gareth Gates was indisposed on Doctors orders so we were treated to Luke Thornton’s Willard – and what a treat it was.  Whilst Gates may have a star name, Thornton most definitley possesses star quality.  It won’t be long before he his playing leading roles in his own right and not just understudying them.

Proof it can be done comes from Luke Baker as Ren.  When I first saw Baker he was the back of the ensemble and now he quite rightly leads the company.  Both Luke’s are quite magnificent in these roles and they help to carry this show which seems to have potential but is quite sadly lacking.

Special mention too to Maureen Nolan who has amazing presence and shows why she is so fantastic with her solo performance of Can You Find it in Your Heart – a mini masterclass in how it should be done in one outstanding song

The cast are young and enthusiastic, they are also multi-talented playing their own instruments on stage.  Hannah Price leads the girls as Preachers daughter Ariel, ably backed by her girls – Joanna Sawyer (Rusty), Natasha Brown (Wendy-Jo) and Miracle Chance (Urleen). They follow Director Racky Plews and choreographer Matthew Cole’s instructions well but there does seem to be something missing.

In fairness to the cast, the show was quite late starting due to technical difficulties and I don’t know if these difficulties continued in the first half as the second half was much better than the first.  Also Sara Perks huge but versatile set seemed squashed on the small stage of the Tyne Theatre.  The Tyne is exquisitely beautiful but small and I know Footloose as played much bigger venues on the tour.

Maybe on another night in another place this show can truly demonstrate what a powerhouse of a show it is meant to be and I look forward to seeing Footloose elsewhere because I know that in there somewhere is a production that is going to blow me a way

Duke of York’s Theatre 11 July – 1 October.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Alan Strachan’s fantastic revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1969 comedy transfers to the Duke of York’s on a wave of nostalgia and laughter.

Ayckbourn’s plot, full of class snobbery and casual sexism, is frighteningly still relevant today, although Strachan wisely keeps the setting in the late 60s, preserving the impact of the clandestine telephone conversations.

Fiona and Frank have been married for longer than he can remember, mind you, he can’t remember where he put his shoes. Bored with her privileged but routine life, Fiona has begun an affair with Bob, “the office Romeo”, who works for Frank. Bob is married to Terry – frustrated at being stuck at home with a baby that makes Damian seem appealing. After a particularly late night out together, Fiona and Bob’s lies to their spouses drag the Featherstones into the mess, claiming that THEY are both having affairs. Unfortunately, both Frank and Terry decide to help get the Featherstones marriage back on track over dinner.

Julie Godfrey’s wonderful set is a little mind bending at first, with the upper class wood panelled Foster home flanked by the, frankly grotty, Phillips flat. The cast, with perfect timing and choreography, move about the stage, sitting side by side on the sofa (half yellow, half grey to show the different homes), but still convincingly in different rooms. Both telephones are front and centre – showcasing the delicious calls and anchoring the whole design.

The technical brilliance of writing, acting and directing during the dinner party scene is astounding. Although you are far too busy laughing to dwell on that at the time. Two dinner parties, taking place on two different nights, in two different places are intertwined seamlessly and hysterically, signalled only by the Featherstones’ changing angles. Brilliant.

It must have been daunting for Andrea Lowe to join this established cast, but it’s as if she’s been with them from the beginning. She gives Terry a manic, dangerous side, seeming to enjoy confronting her husband. As Bob, Jason Merrells takes inspiration from all the 70s TV lotharios, cocky and snarky and, again, revelling in confrontation – a pair well matched. Jenny Seagrove’s Fiona manages to carry off my grandmother’s hairstyle with panache, and oozes sophistication and boredom as she deals with her husband. Her descent into panic as she thinks she’s been found out is well judged and touchingly funny. Nicholas Le Provost is glorious as Frank – wandering absentmindedly around the stage, vague and befuddled, but with a hint of calculation behind the benevolent bumbling. Matthew Cottle is oily and obsequious as William Featherstone – quietly bullying his wife and lecturing her in social mores to great comic effect. Cottle’s underlying hint of malevolent violence makes William even more pathetic. William’s attitude towards his wife may rankle, but there are many men who still act this way today. Gillian Wright is a hoot as his wife, Mary. Her reactions and movements just scream social awkwardness and compliance, making her eventual defiance of William cheer worthy. The scene where Fiona tries desperately to make small talk with the Featherstones is a masterclass in timing – with perfectly delivered excruciating silences and spat out banalities.

This comedy isn’t going to change the world, instead it shows us that the world hasn’t changed that much in 50 years – Ayckbourn’s lines are timeless, insightful, and very, very funny. How The Other Half Loves is a fantastic production full of laugh out loud moments and with a cast at the top of their game.

BRIAN MAY and KERRY ELLIS

CANDLELIT CHRISTMAS CONCERT COMES TO LEEDS

In response to a clamour of public demand, Queen star Brian May and singing sensation Kerry Ellis today announced they are teaming up once more for a new series of UK concerts at the end of the year.

May and Ellis play Leeds Grand Theatre on Monday 12^th December;  tickets go on general sale this Friday 15^th July

The concert marks the pair’s sixth tour together since their first ‘Anthems’ shows in 2011, which they performed on the release of Kerry’s first album, produced by Brian.

May comes hot from a hugely impactful Queen tour of festivals throughout Europe this summer including a performance at the Isle of Wight Festival, which the organiser himself has called the greatest performance in the Festival’s history.

By the time Ellis and May embark on their Christmas tour, the now widely critically acclaimed combination of Queen and Adam Lambert will have extended their tour de force in Asia.  Ellis, in the meantime, has consolidated her huge reputation in the world of Musical Theatre. She stands as one of the all-time most lauded Elphabas in Wicked in London and on Broadway, and by December she will have delivered her starring role in the first run of the Off-Broadway hit Murder Ballad in London’s Arts theatre.

‘Intimate’ is a word Kerry uses when she talks about what first-time audiences might expect from seeing May and Kerry perform their upcoming shows: “Our show is definitely an experience; we like to move people, give them new experiences and take them on our personal journey, and we have a lot of fun. Brian always comes up with great stories to explain our choice of songs, and among them a lot of hidden gems that people have never heard before. We like to think it’s a very unique and special evening.”

Says May: “Our show is largely acoustic and usually performed by candlelight. It’s very loose and interactive. In contrast to the bombast of a Queen show, our relationship with the audience is very informal – truly live and spontaneous.  This is now my favourite way of performing – it’s a lot of fun and anything can happen.  It takes some courage, but we believe our audience loves the fact that we take the risk to run the show completely ‘wild’.  No clicks, no loops, no clutter. It’s fundamentally just a voice and a guitar.”

This concert tour will feature new songs from the forthcoming second album Anthems II, which the pair has been working on for the last year.  Their magic in these shows is born of simplicity.  May swaps his trade-mark Red Special for a variety of acoustic instruments for much of the evening, and provides his own special arrangements to highlight the beauty of Kerry’s extraordinary voice. The repertoire also includes versions of Brian and Kerry’s personal favourite songs of all time, a few Queen tunes revisited, and material dedicated to awareness of wild animals, in tune with the passion that Brian and Kerry share for giving animals a voice.  With a little support from keyboard whiz Jeff Leach, the show builds, and without giving too much away, it’s safe to say that the mighty crunch of May’s red special is brought in to bring the evening to an electric climax.

Kerry Ellis says:  “It’s always a joy to be able to perform live with the ‘Doc’ and this time will be as magical as ever. We seem to always be developing and bring new ideas to the table. Alongside performing and recording we are still learning and for me that’s the exciting part. I feel very fortunate to be doing another tour together and sharing yet another show with our audiences.”

Brian May: “Although life has taken us both into so many new areas recently, live music is still what makes us tick – the greatest joy. And Ms Ellis is the perfect fellow band member! I’m grateful for the opportunity we have to bring this show to an even wider audience. I’m already working on hardening up the finger ends!”

Brian May and Kerry Ellis: Candlelit Christmas Concert is at Leeds Grand Theatre

on Monday 12^th December

Tickets go on sale to Priority Members on Wednesday 13^th July and general sale on Friday 15^th July

Tickets are priced at £45

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

Grand Theatre, Leeds – Mon 11 to Sat 16 July 2016

I’ll admit I’ve seen Let It Be before – and I loved it!  So relished the chance to revisit the show whilst it is in Leeds this week and see what a different cast can bring to the performance.

Let It Be is a “Celebration of the Music of the Beatles”, more of tribute concert than anything else but it is immensely enjoying.  Reuven Gershon as John, Ian B Garcia as Paul, John Brosnan as George and Stuart Wilkinson as Ringo are all incredible musicians presenting, on a nightly basis, a repertoire of songs that includes All You Need Is Love, Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby, Get Back, Help, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Penny Lane, Please Please Me and Yesterday, amongst many, many others. Whilst most shows struggle to have one or two hit songs, Let It Be has over forty of them!

There doesn’t seem to be any set script, just banter between the band themselves and the audience. That combined with some period video projections ensure that Let It Be is staged simply but effectively.  The Fab Four come on stage and steer us through the Beatles catalogue. They start with the joyous songs of innocence, such as She Loves You and I Want to Hold Your Hand, and move on to the multilayered songs of experience, such as Strawberry Fields Forever and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. Periodically, contact is made with the rest of us: John Lennon repeats his famous injunction to a Royal Variety Performance audience (“Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery”) and we are periodically bidden to our feet to scream and shout. The whole evening, however, is an exercise in nostalgia.  With most of the audience being of a certain age and who would have been original fans of the Fab Four

A word of warning, don’t go to Let It Be if you’re idea of theatre is sitting in silence whilst watching. The producers make it abundantly clear from the start that photography is encouraged, and the performers make a point of getting the audience up on their feet to dance at every opportunity. On opening night the audience responded with gusto

The authentic detail is impressive, be it Ringo smoking a fag while playing at The Cavern or John chewing gum while singing in the later days. The sky darkening as The Beatles play Shea Stadium is another sign of a thoroughly switched-on show that takes the regular path from Liverpool to the Royal Variety Show, New York and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, flowers, palm trees et al.  Although our Paul wasn’t left handed.  John had some arrogance about him and Paul was barefooted in the Abbey Road section.

There were some surprises for me too though – I didn’t know that Ringo sang but he led us in Yellow Submarine and I didn’t know that Roll Over Beethoven had been covered by the Beatles either.

For me the second half of the show was the best.  The songs I like most by the Beatles were featured in the second half and I loved the acoustic section showing off the individual versatility of the performers.  I know most people praise John and Paul but for me George was the genius.  I loved his version of Here Comes the Sun but it was his rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps completely stole the show.  If nothing else you must go and see the show purely for that

This is a hugely entertaining and enjoyable show and I recommend it all.

The Past is a Tattooed Sailor

August 2nd – 28th 2016, Old Red Lion Theatre

In this world premiere of Simon Blow’s fiercely witty and bittersweet debut drama The Past Is a Tattooed Sailor, class struggles, thwarted love, and family destruction collide. Simon is the grandson of aristocratic architect Detmar Blow and scion of a family never far from the newspaper columns, and The Past Is a Tattooed Sailor is unique excursion into a lost world of sparkling aphorism and gloriously eccentric characters.

Past and present are one in the sleeping manor house where Uncle Napier lives in an eternal doze. Upper class boy Joshua has sought out his great-uncle, long taken to his bed and drifting in memories of his glowing adolescence. Joshua is having his own roaring twenties with new builder boyfriend Damien, but the burden of class weighs heavy over the young man, and ghosts from the past cling to him like Uncle Napier’s overwhelming scent.

Uncle Napier draws both boys into his delusions that his own youth has not faded, and that a muscular sailor will give this Sleeping Beauty the reviving kiss. Thus Uncle Napier drifts in reverie. Until the two boys and Uncle Napier are sharply awakened by visits from Joshua’s rich Cousin Patrick. But what sinister thoughts lie behind Patrick’s tight-lipped comments? What exactly is he seeking?

This fictionalised drama draws heavily on Simon Blow’s relationship with his great-uncle Stephen Tennant, “Brightest” of the Bright Young Things and renowned socialite. Simon says: “’Why did I write this play? ”You promise not to forget me when I’m gone,” the last words of my great-uncle Stephen Tennant to me – aka Uncle Napier in my play. So I haven’t. I have always been intrigued by how rich upper class families behave. Cruelty would be too kind a word as I experienced from the inside. Class and the greed for money are driving forces in society. My play dovetails them.”

The show is directed by Jeffrey Mayhew, whose recent directorial credits include The Ghost Hunter at Wilton’s, Tristan Bates, Theatre Delicatessen London, Edinburgh Festival (Pleasance) and national tour; and A Brief History of Beer at the Old Bell, London, the Brighton Festival, British and German tours, Adelaide Festival, American tours, transferring to Under Saint Mark’s in New York, off Broadway. Last summer he directed A Cinema In South Georgia, which he co-wrote, for its total sell out borders tour and Edinburgh run last summer, where it received six four star reviews.

• ENCAMPMENT AT SOMERSET HOUSE: GOOD CHANCE TO PRESENT TWO EVENTS AT SOMERSET HOUSE THIS SUMMER AS PART OF ITS UTOPIA 2016 SEASON

• CUSH JUMBO AND YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN JOIN ENCAMPMENT LINE-UP AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE AS PART OF FESTIVAL OF LOVE

Good Chance have today announced two Encampment events at Somerset House on the north bank of the Thames this summer. In addition, they are delighted to confirm award-winning actress Cush Jumbo and prize-winning journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown will be included in the Encampment line-up at Southbank Centre, as previously announced, taking place inside the iconic Good Chance Dome, direct from the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp from 30 July to 7 August.

Encampment at Somerset House

Somerset House will host The Machine to Be Another, an interactive virtual reality experience that allows users to experience the bodies and memories of volunteer refugees, from 30 July to 7 August, and Encampment Installation, a collection of tents and wooden shelters destined for the Calais Jungle that will stand on Lancaster Place from 30 July to 7 August, as part of UTOPIA 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility – four seasons of events, exhibitions and commissions celebrating the idea of utopia to mark the 500th anniversary of Thomas More’s influential text.

Be Another Lab presents
The Machine To Be Another
As part of ENCAMPMENT AT SOMERSET HOUSE
Saturday 30 July – Sunday 7 August
12pm–2pm and 4pm–6pm, daily

What would the world be like if we could see through the eyes of another?

BeAnotherLab presents a series of Embodied Narratives that allow audience members to virtually inhabit the body of another person and experience their perspective of camp life. Hear the stories and step into the shoes of workers, volunteers and refugees around the world to understand more about asylum, displacement and day-to-day life in a refugee camp.

The Machine To Be Another is an interactive virtual reality experience designed to explore the relationship between identity and empathy, drawing from knowledge in the areas of neuroscience, storytelling and performance art.

For four years BeAnotherLab has been working with an extended community of researchers, artists, activists and members of the public to create performance-experiments related to the understanding of the other and the self. Designed to promote empathy, The Machine To Be Another explores issues such as cultural bias, immigration, physical disability bias, gender identity, generational bonding, conflict resolution and body extension.

Come and experience the story of another person.

Good Chance and A Home For Winter present
Encampment Installation
As part of ENCAMPMENT AT SOMERSET HOUSE
Saturday 30 July – Sunday 7 August
10am-6pm, daily

Good Chance and A Home For Winter will create an installation of three empty shelters in Lancaster Place, next to Somerset House. Walk among the tents and look inside the shelters which people are forced to make their homes in the Calais “Jungle” refugee camp for indefinable lengths of time. Who were the people that made these spaces their homes? Where are they now?

In March 2016 the southern section of the Calais camp was demolished. In that time 3,455 people, including 445 children, of whom 305 were unaccompanied, lost their homes. During this time many protests sprung up across the camp, from peaceful sit-ins, to hunger strikes, people were pushed to breaking point as they asked: where are we meant to go?

After the installation closes, the shelters will be taken to Calais to provide much needed materials for building there.

Encampment at Southbank Centre

On the other side of the Thames, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown will chair the Nights of Hope panel discussion ‘Why Women Refugees are Often Unheard and Unseen’, in association with Women for Refugee Women, followed by music from Maya Youssef on 4 August. This discussion will take place in the Good Chance Dome on the Festival Terrace at Southbank Centre’s annual Festival of Love.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown came to the UK in 1972 from Uganda, and completed her M.Phil. in literature at Oxford in 1975. She is a journalist who has written for The Guardian, Observer, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Evening Standard, The Mail and other newspapers and is now a regular columnist. She is also a radio and television broadcaster and author of several books. Her book, No Place Like Home, was an autobiographical account of a twice removed immigrant. Her prizes and awards include the Commission for Racial Equality special award for outstanding contribution to journalism in 2000, the George Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2002, and an MBE for services to journalism in 2001 (which she returned in 2003).

Cush Jumbo will perform Nassim Soleimanpour’s internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit at Encampment at Southbank Centre on 7 August.

With no rehearsals, no director and a script waiting in a sealed envelope on stage, internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a potent reminder of the transgressive and transformative power of theatre.

Forbidden to leave his native Iran, Nassim Soleimanpour wrote a play that travelled the world in his place. It crossed borders, found refuge in theatres, and was given voice by a host of actors across the world. Since its world premiere in 2011, White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been performed over 1000 times, including by Juliet Stevenson, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, John Hurt, Simon McBurney, Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack and Ken Loach.

Cush Jumbo is a writer and performer whose theatre credits include: Taming of The Shrew (The Public Theatre, Broadway), Julius Caeser (The Donmar Warehouse), The River (Square Theatre, Broadway), She Stoops To Conquer (The National Theatre) and Pygmalion (Royal Exchange). Her screen credits include The Good Wife, Vera, Remainder and upcoming City Of Tiny Lights. In November 2013 she was presented with The Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award for her one woman show Josephine and I which was performed at The Bush and then transferred to The Public in New York. In 2013 she was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Olivier Award for her portrayal of Marc Anthony in Phyllida Lloyd’s Julius Caesar at The Donmar Warehouse.

One of Britain’s most popular soap stars to join the cast of international award-winning Broadway and West End musical CHICAGO which comes to Newcastle Theatre Royal for two weeks only from Monday 1 – Saturday 13 August 2016.

Jessie Wallace*(EastEnders) will be joining the cast in her first ever musical theatre UK tour as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton alongside previously announced West End and Celebrity Big Brother star John Partridge (EastEnders, Cats, A Chorus Line, Miss Saigon, Starlight Express) as Billy Flynn, and Dancing on Ice winner and Coronation Street star Hayley Tamaddon (Emmerdale, Grease, Mamma Mia!) as Roxie Hart.

* Please note that Jessie Wallace will only be appearing in performances at Newcastle Theatre Royal during week two from Monday 8 August

CHICAGO sees Jessie Wallace make her return to Newcastle Theatre Royal where she starred alongside fellow EastEnders star Shane Richie in A Perfect Murder earlier this year.  One of Britain’s most loved soap stars and best known for playing Kat Slater in EastEnders, a role for which she has won numerous award, Jessie’s other TV credits include Amy Kriel in Wild at Heart and Pat Phoenix in The Road to Coronation Street, for which she was nominated for a Bafta Award.  Her theatre credits include Maureen in Rent Remixed in the West End, Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and Sylvia in the national tour of Stepping Out.

CHICAGO is based on real life events back in the roaring 1920s; nightclub singer Roxie Hart shoots her lover and along with cell block rival, double-murderess Velma Kelly, they fight to keep from death row with the help of smooth talking lawyer, Billy Flynn.

Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, CHICAGO’s sexy, sassy score includes the iconic numbers “All That Jazz” and “Razzle Dazzle”. With 6 Tony, 2 Olivier, 1 Grammy, 2 Bafta and 6 Academy Awards, CHICAGO truly is ‘The sharpest, slickest show on the block’ (The Times).  A nightclub singer, a double-murderess, a smooth-talking lawyer and a cell block of sin; it would be a crime to miss it.

CHICAGO comes to Newcastle Theatre Royal from Monday 1 – Saturday 13 August. Tickets are from £19.50 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).

• Please note that Jessie Wallace will only be appearing in performances at Newcastle Theatre Royal during week two from Monday 8 August.  The producers cannot guarantee the appearance of any particular artist. Please check with the Box office when purchasing your tickets