review "Benefactors"

“Benefactors” is Michael Frayn’s wry look at good intentions gone bad

By Lucy Komisar

“Benefactors” begins in 1968, during an era when England was building controversial housing projects. It was written in 1984 by Michael Frayn, who two decades later authored “Democracy,” the powerful recreation of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s early 70s dealings with East Germany. In both cases, in overlapping eras, the personal becomes political, and there is a strong ideological message that expresses Frayn’s general concern about democracy, writ small and writ large.

Daniel Jenkins as David, Vivienne Benesch as Jane, Deanne Lorette as Sheila and Stephen Barker Turner as Colin, photo Richard Termine.

As a slice of British social history this play is interesting, though it also seems dated, in spite of the very professional efforts of the actors and Keen Company director Carl Forsman.

The characters appear to inhabit a long-running soap opera.

The action takes place around the kitchen table of David (Daniel Jenkins) and Jane Kitzinger (Vivienne Benesch). David, an architect, is in charge of a slum clearance project to build some council flats – public housing. He is idealistic about creating worthy spaces and insists, “I am not going to build towers.” However, the requirements of a government subsidy will require some high-rises.

People in government want to help the poor. Of course towers are not what anyone wants. But construction and other exigencies move the well-intentioned bureaucrats to increasingly ignore the best interests of the people they are supposed to be benefiting.

Stephen Barker Turner as Colin and Deanne Lorette as Sheila, photo Richard Termine.

Then there’s the couple across the way, Colin Molyneux (Stephen Barker Turner), a hack journalist, and Sheila (Deanne Lorette), his wife, a nurse. He is nasty and overbearing to her; she is timid and insecure. She seems down-trodden.

David and Jane try to help by making their house a refuge for Sheila and her kids. Colin responds by leaving his wife and organizing a movement to stop the redevelopment scheme.

Colin mines irony by calling the Basuto Road slum area “Basutoland,” which has an African sound and mimics the “white man’s burden” attitude toward the poor.

By 1984, we learn what good intentions have wrought with the project and the Molyneuxs.

This is a small play compared to “Democracy” (2003) and to “Copenhagen,” Frayn’s other major political drama, which opened in London in 1998. But it’s worth seeing for people interested in the trajectory of his work.

“Benefactors.” Written by Michael Frayn; directed by Carl Forsman. Keen Company at Clurman Theatre, 410 West 42 Street, New York, NY. 212-239-6200. Opened April 5, 2011; closes April 30, 2011.

http://thekomisarscoop.com/2011/04/benefactors-is-michael-frayns-wry-look-at-good-intentions-gone-bad/

 

review of "Kin"

“Kin” weaves a network of family and friends that leads to sorrow and sometimes joy

By Lucy Komisar

Personal and family connections are fraught with psychological peril, disappointment, sometimes joy. It’s the stuff of many, even most, plays, films, novels. Bathsheba Doran weaves those strands into a complex web and network that connects and sometimes sustains lovers, friends, parents and children.

It is a slim but appealing fabric, made richer by Sam Gold’s smooth, light touch.

There are many kinds of “kin,” read “relationships.” Anna (sympathetically portrayed by Kristen Bush), an adjunct at Columbia University, listens to her lover, an English professor (Matthew Rauch) tell her why it’s over. “Did we ever love each other?” he asks. “No,” she replies. So, forget that.

Kristen Bush as Anna and Laura Heisler as Helena, photo Joan Marcus.

Helena (the excellent Laura Heisler) a somewhat weird and unsuccessful would-be actress, finds it offensive that her friend Anna would go out with a critic met via the Internet: “That’s someone who is trying to kill me.”

Linda (the fine Suzanne Bertish), traumatized by a past event, refuses to go out of her cottage in Ireland, and has no one to talk to but her brother Max (Bill Buell) and, on long phone conversations, her son Sean (well acted by Patch Darragh) who has gone to America.  She is despondent and drinks. It turns out that Sean’s former girlfriend (Molly Ward) also had a drinking problem.

Life gets darker and darker. Anna’s father Adam (the very good Cotter Smith), an Air Force intelligence colonel, lives in Texas and is unhappy about his distant daughter. On the way to visit her in New York, he stops in Washington at the apartment of a former lover (Kit Flanagan), who is seriously ill. She says, “Don’t show up at 4 am asking for my help and yell at me. I am not a wife.”

Patch Darrah as Sean and Kristen Bush as Anna, photo Joan Marcus.

Later, Anna confronts Adam with the diary of her late mother in which she complains that her husband was cold and distant.

Love or failed love and loneliness inhabit all these relationships. So is there hope for any of these people, in particular the younger ones and the new couple, Anna and Sean, we are supposed to care about? Not very likely on the face of it. She is an academic writing a book about Keats punctuation called “The Grammar of Love.” When it’s published, she flies around to world to deliver papers at conferences. He is a personal trainer without any intellectual bent that can be noticed. I whispered to my companion, “I give it a few years at most.” What do they talk about?

Two different worlds, even in jokes. When Adam visits Sean’s mother in Ireland, she says, “Tell me something classified.” He says, “The government was responsible for 9/11.” She: “Really?” He: “No.”

The cast, photo Joan Marcus.

The play moves between vignettes in ethereal fashion, helped by Paul Steinberg’s sets that are just boxes and frames with backdrops and flute music between the scenes. When the characters all meet in Ireland, the mist makes one wonder if it means the future is a mirage.

I can’t say I believed Doran’s vision, but I found it charming, even compelling, nonetheless.

“Kin.” Written by Bathsheba Doran; directed by Sam Gold. Playwrights Horizons, 216 West 42 Street, New York, NY. 212-279-4200;  Opened March 21, 2011; closes April 17, 2011.

http://thekomisarscoop.com/2011/04/kin-weaves-a-network-of-family-and-friends-that-leads-to-sorrow-and-sometimes-joy/

 

review Driving Miss Daisy

“Driving Miss Daisy” is tour de force for Redgrave and Jones

By Lucy Komisar

Alfred Uhry’s charming, moving play is part of his Atlanta trilogy about Southern Jews in the middle decades of the last century. Through the conflict and then growing warmth between an elderly middle-class white woman and a middle-aged working-class black man, one gets a sense of how human contact can break or at least crack the barriers of color and class. The production is a tour de force for Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones.

The play opened off-Broadway in 1987 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

Daisy Werthan (Redgrave), 72, is a widowed former school teacher when the play starts in 1948. She is proud of her poor beginnings and commitment to education, imbued with Jewish identity — annoyed at Jews who celebrate Christmas. Werthan is brilliantly portrayed by Redgrave who seems to age before our eyes in the several decades in which the events take place. Her face becomes more lined, her posture more stooped, but as her body deteriorates, her spirit never lags.

Vanessa Redgrave as Miss Daisy, James Earl Jones as Hoke, photo Annabel Clark.

That is partly due to Hoke Coleburn (Jones), the black man hired by her son Boolie (the very good Boyd Gaines), owner of a printing plant, to drive her after she smashes her Packard into a neighbor’s garage because she put it in the wrong gear.

Hoke is a “yassuh” guy who walks heavily and uncertainly and is almost stereotypical in the way he addresses Boolie. Jones is extraordinary in the role, sometimes bloviating a bit to cover up his insecurity. But though she may not know it, he becomes a necessary part of Daisy’s life.

Director David Esbjornson stages the play with no unnecessary sentimentality.

Vanessa Redgrave as Miss Daisy, Boyd Gaines as Boolie, photo Carol Rosegg.

Hoke and Boolie must contend with Daisy, a stubborn and single-minded woman whose tight face seems to say she will brook no opposition. She has definite ideas of what is right. For example, she disapproves of her son’s wife whose “idea of heaven is socializing with Episcopalians.”

Daisy insists that she is fair minded, but an innate race and class prejudice shows through when she accuses Hoke of stealing a can of salmon. It turned out there had been nothing for him to eat the day before, but when he arrives for work and she raises the issue, he pulls out of his pocket a brown paper bag with the can he had just bought to return.

Her accusation may have been part of the rigid sense of rules that are part of her world.

James Earl Jones as Hoke, Vanessa Redgrave as Miss Daisy, photo Carol Rosegg.

But she is naïve about the wider world. When she discovers after five years that Hoke can’t read, she can’t believe it. Ever the teacher, she begins to instruct him.

In 1958, someone bombs the temple she attends. She is astonished and wonders who it could be. Hoke tells her, “You know as well as me, it’s always the same ones.”

She thinks herself liberal about race, but that extends only so far. In 1963, when she has an extra ticket to a Martin Luther King banquet, she does not invite Hoke.

He is the more sensitive of the two. Jones glows as he reveals an increasing sense of self and also a concern and growing affection for Daisy, who never seems to loosen up. But Uhry describes elegantly what can happen when people thrown together by force of circumstance discover the human propensity for companionship.

“Driving Miss Daisy.” Written by Alfred Uhry; directed by David Esbjornson. John Golden Theatre 252 West 45th Street, New York, NY. (212) 239-6262. Opened October 25, 2010; closes April 9, 2011.

http://thekomisarscoop.com/2011/04/driving-miss-daisy-is-tour-de-force-for-redgrave-and-jones/

 

review The Whipping Man

“The Whipping Man” a potboiler about slavery and a Jewish family in 1860s Richmond

By Lucy Komisar

This is an unlikely melodramatic potboiler about American slavery and a Jewish family in Richmond, Va., that turned its slaves into believers. It’s an unlikely premise in spite of historical documentation, but you no sooner get to the point of accepting one unlikely premise, than playwright Matthew Lopez throws you another. The play is full of action and mystery, secrets and surprises, but is somehow unsatisfying.

The essential story is that the slave-holding DeLeon family was Jewish and they converted their slaves to the religion. We must take it on faith that this happened.

Jay Wilkison as Caleb, and André Braugher as Simon, photo Joan Marcus.

It’s 1865 and General Lee has surrendered at Appomattox. Caleb (Jay Wilkison) is a confederate soldier who drags himself back to the family mansion – now blackened and ruined by fire — with a bullet in his leg. His horse has died on arrival. First mystery: why didn’t he get medical care when he was wounded?

The loyal black servant Simon (the very strong André Braugher) is soon joined by the bitter John (played with depth of feeling by André Holland).  The power relations change. Simon, who is quite generous under the circumstances, says to Caleb, “All these things you’re telling me to do you need to be asking.”

André Holland as John, photo Joan Marcus.

Simon saves Caleb’s life by cutting off his gangrenous leg. It’s a rather gruesome moment. John helps hold the patient down. And slowly, the play’s ironies are revealed.

John is methodically looting deserted houses, carrying back chairs and china, a couple of eggs, whiskey (useful for the leg amputation). Lopez portrays him as quite an unusual slave: he ran an underground book distribution that father DeLeon stopped. Now he just wants to go to New York. (An early black intellectual?) Holland is wry and comical in his cynicism.

Simon is waiting for the return of his wife and daughter who departed in the midst of the conflict while he was in hiding. Dressed in the servant’s uniform striped shirt and vest, he wants to stay and continue to work for the family. He doesn’t see much economic alternative.

ay Wilkison as Caleb, André Braugher as Simon, André Holland as John, photo Joan Marcus.

As a black Jew, Simon presides over Sabbath blessings, lighting candles and saying a prayer over the meal. Now it’s April, and Simon wants to make a Passover dinner, which of course celebrates the Israelites flight to freedom from Egyptian slavery. As he can’t read, he says the words from memory.

John gripes about the celebration of freeing Jewish slaves in the context of the blacks’ experience. But Simon transposes Father Abraham to Abraham Lincoln, who has just been shot. He is described as “the American Moses” who “led us from bondage but was not able to enter the promised land.”

So John agrees, “Let’s celebrate the freeing of the slaves,” and as befits an underground book distributor, but really, straining credulity, “Maybe I’ll write a book like Frederick Douglas.”

When he inquires, “Were we Jews or slaves, children of Israel or heathen?” Simon replies, “We were treated better than other slaves.” And Caleb says his father had slaves whipped only when necessary. Whew!

André Holland as John, Jay Wilkison as Caleb, photo Joan Marcus.

It turns out John is bitter because, though the boys were raised almost as brothers, when DeLeon took him to “the whipping man” (early outsourcing) for some infraction, Caleb took the whip and got in some licks of his own. But Caleb like his father and other Southern whites had conflicted relations with blacks, and that involves a secret which makes him concerned about Simon’s family.

The staging by Doug Hughes is excellent. The set by Jean Lee Beatty is beautifully naturalistic and eerie. Braugher as Simon is painfully moving, and Holland displays the right level of anger and emotion as John. Jay Wilkison doesn’t have much presence as Caleb. The real problem with the play is that it is hokey, a made-for-TV movie, piling one dramatic action on top of another in a way that presents only a caricature of the social and psychological conflicts and relations of the time.

“The Whipping Man.” Written by Matthew Lopez; directed by Doug Hughes. Manhattan Theatre Club Stage 1 at City Center, 131 West 55th Street, New York, NY. 212-581-1212; Opened Feb 1, 2011; closes Apr 10, 2011.

http://thekomisarscoop.com/2011/04/the-whipping-man-a-potboiler-about-slavery-and-a-jewish-family-in-1860s-richmond/

 

UK Theatre now on IPad2

It's official, the latest newsletter from UK Theatre Network is now available on the shiny new Ipad2. I tested it at the weekend and it looks great. Just click on the weekly link in your email and select 'ePub' then open in IBooks. Enjoy.

UK Theatre now on Ipad2

It's official, the latest newsletter from UK Theatre Network is now available on the shiny new Ipad2. I tested it at the weekend and it looks great. Just click on the weekly link in your email and select 'ePub' then open in IBooks. Enjoy

"This Ain't No Tea Party," a political cabaret, cleverly skewers the right wing

“This Ain’t No Tea Party,” a political cabaret, cleverly skewers the right wing

By Lucy Komisar

Jamie Jackson’s musical satire is the funniest political skit I’ve heard in years and is a highlight of “This Ain’t No Tea Party!” Jackson, who played one of the multi-characters in the demanding and hilarious “The 39 Steps” Off-Broadway last year, is a compleat actor. He was one of six performers at this political cabaret sponsored by “Laughing Liberally,” which promotes progressive politics.

Jamie Jackson as Lady Margo Barnsely Farnsworth

In a plumy British accent, popping eyes and a beige box suit and pearls, Jackson is Lady Margo Barnsley Farnsworth who has moved to the U.S. from England where she went to a lot of tea parties. She finds herself at the U.S. variety and makes herself popular by playing little ditties, such as “We know that God is on our side/ helping us from heaven/ ‘cause he gave us each a Bible and/ An AK47.”

But my favorite, which will certainly become a classic, is “Guns don’t kill people/ It’s people kill people/ And guns are what stop people/ Shooting people with their guns./ If there weren’t so many guns/ Then more people would shoot people/ Cause they wouldn’t have a gun/ To shoot the people who have guns.”

Lady Margo declares, “It makes so much sense now that Tank [a gun-toting tea-bagger] explained it to me. And I thought, why stop at guns?”

“It’s wonderful logic! So, let’s keep going!” Lady Margo declares, substituting Anthrax and bombs and then, “Wars don’t kill people/ It’s people kill people/ And war is what stops people/ Making more war than you./ If there wasn’t so much war/ Then there’d be a lot more war/ Cause you couldn’t have a war/ To stop the people who have – guns.”

Brilliant logic worthy of a tea-bagger, or most NRA groupies in Congress and out.

Dean Obeidallah

As timely as Jackson (who, alas, is ever timely), was Dean Obeidallah, a very funny laid-back stand-up comedian who does the Arab shtick and has performed extensively on U.S. TV and abroad. With a Palestinian father and Sicilian mother, he has insights into both tribes. For example, the difference between the Mafia and Al Qaeda is that Sicilians will deny responsibility for what they do.

Or “You see four Arabs getting on a plane. You might go to the black guy you used to be afraid of!”

He declares, “I am totally immune to identify theft. I have a friend named Osama. He could leave his credit card in a crack house….” Or, if an Arab gets ripped off, he would complain, “Someone stole my credit card. They’re buying pork and alcohol!”

Jim David

Equally sophisticated was Jim David, who has appeared widely on TV, has a smooth punchy delivery and gives a clever twist to current gripes and attitudes. For example, attacks on immigrants who come to take our jobs: “What jobs?” he inquires. “They have all gone offshore.”

I liked the bit in which he screams at an automated airline agent, who replies in a modulated voice, “I’m sorry I did not quite get that.”

And (the joke’s on us): “Every couple of years ordinary Americans go to the polls to pick who will represent the rich and powerful.”

In between the acts were brief videos, including a good one about Somalia where there is no functioning government. “Libertarian Paradise” shouts the print. And a voice-over declares, “Government isn’t the solution to the problem. Government is the problem. Now you have cholera!”

Ridiculing the right wing ought to be (pardon the metaphor) like shooting ducks in a barrel. There were six performers in the show, but the other three were rather pedestrian. Maybe Jewish and black-based acts have been done so long that they don’t seem fresh. Or maybe the material I heard was just stale to start with. There are 14 rotating comics in the production, and six to eight appear at each performance. With luck and planning, you’ll hit some good ones.

“This Ain’t No Tea Party.” Written and performed by Jamie Jackson, “Guns Don’t Kill People;” Dean Obeidallah, Jim David and others; directed by Justin Krebs. Midtown Theater, 163 West 46th Street, New York, NY. 212 967-7079. Drinks and snacks. Opened March 24, 2011; closes May 22, 2011. Laughing Liberally, a project of Living Liberally.

http://thekomisarscoop.com/2011/03/this-aint-no-tea-party-a-political-cabaret-cleverly-skewers-the-right-wing/

 

 

 

 

 

[Theaterreviews] closing in a month, review American Idiot

Theater

“American Idiot” plumbs angst among youths with no politics or vision »

By Lucy Komisar

This vibrant rock production about youthful rebellion in the face of a fraudulent society is in the tradition of "Hair." But it's not "Hair" with the memorable tunes that we still remember decade later; it's more like MTV. Fast, often driving, and the kind of...

/ Read More »

 

THE BOOBS ARE BACK…

THE BOOBS ARE BACK…

BUSTING OUT!

A Musical Comedy

The Australian show that makes ordinary women feel extraordinary

Returns to the UK due to popular demand!

 

 

Busting Out! is back! Follow its hugely successful Edinburgh Fringe season and subsequent tour of the UK last year the hilarious Australian show that puts women's assets at centre stage will be baring all again for a major UK tour.

 

You can see the show in all its glory when it comes toStoke-on-Trent's Victoria Hall on Tuesday 12 April at 7.30pm.

 

Already seen by over 300,000 people in Australia, New Zealand and the UK this is the show that'..celebrates women's bodies and more specifically, boobs; in all their glory, with creativity, warmth, and in-your-face cheeky humour.' (Edinburgh Spotlight). 

 

Writer and performer Emma Powell plus comedian Bev Killick are returning for a second UK tour and this time they are bringing a bosom buddy, the hugely talented Yorkshire lass,Mandi Lodge. 

But the audience also play a vital role in the proceedings (by appearing on a large on-stage screen and often actually on stage) which threatens, on occasions, to turn the entire theatre into an utterly disorderly house! The up-front and out-there breast-based contortions are intercut with rousing song and dance sequences, hilarious sketches, a shadow play and brilliant stand-up comedy.

Emma's career has been a glittering one in Musical Theatre (she played Rosie in the Australasian Tour of Mamma Mia) and Bev is one of Australia's most celebrated female stand-ups. 

Mandi originally from a small Northern village near Huddersfield left these shores 10 years ago for Down Under and has since made a name for herself in numerous musical theatre shows, concerts, films and TV, including starring as Mrs Lovett opposite the late musical theatre legend Rob Guest in 'Sweeny Todd'.  It was following a halter neck dress malfunction at a party that her greatest attributes were spotted by Emma and Bev, so they cast her in the show and the rest, as they say, is history!

So all that remains is to say ladies put your hands together and men, keep your hands where we can see them, and welcome back the show with more front than Brighton and enough excess baggage to keep Ryanair in profits for yet another year, it's undeniably, the most original feel good show of the year, BUSTING OUT!

 

For tickets visit www.uktheatre.tv 

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

MACBETH

 By

William Shakespeare

 

 

Both CandyKing Productions and Celtic Kiss Productions are delighted to return to Greenwich Playhouse to present Macbeth.

 

Eamon McDonnell's adaptation moves the action to the Ancient African civilization that is the Benin Empire –giving this famous tale an original and engaging twist.   This production delivers, both visually and culturally, a very exciting performance, fusing the original violent tale with a new setting and context – bringing the vibrancy of Africa to the stage.

 

Macbeth is Shakespeare's most dramatic tragedy – a brilliant combination of murder, spiritualism and violence – a play so brutal many believe it to be cursed.

 Macbeth is a frightening, heady mix of betrayal, desire and murder all fueled by excessive ambition.

 

CandyKing and Celtic Kiss productions have staged four plays previously at the Greenwich Playhouse – all to excellent reviews and sell-out audiences.  In this fifth production, they have joined together to create an exciting vision of a favourite classic.

 

 

 

Listings Information

 

Greenwich Playhouse

Greenwich Station Forecourt, 189 Greenwich High Road, London, SE10 8JA

05.04.11 – 01.05.11

020 8858 9256

boxoffice@galleontheatre.co.uk

www.galleontheatre.co.uk

£12, £10 concessions

Press Night 07.04.11 at 7:30pm

Tues – Sat 7:30pm, Sunday 4pm

Running Time 2hr (approx.) inc. interval

 

Shakespeare's famous tale aboutbetrayal, desire and murder all fueled by excessive ambition is set in Ancient Africa in this new rendering of the classic tragedy.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Produced by:  Maria Chiorando

                        Eamon McDonnell

 

Directed by:    Scott Le Crass:

 

Scott Le Crass is an exciting young director whose previous credits include Bardathon, The Laramie Project and Pericles.  He was a finalist in the Offcut Festival in 2010 as well as taking part in the Scoop Festival.

 

He says, "The key themes that ignite so much passion and intrigue for Macbeth will be at the heart of this production, but they will be framed in visually and contextually innovative ways."         

 

Cast:

 

Olusegun Akingbola, Elizabeth Prince, Mark Menelik, Tommy Coleman, Michael Quartey, Tok Laju, Alec Todd, Linda Mathis, Sabina Cameron, Caleb Frederick, Kike Brimah, Ray Sesay, Lenn Blasse

 

Reviews of our previous work at the Greenwich Playhouse:

 

"This production from CandyKing theatre is wonderful, with superb performances throughout…A must see show with stunning costumes and great direction."

Pinkwire on An Ideal Husband

 

"A compelling piece of theatre."

Greenwich.co.uk on A Doll's House

 

"An emotional and professional rendering of a classic British Masterpiece."

Theatre World on Look Back in Anger

 

"There is excellent chemistry among the four characters and between them they provide a good rhythm and pace to the performance."

 

Extra Extra on The Gift

 

Theatre Ad Infinitum tours Edinburgh hit, The Big Smoke

'This play is excellent... something special' The Observer

'This performance left me transfixed, overwhelmed and weeping.  Utterly stunning'What's On Stage

'Incredibly dark, intense, disturbing, but also beautiful... a remarkable piece of theatre'Three Weeks

'Completely breathtaking, beautiful and accomplished'Fringe Review (Edinburgh)

 'Theatre Ad Infinitum have moved to the front of the pack'The Guardian

 

Theatre Ad Infinitum tours Edinburgh hit,

The Big Smoke

-         Nationwide dates to June 2011

 

Multi award-winning Theatre Ad Infinitum will be touring its poignant production, The Big Smoke, to venues nationwide from 28^th March to 30^th June 2011.    Inspired by the lives and works of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath and American poet Anne Sexton, The Big Smoketakes the company away from its traditional Lecoq style and presents a one-woman show using the voice as the main medium of the production.  The Big Smoke is sunga cappella throughout and tells the tragic story of a young woman whose mental state rapidly deteriorates.

 

A dark and searing piece of theatre performed by Canadian actor Amy Nostbakken and directed by Nir Paldi, The Big Smoke revolves around brilliant young artist Nathalie, whose search for identity results in a descent into madness and suicide.  Through this new approach to storytelling the audience shares Nathalie's journey and meets the – often very funny – characters she encounters along the way. However, Nathalie's honesty is no protection against a world that demands we 'fit in'.

 

Says actor Amy Nostbakken, "Nathalie's experience is one that people everywhere can relate to.  This play deals with issues we all face: feeling lost, confused, depressed, indecisive, 'not right'.  We lead the audience down that familiar lonely path, but then we keep going, all the way down, into the depths of madness where Nathalie's story turns into heartbreaking tragedy." 

Explaining how the subject matter came about, director, Nir Paldi adds, "Exploring confessional writing and its effect on identity led us on to the female psyche and, more specifically that of Sexton, Plath and Woolf.  The subtleties of music and the voice seemed highly appropriate as a means of expressing deep emotion, obsession, imagination."

 

Theatre Ad Infinitum has won plaudits and awards at the Edinburgh Fringe and elsewhere, and a growing reputation as one of the most exciting young theatre companies around.   The Big Smoke begins touring on 30^thMarch at the Edge Hill University in Lancashire and continues until the end of June with a variety of dates including Oxford, 5 days at the Brighton Festival in May, the Theatre Royal, Bath and the Lowry, Manchester.  For more information, tour dates and Theatre Ad Infinitum go to www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk  

 

The Big Smoke will be touring throughout the spring and early summer of 2011. 

WEST END’S HOTTEST TICKET LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL SET FOR FIRST EVER UK TOUR

SCOTTISH PREMIERE

 

 OMIGOD, YOU GUYS!

WINNER OF 2011 OLIVIER AWARD FOR BEST NEW MUSICAL

 

WEST END'S HOTTEST TICKET LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL SET FOR FIRST EVER UK TOUR

 

 

The West End and Broadway sensation and winner of Best New Musical in this year's prestigious Olivier Awards Legally Blonde The Musical hits the road for its first ever UK tour making it's Scottish Premiere at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow from Tue 23^rdAugust – Sat 3^rd September. Tickets are on sale today to Friends and Groups and then on general sale from Thursday 24^thMarch.

 

 

Legally Blonde The Musical won Best New Musical in theWhatsonstage.com Awards 2011 and was nominated for 5 Olivier Awards, going on to win Best New Musical, Best New Actress for Sheridan Smith and Best Supporting Role in a Musical for co-star Jill Halfpenny.  

Now our fabulous heroine Elle Woods is headed for Glasgow and set to take the city by storm before wowing the rest of the UK!

 

Based on the hit movie starring Reese Witherspoon, this critically acclaimed new musical is created by a top-of-their-class creative team, led by Tony Award-winning director and Olivier Award-nominated choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray).

 

College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn't take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend, Warner, dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law School accompanied by her loveable Chihuahua, Bruiser.

 

This all singing, all dancing, feel-good musical comedy will be the must-see theatrical event in Glasgow this autumn and the most fashionable ticket in town.

 

Howard Panter, joint Chief Executive of Ambassador Theatre Group said:

"Ambassador Theatre Group's co-production of Legally Blonde The Musical is enjoying great success on the West End and we have now decided to take it out on its first ever UK tour so regional audiences who can't make it to London can experience this fantastic show. The Theatre Royal is one of ATG's largest regional houses and this grand venue will make a fitting home for the premiere of a tour which is set to replicate the success of the West End run. I am sure Glaswegians will take Elle Woods to their hearts and give her the warm welcome that the city is so famous for."

 

James Haworth, General Manager at the Theatre Royal said:
"I am extremely proud that the Theatre Royal has been chosen to host the Scottish premiere of the tour of Legally Blonde The Musical.  The theatre can't wait to welcome the show to the city and kick off the Scottish leg of the tour in spectacular style – it will be a highlight of Glasgow's cultural offering this autumn and one of the hottest tickets in 2011."  

 

The verdict? This much fun shouldn't be legal!

 

Casting to be announced.

 

 

 

LISTINGS

 

 

Tue 23 August – Sat 3 Sep

Mon – Sat eves 7.30pm

Thu & Sat mats 2.30pm

Tickets:£18.50 - £39.50

Box Office: 08448 717 647 (bkg fee)

www.ambassadortickets.com/glasgow (bkg fee)

 

 

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Indie Film Night

INDIE FILM NIGHT
Supported by Raindance

2nd September 2009 07:30PM

10 Bermondsey Square,
SE1 3UN
London
United Kingdom
Owner: Douglas McFarlane

http://www.ukfilm.tv/events/profile/9

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Northern Advantage Weekend Incubator Workshops
Inspirational training for Northwest based freelancers in the creative industries

19th September 2009 09:00AM

The Castle Green Hotel
LA9 6RG
Kendal, Cumbria
United Kingdom
Owner: Rose Padmore

http://www.ukfilm.tv/events/profile/11



>>>>>FORUM>>>>>>>>

Tall Actor Who Can Sing Required For Touring Production

http://www.uktheatre.tv/forum/topic/39




>>>>>MAGAZINE>>>>>>>>

THE PRESENT COCK TAVERN THEATRE, KILBURN
Published by: OLIVER VALENTINE on Saturday 22nd August 2009 02:08pm

Following it’s tradition of revisiting forgotten plays by modern writers, Kilburn’s dynamic fringe theatre, the Cock Tavern, offers a hearty resurrection of Nick Ward’s drama The Present.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-present--------------cock-tavern-theatre-kilburn_302.html

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Bolton Octagon announces an exciting season of special events
Published by: Caroline May on Friday 21st August 2009 12:08am

Bolton Octagon's studio theatre is hosting a wide range of special events, one-off performances and visiting productions for Autumn 09.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/bolton-octagon-announces-an-exciting-season-of-special-events_301.html

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Northern Advantage Weekend Incubator Workshops
Published by: Rose Padmore on Thursday 20th August 2009 01:08pm

Calling the Northwest's brightest freelancers in the media and digital industries. As a freelancer, YOU are YOUR future!

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/northern-advantage-weekend-incubator-workshops_299.html


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Safe House at the Camden Fringe
Published by: Natália Nagy on Thursday 20th August 2009 12:08pm

You never know what you come across the Camden Fringe: I had stumbled upon the story of an alcoholic. The subject is controversial and at 3PM it rips you out of sunny London and throws you in the land of broken promises and empty bottles.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/safe-house-at-the-camden-fringe_298.html

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Angels with Manky Faces at Library Theatre, Manchester
Published by: Caroline May on Wednesday 19th August 2009 06:08pm

Think of Manchester, and think of a great industrial city famed for its world-class football, cutting-edge music scene and all manner of scientific innovations; however you might equally recall its post-industrial reputation for the kind of poverty and social deprivation that invariably foster youth crime and organised violence.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/angels-with-manky-faces-at-library-theatre-manchester-_297.html

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The Picture of Dorian Gray (clubWEST)
Published by: Carolin Kopplin on Tuesday 18th August 2009 07:08pm

The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. There was a mild scandal because of the homoerotic tone of the story. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters. This version performed by Keith Drinkel omits the additions and concentrates on the relationship between the three men - Dorian Gray, the artist Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wooton, the society wit.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-(clubwest)_296.html

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SHOW: PALACE OF THE END (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester)
Published by: Carolin Kopplin on Tuesday 18th August 2009 07:08pm

The production Palace of the End by renowned playwright Judith Thompson has been nominated for the Amnesty International Award and rightfully so. This play is about the Iraq War and its effect on three individuals - two of them well known to us. However, it is not a docu-drama.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/show-palace-of-the-end-(royal-exchange-theatre-manchester)_295.html

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The Common Good Review
Published by: Catherine Balavage on Tuesday 18th August 2009 02:08pm

The Common Good. At The Roundhouse Theatre. Part of The Camden Fringe.

Going to see a play about Chernobyl may not be first on most people's lists. However, theatre is about storytelling and as stories go, Chernobyl is tragic and compelling. It is one of the most important stories that must be told to every generation. It is also sometimes hard to believe that, yes, it really did happen.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-common-good-review_294.html

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"Music at Palmerston Place" - Jonathan Raynor
Published by: Thomas James on Monday 17th August 2009 09:30pm

"Music at Palmerston Place" is a series of free classical music concerts in a bright and airy church at the West End.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/andquot;music-at-palmerston-placeandquot;---jonathan-raynor_293.html

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"The Hat" - Brick Wall Theatre
Published by: Thomas James on Monday 17th August 2009 09:00pm

Graham de Banzie's first play, "The Hat" tells a tale of love, loneliness and stylish headgear.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/andquot;the-hatandquot;---brick-wall-theatre_292.html

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4 Poofs and a Piano - "Smoke and Mirrorballs"
Published by: Thomas James on Monday 17th August 2009 08:30pm

Widely known as the house band on "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" and a regular fixture at the Edinburgh Festival, 4 Poofs and a Piano bring their new show, "Smoke and Mirrorballs", to the Pleasance Courtyard for this year's Fringe.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/4-poofs-and-a-piano---andquot;smoke-and-mirrorballsandquot;_291.html

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The Girlfriend Experience
Published by: Elspeth Rae on Monday 17th August 2009 12:08pm

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE AT THE YOUNG VIC

Although the run is over and I in fact, saw the show on its closing night, I had to write a brief overview to let people know that if (surely more correct would be when) the show appears again, to GO AND SEE IT IMMEDIATELY.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-girlfriend-experience_290.html

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THE ODD COUPLE
Published by: Clare Brotherwood on Monday 17th August 2009 09:08am

The Odd Couple, Neil Simon’s comic masterpiece about relationships, is a classic.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-odd-couple_289.html

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SHOW: BREAKFAST WITH BURNS/COFFEE WITH CAIRNEY
Published by: Clare Brotherwood on Monday 17th August 2009 09:08am

As Robert Burns he was the talk of the 1965 Edinburgh Festival. Now, 11 world tours and several lifetimes later, John Cairney, the most famous exponent of Scotland’s Bard, is back.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/show-breakfast-with-burnscoffee-with-cairney-_288.html

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The Self-Murder (SSSR Productions)
Published by: Carolin Kopplin on Saturday 15th August 2009 10:08am

The Russian company SSSR presents the story of two young people who meet in an internet chatroom and agree to commit suicide together.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/the-self-murder-(sssr-productions)_285.html

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Art House
Published by: Carolin Kopplin on Saturday 15th August 2009 10:08am

Award-winning Tangram present four productions at the Fringe Festival this year - a hilarious musical about Darwin with a terribly long title, the monologue Almost 10, F**KED, and Art House.

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/art-house-_284.html

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Dress Circle - "The Greatest Showbiz Shop In The World!"

Don't forget to visit Dress Circle online to buy great theatre gifts for your friends and family

http://www.uktheatre.tv/magazine/read/dress-circle---andquot;the-greatest-showbiz-shop-in-the-world!andquot;_283.html

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