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Dateline: 6th June, 2010 News from the North West
Everyman reveals refurbishment plansLiverpool's Everyman Theatre has revealed its major refurbishment plans, work on which will begin in spring 2011 to be completed in 2013. According to artistic director Gemma Bodinetz, "The new Everyman takes all that is most loved about the present theatre and reinvigorates them in the context of a theatre fit for future generations of audiences and artists." This means that recognisable features such as the thrust stage, orange seats and Bistro will be incorporated into the new design, but the performance space will be adaptable to become in-the-round or even to feature promenade performances and the seating will be on two levels. Technical facilities will be greatly improved with the inclusion of a fly tower, stage traps and catwalk access to the lighting grid, and there will be a dedicated youth theatre space, offices, rehearsal areas and studio space. To fit in the new facilities, the Everyman will expand into the next door property and part of the car park at the rear. Funding has so far been secured from Arts Council England and the North West Development Agency, and the rest is still being sought from a variety of sources.
Free 2-day dance festival in LiverpoolCity Steps is a free two-day dance festival, part of LEAP 2010, that will take place on 12 and 13 June in locations throughout Liverpool city centre including Clayton Square, Williamson Square, Derby Square and Queen’s Square. Events include Taciturn Dance, Movema, Darren Suarez, and Lea Anderson’s specially-commissioned piece Vox Pop, new work by Bridget Fiske, Tango at Williamson Square, the Rock a Hula, a mass Hula Hooping event, Wired Ariel Dance Company with Rosa’s Bar, Axial Dance taking to their mopeds at Derby Square and Gulliver’s Boom Box—a giant ghetto blaster—spends the weekend in Clayton Square. Councillor Wendy Simon of Liverpool City Council said, "City Steps will bring a huge amount of colour and fun to the city and put a spring in the step of thousands of people as we celebrate LEAP and our year of Health and Wellbeing. "The weekend is also part of the biggest dance programme we have supported since our year as European Capital of Culture and the quality of the artistic offer is equal to anything we did in 2008."
24:7—name our spaces24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester's leading event for new theatre writing, has put out a plea for suggestions for names for their two performance spaces at this year's festival. Whereas in the past it has used various locations around the city centre including Midland Hotel, Pure nightclub and Zavvi record shop, the new, streamlined programme of just ten full productions and four readings will all take place in two rooms of New Century House, an office building that forms part of the head office complex of 24:7 principal sponsor The Co-operative. Last year, these two temporary theatre spaces were simply named NCH1 and NCH2, but the festival organisers think that they could have more imaginative titles. If you have any suggestions, send them to info@247theatrefestival.co.uk. The seventh 24:7 Theatre Festival will take place from 26 July to 1 August.
Liverpool Shakespeare Festival threatened by loss of fundingThe Liverpool Shakespeare Festival, organised annually by Lodestar Theatre Company, may have to be cancelled this year unless a last-minute sponsor is found to plug a £19,000 funding gap. The company has managed to secure £11,000 for the event, which attracts 5,000 to 7,000 visitors each year and is run mostly by volunteers, but even with the expected £50,000 in ticket sales it says it will not reach the £80,000 it claims it needs to break even. The festival was to run from 3 to 20 August at St George's Hall in Liverpool and was to be based around a professional production of Romeo and Juliet, but would also have featured three community shows based on this same play.
NW productionsVertigo Theatre Productions will perform OUT! at Manchester's Taurus Bar from 9 to 12 June. After the death of a friend, the close-knit group begins to feel the effects of his loss penetrating their lives, leading them to question their loves, lifestyles and friendships. Dirk Benedict—Templeton 'Faceman' Peck from The A Team—stars as US detective Lieutenant Columbo in Prescription Murder by Richard Levinson and William Link at The Lowry in Salford from 7 to 12 June. Tim Whitnall's Morecambe starring Bob Golding as the taller half of legendary comic duo Morecambe and Wise comes to Rose Theatre in Ormskirk on 9 June, but if you want tickets you will have to join a waiting list for returns. At Octagon Theatre in Bolton, artistic director David Thacker directs the Melvyn Bragg and Howard Goodall musical The Hired Man, about a young couple caught up in a love triangle in Cumbria at the start of the last century, from 10 June to 3 July. In Nightfright at Blackpool's Grand Theatre from 7 to 12 June, Frank and Jenny Gilman think they have found their dream home, but the dream soon turns into a nightmare as they are attacked by intruders who seem, for some reason, to be only interested in the contents of the freezer. Dave Simpson's Girls' Night Out transfers to Manchester's Opera House from 7 to 12 June. Jane is preparing for the biggest day of her life and that wouldn’t be complete without a traditional hen night with the girls. Meanwhile Tony and the boys are putting together the final touches of their make or break ladies-only show. In Wishful Thinking from Madhatters Theatre at Unity Theatre in Liverpool on 8 and 9 June, seven best friends at Leeds festival are having the time of their lives, but a moment of madness changes things forever. Also at the Unity, Tayo Aluko celebrates the great American singer and civil rights activist in Call Mr. Robeson - A life, with songs on 10 and 11 June. Local playwright Joe O'Byrne's acclaimed The Bench appears at Salford Arts Theatre from 9 to 12 June. In Tales from the Blackjack from Dead Square Productions from 10 to 12 June, a straight-talking croupier introduces three exhilarating accounts of life inside the four walls of the gambling superhighway. Joe Orton's farce set amongst the doctors in an asylum, What The Butler Saw, opens at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick on 11 June, running on various days until 6 November. Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram's classic children's picture book Guess How Much I Love You is adapted for the stage by David Wood and appears at The Plaza in Stockport on 11 and 12 June. Physical theatre, puppetry, live music, audience interaction and an explosion of colour are promised in Uncontained Arts's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland for ages four and over at The Lowry in Salford on 12 and 13 June. Reporter: David Chadderton Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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