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Dateline: 13th July, 2009 News from the North West
24:7 play receives BBC award commendationOne of the plays in the forthcoming 24:7 Theatre Festival, Maine Road by Sarah Macdonald Hughes, received a commendation this week at the ceremony for the biennial BBC Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for radio plays. The award, named after the great radio producer Alfred Bradley to commemorate his life and work and established in 1992, is for writers of original radio plays who were born or are based in the north of England. This year's winner of the £3000 first prize bursary and a year's mentorship with a radio drama producer was Chris Wilson with a script called Playing The Game with Tom Wells and Ben Ayrton each receiving £1000 and a mentorship for joint second place. Sarah's script was 'highly commended' which entitles her and two writers whose scripts were 'commended' – Alexandra Denye and Paul Buie – to a mentorship and the chance to develop their scripts and further ideas for Radio 4. The play hasn't had a completely smooth ride, however; the lead actor David Atkins had to be replaced when he was given a part in the new Doctor Who series, and Daniel Fitzsimons stepped into the part. The playwright also performs in her play for the Festival, which is set in 2003 when Manchester City fans saw their Maine Road stadium, where the team had been based since 1923, demolished after the move to City of Manchester Stadium. 24:7 Theatre Festival director David Slack said, "This is the first time a 24:7 play has received a commendation in an awards ceremony before the festival has begun. It illustrates the high quality of plays that go into 24:7." Maine Road will be one of the plays performed at Pure in The Printworks during the Festival, which runs from 20 to 26 July. Lowry sued over 'karaoke' Christmas showAn audience member for The Lowry's Christmas production of The Wizard of Oz successfully sued The Lowry in Manchester County Court under the Trades Description Act, claiming that the description on the posters of the show as a 'musical' were misleading as there were no live musicians. Adrian Bradbury from London and his twin brother, both professional musicians, took their families to see the show, which starred Lorna Luft as the Wicked Witch of the West, but were disappointed that all of the music was in the form of recorded backing tracks. He said, "A pre-recorded track cannot react musically to live singing or dancing, so has no place in musical theatre... Karaoke is fine in your local pub but I would never pay to see it." To back up his claim, he included a report from composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who likened singing to a backing track with having a conversation with an answerphone. The judge allowed Bradbury's claim, awarding him the £134.50 cost of the tickets plus legal expenses of £50. Lowry marketing director Jonathan Harper expressed his disappointment at the judge's decision and stressed that no one else in the 133,000 people who saw the show complained about the lack of live accompaniment, adding, "We are grateful for the judge's acknowledgement that he was not offering opinion on the sector as a whole, but that he was calling the decision based on Mr Bradbury's personal response following his visit to this show."
Opera House Aladdin cast announcedManchester's Opera House has announced the principal cast of its Christmas production of Aladdin, produced in association with First Family Entertainment, which will run from 5 December 2009 to 3 January 2010 and feature a host of soap stars, particularly from Coronation Street. Street baddy Tony Gordon – actor Gray O'Brien – will be panto baddy Abanazar, who will use his evil powers on Hollyoaks star Chris Fountain as Aladdin. Also from Corrie, Sue Devaney will be Genie of the Ring and Eric Potts will be Widow Twankey. XFM radio presenter Mike McClean will play Wishee Washee.
NW productionsManchester's Feelgood Theatre for its 15th anniversary teams up with Zimbabwean theatre group Theatre Under Fire based in West Yorkshire for a promenade production of Macbeth in Heaton Park, Manchester from 15 July to 2 August. Gambolling Arena Theatre Company presents Piaf / Dietrich, a portrait of the friendship between Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, on 15 and 16 July and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler on 17 and 18 July, both at Liverpool's Unity Theatre. Rebekah Maine and Caroline Emmerton perform their own short comedy Cutting Room at Manchester's Green Room on 17 July. In Fantasy to Macabre, The Lowry's in-house dance company Ad Hoc uses the works of Spanish painter Goya as a starting point for this piece in The Lowry's Studio on 13 July. Manchester's Contact Theatre presents an adaptation of Liz Lochhead's retelling of Medea by Euripides from resident writer / director Rachel Brogan from 8 to 11 July. Something in the Air is a collaboration between Oily Cart and Ockham's Razor created as a multi-sensory interactive piece for young people with complex disabilities at Contact Theatre on 11 and 12 July. 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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