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Dateline: 20th September, 2009 News from the North West
24:7 'Three of the Best' transfers to LondonThe 'Three of the Best' plays chosen for a re-run last week at Bolton Octagon from the acclaimed new writing festival 24:7 will transfer to London's Young Vic next month, it has just been announced. The plays - 5:30 by Alistair McDowall, Lub You by Eve Steele and As We Forgive Them by Richard Vergette - will all be performed twice – a matinée and an evening performance of each – on 15th October at the South Bank Venue. Tickets can be booked at the Young Vic web site at www.youngvic.org/.
Oldham Coliseum awarded Sustain grantOldham Coliseum has been granted a Sustain award of £459,824, from a special £40m open application fund from Arts Council England to support arts organisations hit by the recession. The Coliseum says that the award, "will not only go towards maintaining the high quality of productions that the theatre is renowned for but will also help the Coliseum develop community cohesion, enhanced education and life-long learning provision in Oldham." The ACE's official explanation of the purpose of the award to the Coliseum is "to maintain the quality of artistic output and resolve cash flow problems caused by a decrease in income resulting from the current economic climate. Our funding will help to replace lost income from fundraising and box office in this and the next financial year, support the organisation’s artistic output in 09/10 and 10/11 and support the theatre's organisational development initiatives." The only other north west arts organisations in the September round of awards were Hallé Concerts Society (£800,000) and Manchester Camerata Orchestra (£163,000), in both cases to compensate for lost income from corporate sponsorship and fundraising. Artistic director Kevin Shaw said of the award, "The grant will enable the Coliseum to continue its ambitious development plans and invest in its artistic work during the current economic downturn. We are enormously encouraged by the confidence the Arts Council has placed in the company and we are certain our audiences will see the impact of this decision through improved production values and investment in the front of house areas." This grant comes hot on the heels of an award to the Oldham venue from the Big Lottery Young People's Fund of £204,629 to involve young people more in the theatre, as we reported two weeks ago.
Full cast of Cartwright's Two announcedWe also reported two weeks ago that TV star Claire Sweeney would be half of the Coliseum's cast for Jim Cartwright's Two next month, directed by Joyce Branagh. It has now been announced that she will be joined by Matthew Rixon for this comic but hard-hitting set of character vignettes in which two actors play the landlady and landlord of a northern pub and all of the customers that come into it. Rixon is probably best known for being the son of actor and TV presenter Matthew Kelly, but he has recently given acclaimed performances as Aston in Pinter's The Caretaker and Hale in The Crucible, both at Bolton Octagon, and paired up with his father for Beckett's Endgame at Liverpool Everyman. He has also appeared in the musical The Producers as Roger De Bris at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The production runs from 8 to 24 October at Oldham Coliseum.
Not Part Of New Year's Eve looks for performersManchester's Not Part Of Festival, originally conceived as a fringe event to the Manchester International Festival featuring many small-scale events throughout the city, is once again arranging Not Part Of NYE in January and is looking for acts. Each act will get a twenty-minute slot and the organisers are looking for acts in the fields of acoustic music, poetry, stand-up, sketches, theatre, dance, bands, one-person shows, magic and burlesque. This year there will also be a café and the 'Not Part Of Bizarre', a bazaar of arts, crafts, clothes, jewellery, courses and workshops with stalls priced at £25. Anyone interested in performing or taking a stall should e-mail beth@notpartof.org.
Hippodrome demolition held off by Heritage listingTameside Hippodrome in Ashton-under-Lyne, which was said by Tameside Council only a couple of weeks ago to be almost certain to be demolished, has been granted grade II listed status by English Heritage after an application by 74-year-old Norma Clough who joined Ashton Operatic Society in 1951 and has been campaigning to have the theatre reopened since it closed in March 2008. Councillor Kieran Quinn expressed surprise at the DCMS decision to list the building as it has been changed so much over the years that most of the historical elements have been removed, adding, "the fact the Hippodrome is now a listed building does not remove the fact that it would cost £3m to reopen it as a theatre and that is money Tameside Council does not have." This figure, which came from an independent survey of the building soon after it closed, is also disputed by Clough who asked local businesses to give quotations for some of the work in the survey more than a year ago. Tameside Council put the building up for sale as a theatre earlier this year but not a single bid was received. Councillor Quinn said that the asset management group will now need to "think through the implications of what has happened." Dukes youth group needs knittersThe Dukes Senior Youth Theatre in Lancaster is asking for help to create the scenery for its next show, which will be entirely knitted from wool. It Snows is about two people who connect through the world of sledging, snow angels and snowballs. The director Louie Ingham will lead a development and ideas evening on 12 October consisting of a read-through of the play, ideas-gathering and coffee and cake. Volunteers are expected to have to give four to five days of their time between October and February. Anyone interesting in taking part should e-mail itsnowswithknitting@hotmail.co.uk or call 01524 598521.
NW productionsPopular Manchester comedy duo Lip Service, Maggie Fox and Sue Riding, performs its new musical Desperate to be Doris at Manchester's Library Theatre from 23 September to 3 October, featuring Dean Southworth as a buyer for a mail order nightwear firm by day and a legend in his own living room who sings like Doris Day by night. Rambert Dance Company's Comedy of Change by Mark Baldwin and with music by Julian Anderson visits The Lowry in Salford from 23 to 25 September, celebrating Darwin's 200th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin Of Species. The programme also features Carnival of the Animals choreographed by Siobhan Davies to music by Saint-Saëns and A Linha Curva choreographed by Itzik Galili to music by Percossa. Also at The Lowry, Sherman Cymru's production of Deep Cut by Philip Ralph tells the story of Private Cheryl James, one of four young soldiers who died in unusual circumstances at Deepcut Barracks between 1995 and 2002, running from 22 to 26 September. Interactive Theatre Australia returns to The Lowry with Faulty Towers... the Dining Experience based on the characters from television sitcom Fawlty Towers who serve a three-course meal to guests / audience members in the Lowry restaurant. Tables are being booked from 21 to 27 September and from 10 to 14 October. John Steinbeck's great tale of the American Depression in the 1930s Of Mice And Men comes to The Dukes in Lancaster from 24 September to 24 October directed by Kevin Dyer. English National Ballet visits The Palace in Manchester with its production of Giselle with a full symphony orchestra led by Gavin Sutherland from 23 to 27 September. This is preceded by Wayne Eagling's short new piece Men Y Men, an all-male piece to music by Rachmaninoff. Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance returns to the Opera House in Manchester from 22 to 27 September. Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon's comedy Who Goes Bare? stars Damian Williams at Preston Guild Hall from 21 to 23 September. Time travel romantic comedy Eighteen Stupid Reasons Why I Love You Lots And Lots by Alistair McDowall will be at The Lowry on 22 September and at Martin Harris Centre on 24 and 25 September. Also at The Lowry, popular local actor and director Wyllie Longmore directs Frank Marcus's The Killing of Sister George for Zeitgeist Productions from 24 to 26 September. Full Beam Visual Theatre performs My Baby Just Cares For Me at Bury Met on 23 September. Interactive show What A Wonderful World for ages 2 to 5 visits The Lowry on 27 September. Me Productions presents Payback, transporting us back to the days of Thatcher's Britain, from 22 to 25 September at Liverpool's Unity Theatre. At Bolton's Octagon Theatre, Corin Redgrave performs Oscar Wilde's De Profundis on 23 and 24 September. 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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