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Dateline: 25th April, 2010 News from the North West
The Lowry celebrates 10th anniversarySalford's major arts centre The Lowry celebrates its tenth anniversary on 28 April, revealing that during the last ten years it has featured more than 2,300 theatre productions in its three performance spaces and 111 exhibitions in its art galleries for more than eight million visitors. One of the main celebratory events will be the Regatta Big Family 10th Birthday Party in June, featuring various free and paid-for events in the theatres and around the building. The centre will also launch its '10 for 10' fundraising campaign to raise £10,000 between its birthday date and 10/10/10 from public donations. Lowry chief executive Julia Fawcett said, "Our birthday year is, without doubt, the opportunity to celebrate the many artistic and community-led achievements of The Lowry as well as the contribution we have made to the creative well-being of the people of Salford and the region. "We are hugely proud to have been such a catalyst for the ongoing regeneration of Salford Quays and a startling reminder of the regenerative impact of culture." Salford City Council's chief executive Barbara Spicer concurred over the effect of the centre on the region, saying, "It is a truly fantastic addition to the city of Salford which many residents benefit from through collaborative work. "Having a top class arts venue in the city that is also very rooted in the community is a special combination that has numerous benefits for the city including encouraging economic investment, job creation, aspiration raising as well as providing entertainment."
Ensemble 52 becomes Studio Salford residentTheatre company Ensemble 52, formed by playwright and actor Richard Vergette and director Andrew Pearson, has been invited to join the resident companies at Studio Salford, one of Manchester's major fringe venues for new theatre writing. The company was formed for the 2007 24:7 Theatre Festival for which Pearson directed both Vergette's An Englishman's Home and David Patterson's Boots. For last year's 24:7, the group produced Vergette's award-winning As We Forgive Them, which has since been recorded as an audio play for The Independent. In a joint statement, Pearson and Vergette said, "Being part of the collective at Studio Salford is a great honour for us and will provide us with a fantastic platform for our work." Also joining the Studio Salford fold is Don't Look Up, whose play Watching Stars by Kate Gilbert was directed by Wyllie Longmore for the 2008 24:7 Theatre Festival. Studio Salford's Mike Heath said of the new recruits, "I know that they'll bring real quality theatre and I'm really excited that we are once again expanding our portfolio of companies to bring the best in new, cutting edge fringe."
International Day of Dance lineup announcedThe programme for the International Day of Dance on 29 April, part of Merseyside Dance Promoters Network's LEAP 2010 festival, has been announced. The day commences from 12 till 2pm in Clayton Square under the BBC Big Screen with workshops in tai chi and African dance to take part in plus performances from dance companies House of Suarez and China Pearl and from students from Liverpool Community College's HND course. Shimmer from GODS is choreographed by Sri Sarker to music by Arun Ghosh and there will be Rockin' and Rollin' dances from Tom and Brenda. From 5 till 7pm, dance companies including Taciturn and Chaturangan will perform in the windows of Marks and Spencer in Church Street. The shop will also be the venue for solo performances from China Pearl’s FenFen Haung, Darren Suarez of House of Suarez, Sandra Golding and Francis Angol, artistic director of Movement Angol. At the same time in Williamson Square, there will be African dance from El Gawazee Dance, The African Adult Group and Lamin Dance Company, Indian dance from Southport's Bharata Natyam Group and more from GODS, plus The Polish School, Movema and Toxteth's The Greenhouse Project. More information can be found on the LEAP 2010 web site at www.leap2010.co.uk. Dukes holds open auditions for Lost BoysThe Dukes in Lancaster is looking for around ten young people aged 15 to 20 years to play Lost Boys, pirates, mermaids, Nana the dog and Michael Darling in its summer outdoor production of Peter Pan in Williamson Park. Those selected for the two teams of performers will have to take part in a series of workshops prior to rehearsals. Rehearsals from 7 June will be three times per week and each team will perform three of the six performances each week during the run from 2 July to 7 August. The audition workshops will be on 26 April. For more information or to register to take part, e-mail youththeatreenquiries@dukes-lancaster.org.
NW productionsThe stage adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, based on the 1968 musical film which in turn was based on the novel by Ian Fleming, returns to Manchester's Palace Theatre from 27 April to 15 May. Jumble by Sally Lawton tells of a primary school head teacher whose PA is obsessed with him and whose wife hates him who forges his school's SAT results. It is brought to Studio Salford by TSL Productions from 28 April to 1 May, directed by Mike Heath. Jamie Lomas and Drew Mconie star in backstage musical A Chorus Line with music by Marvin Hamlisch at The Lowry in Salford from 29 April to 8 May. Blunderbus Theatre Company brings its adaptation of popular children's picture book Giraffes Can't Dance for ages 4 to 7 years to The Met in Bury on 1 May. Brendan O'Carroll brings the latest in his Agnes Brown comic sagas How Now Mrs Brown Cow to the Opera House in Manchester from 27 April to 8 May. Pioneering experimental theatre company People Show brings People Show 121: The Detective Show, inspired by the missing eleven days of Agatha Christie’s life in 1926, to the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester from 28 April to 1 May. Quarantine and Company Fierce present Queer Up North festival trailblazer Susan & Darren by Sonia Hughes at Sachas Hotel in Manchester from 30 April to 8 May. Joe O'Byrne's acclaimed The Bench will enjoy a further run at Salford Arts Theatre from 28 April to 1 May. At The Lowry in Salford, David Toole and Lucy Hind star in Extra-Ordinary from 28 to 30 April. Lucy wants to be famous, but she’s just too ordinary: average looking, average talent, average age. David is extraordinary, famous for his difference and a successful performer of considerable note. But neither is satisfied. In Je Suis Dead at Ormskirk's Rose Theatre on 26 April, three strangers are thrown together in the aftermath of a near fatal train crash, but in their vulnerable post-crash state, unknown ancestral figures step through the veil of their once ordered lives. Also at Rose Theatre, Artizani performs Dr Caligari on 29 April. Islands from Théâtre Sans Frontières, exploring themes of borders, images of utopia, marginality and confinement, visits Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal on 26 April and The Lowry in Salford on 27 April. Fink On returns to Contact Theatre with Crying in the Chapel, ten years after the play's first performance at this venue, from 26 April to 8 May examining the treatment of inmates around the time of the Strangeways prison riots of 1990. Also at Contact Theatre, Why Me? from Ben Moores on 28 and 29 April considers that as we get older, we settle in to a life of monotony, rules and apathy and the child inside us stops asking "why?". Vicki Michelle, Trevor Bannister and Mark Curry head the cast of Wife Begins At Forty at Blackpool's Grand Theatre from 29 April to 1 May. At Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, Chronicles of Long Kesh by Martin Lynch examines Northern Ireland's most famous prison during 'The Troubles' with a 60s Motown soundtrack from 27 April to 1 May. Roger Llewellyn stars in Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies at The Plaza in Stockport on 30 April. 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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