|
|
||||||||||
|
News
|
||||||||||
|
News |
Dateline: 25th July, 2010 News from the North West
New Judy and Liza musical previewed at Liverpool PrideEmma Dears will perform songs from her forthcoming new musical show about the lives of mother and daughter performers Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli at the first ever Liverpool Pride Festival on Saturday 7 August. The production will open at Hope Theatre in Liverpool in November with Dears, who wrote the show, as Minnelli and Lucy Williamson as Garland with musical direction from Michael England. Dears said of her appearance on the Cabaret Stage at Liverpool Pride, "I’m delighted to be involved with Liverpool’s first Pride! I’ve performed at London Pride when I was in the West End and think it’s about time that Liverpool had a Pride of its own."
Cumbria session on taking work abroad
North west performing arts agency PANDA (Performing Arts Network and Development Agency) is organising a free event for anyone working in the performing arts in the north west that will examine ways of touring work outside the UK. The event at Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal on 2 September will take the form of a panel discussion and will look at the practicalities of touring abroad and how to capitalise on the opportunities for taking work to other countries. For more information or to book a place, see www.panda-arts.org.uk/workinginternationally.
24:7 extra eventsManchester's 24:7 Theatre Festival for brand new short plays runs at New Century House in the city centre from 26 July to 1 August as we have previously reported, but aside from the ten plays that receive full productions, this year's festival features several smaller events. There will be rehearsed, script-in-hand readings of four plays—one each night from Tuesday to Friday at 6pm—that were submitted to the festival and showed promise but which were not considered ready yet for a full production. These are Baby Shaped Hole by Julia Hogan directed by Elizabeth Newman of the Octagon, Domestic Bliss by Roy Knowles directed by Jim Poyser, All Because of Molly by Paul Ferguson directed by Martin Jameson and A Lady of Substance by Jon Cooper directed by acclaimed local writer and director Matthew Dunster. After Hours is a series of events at 10:30pm each night from Tuesday to Saturday related to new writing. On Tuesday, 'Scriptworks' will feature excerpts from new scripts which the audience can discuss and give their opinions on. A 'Short Film Night' on Wednesday, hosted by critic Kevin Bourke, will feature three short film premières made in the north west from Matt Greenhalgh, Janet Harrison and William Ash and Andrew Knott. Elizabeth Newman will chair a Q&A session on new writing with a panel including Matthew Dunster, playwright David Eldridge and Octagon artistic director David Thacker. Finally, Saturday's event is a comedy sketch night featuring ten short new comedy sketches.
Oldham Coliseum receives £1.45m for 'essential maintenance'Oldham Council has awarded Oldham Coliseum Theatre £1.45m for essential maintenance to the fabric of the building, including removal of asbestos which, although safely sealed in at the moment, needs to be removed to enable other maintenance and renovations to take place. This sum is part of a longer-term funding package from Oldham Council which will see a total of £32m invested in the Coliseum up to 2014. Executive director David Martin said, "The building has served us very well for many years and is in need of a major overhaul. Although we have undertaken a comprehensive programme of repairs and renewals at the theatre, the major works proposed here have been a very daunting prospect and difficult for us to achieve on our own. "We will be working closely with the Council to make sure that our theatre programme and schedule of educational work is disrupted as little as possible whilst this much-needed maintenance takes place."
Preston Tringe opens second festivalA newcomer on the fringe festival circuit, Preston Tringe, opens next week for only its second year with a mixture of theatre, dance, comedy and literature performed by 45 acts in six venues in the city centre. Theatre performances include Bittersweet Sketches from Renegade Productions, Portraits by David Riley, Baby Jesus Freak by Ian Winterton from Balloon Head Productions, The Existence by FallenWall, Behind Closed Doors by Rebekah Harrison from Milk and Two Sugars, Great Escape / Aunty Jean by David Riley and Zoe Lammond, Welcome to Afghanistan! by Matt Panesh from MonkeyDo, Afternoon Tea by Lindsay Kernahan from Organised Chaos, The Roots of Love by Cathy Crabb from Mediamedea, The Benefit of Time by Terri-Ann Brumby from Organised Chaos, Live Bed Show by Arthur Smith from Essential Jack, Wishful Thinking by Rebecca Hill from Madhatters, The Gentle Plagued by Lee Johnson from Last Orders and Angels In America Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kusher from Deadline Theatre. For more information, see the Preston Tringe web site at www.tringe.webs.com.
NW productionsBroken Echo Theatre Company revives Dave Simpson's Raving Beauties set in the world of beauty contests in the 1980s at The Dancehouse in Manchester from 29 to 31 July. Be Rain For Me by Susi Wrenshaw from Happystorm Theatre Company centres on two friends stuck working in a fish factory in Salford who embark on a journey of self-discovery. It will be at Salford Arts Theatre from 29 to 31 July. At The Lowry Studio in Salford, Take The Space presents Dolce Via by Siobhán Nicholas, inspired by the films of Fellini and Chaplin, on 31 July. The Great Tourrinos topped the bill on the variety circuit until tragedy struck in the middle of a show. Now, years later, they will entertain you again with one last turbulent performance of magic, song, fire eating, mind reading and memory. Artizani presents The Cabaret of Dr Caligari as part of the Lakes Alive Festival in Cumbria at various venues from 26 July to 2 August. Also for Lakes Alive, Into The Woods Tour takes place in the forests of Talkin Tarn, Winlatter and Grizedale on 28, 29 and 30 July respectively. You can watch a performance that takes place in the belly of a giant pig, join Hansel and Gretel on their woodland adventure, be recruited to join a wolf pack and see an artist create pictures on logs using fire, but don't forget to watch out for the Big Bad Wolf. At Blackpool's Grand Theatre, children's favourite The Gruffalo based on the picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, will be performed on 27 and 28 July. The final production to open in the Theatre by the Lake summer season in Keswick is The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, which will join the other five productions in the season and run on various dates from 30 July to 3 November. Reporter: David Chadderton Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
|||||||||
|
|
