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Dateline: 31st January, 2010 News from the North West
24:7 show goes to EdinburghLullaby Witch by Mark Griffiths, a chilling story of the search for a child killer, is to be revived for an Edinburgh Fringe run later this year. This one-woman show told by journalist Leona Cash, played once again by Laura Harper, is a thriller in which the tables are turned on a reviewer when the subject of her scathing review turns homicidal. It was originally performed as part of the 2007 24:7 Theatre Festival, but was picked out by both the Octagon in Bolton for its Three of the Best evenings and by the Library Theatre in Manchester for its Re:Play Festival and was also nominated for a Manchester Evening News award for 'Best New Play'. It will be at Surgeons Hall on Nicolson Street, Edinburgh (venue 53) from 16 to 21 August.
Re:Play Festival continuesThe Library Theatre's third Re:Play Festival continues with more revivals of productions that were first seen in smaller venues in Manchester and Salford last year. The first week of the festival saw revivals of 24:7 plays No Wonder by Claire Urwin, 5:30 by Alistair McDowall and Cell by Ailís Ní Ríain plus Billy Cowan's Care Takers that was performed at The Lowry in May. This week sees a revival of Herons, an early play by Simon Stephens, that was produced by Falling Leaves Productions at the John Thaw Studio and the 24:7 play Exit Salford by Ed Jones. There will also be the JB Shorts Bundle, a selection of short plays that were premiered at Joshua Brooks in one of its two JB Shorts showcases last year, an event called FirstStage in which practitioners will test out their new ideas for productions in front of the public and theatre professionals and The Re:Play Debate chaired by Wyllie Longmore looking at small-scale theatre in Manchester and Salford. The festival runs at the Library Theatre in Manchester until 6 February.
Michael Elphick dies Michael Elphick, a freelance lighting designer and technical consultant who ran Gloves Off Productions with his actress and writer wife Patricia Hartshorn and a well-known figure in Manchester fringe theatre, has died peacefully at home after a short illness. Michael has toured shows including When You're Smiling, Absolute Pants, Alternative Medicine and Dietrich And I to such places as Studio Salford, Buxton Fringe and Didsbury Studio. Mike Heath of Studio Salford said, "Michael was a great friend to many of us and was a tireless supporter and contributor both creatively and technically to Studio Salford. We will miss his warmth, kindness, calmness, sense of humour and generosity of heart very much." David Slack of 24:7 Theatre Festival said, "Many of us owe much to Michael's dedication and passion for live theatre. Our thoughts are with Michael's family at this time." Dorothy open auditions in ManchesterThe BBC has added an open audition to its Manchester schedule to search for contestants for its latest 'reality' audition show, this time for a Dorothy for The Wizard of Oz. The auditions run from Saturday 30 January to Monday 1 February at Manchester United's stadium in Old Trafford, but the first two days are only for those with a booked audition slot. Those hopefuls without a booked place should join the queue from 11am on Monday and when they get to the reception desk they will be told whether they are likely to be seen. People with booked places will have priority. Full details can be found on the BBC's web site at www.bbc.co.uk/dorothy/.
Nyman to star in his Ghost Stories premiere in LiverpoolIllusionist Derren Brown's collaborator and director Andy Nyman will appear on stage in the spooky Ghost Stories that he has created with League of Gentlemen co-writer Jeremy Dyson. Nyman will star alongside Nicholas Burns, David Cardy and Ryan Gage for a show about which he and Dyson, who directs, admit, "We are incredibly excited at the prospect of enthralling, thrilling and scaring people in the theatre." The play runs at Liverpool Playhouse from 4 to 20 February before transferring to London.
Jupitus not to star in Hairspray in LiverpoolContrary to previous reports, including on the theatre's own web site, comedian and star of TV's Never Mind The Buzzcocks Phil Jupitus will not reprise his role as Edna Turnblad in the touring production of the musical Hairspray when it visits the Liverpool Empire in August. As he was preparing for his last week in the role in the West End, Jupitus told us that the theatre had "gone a bit early with that news" as he is not doing the tour. Later last week, he announced publicly on his Twitter account, "Right... FYI I am NOT now doing the Hairspray tour... So the next three days are possibly my last in musical theatre... *sigh*". The Empire did not release an official press statement last week as they promised, but they did post a message on Facebook late on Friday to say that the part will be taken by local actor Michael Starke, famous for TV roles in programmes such as Brookside, The Royal and Coronation Street. Starke is quoted as saying, "I’m over the moon to be joining the Hairspray tour. What more could you ask than to be on stage each night, in your home town, in a dress, with Les Dennis?" 24:7 award-winning play free to download from IndependentThe latest audio drama to be released as a free download by The Independent newspaper is Richard Vergette's award-winning entry into the last 24:7 Theatre Festival As We Forgive Them. The play is set in a prison cell in America containing a convicted murderer and a Democrat congressman and begins in the atmosphere of new hope surrounding the election of Barack Obama in November 2008. It was included in the Octagon's Three of the Best selection, was selected to be performed at a 24:7 showcase at the Young Vic in London and won the Manchester Evening News Award for 'Best Fringe Production' plus nominations for both of its actors. It once again stars Vergette as the Congressman and Joe Sims as the illiterate prisoner. The forty-minute play produced by Made In Manchester can be streamed or downloaded from The Independent's web site at www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/free-independent-drama-as-we-forgive-them-1883105.html. There is also an audio interview with Vergette at www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/as-we-forgive-them-richard-vergette-interview-1883429.html.
NW productionsAkram Khan Company will present dance styles from around the world in Bahok at The Lowry in Salford on 4 February with choreography by Akram Khan and music by Nitin Sawney. For young theatregoers, a popular TV character is brought to the stage in Peppa Pig's Party featuring Suzy Sheep, Danny Dog and Emily Elephant at The Lowry from 4 to 7 February. New company Organised Chaos will present two brand new plays at Taurus Bar in Manchester from 3 to 6 February: The Benefit of Time by Terri-Ann Brumby and Seconds Out by Helen East. Amy Leach directs Charlotte Keatley's popular play My Mother Said I Never Should at The Dukes in Lancaster from 4 to 27 February. The first of the winning plays from the last Bruntwood Playwriting Competition opens this week in the Royal Exchange Studio as Jo Combes directs Salt by Fiona Peek, set over the course of five dinner parties in a plush London basement kitchen, running from 3 to 20 February. Bob Golding stars as half of Britain's most popular double act in Morecambe by Tim Whitnall at The Met in Bury on 3 February. Shakespeare 4 Kidz will perform its own version of Macbeth by William Shakespeare at The Lowry on 1 February. Disney's High School Musical hits the Liverpool Empire on its current tour, running from 1 to 6 February. Chicago, the musical by Kander, Ebb and Fosse set in the seedier side of Chicago during the jazz era, arrives at Preston Guild Hall and Charter Theatre from 1 to 6 February. The stage version of Spike Milligan's wartime memoir Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall will be at Blackpool's Grand Theatre from 2 to 6 February. Dialogue presents the British premiere of The Furies combined with Helter Skelter and Land of the Dead, a trilogy of plays by American writer Neil LaBute, at The Unity in Liverpool on 2 and 3 February. Paulette Randal directs Crossings by Julie McNamara at Contact Theatre in Manchester on 3 and 4 February. Shelley is fifteen, pregnant and on the run from the gang whose code she has broken. In a raging storm, she seeks shelter on an old ferry boat, which turns out to be the ghost of The Zong, an infamous slave ship from Liverpool whose shameful story began to turn opinion against slavery. David Thacker directs Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Octagon in Bolton from 4 February to 6 March set in Athens in 1968. The Collector, based on the novel by John Fowles, will be presented by Pronto Productions at The Lowry on 4 and 5 February. The world's greatest fictional detective explores his own psyche in Sherlock Holmes – The Last Act at The Lowry on 6 and 7 February. 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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