News from the North West

Published: 29 January 2012
Reporter: David Chadderton

DaDaFest Chair, Gary Timperley, CEO of DaDaFest, Ruth Gould, NWBLT Chair, Paul Lee and Geoffrey Piper, CEO of the NWBLT with this year’s Lever Prize trophy, produced by John Adamson from the Lancashire and Cheshire WoodcarversLiverpool DaDaFest wins £10,000 Lever Prize

Disability and Deaf Arts (DaDa), the organisation behind Liverpool's annual DaDaFest, has become the seventh recipient of the £10,000 Lever Prize.

The award, named after soap magnate William Lever, is awarded by the North West Business Leadership Team in partnership with Arts and Business North and consists of the cash prize plus a yearlong collaboration with top business leaders.

According to Geoffrey Piper, chief executive of NWBLT, "DaDa’s success in landing the 2012 Lever Prize is a truly outstanding achievement, having beaten off an extremely impressive range of the North West’s other well-known arts organisations to win this major accolade."

DaDa's CEO Ruth Gould said, "We are delighted the NWBLT have acknowledged the unique work DaDaFest does in representing disability and deaf culture in the North West and internationally. The award and resulting creative collaborations with NWBLT members will allow us to present an even more relevant and enticing Festival later this year."

The next DaDaFest will take place between 13 July and 2 September 2012.

Everyman and Playhouse launches new youth initiative

Liverpool's Everyman and Playhouse Theatres have launched the Young Everyman Playhouse scheme, that expands on the exisiting youth theatre groups with a range of opportunities for those aged 11 to 26.

The new scheme takes in the pre-existing Young Actors and Young Writers groups and adds Young Communicators, Young Technicians, Young Programmers and Young Directors. The theatres will also be offering tickets to audiences under the age of 26 for £5 and provide guidance on careers in the theatre.

Young Everyman Playhouse director Matt Rutter said, "In 2006 the youth theatre had 40 members, today there are 100 Young Actors and this exciting new initiative, which will influence every aspect of the Everyman and Playhouse’s work, will engage with more than 400 young people over the next year across all of the strands.”

Coliseum temporary box office to open

Oldham Coliseum will open a temporary box office in Oldham Town Centre this week where tickets can be booked during the refurbishment of the theatre, which will be closed until October.

The new box office is at Unit 12, Albion Street Oldham and will be open from 9:30AM to 5PM Monday to Saturday from Wednesday 1 February. Tickets can still be booked by telephone on 0161 624 2829 and on the web at www.coliseum.org.uk.

Meanwhile the old seats, which were originally obtained second-hand from a cinema many years ago, have been donated to a community project to restore The Ritz cinema in Lincoln to its former glory, as reported in The Lincolnite last week.

NW productions

imagePaul McGann will be "In Conversation With" at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 4 February.

Starving Artists will perform its new play Days of Light by Godfrey Hamilton about tropical idylls, ferocious ocean currents, and the collision of ancient islands and modern America at the Royal Exchange Studio on Manchester from 1 to 4 February.

In Paris in 1945, Christiane waits for a ticket to England that will reunite her with her fiancé while an irrepressible mademoiselle recounts her love story with a tongue-tied English teacher from Staffordshire in You're Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy at The Met in Bury on 1 February.

An Inspector CallsStephen Daldry's famous production of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls has been revived and will be at The Lowry in Salford from 31 January to 4 February.

Douglas Irvine's comedy musical Departure Lounge will be at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool from 1 to 4 February.

Vivienne Franzmann's Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting winner Mogadishu, which was nominated for a Manchester Theatre Award and an Evening Standard Award, will open the Liverpool Playhouse season for 2012, running from 30 January to 4 February.

Guy Masterson performs Shylock, written and directed by Gareth Armstrong, at the Rose Theatre in Ormskirk on 2 February.

Elysion Productions will present its double bill of new plays by Nicola Schofield, Hope in Boxes and A Light in Every Window, at the Lantern Theatre in Liverpool on 3 February.

SnookeredOldham Coliseum will present Snookered by Ishi Din in association with Tamasha and The Bush from 2 to 8 February.

A new adaptation of Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve will be performed by Rebecca Vaughan and Elton Townend Jones for Dyad Productions, directed by Guy Masterson, on 1 February.

Promising puppets, dark humour and a dash of Samuel Beckett, Blind Summit will perform The Table at The Lowry on 2 February.

No Nonsense Theatre Company will perform The Emperor's New Clothes at Waterside Arts Centre in Sale on 4 February.

Donna Rutherford will perform Kin at Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster on 4 February.

Opera della Luna's production of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow will be at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool on 4 and 5 February.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

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