Ray Cooney's 1990 comedy - an Olivier Award winner (1991 for Best Comedy) starring Eastenders actor Shaun Williamson is currently touring the UK, and although I knew in advance it referenced a topic I usually avoid - politics - I went along to the opening night at Sheffield's Lyceum theatre feeling intrigued.
I’m one the 10 million or so people who saw Mamma Mia! during its record breaking West End run and the good news it still delivers high quality, light hearted fun on its first UK tour.
“Battling” Barbara Buttrick, all 7st, 4ft 11ins of her, threw a 100lb punch and challenged “any lass up to 9st in weight” to take her on in the boxing ring (that’s me out of contention then).
The Hull lass (well, Cottingham more accurately) was the first women’s world champion boxer - no ordinary feat in the less enlightened 1950s.
Dirty Dancing is arguably on of the most iconic movies of the 1980s. Set in the summer of 1963, it tells the story of seventeen year old Frances “Baby” Houseman, the youngest daughter of affluent couple Jake (a Doctor) and Marjorie Houseman, whom whilst enjoying a final summer of freedom before heading off to College, at Kellerman’s – a resort in the Catskill Mountains meets and develops a crush on the resort’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle.
Theatre Royal in Wakefield is currently holding its 17th annual drama festival, which comprises of seven different shows performed over seven days. The festival closes with a performance from St Austin’s Players of Ghost Train, written by Arnold Ridley. St Austin’s Players formed in 1991 as a way to raise funds for the restoration of St Austin’s church. However after their first performance, they quickly developed a love of performing and have gone on to perform many other shows and have become an integral part of the community.
Theatre Royal in Wakefield is currently holding its 17th annual drama festival, which comprises of seven different shows performed over seven days. Today marks day 6 of the festival and brings us Alan Aykbourn’s ‘A Chorus of Disapproval’ performed by the Wakefield Little Theatre. WLT was formed in 1948 and is based in Middlestown and they placed second in the Drama Festival of 2016 with their performance of Blood Brothers.
In an age when a man who seemingly has no respect for the rules of the game, or the feelings of others, can become the most powerful man in the world then this powerful production of Shakespeare’s bloody tale of royal intrigue is timely.
Arguably the most iconic ballet movie of all time “The Red Shoes”, a 1948 post-war film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale and tells the story of an aspiring young ballerina, Victoria (“Vicky”) Page, torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. It is somewhat a complex story that ricochets between London and France, and between art and real life.
For every theatre goer a good old farce is a guilty pleasure so it’s no surprise that The Play That Goes Wrong has been a smash hit in this country and has just opened on Broadway.
In these troubled and paranoid times people do want work that challenges the status quo, but just as desperately they want a few belly laughs, which this smart reinventing of the traditional farce certainly delivers.
Based on the 1957 movie with the same title, La Strada, (meaning "The Road"), is an Italian drama by Federico Fellini which tells the story of a travelling "World’s Strongest Man" circus actor, Zampanò. On his travels, Zampanò meets a poverty stricken mother and buys her daughter, Gelsomina, for ten thousand lira. He promises her work with him as his assistant on the road, and she promises to send money to her family.
Wayne’s dad’s taxi is a magical place. It’s no ordinary taxi. When, at 11am on Saturday morning, Wayne’s dad, Steve, politely opened the car door for my sister, Christine, and I, to step inside, we did so not knowing what to expect.
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