Scratched Out @ Riverside Studios
“How could I get my friends to come to the theatre?” The question 24-year-old Richard Hale aka DJ Halo has been asking himself for the last five years.
“It took me a while, but the easiest answer was to make a musical based on our lives and experiences,” he says with a beaming smile.
It’s no wonder he’s in fine spirits – the first full-scale production of Scratched Out, The Urban Musical, opens this week at Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios.
Yet catching Richard in a good mood is hardly unusual.
Slam poetry sensation Dean Atta – who has written the lyrics to Richard’s musical – said it was this fearless positivity that roped him into the project in the first place.
The story is based on…
Janie Dee in Woman in Mind
Alan Ayckbourn; Peter Hall and Harold Pinter’s leading lady.
“Ronnie Corbett’s hardly known for giving people the spooks, yet actress Janie Dee has been left with a strange chill ever since their first encounter.
“I was more excited than meeting the Queen,” Janie says, an adoring fan of Ronnie since childhood. It was in 2000 – a special year for Janie – behind the stage after one of her performances in Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.
“I felt a hand on one shoulder and his face appeared round the other,” Janie recalls. “He said ‘I love you’ and I said, ‘No, I love you’.” The compliment was returned back and forth three times before…
Lemn Sissay @ The Lyric Theatre
Poet and performer talks truth about his latest show, Why I Don’t Hate White People.
“Awe-struck and slightly suspicious,” was Norman Mark Greenwood’s reaction to seeing his first black person. He was 10 years old, growing up in suburban Lancashire and alreadyaware of the ‘battalio of phrases’ white people used when confronted with race.
‘We’re all colour-blind here; we’re all the same,’ his foster parents would say, but Norman started to ask himself why they were denying his difference. “These phrases were hiding something, and that something was me,” Norman, who has since discovered his real name, says…
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Helpful Links: Lyric Theatre, Lemn’s Blog
Family Fun this Christmas
“Who’s luckier this Christmas? The kids who get taken to the shows, or the parents who get to take them?
Puny pantos don’t cut the custard anymore, so here’s a look at London’s best…
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Helpful Links: Riverside Studios, Portobello Panto, Young Vic, Lyric Theatre, Chelsea Theatre, Duchess Theatre, Peacock Theatre
Theatre Café Festival
Ditch the rentals, this is theatre by the youth for the youth
Puny pantos don’t cut the custard anymore, so here’s a look at London’s best…
“John Retallack spotted a gap in the theatre market. “Not enough plays for teenagers and not enough transfers from Europe,” says the Theatre Café Festival director. Now in its fifth year, John’s detective work is beating Britain’s bad habit of ignoring its continental counterparts…
Helpful links: Theatre Café Festival
Shun-kin
Buy now or miss out on Complicite’s next show at the Barbican
“It’s a while away yet, but as with all the most anticipated cultural events in London, best to book months in advance. When Simon McBurney’s theatre group Complicite announce a new show, it’s one of those moments. Entitled Shun-kin, their latest play is inspired by two 1933 texts by popular Japanese novelist Jun’ichiro Tanizaki…
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Helpful Links: Barbican , Complicite
Spyski - The Importance of Being Earnest
Who’s who in Peepolykus’ latest laugh a minute show.
“Things are never quite what they seem when it comes to comedic theatre group Peepolykus. Take their name, for a start. Sounds like an ancient Greek god…
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Helpful Links: Spyski, Lyric Theatre
Theatreland
Ten of west London’s best.
“The days are getting shorter. Summer will soon wave goodbye.
But with autumn comes the comfort of our countless theatres. Whether in a tiny room above a pub, in the round, or in a mighty mansion – here’s a preview of what we can look forward to…
Helpful links: Bush, Tabard, Riverside Studios, Gate, Soho, Orange Tree, Finborough, Lyric, Royal Court
Jagged Fence @ Riverside Studios - Twelfth Night @ Kensington Palace
An Olympic clean-up vs re-shaping Shakespeare
“A mental hospital, five prostitutes and an Olympic flame. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but these are the ingredients of a timely resurrection of a Russian play.
Entitled Stars in the Morning Sky, this tale of social exclusion was first told by Alexander Galin in 1980 when Moscow was ‘cleaning up’ before the arrival of the Olympic Games…
Helpful links: Riverside Studios , The Stage review
African Theatre in London
The Royal Court; the Almeida; the Arcola – everyone wants a piece of the action.
“Shifting cultural identity; ethnic tension with Caribbeans; knife crime; ogbono soup and joloff rice – Africans are finally getting the chance to educate audiences about their culture…
Helpful links: Royal Court Theatre , Almeida, Arcola
Piranha Heights at the Soho Theatre
Straight-talking Q&A with author Philip Ridley, the devilish dramatist not afraid to scare-off his audience.
“Are you afraid of heights? Piranha Heights, that is. It’s the title of Philip Ridley’s latest play and it’s about to start a storm at the Soho Theatre..
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Helpful Links: www.sohotheatre.com, Independent article of Philip Ridleyl ,
A further Independent article on Philip Ridley
Royal Court Call for Scripts
First-time playwrights Polly Stenham and Bola Agbaje tell the tales of their success.
“Put pen to paper and see what happens.” That is the advice of Leo Butler of the young writers’ programme at the Royal Court Theatre. “Whether personal, political or fantastical, if you feel passionately, write,”…
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Helpful Links: Royal Court Young Writers Programme , The Ambassadors Duke Of York
Charlie Dark @ The Lyric Studio
The Lyric Studio’s musicologist of the moment.
“Charlie Dark – haven’t heard of him?
Not to worry, by the end of this show you’ll know him better than his biggest fans. Those familiar will know him as a DJ, producer and spoken-verse poet…
Helpful links: Charlie D’s MySpace, British Theatre Guide review, Lyric
The Gate Theatre
Artistic co-directors Natalie Abrahami and Carrie Cracknell discuss life at Notting Hill’s Gate and their latest show, The Internationalist.
‘Shop local’ is an expression that does not apply to Natalie Abrahami. The artistic co-director of the Gate Theatre might live locally, ‘loving’her daily stroll from Olympia to Notting Hill, but when it comes to scouting for new plays, her vision is set firmly further afield…
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Helpful Links: www.gatetheatre.co.uk
Royal Shakespeare Company’s new writing at the Tricyle Theatre
Double interview with red hot writers Roy Williams, Leo Butler and some of the cast too!
“War! What is it good for? Nothing, except, perhaps, creating an excellent premise for theatre…
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Helpful Links: www.tricycle.co.uk , www.rsc.org.uk , An Interview with Roy Williams
The Factory
Hamlet, like you’ve never seen him before!
“Sunday openings are the words on theatreland’s lips. From the National Theatre to the Donmar Warehouse, plans are afoot to take to the stage on the industry’s traditional day of rest. Yet quietly in the background, another Sunday theatre revolution has already been taking place…
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Helpful Links: www.thefactorytheatre.co.uk , www.seehamlet.co.uk
Dido at Kensington Palace review
Terribly posh site specific theatre anyone?
“The light of a vast Kensington Palace window shines in the distance. The cold wind whistles through gentlemen’s hats and twirls their partners’skirts as they walk the long, dark, tree-lined path. As the guests for the evening approach the building, a distressed shadow is detected flitting across the window. The stage has been set and the drama has begun…
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Helpful Links: www.angelsinthearchitecture.co.uk
The Bush Wins!
Bush Theatre artistic director Josie Rourke celebrates the Arts Council’s stunning u-turn.
“The high-profile battle to save the Bush Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush has been won. Having caused dismay by announcing it was cutting £540,000 from its grant to the Bush – a move which could have killed it off – the Arts Council has done a dramatic volte-face…
Helpful links: www.bushtheatre.co.uk
The Arab and The Jew at the Lyric Studio.
Review of inventive theatre group Gecko’s latest show.
“”Bang! The Arab man fires at the Jew. Bang! The Jew fires back. Bang! Bang! Bang! The audience doubles up laughing as the two carry on firing. Not the usual chain of events when dealing with an ethnic conflict…
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Helpful Links: www.fueltheatre.com , arts.guardian.co.uk
Nick Kent and the Tricycle Theatre
The Tricycle’s artistic director Nick Kent on a life in theatre and his latest show, Doubt.
“Theatre has a history of cropping up in unexpected places. In recent years we’ve seen plays performed in lifts, in cars, even entirely underwater. But could anyone have foreseen politically subversive plays staged in both the Houses of Parliament and the US Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington? “I certainly didn’t,” says Nicolas Kent, the theatre impresario who achieved this very feat…
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Helpful Links: www.tricycle.co.uk
No Time for Love
All Tell and no kiss for Pimlico playwright Tim Digby Bell.
“Young, handsome, talented and yet with no time for love – writer and musician Tim Digby-Bell faces a conundrum…
Helpful links: www.duologuemusic.co.uk , www.newendtheatre.co.uk ,
www.offwestendtheatres.co.uk
How to Curse at the Bush Theatre
Upcoming actress Emily Beecham talks love, laughter and loneliness on the eve of her biggest performance.
“Imagine going to an interview where the best way to get the job was by having absolutely no previous experience. It might sound crazy, but that’s the very formula that has made the Bush Theatre the diamond in Shepherd’s Bush’s cultural crown for more than 30 years…
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Helpful Links: www.bushtheatre.co.uk
David Farr at the Lyric Theatre
In conversation about growing up without a theatrical background and his latest collaboration with theatre group Filter.
“Ahoy there! It’s time to swap your suits and boots for swimsuits and boat shoes at one of London’s most daring theatres…
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Helpful Links: www.lyric.co.uk
This is the Royal Court
Described “as good a piece on the history and objectives of the theatre as I can remember reading” by Stephen Pidcock, head of press at the Royal Court, read on to find out about today’s Rough Cuts and the history of one Britain’s most important theatres.
“To pay or not to pay, for only half a play? That was the question recently posed when considering the new Rough Cuts programme at Sloane Square’s Royal Court Theatre. Described as a season of diverse and experimental works-in-progress, two plays – Posh, by Laura Wade and The Girlfriend Experienceby Alecky Blythe…
Helpful links: www.royalcourttheatre.com