Month: March 2019

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Manchester theatregoers! – The Funeral Director is coming…

This week only! The Funeral Director concludes its tour in Manchester. Details here

Calling all Manchester theatregoers who enjoy new writing. The winner of the 2018 Papatango Playwriting competition (from over 1300 entries) is The Funeral Director, and it’s coming to Manchester this week, courtesy of English Touring Theatre.

Five star and four star reviews greeted this play when it first opened, and now Manchester theatregoers have a chance to see this accomplished new play for themselves.

Iman Qureshi’s The Funeral Director is an incisive and heartfelt story of sexuality, gender and religion in 21st century Britain. It is well worth a visit.

Life as the director of a Muslim funeral parlour isn’t always easy, but Ayesha has things pretty sorted. She and Zeyd share everything: a marriage, a business, a future. Until Tom walks in to organise his boyfriend’s funeral. A snap moral decision, informed by the values of Ayesha’s community and faith, has profound consequences. Forced to confront a secret she has hidden even from herself, Ayesha must decide who she is – no matter the cost. Brilliant actress Aryana Ramkhalawon returns to play Ayesha giving a riveting and taut performance in this well-written show which tackles complex issues with care and humanity.

From 27 to 30 March, the show is at HOME Manchester at 7.45pm daily. On Wednesday 27 there is a post-show Q&A, Friday 29th the show is caption subtitled and on Saturday 30th the performance is audio described. more information and tickets here

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Theatre, the perfect Mother’s Day Treat! UPDATED WITH OFFERS

MUMS, show this article to your kids.

KIDS, get planning a treat for Mum, she deserves it!

March 31st is Mothers Day in the UK, so knowing that a lot of you will be buying flowers, having lunch, afternoon tea, and so many other ways of celebrating, that I thought you might like to consider a better kind of treat for your Mum. A show!

As the day is always a Sunday, most theatres will be closed outside of London, sadly. However for those of you near or with access to London, how about considering these shows which are playing on Sunday 31st?

For Mums who like a bit of eye candy and sixties music Rip It Up (the 60s), at the Garrick, has two shows at 2.00pm and 7.30pm, details here

HERE’S A LIMITED SUNDAY EVENING TICKET OFFER FOR RIP IT UP! BE QUICK THOUGH!

For Mums who like a lot more eye candy! Magic Mike Live, at the Hippodrome, has two shows at 7.30pm and 10.00pm, details here

For Mums who like a bit of spectacle The Lion King, at the Lyceum, has a show at 2.30pm, details here

For Mums who like stories about kids Matilda, at the Cambridge, has a show at 3.00pm, details here

For Mums who love Michael Jackson Thriller Live, at the Lyric, has two shows, at 3.30pm and 7.30pm, details here

HERE’S A LIMITED OFFER FOR THRILLER SUNDAY TICKETS! BUT BE QUICK!

For Mums who love a good laugh The Play That Goes Wrong has two shows at 3.00pm and 7.00pm, details here

Also For Mums who love a good laugh The Comedy About A Bank Robbery has two shows at 3.00pm and 7.00pm, details here

THERE’S A LIMITED NUMBER OF BAND A TICKETS FOR SUNDAY SHOWS AT £25 EACH (HALF PRICE) WHEN YOU ENTER CODE “SUNDAYS” AT THE THEATRE WEBSITE HERE

For Mums who love a bit of Shakespeare Richard III, at Alexandra Palace Theatre, has a show at 7.30pm, details here

For Mums who love a power musical Six The Musical, at the Arts Theatre, has two shows at 4.00pm and 7.00pm, details here

For Mums who love a bit of a murder mystery Witness for the Prosecution at London County Hall, has a show at 3.00pm , details here

For Mums who love Harry Potter Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, at the Palace Theatre, has a show at 1.00pm (Part One) and 6.30pm (Part Two), details here

OR, If you fancy celebrating on the Saturday, then why not share the magic of a top London musical with your Mum, from classic favourites including Les Mis, Mamma Mia! and The Phantom of the Opera, to great new productions such as Waitress and 9 to 5 The Musical. All of these five shows have a matinee and evening performance on Saturday 30th March.

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Burnley Empire Theatre sold for £1; gets another chance at life

The Burnley Empire starts along the road to recovery. Photo courtesy Mark Salmon

East Lancashire’s last surviving Victorian theatre, the Grade II listed Burnley Empire, has been bought by a supporters group with the intention to bring it back to life after almost 25 years of neglect.

Opened in 1894, the 1200-seater venue lasted for 101 years as a theatre, cinema, and then bingo hall, until closing in 1995.

Previous owners the Duchy of Lancaster sold the building to the Trust for £1.

Since 1995, the building has slowly decayed, not helped by an arson attack and the deterioration of the building’s roof. The theatre has accordingly been on the Theatres Trust’s annual Theatres At Risk Register for many years.

The new owners, Burnley Empire Limited, operating through the Burnley Empire Theatre Trust (BETT) have made their first priority to make the building weather-tight and then to commence plans for restoration.

Let’s wish them well for the revival of this prized community asset and an historic part of Burnley’s social fabric. And if you live locally, please give a hand, if you can, to bring this sleeping beauty back to life.

Learn more about the Burnley Empire Theatre Trust here

Learn more about the excellent work of the Theatres Trust and their Theatres at Risk Register here

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A trip to EartH

EartH arts centre in Hackney, red entrance on the left for upstairs, blue entrance on the right for downstairs. Photo by unrestrictedtheatre

It’s so inspiring when you see a beautiful building being brought back into use after years of neglect. This is just what has happened to EartH, (Evolutionary Arts Hackney), hidden away in Dalston.

Built in 1936 as the Savoy cinema seating 1800 in a lavish Art Deco style, it survived into the early 80s before closure and later subdivision for a range of activities. Finally, in 2017/8, the building was brought back together again and after much work and cleaning, the spaces now consist of a first floor cafe/restaurant, a downstairs “black box” venue (in the former stalls) for concerts and music events for between 900-1200 people, and the best of all, in the former balcony, a 720-capacity arts/ performance/ cinema space which retains its richly decorated ceiling and the top half of the proscenium arch. Its current condition might best be described as “arrested decay”.

Interior shot showing upstairs space with laylight and richly decorated ceiling, photo unrestrictedtheatre

The fabric of the building has now been stabilised which has taken much effort in areas such as roofing, plasterwork, cleaning and many other areas which visitors cannot actually see. Although the circle space has yet to be restored, it’s easy to appreciate the volume, scale and quality of the decoration which has thankfully survived decades of neglect.

I visited EartH courtesy of the Cinema Theatre Association and their superb visits organiser Ken Roe. We were very fortunate to meet Josh, the enthusiastic House Manager who gave us a very warm welcome and spoke with genuine affection for the building, about making friends for the facility and also of ambitious plans for the future.

Savoy cinema original auditorium at opening in 1936, photo courtesy EartH website

Josh mentioned that the group who own the building have another large scale venue nearby, and we agreed that to find a venue this size in Dalston is a precious discovery, and one that will be much in demand; this, they have already proved with a packed programme of events practically every day. One point Josh made is that they never schedule events for the two spaces at the same time, bearing in mind the potential for “sound bleed”, and Josh mentioned that they have ambitions to address this in the future.

Together with the reputation EartH is already making for itself as a popular venue, and the friendly and enthusiastic management team, I feel confident that EartH is in safe hands. Thanks for your welcome, Josh. Let’s all wish them much success, and eventually- the money to do that upstairs restoration!

Savoy Cinema at opening in 1936, photo courtesy EartH website

Find out more about EartH and its events calendar here

To find out more about the great work of the Cinema Theatre Association and how they help to preserve our building heritage, visit their website here

Ceiling decoration detail (apologies for darkness of image) Photo by unrestrictedtheatre
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Review: A Hundred Words For Snow

IN BRIEF A teenager’s unique journey through grief to acceptance makes for an engaging and heartwarming evening through an assured and complex central performance.

A one-woman show about a teenager’s loss of her father doesn’t initially sound like the most promising of evenings at the theatre. However, as deftly written by Tatty Hennessy, engagingly performed by Gemma Barnett and astutely directed by Lucy Jane Atkinson, this makes for an enjoyable piece of storytelling.

Rory’s recently-deceased dad was a geography teacher with a passion of an explorer, except that he never really got to travel. Recalling stories her Dad told her about polar explorers, she decides to take things into her own hands and take her Dad’s cremated ashes to the North Pole, before her Mum finds out. Hopelessly unprepared, with just her Mum’s credit card, Dad’s ashes in her backpack and a burning mission, Rory ventures into the unknown to realise her Dad’s dream.

With laughs, occasional tears, poignant interludes and smart changes of pace along the way, it’s easy to engage with this effective piece of storytelling, and the quality of writing and of performance shines through. However, as a visual piece of theatre it is very limited, the set is barely needed and the lighting component is pretty minimal, but this in no way detracts from the enjoyment of the piece. It’s all about the performance. You have to admire the intelligence of Barnett’s acting as she almost imperceptibly, incrementally transforms Rory from the over-expressive, showy teenager at the start through her own internal journey to someone far more understanding and worldly in just 70 minutes. There are very few sags in the script which is the right length to hold the attention

It was a little disappointing to see the tiny 70-seat Trafalgar Studios 2 only two-thirds full on my visit, however the (younger to middle-aged) audience were attentive throughout and showed their appreciation enthusiastically at the end. This show has been around for sometime now, and I am coming to it late, but I was very glad to have seen this different and special show.

A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW runs at the Trafalgar Studios 2 until March 30th. More information and tickets here