Review: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at Newcastle Live Theatre

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Explosive Action Comes to The Live

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour
Newcastle Live Theatre
Until Saturday 24^th October 2015

Photo: Manuel Harlan

They sing like angels and they have dreams, just like any other kids. The only difference for these 6 girls from Oban, Scotland, is they’re off to discover themselves on a trip to the capital.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

The show opens with the 6 girls, in perfect school uniform singing Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Their voices combine to make a truly beautiful sound. They are going to perform in a singing competition which means that thy need to wait for their teacher at 6am at the station. Quickly the action spins to some quick introductions.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Fionnular (Dawn Sievewright) lives in a council house bought with granda’s money. Manda (Kirsty MacLaren) lives with her Da after their mam left them. Chell (Caroline Dayga) has had a lot of tragedy in her family. Orla (Melissa Allan) has had a run in with cancer but seems better after a trip to Lourdes.  Kylah (Frances Mayli McCann) sings in a band whilst Kay (Karen Fishwick) appears to have everything going for her.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

The show works because, not only can the cast sing wonderfully but they also come across as authentic. As the story follows the girls on their journey to Edinburgh we see their dreams, the insecurities and their humour. The six girls play a variety of roles from a fellow pregnant school friend to the random men they meet along the way.

After sneaking drink on board, the trip was going to have a lively start. When the teacher tells them to be good and be unsupervised until the competition starts at 6pm the real adventures begin. What trouble can 6 teenage girls with a love of drink get up to?

The exposition is subtly interwoven within the story in Lee Hall’s adaptation of Alan Warner’s The Sopranos. This helps keep the pace up and under the direction of Vicky Featherstone there is always something happening on stage.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

When the story centres around Kylah joining her band her love ELO comes to light and the inclusion of Mr Blue Sky is one of the many musical treats. The songs are performed live with a young talented band on stage. Amy Shackcloth on keyboards; Becky Brass on drums and Emily Linden on guitar do a cracking job on a few of Jeff Lynne’s finest compositions.

Photo: Peter Dibdin

The show is a free spirit, a punkish play with a musical core rather than another typical jukebox musical that lacks a story. The story is a strong one. Whilst the passage to adulthood is an often told story, this story feels fresh and exciting and is full of energy. In short: great music and exciting action make this production hard to beat. Tickets are being quickly snapped up – it is no surprise that this show has performed to sell out crowds throughout its tour. It is fabulous.

Photo: Peter Dibdin

Adapted by Lee Hall from The Sopranos by Alan Warner
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Music Supervisor Martin Lowe
Designed by Chloe Lamford
Lighting Design by Lizzie Powell
Choreography by Imogen Knight

This review was written by Stephen Oliver for the North East Theatre Guide from Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo

Read the original North East Theatre Guide preview: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/preview-our-ladies-at-newcastle-live.html

Photo: Manuel Harlan

On The Web:

Website: http://www.live.org.uk/whats-on-book/our-ladies-of-perpetual-succour

Tickets

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour opens at Live Theatre on Thursday 1 October and runs until Saturday 24 October. 

For more information on Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour and to buy tickets costing between £26 to £10, over 60s concessions £16 and other concessions between £18 to £6 call Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or see www.live.org.uk.

 

Preview: Billy Elliot the Musical at Sunderland Empire

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DATES ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST EVER UK TOUR OF INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL

Billy Elliot the Musical

Sunderland Empire

Wednesday 6^th – Saturday 30^th April 2016

Universal Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions are delighted to announce the international smash-hit Billy Elliot the Musical will visit the Sunderland Empire for a limited four week run from Wednesday 6^th – Saturday 30^th April 2016 and will go on sale at 10am on Friday 9 October.

Eric Fellner (Producer) said today: “Having recently celebrated ten extraordinary years of Billy Elliot the Musical in London, we are delighted to have the opportunity to bring a new touring production of this inspiring show to fans across the UK and Ireland and the chance to delight new audiences along the way.”

Ben Phillips, General Manager, Sunderland Empire said: “We are extremely excited to announce that the Sunderland Empire has been chosen as the North East theatre to host the smash-hit Billy Elliot the Musical as part of its first ever UK and Ireland tour.

Photo: Alastair Muir

With such strong local and regional connections there is no doubt that this inspiring and moving production will strike a chord with audiences across the region and we are honoured to host a limited 4 week run next April. Billy Elliot the Musical has been captivating audiences in the West Endand we can’t wait to bring this show home to the West End of the North East.”

Photo: Alastair Muir

Based on the highly successful film, the show is set in a northern mining town against the background of the 1984/’85 miners’ strike and follows Billy’s journey from boxing to ballet class where he discovers a passion for dance that inspires his family and whole community and changes his life forever.

Photo: Alastair Muir

Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, Billy Elliot the Musical has now been seen by over 10.5 million people across five continents and is the recipient of over 80 awards internationally, including ten Tony Awards and five Olivier Awards. In 2006, Liam Mower, James Lomas and George Maguire, the first three boys to play the title role, became the youngest performers ever to have won the Olivier Award for Best Actor with the show also picking up the Best Musical prize. In total, eighty nine boys have now played the iconic title role on stage worldwide.

Photo: Alastair Muir

Billy Elliot the Musical is brought to life by the multiple award-winning creative team behind the film including writer Lee Hall (book and lyrics), director Stephen Daldry and choreographer, Peter Darling, joined by Elton John who composed the show’s score. The production features scenic design by Ian MacNeil, the associate director is Julian Webber, costume design is by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting design by Rick Fisher and sound design by Paul Arditti. Musical supervision and orchestrations are by Martin Koch.

The first Dutch production of Billy Elliot the Musical continues at the AFAS Circustheater in The Hague. Productions have previously been staged on Broadway, in Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago, Toronto and Seoul, South Korea. The North American touring production, which began in 2010, finished its spectacular run in August 2013 with an engagement in São Paulo, Brazil, the first time Billy Elliot played in South America. Further international productions are planned including the first Japanese production in 2017. Billy Elliot the Musical is currently booking at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London until 17 December 2016.

Photo: Alastair Muir

Billy Elliot the Musicalis presented by Universal Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions and is based on the Universal Pictures/Studio Canal film. The show is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn and Sally Greene. Angela Morrisonand David Furnish are executive producers.

On The Web:

Website:         billyelliotthemusical.com

Twitter:            @billyelliotuk

Facebook:     billyelliotthemusical

Tickets:

Billy Elliot The Musical comes to Sunderland Empire from Wednesday 6 April – Saturday 30 April 2016

On sale 9 October 2015

Tickets available in person at the Box Office on High Street West, from the Ticket Centre on
0844 871 3022* or online at www.ATGtickets.com/Sunderland*

*Calls cost 7p per minute plus your standard network charge. Booking fees may apply to telephone and online bookings.

Preview: Our Ladies at Newcastle Live Theatre

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Lee Hall’s latest play, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is a sell-out and critical success at the Edinburgh Fringe

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour
Newcastle Live Theatre
Thursday 1^st to Saturday 24^th October 2015

l to r. Kirsty MacLaren (Manda, Karen Fishwick (Kay),
Melissa Allan (Orla), Frances Mayli McCann (Kylah),
Caroline Deyga (Chell, Dawn Sievewright (Fionnula)
Photo: Peter Dibdin

 
Live Theatre’s first ever co-production with National Theatre of Scotland, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour written by Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters writer Lee Hall has been a sell-out success at its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The play was sold out in advance of its two week run at the Traverse Theatre and has garnered critical acclaim from reviewers and audiences alike. It has gained seven five star reviews, a Herald Angel Award and an Acting Excellence Award from The Stage to date. Our Ladies… has its English premiere at Live Theatre, Newcastle from Thursday 1 to Saturday 24 October, the play’s only dates in England.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Based on The Sopranos by cult Scottish novelist Alan Warner, and adapted for the stage by award-winning writer Lee Hall, Our Ladies is about six girls on the cusp of change. It follows the choir’s trip to Edinburgh as it goes badly wrong when love, lust, pregnancy and death all spiral out of control in a single day.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

The soundtrack of classical music and 70s pop rock, sung by the six cast members and performed by an all-female band features music by Handel, Bach and ELO. Our Ladies… is an outrageous piece of new music theatre with Tony-winning Martin Lowe (Once) as Music Supervisor.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

The Artistic Director of Newcastle’s Live Theatre, Max Roberts, said: ‘’As audiences will know Live Theatre has enjoyed a long and fruitful creative relationship with Lee Hall so we are delighted to collaborate with the National Theatre of Scotland in this co-production of his latest work the adaptation of The Sopranos by Alan Warner entitled Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour. I was completely knocked out by the production directed by Vicky Featherstone at The Traverse Theatre and it proved to be one of the highlights of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It is hilarious, shocking and tearfully emotional in turn and its exciting, young all female cast deliver Martin Lowe’s brilliant musical arrangements superbly. It is quite simply a dazzling piece of theatre. I’m sure our audiences will be delighted to witness its English premiere here in Newcastle before it begins its inevitable life as a national and international smash hit to follow Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters.’’

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Writer Lee Hall said: “I am delighted to be working for the first time with the National Theatre of Scotland. This is a project I've wanted to bring to the stage since I first read the book 17 years ago. Alan Warner's view of the world chimed so much with my own experience of growing up in Newcastle so it seemed a perfect project to work on as a co-production with Live Theatre where I have a very long association. I think the Scots and Geordies share a common understanding of the world. A robust sense of humour, an appetite for a good time and a lack of pretension about what Art should be. The Sopranos is filthy, manic, hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure - all the things I think theatre should be. Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is a show full of music from the most exquisite classical choral pieces to foot stomping disco classics and much else in between. This is a very special show and very much a labour of love for Vicky Featherstone and I who have been working on this for several years now.”

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Vicky Featherstone returns to the National Theatre of Scotland for the first time since her appointment as Artistic Director at the Royal Court Theatre, to collaborate  with Lee Hall, (Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters), to create a funny, sad and raucously rude production about singing, sex and sambuca.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Warner, whose 1995 debut novel Morvern Callar became a literary phenomenon, continues his themes of being young, lost and out of control in this musical play about losing your virginity and finding yourself.  Alan Warner wrote The Sopranos in 1998, followed by its sequel The Stars in the Bright Skywhich was long listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize. He has written eight novels and is best known for Movern Callar which was made into a film starring Samantha Morton in 2002. His most recent novel is Their Lips Talk of Mischief, published by Faber in 2014.

Photo: Peter Dibdin

A cast of young Scottish musical theatre actresses take on the roles of Fionnula, Kylah, Kay, Manda, Chell and Orla. The cast features  Dawn Sievewright (Legally Blond)  and Karen Fishwick  (The Overcoat for Gecko Theatre and Caucasian Chalk Circle for The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh) , who return to work with the National Theatre of Scotland, having both previously appeared in the award-winning musical, The Glasgow Girls. They are joined by Caroline Deyga who most recently appeared in Lucy Porter’s Fair Intellectual Club, Frances Mayli McCann (National Theatre’s Here Lies Love and Priscilla Queen of the Desert in the West End), Kirsty MacLaren (Piltochry Festival Theatre season)and Melissa Allan who is making her professional debut in the production.  The cast will be joined on stage by a trio of young female musicians, Amy Shackcloth, Becky Brass and Emily Linden.

 

 

The cast will be joined on stage by a trio of young female musicians, Amy Shackcloth, Becky Brass and Emily Linden.

Adapted by Lee Hall from The Sopranos by Alan Warner
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Music Supervisor Martin Lowe
Designed by Chloe Lamford
Lighting Design by Lizzie Powell
Choreography by Imogen Knight

On The Web:
Join the conversation:#OurLadies

Tickets

After a sell-out run at the Traverse as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and a tour of Scotland Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour opens at Live Theatre on Thursday 1 October and runs until Saturday 24 October. 

For more information on Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour and to buy tickets costing between £26 to £10, over 60s concessions £16 and other concessions between £18 to £6 call Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or see www.live.org.uk.

Tour Dates: 

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, (18 to 30 August);

Tron Theatre, Glasgow (8 to 12 September);

Lemon Tree, Aberdeen (15 & 16 September);

One Touch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness  (18 & 19 September); 

Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, Fife (22 & 23 September);

The Brunton, Musselburgh (25 & 26 September);

Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne (1 to 24 October).

 

Love?hate tickets: http://rftk.bigcartel.com/