REVIEW: Snow Queen at Newcastle Northern Stage

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The Snow Queen

Newcastle Northern Stage

Until Saturday 4^th January 2020

Yet again Newcastle’s Northern Stage has put together another fabulous family show that is both engaging and spectacular too.

This is a brand new production, written by Laura Lindow, which feels very different to any other Snow Queen that we’ve witnessed. Set and costume designer Rhys Jarman fully exploits the width of the Hall One stage which, once again extends into Hall Two thanks to the removal of a wall. This gives the action an immense multi level space for director Mark Calvert to bring the story alive. Much of the action runs from side to side.

The feel of the show is really impressive. That wow factor that one gets when you witness the top end West End shows precipitates here too. Sam Vivash’s lighting design isn’t just about putting a spotlight on the star whilst flashing a few lights at the ensemble like some shows. The lighting picks off the desks in the school scenes which then show off shadow art in the lids of the desks. It creates ghostly figures behind mirrored panels, it turns a balcony into a sleigh. Likewise, the sound effects, designed by Nick John Williams, are not dissimilar to cinema surround sound as the noises go around the room – which really intrigued the young person sat in the row in front of us. This is not a team that have been imported into a venue, this is a team that know this venue really well and have really let their imagination go wild.

But a show can be as flashy as it wants to be. If the writing is poor, the action is dull or the characters feeling removed from the audience then the show will fall flat. We, the audience, need to feel connected – to care about the characters and their journey. Thankfully, this year, Northern Stage have created an absolute cracker of the show which doesn’t fall for any of the style over substances issues that have affected over shows.

Central to this success is Lauren Waine as Gerda – who is both our narrator and hero. She befriends Kai (Gregor Mackay) at school in Stifle – a place in which S. N. O. W. spells danger and the head teacher Elsie Orr (Paula Penman) seems to have far more power in town than she should. Gerda and Kai are neighbours that quickly form a friendship despite Kai living with Elsie, who is also his Aunt. They both have dreams: Gerda wants to play a trumpet solo at school and Kai wants to see his parents again. Meanwhile the adults in town are worried, especially Mr Kelpine (Craig Faribairn) who forecasts snow. Indeed, it is when the snow arrives that strange things start to happen.

Paula Penman plays the officious Head really well, not just a two dimensional bad guy – you suspect there is going to more going on than her controlling manner suggests. Likewise it is important that the audience believe in the friendship between Kai and Gerda, Lauren Waine and Gregor Mackay succeed in this important aspect.

The cast is supplemented by 7 ensemble members who have trained at Newcastle College. They are the other children in the cast, the puppetiers and any other group that the story calls for.  Their input really adds to the sum of a great show.

The Snow Queen is clearly an important element and the tension builds up to her eventual arrival. Looking stunning but, like Paula Penman’s teacher character, this is a fully formed individual that is also on her own journey. Elizabeth Carter commands the stage as she sweeps on. The clarity of her explanation of the snow’s changes of state will, I’m sure, make her science teacher proud. [Yes, I know! Couldn’t resist it. Sorry!] Elizabeth also gets a chance to show off her singing ability.

Which brings us to the live band perched up on a platform, which centres around composer and musical director Jeremy Bradfield, who also appears in the action as Gerda’s Dad. Many of the cast play a variety of instruments and the songs. The lyrics are written by the writer Laura Lindow and they help the plot along rather than being there in order to just tick a box.

This is another successful Northern Stage Christmas show. We have been watching these shows for many years (long before we started reviewing them) and we agreed that this year’s Snow Queen is really special.

Review by Stephen Oliver

Tickets:

Tickets are still available a https://www.northernstage.co.uk/Event/the-snow-queen  or call the box office on 0191 230 5151.

REVIEW: Aladdin at Newcastle Tyne Theatre

Aladdin

Newcastle Tyne Theatre & Opera House

Until Sunday 5^th January 2020

Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/TynepantoALADDIN #Ad

Newcastle’s theatre on Westgate Road has been building a strong reputation for delivering a traditional, family friendly and entertaining pantomime.  Aladdin opened today and builds upon these values.

Breaking down the barriers and quickly getting the audience on side is the Tyne’s regular comic Charlie Richmond. Tonight he wasn’t just the source of much of the comedy, he was also doing a brilliant job tidying up a number of loose ends on opening day.  His Wishee Washee character doesn’t need to do panto tongue-in-cheek and by not making references to previous year’s shows he makes the show more welcoming for anyone who has not seen it before. Other pantos can feel like a closed club.  He lets the kids shine too when they go on stage at the end.

For Aladdin is a good traditional pantomime with many of classic elements such as the best scary take off scene which had the young kids screaming “it’s behind you!” with real gusto. There were some unique features too: fire juggling and aerial work thanks to Emma Dearden and Rachael Alexander. This helped add a nice wow factor that the bigger pantos should have.

Not that everything was going well though. It was only the second show of the run and it showed. Actors fluffing their lines will quickly fix themselves and the show will soon be running on gas. Then there is the sound. Despite working in a venue with the best acoustics in Newcastle somehow the sound wasn’t at its best. Sometimes it was the microphones not being switched on before an actor speaks or the sound levels distorting what is being said. Perhaps turning the overall volume down would help everyone hear the audience too for this was the loudest panto of the five we’ve seen so far this year. You always get teething troubles at the start of the run so let’s look past those.

In case you wondered what it
looks like under the stage - here is what
we saw during the theatre tour.

The show begins with X-Factor runner up Marcus Collins as the Genie flying through the traps of the stage to introduce the story. Marcus is a charismatic performer, who is a good singer too, and this results in a very likeable Genie. Next to fly through the floor was the bad guy Abanazar. David Easter worked hard to encourage the kids to boo at him and he was able to be a baddie without being scary. It has to be said that this panto took advantage of the venue’s Victorian heritage and used the various traps and lifts throughout. [Dear reader, the venue runs regular tours at the weekends and you also get to see the wooden equipment under the stage that propels the stars to the stage, which is unique in the area – well worth checking out! To book see https://tinyurl.com/TyneTheatreTOUR]  

This may be Australian actor Nic Westaway’s first pantomime but, as Aladdin, he has taken to the format like a duck to water and he seems very comfortable with the three ring circus that is often a part of these shows. He had his moment on the magic carpet which seemed to go well with the kids.

Widow Twankey is performed by experienced dame Chris Casserly, who appears in a new outfit in each scene. This includes one that looks like a tin of beans that his Mum made. 

Local lad Lewis Denny returns for the fifth time to the Tyne Panto – this year he is PC Pong. The comic talents that he was able to entertain us with in previous years seem criminally underused in this show and it would have been fun to see more of his comedy.

Another local talent that was given plenty of time to shine was Hannah Wales who was a fabulous Princess Jasmine. Her singing scene on the wall with Charlie Richmond and Nic Westaway was a highlight of the show. She is one to watch for the future.

A good panto has the big dance scenes with that mixture of professional dancers and young “babes”. The Tyne show has seven teams of young dancers and tonight’s bunch did a wonderful job. It isn’t just the choreographer Kerry Blaskett who has worked hard here – mention should also go to the unsung heroes of panto – the 25 chaperones who have to look after them between scenes. It must be a hard job, but the final effect was worth it.

My 16 year old companion was singing the shows praises as we headed home. He said I was nit picking for suggesting that a panto shouldn’t kick a local rival town more than twice in a show. I feel that they should spread it around more! He felt the jokes were frequent and funny. The trouble is, as someone who watches very little TV, a number of them flew over my head. The show had the right number of songs and they seem to selected from a “Panto’s favourite hits of the last 5 years” list with Happy, Uptown Funk and others rubbing shoulders with the pyrotechnics of the classic Disco Inferno. It was great to see the kids getting up and dancing in the Circle to a number of the music routines. There is also a live band under musical director Ben Wiles which worked well under pressure for the flying balls and light fittings that headed their way.

2019 has been a good year for our panto travels. This is show number 5 and we haven’t seen a bad one yet. The Tyne Panto is a canny feel-good show.

Review by Stephen Oliver

Tickets:

Tickets are available from the theatre box office and online from Eventim UK: https://tinyurl.com/TynepantoALADDIN #Ad

Preview: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Newcastle Theatre Royal

Full Casting Announced For Award-Winning Musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Monday 30 March – Saturday 4 April 2020

Full casting has been announced for the smash-hit, critically acclaimed West End Musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Inspired by the sensational Jamie Campbell (‘Drag Queen at 16’) from County Durham, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie makes its regional debut at Newcastle Theatre Royal as part of its first UK tour.

George Sampson

Joining the previously announced Layton Williams (Bad Education, Billy Elliot the Musical) who will star as Jamie New and Shane Richie (EastEnders) as Hugo / Loco Chanelle who are reprising their West End roles will be Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street, Dinnerladies, Eveybody’s Talking about Jamie West End and upcoming film) as Ray and George Sampson (winner of Britain’s Got Talent) as Dean.

Shobna Gulati

Layton, Shane and Shobna will be reprising their roles from the West End production. Shobna will also be starring as Ray in the film version of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie which will be released in cinemas in October 2020.

Further cast includes Amy Ellen Richardson (Margaret New), Lara Denning (Miss Hedge), Sharan Phull (Pritti Pasha), Cameron Johnson (Sandra Bollock / Jamie’s Dad), John Paul McCue (Laika Virgin), Rhys Taylor (Tray Sophisticay), Richard Appiah-Sarpong (Cy), Simeon Beckett (Levi), Kazmin Borrer (Vicki), Ellis Brownhill (Mickey), Jodie Knight (Fatimah), Jessica Meegan (Bex), Talia Palamathanan (Becca), Adam Taylor (Sayid), Alex Hetherington (Swing), Emma Robotham-Hunt (Swing), Ellie Leah (Understudy) and Garry Lee (Understudy).

Nica Burns, Producer of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie said: “We are delighted that our first national tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is packed with West End stars. Three hot off the Apollo stage who are joined by a host of super- talented performers from other West End casts, from The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole to Matilda The Musical and Scrooge. It’s fantastic to welcome George Sampson who shot to fame as the youngest person to win Britain’s Got Talent at the tender age of 14.  Together they will give you a fun, funny and fabulous evening.”

Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn’t quite fit in. Jamie is terrified about the future. Jamie is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight. With catchy songs by lead singer-songwriter of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells, and book and lyrics by writer Tom MacRae, this funny, fabulous, feel-good, musical sensation has been wowing audiences and critics alike.

Tickets

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is at Newcastle Theatre Royal Monday 30 March - Saturday 4 April 2020 playing evenings at 7.30pm and matinees on Thursday at 2pm and Saturday at 2.30pm.  Tickets from £16.50 can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge) or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk

NEWS: Clear White Light Shines on People’s Kitchen

Clear White Light Shines on People’s Kitchen

If music is the food of love then the people of the north east now have the chance to show how much three of the region’s iconic organisations mean to them with the release of a fund raising charity CD.

The People’s Kitchen have teamed up with the Live Theatre production of the sell out Clear White Light to exclusively release four live tracks from the soundtrack of the show.

Clear White Light features the songs of Alan Hull and Lindisfarne and starred Charlie Hardwick, Joe Caffrey, Elizabeth Carter, Ray Laidlaw, Billy Mitchell, Phil Adele, Alice Blundell and Dale Jewitt. It tells the story of a night shift at St Nicholas Hospital in Gosforth where Alan Hull penned some of the songs when he was working as a nurse there.

Four tracks have been selected for the CD – Winter Song, Court in the Act, Scarecrow Song and Clear White Light.  Winter Song has a special significance for the People’s Kitchen as Ray Laidlaw explains: “Alan was a master song writer and had the ability to create vivid pictures with his lyrics. Winter Song conjures up some very emotive images which resonate with the valuable work that The People’s Kitchen does with the vulnerable of our towns and cities.”

Indeed, six days a week the charity provides food from its base near St James’ Park or from special catering vehicles in various parts of Newcastle. It has been a constant source of friendship and food for the homeless and vulnerable for more than 30 years. Run entirely by volunteers, with no government funding and no one paid for their work, the charity is grateful to individuals, churches, businesses and community groups for donations of food, clothing and cash to help it carry on its work.

A limited edition of one thousand of the new four track CD’s have been made to help boost funds at one of The People’s Kitchen’s busiest times – Christmas. Trustee David Yellowley, himself a Lindisfarne fan is delighted that the music of Alan Hull is helping those member of society that need it the most.  “This is a fantastic gesture from Live Theatre, the cast,  Alan Hull's family and Lindisfarne. I’m sure Alan would be very happy to know that his work is still making a difference to people in need.”

The Clear White Light CD is priced £5 with all profits going to The People’s Kitchen and is available from two other Tyneside iconic retailers, J G Windows of the Central Arcade and Metrocentre and from entrepreneurial couple Paul and Lucy Hull who run  'For the Love of the North’ from their two shops in Whitley Bay and one each in Corbridge and Newcastle City Centre at The Stack in Pilgrim Street. The CD is also available for £6 including postage by emailing info@peopleskitchen.co.uk

The People’s Kitchen are also asking people to pledge £5 for the cost of a winter meal via their website  www.peopleskitchen.co.uk/feed-a-friend.

REVIEW: Snow White at South Shields Customs House

The Little Panto Finds It’s Big Heart Again!

Snow White

South Shields Customs House

Until Sunday 5 January 2020

We may have missed press night but we were not going to miss our annual trip to Cooksonville. Ray Spencer MBE and the gang have been entertaining our family for many years and when the team are on form it is a masterclass on why pantomime is such a wonderful form of entertainment. And the family verdict as we drove home: they’re back and it is better than ever!

We must say every year that this small venue frequently fights above its weight and one show that characterises this is their panto. From the moment that you enter the auditorium you notice the design is something rather special. Matt Fox and Paul Shriek have collaborated to create a highly impressive design that runs through the set, wigs, make-up, artwork etc. It has a unique look resulting in a show that has a uniformity in style that one more often associates with the movies. It is easy to take it for granted as it happens on our doorstep, but it is finally getting noticed nationally. As good as it is, the show needs to be more than fabulous in how it looks – the cast and the writing must combine to entertain the audience, and this is when the Customs House show plays its trump card and delivers the knock out blow to the competition this year.

(Allow me to add a side note: Last year was a funny one. A very rare one. We’ve talked about it all year. It was verbose. With hindsight, a rare mis-fire. It was damn close, as pantos go, but not up to the usual high standards. A shame.)

The show opens with Steven Lee Hamilton as the sour jealous old Evil Queen. She may be asking the Minerva of the Mirror (Bethan Amber) about who comes trumps in the beauty stakes but the striking image of these scenes really sets a tone which makes this very different from other Snow White shows that we’ve seen. Steven is very good at playing the corrupt one.

The audience are then introduced to the good guys. Davey Hopper is the firm favourite with the Customs House crowd as the comic Arbuthnot. His friendly on-stage presence means he quickly gets the crowd interacting with him. He has amazing energy considering the gruelling number of shows that they have to do. It feels like he has appeared in more of these Customs House productions than records suggest, a testament to how well his partnership has quickly developed with his onstage mother – Dame Bella Ballcock. 

Ray Spencer, who co-writes the show with Graeme Thompson, delivers another masterclass as the Dame with the troubled love life. The cutting remarks and dry wit are a contrast the Arbuthnot’s character, which is more child friendly. Ray, the perfect raconteur, has the room laughing within moments of each appearance on stage, leaving the bulk of the physical comedy to Davey – apart from when the messy scene got far too messy and even Ray fell over. The two funny, yet contrasting characters, work well together and are a part of the magic of this show.

There is always a danger in productions of Snow White that the titular character ends up as a secondary personality that just ends up in a forest waiting for the Prince to arrive. Annie Guy’s Snow White is different. She is woke, opinionated and much more a 2019 individual than you often find. She wants to protect the environment, her true love is more maternal than some random good looking bloke that stumbles over her lifeless corpse. That is not to say that Dale Jewitt isn’t a fine Prince and it was good to see him showing off his vocal talents including a superb duet with Annie.

There is also the return of the cute element Customs House style: a pair of lovable skunks. Luke Maddison and Charlie Raine return as Whiffy and Sniffy. Adorable and charming, the pair work well at tying together the plot elements whilst both signing for the deaf and relating well to the kids in the audience. Whilst the Evil Queen is quite a dark character, these two animals provide necessary balance not to give the little ones any nightmares.

Someone said to me this week that there is always a “but” in what I write. And here it comes…

The one reason why Snow White is not usually one of our favourite pantos is down to one issue. Well seven issues, actually. How do you present seven vertically challenged miners on stage? When I first started to go to theatre then this would involve 7 adult actors of reduced height. Nowadays the norm seems to be to use 7 children. At worst, 7 kids with huge masks looking like the shopping centre MetroGnomes, using over articulated hand gestures in response to a pre-recorded track in lieu of being able to move their own lips.

This is the Customs House and so they find their own creative solutions and it appears to be to add beards to six of them so that the backing tape, recorded by the rest of the cast, is still used but you get to see the kids faces and expressions. I’m told that we had the Green Team today and thus congratulations go to Spelk (Isla Taplin), Plodge (Lilia Allen), Gadgie (Erin Peacock), Radgie (Grade Meade), Clarts (Emily Baines), Bog (Kaitlyn Dent) and Fettle (Poppy Ambelez-Clayton) for succeeding where other productions have struggled.

Talking of youngsters: one feature of the Customs House panto are the young dancers that are probably the most focussed and synchronised in the north east each year. South Tyneside Dance workshop, and choreographer Jacqui West have delivered the goods again. Evie Ruddick, Emma Coates, Erin Ruddick and Alania Ebanks did not put a foot, or facial expression, wrong throughout the show.

Snow White ticks the boxes: we have a funny take off scene, a crazy messy scene, competitive community singing, regular jokes, a really dark evil character, lots of good positive characters. Wrap them up with a canny script, great cast and an amazing design and you have a must see show.

I know you’ve probably already booked your usual panto. But if you fancy another, and surely you do, or you fancy a change, pop down to South Shields and see the only panto company that we went back to for a second helping after our marathon a couple of years back. They’ve found their mojo again and we love them for it.

Review by Stephen Oliver.

Photos: Chris J Allan

Tickets:

Snow White, sponsored by Hays Travel, until Sunday 5 January 2020. Performance times vary. Tickets, priced from £9.99, are available from the box office on (0191) 454 1234 or online at www.customshouse.co.uk.

REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk at Whitley Bay Playhouse

The Bench Returns!

Jack and the Beanstalk

Whitley Bay Playhouse

Until Saturday 4^th January 2020

Tickets are still available from the theatre box office and online from https://ticketmaster-uk.tm7559.net/kXADv #Ad

Comic Steve Walls and panto dame Daniel Mawston return for their annual panto at the theatre on the coast. This isn’t business as usual, as the established panto has had an overhaul, and the changes are all positive.  The end result is a perfect family friendly panto in which the adults will laugh as much as the kids.

Happyvale has a problem, up in the clouds is a giant that is causing havoc. Through his henchman Fleshcreep (Guy Mott) he is able to terrorise the people below. The people need a hero and Jack Trott (Harry Downes) is the person for the job, especially after King Crumble (David Burton) offered the opportunity to marry his daughter Princess Jill (Molly Scott).

The show’s action frequently centres around Jack’s brother Simple Simon as Steve Walls enjoys his tenth year at the Playhouse. His stage mother, Dame Patsy Trott, is building a successful panto partnership as the characters work well on stage together. The third source of humour on stage comes in the shape of the return of Damien Patton as Fleshcreep’s sidekick Oddball.  Comic timing from these three actors, and a healthy helping of jokes at regular intervals, means that the audience have plenty to laugh at.

This is probably to note a change in direction for the Playhouse panto. In past years this show has been very safe for very young children. The engaging Steve Walls enrolling them into his gang and humour running very much at a Cbeebies level. This year there are jokes for the adults in the room too. No worries, this is still a safe panto to take your young children to but there will be the occasional line that flies over their head and have the adults laughing.

And the other change? I swear they have finally fixed the sound issues too! Perhaps that was just my old age, but the previous couple of years have been let down by unclear sound – not this year.

This panto crams many of the panto staples into its 2 hour, plus interval, running time. A crazy messy scene, songs featuring lively performances from the professional dancers and “panto babes”, a bad guy to boo at, community singing and even a Spice Girls mega-mix to get you on your feet at the end. Of course the panto features a take-off scene, with that bench, which has the kids screaming at the tops of their voices “it’s behind you!”

There is also a fairy. Except this fairy is Fairy Liquid, performed by Ashleigh Butler, who shot to fame in Britain’s Got Talent, with Sully – a dog with many skills. The usual advice is to avoid performing with kids and animals but both were adorable in today’s show.

This is a show that flew by. Director Charlotte Sheridan gets entertaining performances from a cast that are clearly enjoying working together. Guy Mott is not too nasty as the bad guy, Harry Downes and Molly Scott work well as the panto love story whilst Steve Walls, Daniel Mawston and Damian Patton go from strength to strength as the generators of mirth.

There is a real pleasure when you see a panto that hits the sweet spot. The Playhouse panto has finally found its groove. A great cast and good writing combine to produce a very entertaining show.

Review by Stephen Oliver.
Photos by Steve Brock.

Tickets:

Tickets are still available from the theatre box office and online from https://ticketmaster-uk.tm7559.net/kXADv #Ad