Preview: Nina Conti at Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre

 

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

 

Comedy ventriloquist, Nina Conti, brings new dating show to Newcastle’s  Tyne Theatre

 Saturday 6^th November 2021

 

Tickets for Nina Conti: The Dating Show are on sale now and can be purchased direct from the theatre box office and online from Eventim UK:  https://tinyurl.com/NinaCONTItickets

Coming up at the Tyne Theatre and Opera House, the queen of ventriloquism, Nina Conti, returns to their stage pioneering a new dating show on Saturday 6^th November 2021.

Following a four-year absence, the British Comedy Award winner returns like Cilla Black with masks. Derailed. Not so much a Blind Date as a re-voiced one. There is no promise that true love will be found but a firm guarantee that big laughs will be had.

Nina says: “Before this Armageddon hit, I was developing a dating show where I would connive for audience members to fall in love wearing masks. Post COVID, I can’t think of anything more fitting. I think we all need to get in a room together and laugh our heads off, and if the subject can be love, so much the better.” 

Nina started doing stand-up ventriloquism in 2002 and shot to fame by winning the BBC New Comedy Award that same year. Famed for her foul-mouthed ‘sidekick’ Monkey (Monk), Nina has won several comedy awards for her writing, acting and ventriloquism. She has appeared at numerous comedy festivals across the world; her smash-hit solo show ’In Your Face’, which came to the Tyne Theatre in 2016, also enjoyed sell-out seasons in London’s West End and New York’s off-Broadway.

Nina has stormed ‘Live at the Apollo’, ‘QI’, ‘Russell Howard’s Good News’ and ‘Sunday Night at the Palladium’ – all without moving her lips. In 2012 she fronted two documentaries for BBC4 and in 2013 she appeared in Christopher Guest's HBO series ‘Family Tree’ alongside Chris O’Dowd.

More recently Nina was a runner-up on ‘The World’s Best’, a US major talent show on NBC; produced an improvised web series, ‘In Therapy’ on YouTube, which has amassed over 1.5 million views since 2018; and joined forces with award winning Shenoah Allen (The Pajama Men) to make the character comedy podcast, ‘Richard & Greta’, unqualified experts who explain how to get the most, or too much, out of your partner.

★★★★★ “Put simply, Nina Conti is a genius” Daily Mirror

★★★★ “Richly entertaining” The Guardian

 

Tickets for Nina Conti: The Dating Show are on sale now and can be purchased direct from the theatre box office and online from Eventim UK:  https://tinyurl.com/NinaCONTItickets

Preview Rapunzel at South Shields Customs House

 

The Customs House Will Really Let Down Their Hair This Christmas

Rapunzel

South Shields Customs House

Wednesday 26^th November 2021 - Saturday 8^th January 2022

South Shields Arts Centre The Customs House will really let down their hair this Christmas with the welcome return of their award winning “little panto with the big heart”. Rapunzel, originally planned to be given the full Customs House Christmas make over in 2019 but due to coronavirus restrictions, was placed on hold until audiences could safely return to theatres without social distancing, will open on Wednesday 26^th November 2021 and runs until Saturday 8^th January 2022.

The classic Brothers Grimm tale has been turned into an uproarious family panto by crack writing team Ray Spencer and Graeme Thompson, previously responsible for award-winning pantos including Snow White and Beauty and the Beast. Set in the magical panto land of Cooksonville with Rapunzel locked in Cleadon Tower, her evil stepmother; Goethel, telling her it’s for her own good whilst really, it’s so she can control the King. The legend of a princess in a tower with magical hair soon reaches the ears of Rumpelstiltskin, who sets about to steal Rapunzel’s hair to spin in to gold. Will the Fairy of the hills protect her? Will Much the miller’s son find her in time? Will the hysterical Dame Bella Ballcock’s new beauty salon make the cut? Will her hapless son Arbuthnot, cure his rash? All will be revealed.

This year’s cast is a sterling mix of Customs House panto favourites alongside a host of new faces who together will deliver another magical Christmas panto for young and old. The cast is Beth Clarke as Rapunzel, Ray Spencer as Dame Bella Ballcock, Davey Hopper as Arbuthnot, Steven Lee Hamilton as Much, Eleanor Chaganis as Mother Gothel, Chloe Jane Millar as Fairy, Wayne Miller as King, and William Wyn Davies as Rumplestiltskin.

The Customs House Executive Director; Ray Spencer commented: “We have waited a long time to welcome you back to Cooksonville. Let’s fill the room with love and laughter this Christmas.”

 

Tickets:

You can catch the rollicking Rapunzel at The Customs House until 8^th January, 2022. Performance times vary and tickets, priced from £10.75, are available from the box office in person or on (0191) 454 1234 or online at www.customshouse.co.uk.

 

REVIEW: Road at Newcastle Northern Stage

 Road by Jim Cartwright

Newcastle Northern Stage

Until Saturday 30^th October 2021

Road is the first show from the Northern Stage's new Artistic Director Natalie Ibu, which is part of Northern Stage’s Housewarming season. It was a welcome return to the wide Stage 1, a venue we last visited in December 2019. The last 23 months have been a wake up call for many and the conversations before the show included the strong desire to get back to theatre.

As a fan of both 1960s kitchen sink dramas and the Channel 4/Film Four output of the 1980s the concept of a play about toughing it out on a northern working class road sounded right up my street. This is an ensemble piece, with a number of the ten strong cast playing multiple roles. The cast worked really hard through the show that ran for three hours on press night. Normally I'd plus interval but, no, this cast continued entertaining the audience through the interval too.

The set, designed by Amelia Jane Hankin, takes advantage of the size of the stage with one row of rooms nestled above the other, each house on the road being represented by a single room. The ground floor rooms also moved towards the audience when they become part of the focus of attention. The lighting felt different to the usual set up here with fewer obvious lights above the audience than in past shows. Zoe Spurr's lighting design picking out the relevant action in revealing ways.

I did like the costume design, also from Amelia Jane Hankin, which nicely captured the clothing of 1986. That era's jackets were about more than shoulder pads and the styles used in the scenes after the pub closed brought back a number of memories. 

Natalie Ibu's programme notes state that Jim  Cartwright's story was based originally in Lancashire but has been moved to the North East, as was made abundantly clear in Rosie Stancliffe's opening few lines. Ibu also notes that the play is about "a working class community dealing with poverty, unemployment, disappointment and a desperation for change." Whilst there are some lighter moments including the Road's inhabitants going out on the lash, a dog helping themselves to a take away or an elderly resident hunting down milk, it is a tough watch. Think more Eastenders than Coronation Street. 

Having said that, I will agree with one departing audience member who described it as "epic". This is a kitchen sink drama on an epic scale. The caveat to that statement is that it can become challenging to follow the lives of a large number of characters and sometimes one wonders what is actually going on.

That is not to say that the cast don't do a great job in the monumental task of bringing the tale to the stage. The individual parts are well executed but I do wonder if it would benefit from trimming down and basing it on fewer components. I stress that this is just my thoughts as I leave the theatre and others will have their, equally valid, views.   

There were some nice touches when the action, especially in the second act, breaks the fourth wall. The sale of chips spills over into the audience, or the row between a couple using the spaces around and above the audience help to engage the audience. It looked like there was a school or college party in at the front and they appeared to be really enjoying their live theatre.

Northern Stage has always had a brave attitude to the shows that it presents. I have seen some of the best theatre at this venue in the past 30 years. This play makes a clear opening statement that Northern Stage is going to continue to lead on baring the realities of life in innovative and daring ways. The venue returns after lockdown with a mission to reflect the society it serves.

Cast:

Michael Hodgson

Ike Bennett 

Rosie Stancliffe

Ryan Nolan 

Nicole Sawyerr 

Ruby Crepin-Glyne 

Rohit Gokani 

Shahbaaz Khan 

Philip Harrison 

Patricia Jones 

Review: Stephen Oliver

Photos: Wasi Daniju

Tickets:

Road is at Northern Stage from 8 - 30 October. Tickets start from £10, book online at www.northernstage.co.uk or call the box office on 0191 230 5151

Running Time

2hrs 50mins (including interval)

Age Recommendation

14+ (contains strong language, onstage drinking and smoking plus a number of some upsetting scenes)

REVIEW: Braids + Cheer Up Slug at Newcastle Live Theatre

 

A double bill of debut plays about young women growing up in the North East

 

Braids + Cheer Up Slug

Newcastle Live Theatre

Until Saturday 23^rd October 2021

Our first visit to Newcastle’s Live Theatre since the pandemic started and it was a chance to see a double bill of new writing.

Braids  

Written By Olivia Hannah  
Directed By Kemi-Bo Jacobs 
Designed By Anna Orton 
Performed By Rochelle Goldie & Xsara-Sheneille Pryce

The evening featured two new plays, each one was about a pair of North East teens coming of age. Each play explored the realities of growing up. The universal truths that one has to face as one turns from being an egocentric child raised by their parents to a young adult standing on their own two feet are always challenging. Both plays took the audience on a different journey though how the individual reacts to the material will depend upon their own experiences and background.

Braids featured Xsara-Sheneille Pryce as the confident 19 year old Abeni who is coming to the end of her time at a college. Hailing originally from Manchester, she has adapted to living away from her mother. The show starts in a hair accessory shop as Abeni is guiding younger Jasmine, performed by Rochelle Gouldie, into buying the necessary kit in order to get purple braids. As Selina Thompson said in Dark & Lovely "hair is just hair", however, as the girls discuss, hair is a part of one's identity. The significance of the braids is an early theme is the dialogue between the two.

Whilst Jasmine is still locally to the place that she was brought up, she is going through the process of metamorphosis into a young adult and this has a bearing on her reaction to the braids. Olivia Hannah's play looks into the battle between the individual and the concept that David Lammy put in his recent book: belonging to a Tribe. The tribe being  the group that you associate with - be it the young "goths" that hang about the centre of Newcastle on a Saturday afternoon or, in the case of the characters in this play, the apparent "Ambassadors of Blackness".

The dialogue involves how others view the pair and how they in turn interact with those that hold that view. The characterization was sufficiently defined that one did not feel that you were watching actors. Rather it felt like 2  people discussing their own real situation. We are told about their upbringing, relationships with others at school and indeed they have the space to fall out.

What really struck me beyond the issues of race was the rarely mentioned aspect of going away to college and expecting life at home to stand still. It is a shock when you first go back and discover that people have carried on leading their own lives without you.

October is Black History Month and as such this is a fitting tale of stereotyping and lack of understanding that young people still face simply as a result of the colour of their skin. But Braids is more than that as it unpicks growing up in 2021. 

Cheer Up Slug  

Written By Tamsin Daisy Rees 
Directed By Anna Ryder 
Designed By Anna Orton
Performed By Jackie Edwards & David Fallon 

As the interval started I became aware of a anti-covid measure that Live Theatre have introduced, they are blowing lots of cold air into the venue. Thus it was the second theatre I've been to this month in which I had to put my coat on, fasten it up and wish I had brought a jumper along. Perhaps they wanted us to feel that we were literally outside on a Duke of Edinburgh camp in the middle of Autumn?

Bean (Jackie Edwards) is the first to set up camp. Eventually long time childhood friend, Will (David Fallon), turns up. Will dislikes slugs it seems, in fact he  appears at the tent armed with plenty of hand sanitizer. He is concerned that Bean is not taking the expedition seriously. He needs to complete it in order to improve his chances of getting into Durham University whereas Bean is happy to feast on golden syrup and Hob Nobs. They both await Dean who is not just another camper, he is also Will's best mate and Bean's boyfriend.

This play explores the potential differences between life long childhood friends who may be growing physically but are not necessarily maturing mentally at the same rate. It nicely introduces us into some of the childish quirks that still form part of their rituals but there are early signs that their patience for one another isn't what it used to be. Will comes across as no fully appreciating the emotions of those around him. Bean is still in touch with the fun side of her inner child. The shiny stage design by Anna Orton has now revealed an area of mud that Bean is happy to walk barefooted in.

Bean reveals a bottle of wine which is a turning point. This is a moment in time when the harsher truths of growing up are revealed.

Jackie Edwards puts in one of the best performances of the year that we have seen so far as Bean goes through a multitude of connected emotions. In a year in which #MeToo has evolved into a conversation about teaching boys about acceptable conduct and behaviour Cheer Up Slug is a timely reflection on the problems faced by girls. Tasmin Daisy Rees' play is powerful tour-de-force and the audience were enthusiastic in their applause at the end, recognising the performances of both Edwards and Fallon.

Both plays are blessed with great acting and thoughtful direction from Kemi-Bo Jacobs & Anna Ryder. Theatre is able hold a mirror up to the less comfortable elements in the world we live in. However it is still possible to feel entertained. Braids has a pleasant redemptive feel and Cheer Up Slug had a number of early laughs for the audience. Newcastle's Live Theatre is back and it is a return to championing challenging new writing - long may that continue.

 

Review: Stephen Oliver

Photographs: Von Fox Promotions

 

Show Information:

Approx. 2hrs with interval

Age Rating: 14+ Please note that Cheer Up Slug contains adult themes with references to sexual violence and consent

Free Post Show Talk: Meet the cast of both plays, Tue 19 Oct (after the 7.30pm show)

The following performances will remain socially distanced even if guidelines change: Wed 13 Oct at 7.30pm and Thu 14 Oct at 2pm.

Accessibility:

Audio Described
Captioned performance (21 Oct)
BSL performance (19 Oct)

 

Tickets: https://www.live.org.uk/whats-on/braids-cheer-slug

 

REVIEW: School of Rock at Sunderland Empire

School of Rock

Sunderland Empire

Until Saturday 9^th October 2021

Based upon the hugely successful 2003 movie of the same name, the musical adaptation School of Rock blasts its way on stage in Sunderland this week.

Jake Sharp appears as the larger than life Dewey Finn - a rock legend in his own bedroom. Alas, the band he formed has just kicked him out before the battle of the bands and his mate Ned Schneebly (Matthew Rowland) is under pressure for his girlfriend Patty (Nadia Violet Johnson) to kick him out of their flat as Dewey is behind on his share of the rent. 

For a lad that just wants to rock, rather than work, Dewey needs cash but is unwilling to get out of bed. However Principal Mullins (Rebecca Lock) at a top prep school rings to see if Ned is available for supply work. Dewey takes the call in his absence and hears what the weekly rate is for a top teacher and he decides to go in, pretending to be Ned, and pocket the money. 

This puts Dewey in front of 12 students at a strict school without much of a clue about the curriculum. Once Dewey hears the class performing in a music lesson he hits upon the idea that they could be his new band and he could still enter the Battle of the Bands.

Luckily for the audience at the Sunderland Empire too, these students can sing, dance and play instruments live too. Whilst there is a live adult band under Musical Director Michael Riley in the orchestra pit to back the musical numbers, the kids do play live as part of the show. 

School of Rock is essentially a rock musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Julian Fellowes, but it has retained the comic flourishes that made the original film so popular. The script has had an update, so when the kids sing about what annoys them "Parents on Tik-Tok" is given as one of the responses.

The show manages to proceed at a great pace which makes the 2 hours 20 minutes (plus interval) fly past pretty quickly. It was great seeing many impressionable young members in the audience who will appreciate both theatre as a performance, but may also be encouraged to take up music with a view to performing live.

We were really enjoying the show, on the special night for the Empire (the official reopening Gala) when the alarm went off just after the bands played in the battle of the bands. I know! We never got to see if they won or not...more sadly, the young cast never got thanked at the end for the fabulous way in which they entertained us all. I guess the acid test is "would we go and see it again?" to which we would reply "most definitely." Regular readers will know we don't always say that.

School of Rock is funny, has a really strong cast and is well paced. You don't notice that the set is constantly changing to allow the action to flow. The set is very well designed to shift quickly from bar to bedroom to school whilst the story continues.

Hopefully we will get a chance to see it soon in order to see how it finishes!

Review: Stephen Oliver

Photo from London production

Tickets:

#ad

Tickets available from the Ticket Centre on 0844 871 7615* or online at https://tinyurl.com/SchoolOfRockSUN *

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

Preview: Remarkable Robin Armstrong’s Extraordinary Christmas Adventure at Hexham Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

 

A Queen’s Hall Arts and Alnwick Playhouse production:

The Remarkable Robin Armstrong’s Extraordinary Christmas Adventure

Hexham Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

Friday 10^th – Tuesday 28^th December 2021

A brand new Christmas show for all the family is coming to the Queen's Hall from 10-28 December, with early bird tickets on sale from 30 September. The Remarkable Robin Armstrong’s Extraordinary Christmas Adventure is written by Elijah Young and directed by Mark Calvert.

“Magic is for those who wish to see it…” Robin Armstrong is an adventurous young girl obsessed with all things magic, who lives in a northern mining village famous for its fairy tale and folklore. Join Robin for an extraordinary adventure as she discovers magic and the power of friendship. Let’s see if she can save her Grandma just in time for Christmas…

North East playwright Elijah Young has been commissioned to write the show. An Associate Artist at Live Theatre Newcastle where his writing was first performed, in 2019 he was Young Writer in Residency at the Customs House Takeover festival, his play Isolation premiered at Alphabetti Theatre and he was named the British Theatre Guide's Most Promising Newcomer. He was recently selected to be a part of the BBC North East writers development programme, and this is Elijah's first Christmas commission. He says, ”Writing this show has been so much fun. It's a modern fairytale that will give you all the Christmassy feels and you will fall in love with our main character.

Elijah Young

It’s for kids but most definitely for adults too - there's something for everyone, and it's the kind of show you want to go as a family to watch. And it's magical, who doesn't love a bit of magic?! I can't wait to share it with audiences at the Queen’s Hall!”

Mark Calvert & Jeremy Bradfield 

The creative team includes Director Mark Calvert who has a strong track record, having directed large scale family Christmas shows for five years at Northern Stage, including The Wizard of Oz, James and the Giant Peach and A Christmas Carol. Mark says, “The message at the heart of this show is the importance of family and holding onto the idea, for as long as you dare, that magic does exist in our sometimes humdrum world. The show is set in the mines of Northumberland but they’re not the mines we all know. These mines are full of magic and adventure, populated by goblins, wizards and faeries who help and hinder our heroine, so she can find her way home. It has all of the ingredients of a great Christmas tale and Elijah and I, along with the rest of the creative

team, are working hard to give Queens Hall audiences a proper theatrical treat.”

Elijah and Mark are joined by Set and Costume Designer Amy Watts whose credits include The Hound of the Baskervilles/Northern Stage and West End Girls/Live Theatre; Sound Designer and Musical Director Jeremy Bradfield - a composer, sound designer and performer specialising in multi-instrumental live music for theatre, his credits include The Three Bears at Christmas/Kitchen Zoo and James and The Giant Peach and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for Northern Stage; and Movement Director Martin Hylton - Rehearsal Director at Phoenix Dance Theatre and Gateway Studios

Artistic Director, Martin’s theatre credits include The Snow Queen for Northern Stage. The cast will be announced in October following an open casting call for North East actors.

Katy Taylor, Artistic Director/Chief Executive of Queen’s Hall Arts said, "We’re delighted to welcome local families back to the Queen’s Hall this Christmas with a magical festive show for the whole family set in the North East. And we’re really excited to be working with such a brilliant team and our co-producers at Alnwick Playhouse to create Remarkable Robin here in Hexham, our audiences are in for a real treat!”

 

Tickets:

The Remarkable Robin Armstrong’s Extraordinary Christmas Adventure is at the Queen’s Hall from 10-28 December and is suitable for all ages. Tickets start from £12.

For more information or to book tickets visit www.queenshall.co.uk or call the box office on 01434 652 477.

Preview: Fertile Ground presents Myths & Dreams on North East Tour

 

A captivating triple bill combining dance, film & digital sculpture

 

Fertile Ground presents

Myths & Dreams

North East Tour 14 - 29 October 2021:

Dance City, Newcastle upon Tyne - Thursday 14 October, 7.30pm

Visual & Performing Arts Academy, Sunderland College - Thursday 21 October, 7pm

The Maltings, Berwick-upon-Tweed - Friday 29 October, 7pm

Myths and Dreams tour - dancer Lila Naruse
Photo: Filipe Alcada

This October, the North East of England’s touring repertory dance company, Fertile Ground, presents the world premiere of Myths & Dreams at Dance City, Newcastle upon Tyne (14 October), Visual & Performing Arts Academy, Sunderland College (21 October) and The Maltings, Berwick-upon-Tweed (29 October).

Combining dance, film and digital sculpture, this captivating programme features works by four of the most exciting and innovative choreographers working today, performed by a cast of emerging dancers from across the North East.

Malgorzata Dzierzon and Renaud Wiser, Artistic Co-Directors at Fertile Ground said: “We are incredibly excited for Fertile Ground to be returning to live performance with Myths & Dreams. We hope that this imaginative programme will resonate with our audiences and we can’t wait to welcome them back to theatres across the North East this autumn.”

Opening the bill is Labyrinth by Artistic Co-Director Renaud Wiser. This interdisciplinary work is inspired by the myth of the Minotaur and sees the dancers immersed in and respond to a virtual environment created by sculptor Marie Lelouche.

SOMNIUM - part of Myths and Dreams programme
Dancers Ellie Marsh, Lila Naruse 
Photo: Filipe Alcada,

Next in the programme is Plubel by rising European choreographers Fabritia D'Intino and Clémentine Vanlerberghe. A finalist in Boris Charmatz’s Danse Élargie competition and performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2019, Plubel is a hypnotic journey of imitation that questions how the female figure is represented in dance.

Completing the programme is a stage adaptation of a new dance film Somnium by Artistic Co-Director Malgorzata Dzierzon. Created during the pandemic, Somnium looks to capture and express our dreams, memories, anxieties and desires at this time of change. The film is a collaboration with filmmaker Filipe Alcada and composer Oliver Coates and a Dance City 2021/22 commission.

Alongside Myths & Dreams at Dance City and at the Visual & Performing Arts Academy at Sunderland College, audiences will be able to experience the virtual reality maze featured in Labyrinth created by Marie Lelouche and navigate the virtual landscape of Labyrinth’s hauntingly beautiful digital sculptures before watching the dancers interact with them live on stage. Places are limited and free to ticket holders.

SOMNIUM - part of Myths and Dreams programme
Dancer Lila Naruse
Photo: Filipe Alcada

Founded in 2013, Fertile Ground is dedicated to talent development and retention in the North East and North of England. It aims to nurture, challenge and inspire a new generation of dance artists and to develop and present world class dance across the North. The Company’s vision is to make the North East of England the place to dance.

Fertile Ground’s 2021/22 programme has been made possible with pubic funding from Arts Council England, Dance City, Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, The Leche Trust,  Didymus, Three Monkies Trust, Scops Arts Trust, Barbour Foundation and the Percy Hedley 1990 Charitable Trust and developed with support from Dance City, Sunderland College and Newcastle College. Somnium is a Dance City 2021/22 Commission.

On the web:

www.fertileground.org.uk/2021-22programme 

Tickets:

For more details about tour dates and ticket prices visit  https://www.fertileground.org.uk/

 

To book a place on the Labyrinth Virtual Reality Experience before the performance between 6-7.20pm or in the interval at Dance City email ad@fer'leground.org.uk by 5pm on Wednesday 13 October. To book a place on the Labyrinth Virtual Reality Experience before the performance between 5.30-6.50pm or in the interval at the Visual & Performing Arts Academy at Sunderland College email ad@fer'leground.org.uk by 5pm on Wednesday 20 October.