ACOUSTIC NIGHT THIS FRIDAY- 1st October, Comrades Club 7.30pm

Hi Andrew

ACOUSTIC NIGHT THIS FRIDAY

A brand new season of candle lit Acoustic Nights start again this Friday and every 1st Friday of the month through until July 2011!

New faces include TIM MANNING of BLIND RIVER SCARE from Newport Wales and the TRITONES from Dewsbury. Local lad PHILIP COCKERHAM makes his first solo appearance for us following an incredible set he did in July with Dave Bowie and Tom Bliss. Returning from Nottingham after their fantastic debut performance last May are STARSCREEN. Add to this 'The Man In The Hat' CHRIS MARTIN, FINOLA & JASMINE KENNEDY and you have the entire evening jam-packed with excellent talent.

Please bring some extra cash so you can buy CDs from the artists at special prices!

Links to the artists at http://www.crownoflights.org.uk/gig_dates.html

As ever entry is entirely FREE, the venue is FAMILY FRIENDLY and we hope to start around 7:30pm. Friday 1st October. Doors 7pm.

Cheers
Donal

Romeo and Juliet at the Theatre Royal in York: 14th September 2010 – A Review

Pilot Theatre's tour of Romeo and Juliet now at York Theatre Royal is enjoyable and well worth seeing. Marcus Romer and Katie Posner as co-directors do an excellent job of keeping this teenage love story fresh up to date and relevant to modern young people, and they and the whole team are to be congratulated for this. It is action-packed, visually exciting, and with a contemporary sound track throughout.  The themes of the play are as relevant to an audience today as they were when it was first performed.
Chloe Lamford’s set design is beautiful and simple, with the many silk flowers used throughout to comic effect.
Rachel Spicer as Juliet is a revelation, and she really catches the eye as the teenager whose life is to take a tragic turn following a chance meeting with Romeo (Oliver Wilson).  Oliver Wilson as Romeo and his Montague family are fantastic together, and for me, are the highlight of this production, as they interact seamlessly together as playful, boisterous cousins and for this, Bryn Holding as Benvolio and Chris Lindon as Mercutio/Paris deserve a lot of credit.
Lousia Eyo as “Nurse” steals every scene she’s in. William Travis as Capulet is excellent, and his “Dad dancing” is very funny and worth the ticket price itself!

This production kept me entertained, and if this cast and creative team can keep me, a Shakespeare sceptic, entertained, then it must be good.  They didn’t change my mind entirely about Shakespeare, but this excellent production made it very enjoyable for me, and that’s a damn good start.


Luke Winterburn
YGG

Romeo & Juliet at York Theatre Royal 10th Sept to Sat 25th Sept
see http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/
Box Office 01904 623568

A Passionate Woman at the Hull Truck Theatre- Review

A poignant drama, funny and tender by the Playwright and actress Kate Mellor, ‘A Passionate Woman’ lands at the Hull Truck Theatre skilfully guided by Director Gareth Tudor Price, and after Tuesdays quality, witty and hilarious performance should become a modern classic.

Kay Mellor. Picture by Louise Buckby.

The stage is set as the interior view of an attic; a smorgasbord of discarded paraphernalia. Suddenly an elegant hat appears through the floor closely followed by its wearer, instantly greeted by a great cheer of recognition from the audience.

Kay Mellor, playing Betty took command of the stage and engaged superbly with the audience regaling a tale about her trip to the supermarket. She is joined by her son Mark (played by Anthony Lewis) soon to be married and already dressed in his wedding finery. 

Kay Mellor and Stuart Manning. Picture by Louise Buckby.

It is Mark’s wedding day but the story unfolds around Betty and her memories of a romance early into her marriage to Donald with a young Polish neighbour Craze (Stuart Manning). Craze appears as a ghost and the romance of the past is recreated in a dance scene which transformed the feeling of the whole theatre into a 1950s dance hall complete with dancers on the floor and the audience drawn into the scene round the edges of the room. Witty dialogue and action between Betty, Mark and Craze was masterfully choreographed by Julie Venton.

Anthony Lewis and Andrew Dunn. Picture by Louise Buckby.

The second act begins in the same attic but with Mark and his father Donald (Andrew Dunn). Both are concerned that the wedding is now only a short time away and Betty is showing no signs of going to the church. They suddenly realise she is not in the attic and could not have passed them downstairs. The action moves onto the roof of the house.
Humour, pathos and farce combine in this play timed to perfection. Betty recounts poignant moments from her life, provoking a wave of empathy from the audience moving visibly forward in their seats and nodding in agreement.  At the very end we briefly meet the poor bride (well portrayed by Emma Potter from the Hull Truck Youth Theatre) who has left the church to find out what has happened to her future husband.

Kay Mellor and Stuart Manning. Picture by Louise Buckby.

A quality play which I predict will join the modern classics such as Abigail’s Party and Shirley Valentine. Brilliantly portrayed under the direction of Gareth Tudor Price this play was well cast, cleverly lighted by Graham Kirk and the stage set and costumes very appropriately designed by Foxton. Julie Venton choreographed the proceedings emphasising the actors timing to a Tee. 

As we left to wend our way home we felt that this is how theatre should be. Congratulations to Hull Truck Theatre for this outstanding production.
Denis and Alison for YGG.


A Passionate Woman at the Hull Truck Theatre from Sept 10th - Oct 2nd

For Tickets see http://www.hulltruck.co.uk/ 

Box office- 01482 323638