Wishbone Ash

Loot at The Hull Truck Theatre

A controversial dark comedy when it first appeared in 1965 by the then New Playwright Joe Orton, Loot arrives for the first time at the Hull Truck Theatre deftly guided by Director Gareth Tudor Price, and after Tuesdays witty and hilarious performance should be drawing audiences in from near and far.

Loot ostensibly refers to the money stolen and hidden by Hal, played as the wayward son and wide boy young criminal by Tom Hudson, and his mate Dennis, depicted convincingly as a young con man villain by Karl Dobby. But as the plot and sub plots twist and turn and the play develops, the characters witty dialogue and farcical actions transform Loots meaning spreading it out to absorb the alliance of corruption, greed and lust as the play lampoons expectations and acceptance of authority and sexual morality.

And it is all acted out on the day of Mrs McLeavy’s funeral and in the front room of Mr McLeavy’s house with the coffin centre stage. Mr McLeavy is wonderfully portrayed by Gary Lilburn as the naively innocent, upstanding citizen unwittingly and hilariously caught up in events.

(Picture by Louise Buckby.)

Meanwhile Nurse Fay, played vampishly by Linzi Matthews, a seductive and murderous nurse has conniving designs on Mr McLeavy. Hal and Dennis meanwhile, have hidden the money and body in unexpected places. Enter Inspector Truscott of the Met to add to the already farcical and very funny chaos. Inspector Truscott’s bungling obsessed and corrupted character is brought raucously to life by Chris Connel. Inspector Truscott is ably helped by the uniformed PC Meadows portrayed as innocently absorbing the induction of police corruption by Josh Meredith.

Deliberately portrayed in the plays original 1960’s the stage setting and costumes designed by Richard Foxton and built by Graham Kirk helped create an atmosphere and ambience of sixties England whilst design and layout allowed the action to seamlessly unfold on stage.

Keeping a very sixties set and ambience had the interesting effect of juxtaposing the sixties attitudes and perspectives against that of a modern audiences values and morality. Yet Gareth Tudor Price’s direction holds the contrast well, in current times the integrity of politicians and institutions such as the police and church are under scrutiny. Loot mocks and harpoons deeply held values and The Hull Truck Theatre’s presentation succeeds in its claim to make “the popular challenging and the challenging popular”.

Tuesday’s audience was perhaps inured of some of the controversy in Loot. There was little obvious reaction to some of the sexual and religious contentious statements, but there were two revealing occasions where the play drew audible gasps from the audience. The first was from the unexpected violent scene of police brutality by Inspector Truscott realistically choreographed by Ian Stapleton. The second was the quip by Inspector Truscott on the intelligence of women which got a discernible ripple of dissent across the audience.

The most important thing to say about this play is it is funny- very funny, it had the audience deep belly laughing infectiously throughout with its fast moving slap stick dark humour and witty dialogue that twisted through a clever plot to a pleasingly surprising ending. I enjoyed this production by the Hull Truck Theatre.

Andrew Sugden.

Loot runs at the Hull Truck Theatre from April 15 to May 8 at 7.30pm.

To book tickets, call the box office on 01482 323638 or visit www.hulltrucktheatre

Map

A Lovely Musical Evening at the Topic Folk Club, Bradford

From out of a snowy February night we snuck into the Bradford Irish Centre, home of the Topic Folk Club. Eve with half a bitter, Andrew a pint of lively beer and Denis with his lime and lemon made quietly by the side of the small intimate stage and floor area. David Kidman was singing unaccompanied an old sea shanty as we settled into our chairs. The room was cosy and the bar staff friendly as we settled to listen. Tony Levy compere, entertained with his usual inimical observant humour and pleasing guitar and voice. Various performers took to the floor, Tim Moon with rousing song, John Walon with lyrical satire and Zoe Mulford with pleasing banjo and upbeat song. A full room of people with swaying body and nodding head in seat dancing sway were a tetimony to the pleasing rhythm and melody.

The main guests a combination of two extraordinary artists with exceptional musical pedigrees, had come together in a new venture as a duo.

PJ Wright and Tom Leary entertained the Topic Folk audience in two wonderful sets of beautifully sensitive playing, with haunting melodies and dancing rhythms they entranced and with dry humour and wit developed an intimate warmth with their audience.

It was a lovely night with good music and a comfortable friendly atmosphere. The topic folk night is definitely a place to visit for all live music lovers!

The Topic Folk Club,The Bradford Irish Club, Bradford, 20.15hrs, Map


Pj and Tom played their first gigs together in the 1990s with the Steve Gibbons Band and went on from there to form Little Johnny England in 1998. Over the next few years, Little Johnny England toured the concert and festival scene across the UK, Europe, USA and the Far East.

PJ has continued to work with Steve Gibbons in The Dylan Project with Dave Pegg and Simon Nichol of Fairport Convention, also with Dave Pegg as the duo PJ and Peggy. He has recorded with many well known names from the folk and rock world including the singer/songwriter Pete Scrowther. Esteemed as a guitar virtuoso, Leicester-born PJ Wright is also a talented songwriter himself.

Tom has been playing with Feast of Fiddles for the past 17 years alongside the likes of Phil Beer, Dave Mattacks, Peter Knight and Chris Leslie. Another project is Tanna, with Peter Knight and Kevin Dempsey. Tom has toured extensively with Phil Bates, front man of ELO and as a duo with Kevin Dempsey. Currently Tom is working on a new project Zeus with Dave Lambert (Strawbs) and Graeme Taylor (John Tams, Albion Band and Rolf Harris).

Jason Feddy at the Blues Cafe Bar in Harrogate

Eve and I sat watching the small stage as the bands prepared their instruments, behind through the window was a perfect backdrop of silhouetted green trees in the low light freshened by the evening rain .

We had been invited by our friends Gerald and Christine to listen to Jason Feddy singer songwriter.

The Blues Cafe Bar neon lights, wooden floor, tucked away bar and friendly chatter. It's walls adorned with the pictures of blues performers, and drum sticks scarred from their percussive action. The mood evocative and relaxed and Jason wonderfully full and resonant in voice accompanied in lead guitar by Richard Huxley, foot pedals galore, rhythm and passion warmed the audience who whooped with delight. A blend of melody and harmony with subtle dynamics in their interplay of guitars. Jason's infectious smile and energised stamping, jumping, bodyswaying and relaxed laid back easy style built a true rapport with his audience.

Visit Jason's MySpace Page http://www.myspace.com/jasonfeddy

Eve and I had a great night the Blues Cafe Bar in Harrogate, it's a lovely friendly music haunt and a must visit place for any lovers of live music.

Andrew and Eve.

An Evening at Mr Ben's

Aren't we lucky in Yorkshire having such a wealth of talent around. Eve and I popped in to Mr Ben's Saturday (14th March), to listen to the veteran Blues Singer Brendan Croker. With the relaxed laid back ease of an old hand and the passion of a believer Brendan held his mostly young audience, rhythmically attacking his twelve string guitar and sang soulfully the blues. Brendan can be found at brendancroker.com

Then a change of pace as ten piece funky soul band U-S-C (Ultimate soul Capacity) filled the night with powerful funky music. Robert York on guitar with snappy funky riffs, Sam Picaly on bass guitar and Nick Hobbs on drums driving the beats, with trumpet, trombone and saxophone all adding their voices, Tom Wall, Chris Coldram, Sam Houghton and 'Saxaphone Johnny'. Strong vocals powered through by Stuart Searle and Laura Popperwell. U-S-C have emerged from the leeds Music college as a new soul band, playing since September.

We will be back, a lovely evening - Andrew and Eve.

Mr Ben's is where The Mixing Tin/Trash used to be on Albion street.
And there is lots of music to be found at Mr Ben's below is just a selection, for more check out Mr Ben's MySpace page www.myspace.com/mrbensbar

THURSDAY- Depression (21st Century Blues) - Alternative Blues and Jazz evenings From 7 FRIDAYS- Live acoustic artists from 6 til late with DJ Playing Solid Gold Hits til even later! Runs 6 til Late From 4pm SATURDAYS- Uptight Mr Bens Saturday clubnight- coming soon Uptight will bring you the best in 60's Garage-soul-Fuzz and Ska DJ After 8.30pm SUNDAY- MR Bens Rice N' Roots Sundays -1st Sunday of every month- 9 of Yorkshires best live Folk, Indie and Roots acts. £5- entry or £10- entry + 4 cans(cider, bitter or lager) - Runs 3 - 10.30pm

A Funky Night of Music at the Gaslight Club

On a wintry first Monday in February it was well worth the battle through the snow to be entertained by such a treat of talent at Bar Oporto's enjoying the intimate ambiance of low soft red light against the red brick of the walls with the gentle flicker of candle light, that put us in just the right mood to listen to music.
The evening started with host Gary Stewart, playing acoustic guitar and singing his own songs, varied dynamic rhythms, and melodic grooves supporting a lovely soulful voice.
Martin Plock, playing acoustic guitar sang next, earthy gravely voice, bluesy folk, his own songs, "Six Foot Under" and "Another Violent Night" and the sombre "Beast In Me". Martin with cocked black trilby, entertained with a Folksy, cheeky humour and a rapport with his audience. A quiet unplugged moment in the middle of his performance had the audience listening in hushed restraint.
L-Mo performed next, now a band with Phil on Bass Guitar and Guv (Simon) on drums. Funky foot tapping bass and drums, induced a head nodding body moving audience. Broken guitar string was simply an excuse for bass and drum jam. L-Mo undaunted as the band played on- one of those moments in a live performance.
This was the first outing for L-Mo the Band.
Woolly Hatted to start, dynamic voice harmony, melodic riffs and guitar harmonics, from explosive to soft expressions, gasps and squeals, shouts and cheers from the audience. Accentuated by bass and drums strong beats which emphasized and pushed. L-Mo oozing personality an exuberant performance, the guys really looked like they were enjoying their music.
Look out for L-Mo the band they are going to be a force on the music scene.
Next up was Mr Pasty rock influenced funky grooves with a hint of metal and lots of catchy harmony. The audience responded body moving to the beats. Electric lead guitar (and another woolly hat), Bass and drums with acoustic rhythm guitar and vocals. The band are David Hedley Moorhouse, Ben "jammin" Burnett , T. Ramsden and Tim Roish.
A great night Eve and I will definitely be going back, and recommend it as a place to be on a Monday night for anyone who enjoys good, varied music and up and coming talent.
The Gaslight Club meets every Monday at Bar Oporto on Call Lane in Leeds (just round the corner from the Corn Exchange)
Next Monday (9th Feb) features the music of Ben Pike, Ruby Corsett and David Broad-
Andrew.

(Black & White photos by Steve Duttine)

The Wharfe Unplugged Club

Hi, we dropped in to the Wharfe Unplugged evening last Sunday- great night, great pint, fantastic music and wonderful Gordal Olives.
We had finished our invigorating wind swept Sunday walk dropping off Ilkley Moors, Eve and I, and entered the warmth and good company of The Ilkley Moor Vaults Pub to find Real Ale, Good Food, Log Fire and home of the wonderful music club Wharfe Unplugged

We were joined by our friends Denis and Alison and settled down to enjoy a great atmosphere, a variety of musicians and singers young and old, new and established, The Harrisons family singing at the club for first time, Tony Levy, the Dangerous Boys, St Louis Lip, and lots of other talented singers and musicians. Guitars, double bass, acoustic bass, mandolins, percussion galore, groups and single artists- wonderful music and a friendly sociable atmosphere. A great night out on a windy Sunday night.

The club meets fortnightly on Sundays and if you love music, its a must place to visit, particularly if you play an instrument or sing!!
The Next Club Meet is;-
25 Jan 2009
20:00
Ilkley Moor Vaults
Andrew.