For theatre... online, non-professional, amateur
Ariel Company Theatre Triumphs Back on Stage

Ariel Company Theatre Triumphs Back on Stage

All photos: Stephen Candy


By R. Huntingdon

In a year, or two, that has had a significant impact on the industry, I took my seat with excited trepidation, after what seemed an age since I had enjoyed any live entertainment. The front cover of the programme shares ‘Welcome back to Junior Musicality 2021’, and I am reminded that the children and young adults about to enter on stage have not performed to an audience since early 2020. If I felt nervous for them, they must be feeling it tenfold.

But, by goodness you would not have known it! The 70+ cast hit us with a bang, in perfect harmony, for the Newsies opening medley, strong, confident and ready to show the audience what we had all been longing for, pure musical theatre indulgence. As the first act progressed, I had to pinch myself to remind me this was not a show, rehearsed and fine tuned for months. The cast, aged between 8 and 18 years old, had put this together in just five days and credit must go to all of the performers and production team for the high standards achieved.

With over 33 brilliant, fully harmonised and choreographed numbers, it would simply be too difficult to cover all of them, but particular highlights include 38 Planes from Come from AwayRight Hand Man from Something RottenMy New Philosophy from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Run Freedom Run from Urinetown. The younger performers impressed with their energy and precise moves in Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins and had the house roaring with laughter with their brilliant characterisation in Life’s a Happy Song from The Muppets. I try to avoid picking out individuals, as every performer contributed so well, however I am compelled to mention Lara Nunns for her beautifully sung and played So Big/So Small from Dear Evan Hansen and Sophie Williams’ With You from Ghost. Both of which had me in tears. This was remedied by the hilarious characterisation of Noah Dawson as Beetlejuice in That Beautiful Sound and the whole cast in their foot tapping, life affirming rendition of the Rocketman finale, which sent us away joyous and ready to watch it all over again.

Sadly, I’ll have to wait for the next Ariel production but, at last, it might be something we don’t have to wait quite so long for again.

An outstanding job by all involved, thank you for sharing it with me.

AIMIE ATKINSON, CASSIDY JANSON, LUCIE JONES, CEDRIC NEAL AND JULIAN OVENDEN CONFIRMED FOR FIRST ‘MONDAY NIGHT AT THE APOLLO’ – 24 MAY

AIMIE ATKINSON, CASSIDY JANSON, LUCIE JONES, CEDRIC NEAL AND JULIAN OVENDEN CONFIRMED FOR FIRST ‘MONDAY NIGHT AT THE APOLLO’ – 24 MAY

TICKETS ON SALE NOW HERE

WITH LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE VIA THEATRE DISCOVERY PLATFORM THESPIE


The star line up has been confirmed for the first concert of the series for Monday Night at the Apollo – which will be performed in front of a socially distanced audience at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue on Monday 24 May, and simultaneously live-streamed to viewers at home via the theatre discovery platform Thespie, which is dedicated to bringing the best live and recorded theatre to audiences around the world.

Aimie Atkinson (Six, Pretty Woman), Cassidy Janson (&Juliet, Beautiful), Lucie Jones (Waitress, Rent), Cedric Neal (Chess, Mowtown the Musical) and Julian Ovenden (South Pacific, Downton Abbey) will join on-stage for an intimate night of music and theatrical chat, featuring ovation worthy performances of songs from their favourite genres. Host Greg Barnett (Miss Littlewood, Swallows and Amazons) invites his audience behind the curtain to catch these castmates as you’ve never seen them before. Sharing their most cherished memories and experiences from their careers, alongside performances of music personal to them, West End royalty celebrate the craft and industry they’ve so dearly missed.

Monday Night at the Apollo has been conceived of to support the theatre industry, and a percentage of profits will be donated to Acting for Others, an organisation made up of 14 individual theatrical charities.

Tickets are on sale now for all three concerts: Monday 24 May, Monday 14 June and Monday 5 July. The producers will continue to review each date as it approaches and react according to government guidelines at the time. Line ups for the second and third concerts will be announced soon.

Producers Greg Barnett and Hugh Summers said, “We’re excited to be announcing the first of our all-star line-ups for ‘Monday Night At The Apollo’.  We have five of British Theatre’s best performers joining us for this night to celebrate the re-opening of our wonderful industry and we simply cannot wait to be out on stage performing in front of a live audience. We are thrilled that all three performances will also still be live-streamed to viewers at home via Thespie.com. The industry faces huge challenges in its recovery and we still hope to be able to raise funds for the charity ‘Acting For Others’ to support the thousands of freelancers who continue to be hit hardest as our sector begins to slowly reawaken. Theatre and its audiences know how vital it will be to support each other on the road to recovery and in these seemingly crucial final months, we ask your support, kindness, and most of all your theatrical presence, as we embark on our journey back to the stage. Public health and the safety of our audiences are still our utmost priority and the performances will adhere to the current government guidelines.”

This concert series is musically directed by George Dyer, and produced by Greg Barnett and Hugh Summers for Wild Mountain Productions Ltd.

NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES IMMERSIVE ONLINE ADVENTURE, ‘THE CASE OF THE HUNG PARLIAMENT’ EXTENDS TO 10TH MARCH 2021

NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES IMMERSIVE ONLINE ADVENTURE, ‘THE CASE OF THE HUNG PARLIAMENT’ EXTENDS TO 10TH MARCH 2021

©Rah Petherbridge Photography

Previously announced to run until 17th February, the Olivier nominated creators of Alice’s Adventures Underground, Les Enfant Terribles are delighted to announce a further three weeks for their innovative and immersive online adventure that blurs the lines between theatre, gaming, escape room and board game. Sherlock Holmes: An Online Adventure. “The Case of the Hung Parliament” will now run from 27th January to 10th March 2021. Public or private shows are available to purchase here.

Sherlock Holmes:  An Online Adventure

“The Case of the Hung Parliament”

The Home Secretary, The Foreign Secretary and the Lord Chamberlain, have all been found hanging, in their own chambers. Each victim died on their birthday, and on that day had received a card with a mysterious quote written in it. But what does this mean? Where’s Sherlock? And what will you do next with 75 minutes left to solve the case before the murderer strikes again?

In collaboration with virtual reality company LIVR and suitable for 12+, Les Enfants Terribles are utilising the last 15 years’ experience of creating live immersive shows and expanding their repertoire with this online ‘whodunnit’ which will invite audiences alongside live actors to follow in the footsteps of the great detective himself as they encounter live performances, immersive 360 technology and more than 100 clues to discover and solve.

Don the deerstalker and become Baker Street’s finest detective. Travel back to Victorian London and delve into the world of Sherlock Holmes where powers of deduction will be required to solve the case before time runs out. As the newest recruits of Scotland Yard, audiences will have to make their own conclusions and decisions by interviewing suspects, reading reports, searching for hidden clues and researching old facts.

Written by Oliver Lansley and Anthony Spargo with inspiration taken from the 2016 live show The Games’ Afoot, this online, multi-sensory and intricate world will premiere on 27th January with tickets on sale now.

Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Website

#LesEnfantsSherlock

Les Enfants Terribles present:

Sherlock Holmes:  An online Adventure.  The case of the Hung Parliament

27 January – 10 March 2021

www.sherlockimmersive.com

Ticket Prices:

Public Shows £15pp.

Book a private show for £90 and play with up to 6 players.

Public and Private shows available. Public shows (play with other members of the public) private shows (tickets can be purchased for the whole slot for one group).

A variety of slots are available – please check the website for availability.

Running time is approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.

Written by: Oliver Lansley and Anthony Spargo

Directed by: Oliver Lansley and James Seager

Powered by:  LIVR

Costume design by: Samuel Wyer

Play.make.theatre Realises a Dream

Play.make.theatre Realises a Dream

THEATRES have been hard hit by Covid-19, but a freelance stage manager has used the pandemic to realise her dream.

With playhouses closed up and down the country, Katie Patrick, from Hockley, Essex, decided to set up her own company, Play.make.theatre. And the fruits of her labours are due to come to fruition this month when Hansel and Gretel’s Camping Adventure opens.

As well as setting up the company, Katie has also written and directed the show. “It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” she explained. “I have been a freelance stage manager for several for several years and, unfortunately with Covid-19, all my work I had lined up this has now been cancelled. “During lockdown I thought this is the time for me to try my own project. It gave me time to decide what Play.make.theatre was going to be, to write the work and decide how I was going to produce it. “I used the negative of the lockdown and tried to turn it into a positive, to use my downtime more productively in creating the company.”

Katie knew she wanted to produce a family show at Christmas and decided a modern take on the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale Hansel and Gretel would be ideal. She overcame her concerns about writing to pen the script and held auditions before casting Francesca Simons as Gretel and Amber Satchwell as Helga, the camp leader, and the Old Lady; Hansel is played by a teddy bear. Rehearsals started on Zoom before the end of the first lockdown meant they company could meet in person, while ensuring all the Government’s pandemic rules were observed.

One problem was those regulations meant there could be no singing, so another East 15 student, Serena Fyvie, wrote some poetry instead. Katie also got advice from friends and contacts in the theatre world, including Ivan Wilkinson, as things took shape. She also recruited theatre student Jamie Mather as the production’s technician. Now the company is hoping to stage the show between December 18-24 at Hockley Public Hall, subject to Covid-19 restrictions, in front of a socially distanced audience.

“It’s been challenging, but we’ve made it work and we hope people will enjoy it,” added Katie, who is hoping to present the show at other venues in 2021.

For performance details and to book tickets, go to www.ticketsource.co.uk/playmaketheatre.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ROBERT OPRAY? PODCAST NOW AVAILABLE

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ROBERT OPRAY? PODCAST NOW AVAILABLE

The sequel to Southwell (Nottinghamshire) Theatre Club’s radio play podcast The Assassination of Robert Opray is now freely available to listen to on Soundcloud.

Titled Whatever Happened to Robert Opray?, we hope that the original half hour comedy drama engages the listener and raises a smile! The play continues after Carys has admitted poisoning Robert Opray, and that the poison works 100%. It does not, and Robert manages to summon aid after briefly regaining consciousness. Some of what follows takes place in a hinterland between reality and a zone outside the pearly gates. As with the first play, it was rehearsed on Zoom, then recorded using smartphones whilst wrapped up in non-crackle duvets with curtains drawn – and ticking clocks removed!’ During lockdown our sound engineer has come into his own and emerged as man of the match!

Southwell Theatre Club has never made an audio before, and the experience has been an interesting learning curve. We spend three months honing our characters before putting on a stage play, (and finishing learning our lines!) and I think because it was an audio, some of us thought we could just read our lines and it would be ok. But it took at least half a dozen Zoom rehearsals before it came to life, and gelled as a whole. One problem was that speech on stage tends to be slower than speech in an audio, and our director had to gee us all up, and requisition that vital ingredient – oooomph! And of course, the medium of Zoom is dissimilar to interacting with another character in the flesh.

This year we have had no income, but as we generally perform in our lovely town library, we don’t have a roof to maintain, and have few expenses, apart from insurance, and storage facilities for props. A good part of our income for the production of plays (licence, rehearsal space hire, venue hire, etc), comes from our annual winter murder mystery, put on over four or five nights in various venues, according to whichever group has commissioned it. We reckon we have another year before funds run out, but we’ve been in that situation before, and put ourselves out for hire for wholesale murder mysteries, and road shows. We have in-house writers who regularly write our murder mysteries, and our audio scripts were likewise produced in-house, to produce original comedy drama, and also to save expense.

With mass vaccination a rosy hue on the horizon, we look forward to being part of an active community again. Two of Chekhov’s one-act plays The Bear and The Proposal were in rehearsal when the shutters came down in March, and its director feels set in aspic.

We are on Facebook and also have a web page. It will be curious to perform live again.

We hope that you enjoy our radio plays. Play the podcast below or point your phone at the QR code.

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