For theatre... online, non-professional, amateur
A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad); Black Is The Color of My Voice; FRIEND (The One With Gunther); Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope.

A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad); Black Is The Color of My Voice; FRIEND (The One With Gunther); Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope.

Announcing the worldwide streaming premiere of four Seabright Productions filmed with live audiences at Wilton’s Music Hall

Multi award-winning cabaret-musical ‘A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)’, acclaimed play ‘Black Is The Color of My Voice’ comedy ‘FRIEND (The One With Gunther)’ featuring all 236 episodes of the hit 90s TV show, ‘FRIENDS’, and the biographical play ‘Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope’ are to be streamed globally.

The four critically acclaimed productions were curated by Olivier Award-winning producer, James Seabright, and filmed last month before socially distanced audiences at Wilton’s Music Hall, the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world.

James Seabright said: “Thanks to a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund we were able to give work to dozens of freelance actors, creatives and technicians, to record these wonderful productions and now present them to a global audience via stream.theatre.”

‘A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)’ will be streamed Thursday 1 July  – Sunday 4 Julyand will then be available on demand Monday 5 – Sunday 11 July

‘Black Is The Color of My Voice’ will be streamed Thursday 8 July – Sunday 11 July and will then be available on demand:  Monday 12 – Sunday 18 July.

‘FRIEND (The One With Gunther)’
will be streamed Thursday 15 July – Sunday 18 July and will then be available on demand Monday 19 – Sunday 25 July

‘Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope’ will be streamed Thursday 22 July  – Sunday 25 July and will
then be available on demand Monday 26 July – Sunday 1 August


A SUPER HAPPY STORY (ABOUT FEELING SUPER SAD)

Following award-winning, sell-out London and Edinburgh seasons, and prior to appearing off-Broadway, this acclaimed cabaret musical explores how it’s OK to not be OK. Written by double Olivier Award winner Jon Brittain (‘Baby Reindeer’; ‘Rotterdam’; ‘Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho’) with music by Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky and Mannish). Sally’s a happy person. She doesn’t let little things get her down and almost never cries. But she’s got an illness. It makes her feel like she isn’t the person she wants to be, but she doesn’t want anyone to know about it. Winner: Scotsman Fringe First Award and Best Musical Award at Edinburgh Fringe, nominated: Best Musical Off West End Awards (Offies) 2020, Best Director (Musicals) Off West End Awards (Offies) 2020, BeBest Mental Health Fringe Award and Holden Street Theatre Award. ‘A Super Happy Story’ has been created with, and commissioned by, award-winning Hull company, Silent Uproar, who champion writers to create daring and fun nights out to make the world a little bit better.

Cast: Madeleine MacMahon, Sophie Clay, Ed Yelland
Writer: Jon Brittain, Director: Alex Mitchell, Musical Director/Composer: Matthew Floyd Jones, Movement Director: Jon Beney, Sound Designer: Ed Clarke, Lighting Designer: Adam Foley, Set and Costume Designer: Amy Jane Cook, Costume Supervisor: Liz Dees, Presented by Seabright Productions and Silent Uproar (Producer for Silent Uproar: Martin Atkinson).

BLACK IS THE COLOR OF MY VOICE

Fringe First award winner Apphia Campbell stars in her acclaimed play, that has played sell-out seasons in Shanghai, New York, Edinburgh and at London’s Trafalgar Studios, Wilton’s Music Hall and Crazy Coqs. Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, Campbell’s stunning solo performance follows a successful jazz singer and civil rights activist seeking redemption after the untimely death of her father. She reflects on the journey that took her from a young piano prodigy destined for a life in the service of the church, to a renowned jazz vocalist at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

Written & performed by Apphia Campbell, Directed by Arran Hawkins & Nate Jacobs, Lighting design by Clancy Flynn, Sound design by Tom Lishman, Presented by Seabright Productions and Play The Spotlight

FRIEND (The One With Gunther)

One man, 10 seasons, one hour!  The entire 236 episodes of the hit 90s TV show, ‘FRIENDS’, as told through the eyes of the one person who knows it inside out… Gunther. This new show from acclaimed comic actor Brendan Murphy reimagines the TV classic through the eyes of barista Gunther. Settle down in Gunther’s café to hear the true insider story of what happened to Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica and Joey, from the Friends character who kept them caffeinated through all of the highs, lows, love affairs and failed auditions along the way! Brendan Murphy’s recent credits include the Las Vegas season of Olivier Award nominated global hit ‘Potted Potter’, Best of Edinburgh award-winning comedy parody ‘The Crown Dual’ and improv comedy classic ‘Battleacts’.

Written and performed by Brendan Murphy, Directed by Hamish Macdougall

Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope

‘Naked Hope’ is a glorious, truthful and uplifting celebration of a genuinely unique human being, and of the urgent necessity to be yourself. Written and performed by Mark Farrelly, and directed by the legendary Linda Marlowe, who also directed Farrelly’s show ‘The Silence of Snow’. ‘Naked Hope’ depicts the legendary Quentin Crisp at two distinct phases of his extraordinary life. Firstly, in the late 1960s in his filthy Chelsea flat. The second part of the play transitions the audience to New York in the 1990s. Here a much older Quentin, finally embraced by society, regales the audience with his sharply observed, hard-earned philosophy on how to have a lifestyle.

Written & Performed by Mark Farrelly, Directed by Linda Marlowe, Sound by Tom Lishman
Presented by Seabright Productions


STREAMING GUIDE

A Super Happy Story About Being Super Sad
Presented by Seabright Productions and Silent Uproar
Age Guidance: 16+ (TW: depression, suicide)
Running Time: 69 mins (no interval)

Streaming link:  www.stream.theatre/season/160
Thursday 1st July at 19:30
Friday 2nd July at 19:30
Saturday 3rd July at 14:30 & 19:30
Sunday 4th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Then available on demand: Monday 5th – Sunday 11th July

Black Is The Color Of My Voice
Presented by Seabright Productions and Play The Spotlight
Age Guidance: 12+
Running Time: 72 mins (no interval)

Streaming link: www.stream.theatre/season/159
Thursday 8th July at 19:30
Friday 9th July at 19:30
Saturday 10th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Sunday 11th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Then available on demand:  Monday 12th – Sunday 18th July

FRIEND (The One With Gunther)
Presented by Seabright Productions
Running Time: 70 mins (no interval)

Streaming link: www.stream.theatre/season/158
Thursday 15th July at 19:30
Friday 16th July at 19:30
Saturday 17th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Sunday 18th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Then available on demand: Monday 19th – Sunday 25th July

Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope
Presented by Seabright Productions
Running Time: 80 mins (no interval)

Streaming link:  www.stream.theatre/season/161
Thursday 22nd July at 19:30
Friday 23rd July at 19:30
Saturday 24th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Sunday 25th July at 14:30 & 19:30
Then available on demand:  Monday 26th July – Sunday 1st August

Streaming price:
£12 plus £3 transaction fee for all shows

The Haunting of Alice Bowles

The Haunting of Alice Bowles

Original Theatre Company, the production company behind the critically acclaimed lockdown productions of Sebastian Faulks’s Birdsong Online, Louise Coulthard’s Watching Rosie and the new commission by Torben Betts, Apollo 13: The Dark Side of The Moon, is delighted to present its fourth original online production since theatres were closed by the Government in March this year.  The Haunting of Alice Bowles is a new supernatural thriller by Philip Franks adapted for the first time from the M.R. James chilling short ghost story, The Experiment.

The Haunting of Alice Bowles will be available to watch via originaltheatreonline.com from 7.30pm on 17 December 2020 until 28 February 2021. 

In 1918, the recently widowed Alice Bowles is left destitute as she seeks to solve a mystery left by her late husband Francis.  Moving to 2020, YouTube urban explorers Matt and Caitlin uncover a mysterious grave in an abandoned churchyard.  What starts as harmless entertainment soon turns darker when their discovery begins to unwrap a mystery which has lain dormant for over a century.

Philip Franks said: “I’ve loved M. R. James ever since I was terrified by ‘Whistle and I’ll Come To You’ on the BBC in 1968.  A series of brilliantly subtle and scary adaptations of his ghost stories were a highlight of Christmas viewing for many years.  Now it’s my turn.  I’ve taken a very short story of his – as far as I know never dramatised before – and given it a modern twist for our troubled times.  I hope audiences find it pleasurably terrifying.” 

The Haunting of Alice Bowles stars Janie Dee (Follies, Comic Potential, Carousel) as Alice, Max Bowden (EastEnders, Waterloo Road, Birdsong) as Matt, Stephen Boxer (The Crown, Humans, Garrow’s Law, countless productions for the RSC and National Theatre) as Dr Hall, Jack Archer (Monogamy, Quaint Honour, Nivelli’s War) as Joseph, Alexandra Guelff (Witness for the Prosecution, The Habit of Art) as Caitlin, Robert Mountford (Holby City, North Square, The Habit of Art) as the Lawyer, Poppy Roe (A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life, Royal Matchmaker) as Mrs Ivey and Tim Treloar (Birdsong, King Lear) as the Boatman.

Alastair Whatley, Artistic Director of Original Theatre Company, said: “It’s a real pleasure to be announcing our fourth major project for Original Theatre Online.  Philip Franks’s brand new adaptation provides a new twist on a classic ghost story in time for Christmas.  The Haunting of Alice Bowles continues our work innovating a new form of creating and sharing work online, a cine-theatrical event for dark December nights.

“We were all relieved to be awarded funding from the Culture Recovery Fund announced last week.  We are already putting that investment to work – as we continue to make and develop work for stages both digital and live over the coming months.” 

The Haunting of Alice Bowles will be co-directed by Philip Franks and Alastair Whatley, designed by Adrian Linford and edited by Tristan Shepherd, with sound design and original music composed by Max Pappenheim.

The online production of The Haunting of Alice Bowles is produced by Original Theatre Company.

@OriginalTheatre #HauntingAlice

THE HAUNTING OF ALICE BOWLES By Philip Franks

Dates: 17 December 2020 – 28 February 2021

Running Time: approximately 45 minutes

Age guidance: 15+

  • : current/future_show
  • : 41537
  • : Available to watch via originaltheatreonline.com
  • : 17/12/2020
  • : IP294UB
  • : 28/02/2021
  • : East of England
  • : By Philip Franks, adapted from the M.R. James story, 'The Experiment'. Produced by the Original Theatre Company
  • : http://originaltheatreonline.com/
  • : Super Early Bird (booked by 31 October) - £10. Early bird (booked by 30 November) - £12.50. Standard - £15. Supporter Package (booked by 30 November) - £50 ...includes supporter credit on the final film and digital programme. Premium Package (booked by 31 October) - £100 ...includes signed script by cast/creative member of your choice, supporter credit on the film, digital programme.
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