Writer: William Shakespeare Adaptation: Emily Burns Director: Simon Godwin As the chariot of war hurtles across the world, one would be mistaken for assuming battles of ancient Kings and nobles would be anything if not contemporary. Even now, in the wake of destruction by ‘ambitious’, folly men who leave permanent scars upon the land, Shakespeare’s Macbeth resonates as profoundly as ever thanks to the clarity in delivery which, ideally, pries open the eyes of those still blinded to the mayhem surrounding them. In entering a Scotland where civil war rages, audiences find themselves wandering through a battle recently won but a war…
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Writer: Gary McNair Director: Michael Fentiman We’re told to trust our gut – but that the voice in our head is usually the enemy. But what if they were neither friend nor for, yet at the same time, both? Opening the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s 2024 season, a co-production with Reading Rep Theatre, this is a deeply unnerving Jekyll & Hyde, not from the perspective of Victorian horror, seen through remarkably mortal eyes audiences may recognise themselves within, away from the snarling beast of fiction. In adapting Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, playwright Gary McNair contorts and inverts the classic tale to plunge…
Writer and Director: Giorgio Clementelli USAH-Uncommon Stories of American Horror takes us on a 3000 mile journey through 84 locations across seven states of America’s Northeast unveiling 30 real life stories of American Horror. Director Giorgio Clementelli leads us through the documentary using a mysterious narrator (Alex Di Nunzio), who wander through a gallery of eclectic artworks, with each new work triggering a new horror story to explore. While the title promises ‘uncommon stories’ most are not that uncommon, certainly the first half of the documentary explores well know stories of the Amityville Horror, Friday 13th, Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby and…
Writer and Director: Mark Akrill Joe is waiting at the airport for the arrival of the son he has never met, but the flight is delayed by hours, or by days. Or maybe it doesn’t exist at all. In Mark Akrill’s work Waiting for Hate Mail, there is an eternal confusion between what is real and what is imagined. Nick Morrison-Baker’s Joe talks of airplane buildings coming to life, of ballerinas dancing on the taxiways. He also talks of receiving hate mail – an email that seems to come from a Neo-Nazi group telling him to watch his back, or…
Writer: Mark Glentworth Director: Julia Stubbs Mark Glentworth’s SEVEN and a Half YEARS is a one-hour, one-man show in which the writer/performer mines his experience of a devastating period of depression which left him a recluse. The opening scene in which we see Glentworth, pre-collapse, suggests his stressful life as a composer, performer and music teacher. The witty suggestion of his constant fielding of ever-more demanding telephone calls is nimbly directed by Julia Stubbs. Glentworth, the programme tells us, was once a highly successful percussionist. Here he performs his own songs, using them to narrate the arc of his story…
Writer: Gavin Steckler Director: Marc Turtletaub Mention films featuring an alien from outer space hiding in a suburban household and the average viewer will think of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Gavin Steckler, author of Jules tackles this awareness head-on: the opening speech by the main character features variations on the phrase “Phone home.” The main difference between Jules and Spielberg’s classic is that instead of children young enough to have a sense of wonder the alien visits a trio of septuagenarians who are coming to terms with loneliness, increasingly fragility and an awareness of being regarded as obsolete. Milton (Ben Kingsley)…
Writer & Director: Barrie Hunter Musical Director: Alan Penman Not only is there cause to celebrate with the commercial success of Perth Theatre’s Aladdin, as it becomes the venue’s most popular panto, but Barrie Hunter’s Perthshire high-flung adventure is one of Scotland’s best pantomimes right now – an ecological thriller (carrying the torch from Jack and the Beanstalk last year) which captures a local sense of pride, principle, and plenty of panache. Cannily written Aladdin can occasionally be a tricky pantomime for some to navigate while avoiding the unsavoury elements which come from the stories’ history and stereotyping. What Hunter maintains from the original…
Director: Simon Naylor and Ollie Mills. Music and Lyrics: Ollie Mills. Writers: Steph Lacey, Emma Hinds, Hannah Macdonald and Mohammed Barber. Getting stuck at a motorway service station might not be anyone’s idea of the perfect Christmas Eve, but for 12 lonely souls, it proves the ideal location for spreading Christmas cheer! Featuring a vibrant cast, a live band, short scenes from five skilled Manchester-based writers, and an assortment of musical theatre tunes, Bear Left, is a Christmas production with a difference. Created by Simon Naylor and Ollie Mills, the anthology weaves a tapestry of uplifting human stories set against…