Last week I looked at the highlights of the Pulse Fringe Festival. Head up the A14 though next weekend and you’ll find Cambridge’s The Junction awash with new and experimental work as part of their Sampled Festival of Performance. Taking place across just two days, it’s a more condensed affair than Pulse, however, don’t be…
For neurologist Doctor Jacopo Annese, memory is described as pages of a book. Each event recorded by the brain on an individual page and then added to the library of your brain. What happens though if your brain misfires and loses those pages. For Henry Molaison, experimental brain surgery in the 1950s in an attempt…
Small is often beautiful in theatre and such is the case with Vertigo, not one but two shows woven into a cohesive whole. The story goes that, due to an error, two young actors were booked to perform their show called Vertigo at the same venue at the Edinburgh Festival. Rather than compete the two…
A 75 minute one man show about homelessness. Not a topic that seems destined to provide many laughs but in Pat Kinevane’s mesmerising one-man show for Fishamble, we get laughs and tears in equal measure. Life is tough on the streets of Dublin if you are homeless. Tino McGoldrig (short for Valentino) emerges from under…
Renowned for her portrayal of Shakespeare’s most famous female roles, Dame Ellen Terry’s own life had more than its own fair share of drama. Married three times and involved in several other relationships, she was a woman who lived life to the full. Now as her stage career has come to the end she embarks…
How much is art really worth? Do the Grand Masters justify their price tag? In a darkerned flat hangs a recently purchased Gainsborough, bought for a snip at over $5million. The owner though doesn’t intend to admire the painting for long – in the morning he intends to destroy the painting for the media notoriety…
As part of Menagerie’s Hotbed Festival, eight authors were invited to create eight new monologues especially for the festival. The brief was open but with a suggestion of a ‘looking back and looking forward’ theme. The monologues are presented in two batches during the festival. Death Of A Cyclist Writer: Steve Waters Performer: Emma Beattie…
As part of Menagerie’s Hotbed Festival, eight authors were invited to create eight new monologues especially for the festival. The brief was open but with a suggestion of a ‘looking back and looking forward’ theme. The monologues are presented in two batches during the festival. Mind Detox Writer: Esther Shanson Performer: Laura Pyper Director: Patrick…
The wide open spaces, the fresh air, the big skies of the countryside, equally as unsettling to city dwellers as the confines and busy-ness unsettle rural visits to urban life. For city dwellers Ash, his girlfriend, Joy, and her sister, Beth though, the unsettling nature of a deserted coastline is nothing compared to the waves…
One of the trials for any writer is getting their new work from page to stage. Until you take the written word and hear it spoken it’s difficult for any playwright to really know if their idea works or not. Although writing is something of a solitary craft it needs the input of others to…
In the middle of a weekend celebrating the power of new theatre writing, what actually is the situation for new writing across the county? In a lively debate chaired by Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner, a panel of playwright Mike Bartlett, Paines Plough’s Artistic Director James Grieve, and Liverpool Everyman’s Literary Manager, Suzanne Bell, together…
If you go down to the woods today… you may find two abandoned children, a psychotic stepmother and a cannibalistic witch. Not, then, your usual festive fare but in New International Encounter’s adaptation Hansel and Gretel, one that complements the festive season perfectly. A long time ago, in a land far, far away (or Central…
In a rehearsal studio at the Junction in Cambridge a group of actors are rehearsing their Christmas show; nothing unusual there, and a scene that is being repeated in theatres up and down the country, but suddenly there is a snatch of Norwegian, a couple of lines in Spanish and a smattering of German. This…