Dark Side is the latest in Artful Badger’s Wild World series, a confusing anthology of shows that will leave you scratching your head. It‘s mad, it‘s beautiful and it will get you on your feet.
Dark Side is the latest in Artful Badger’s Wild World series, a confusing anthology of shows that will leave you scratching your head. It‘s mad, it‘s beautiful and it will get you on your feet.
As Britain’s Got Talent prepares for a new year of the good, the bad and the absolutely bewildering, the national competition is renowned for its showcasing of talent, giving performers from all walks of life the opportunity to change their lives and pursue their dreams. At just 16, Charlotte found herself auditioning in front of the infamous Britain’s Got Talent crowd alongside her singing partner, Jonathon Antoine. Together they wowed audiences, charming the nation and the four judges with their classical vocals. They both finished as runners up, however fast forward 3 years and Charlotte has enjoyed much deserved success, having performed at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall and releasing her debut solo album, Solitaire last year. Charlotte is set to star in Joe Masteroff’s 1963 hit musical, She Loves Me at the Landor Theatre from next week. Ahead of the production, Charlotte speaks to Theatrefullstop about what drew her to the musical, working with director Robert McWhir and what inspired her to audition for BGT.
The name Dara seems to me closer to Dublin than Delhi, but the show that opened at the Lyttleton this week marks one of the National’s first engagements with Islam. The script follows a classic formula: the beloved eldest son, Dara, the foolish father whose favouritism provokes the vengeance of Aurangzeb, a son who, despite his legitimacy, is a right bastard.
Initially developed on the reputable Royal Court Young Writer’s programme, Tom Crowley’s Ghost City couldn’t be anymore timely, as the show questions the lengths the government will go to in order to distract the nation’s attention away from the topical issues of unemployment, the cost of living and homelessness by the installation of unnecessary pieces of artistry. As the founder of Crowley & Co. prepares for the company’s performance of Ghost City, he speaks to Theatrefullstop about what he enjoys most about directing the show, how developing the show at the Royal Court has proved inspirational and his hopes for what the audience will take away from the performance.
32 Rue Vandenbranden is part of the London International Mime Festival and is a UK Premiere. The production was created by the Belgium company, Peeping Tom, in 2009 and has already received several awards.
Using a very particular Japanese art of painted screens and puppetry, American puppeteer Basil Twist presents an hour-long piece – Dogugaeshi, as part of the London International Mime Festival. Blending music and art on top of puppet work, Twist effectively makes this style his own, with a seemingly endless amount of hand-painted screens opening and closing, and some modern music thrown in (who knew Ethel Merman’s classic “No Business Like Show Business” had a place within a Japanese puppetry piece?).
Noodles may well be the wackiest show I have seen in London for a very long time. NoFit State Circus, a UK company, yet presenting only foreign performers, created this contemporary circus piece around noodles and five bizarre characters obsessed with it. These strings that look like noodles are everywhere on stage, almost as if one is entering Noodle land.
Touring this year after a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival is The Paper Birds with their verbatim show Broke. The show was created using interviews and questionnaires about money, debt and consumerism. Although it doesn’t come to any solid conclusion on the matter of money, it does offer many different viewpoints and insight into how we view finances today.
They say that politics is absolutely everywhere, and with the Arts, there’s no doubt that politics plays a heavy part in the type of theatre being created, funding opportunities for emerging playwrights and the issue of censorship. Who are theatrical pieces created for? The public? The audience? The nation? The role of the theatre within western history has been to educate, to satirise, to question, to evoke discussion…the list goes on and on, however we find that within a very progressive climate, issues such as racial discrimination, censorship and unpaid internships continue to persist.
Working in the performance industry isn’t just about bagging the lead role in a professional production, working behind the scenes is equally as important, if anything, more so. Whether you’re frantically revising…or not… for your A-Levels at college and considering studying on a course focusing on theatrical roles backstage at drama school, or you’re finding yourself nervously prepping for your final drama school showcase, there’s no doubt that the idea of looking for jobs within the performance industry can appear daunting. For those who are 100% certain on what career path they wish to take, for those looking for a career change or for those who are not entirely sure as to what they would like to do then there’s no need to panic! Stage Jobs Pro‘s Theatre Career Handbook 2014-2015 is the go to place for information on backstage theatre jobs, with advice from top performance organisations and drama schools such as Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts to Ideastap.