New musical Broken Wings inverts the classic immigrant story by centring the return to the mother country. It’s a sequel to the American Dream where the protagonist, Khalil Gibran returns home filled with nostalgia of a past life, but soon encounters the conflict in his blended middle eastern and western values.
First published 110 years ago in 1912, celebrated author Kahlil Gibran’s novel Broken Wings is noted for its progressive stance on the rights of women – the novel’s central narrative, a tale of ill-fated love set in 1920s New York, as an ageing Gibran narrates a tale transporting us back two decades to turn of the century Beirut influenced by Kahlil’s own life journey. Adapted for the stage by Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment with Bonnie Comley and Stewart F Lane, with a Middle Eastern score by duo Nadim Naaman and Dana Al Fardan, the team craft the novel into a romantic resonant musical for our times. Graduate of the Guildford School of Acting Lucca Chadwick-Patel takes on the role of Young Khalil Gibran, the show’s lead protagonist. Currently showing at the Charing Cross Theatre, Lucca tells us more about what drew him to take part in the production, how he’s approached preparing for the role and what it’s meant to him to be a part of Broken Wings!
With Game of Thrones sweeping the nation, it was only a matter of time before the hit HBO show made its way onto the stage. Critically acclaimed parody, Graeme of Thrones has amused audiences internationally, and is currently taking to the Charing Cross Theatre stage to bring to life the mythical world of GoT. Lead by GoT fan Graeme, all he wants to do is reimagine the fantasy series on stage in the hopes of a starry future. News gets round that an influential producer is nearby, bearing in mind he doesn’t have the big budget HBO does, all he has to do is create an unforgettable re-enactment of the series… but can he?
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It is not the first time audiences have seen Long Story Short. After a short run at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington they transfer to Charing Cross Theatre for a whole month. It still feels a considerable short time taking into account that the director Andrew Whyment has brewed this play for three years during which extensive research was made to create this fast-paced thought-provoking angle on today’s media. It tells precisely of a long story that was made short to the public by the journalists and how all stories that we are informed of are told in a shortened and biased way. It goes back to the very start of Rupert Murdoch’s influence in the British press in 1968 in parallel with the process that leads to the resigning of a news editor in 2012.
