Thursday, February 13, 2014
On Monday I had the privilege of attending the London press night of the Bristol Old Vic/Handspring fresh, innovative, rude and hugely enjoyable A Midsummer Night’s Dream which runs at The…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AMMonday, February 10, 2014
On Saturday I dropped in on Surviving Actors the vibrant careers fair – this was the fifth annual event – founded in 2010 by lively Felicity Jackson to help actors to…well… survive.…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:54AMThursday, February 6, 2014
I’m still unashamedly on the subject of auditions – it is after all the audition season for schools and colleges and a lot of other people will be thinking about them too. Several frustr…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:35AMWednesday, February 5, 2014
Trafalgar Studios, London: This busy, symmetrically planned, showcase presents the work of 28 students in 28 duologues, mostly modern, so that gives 56 separate performances in just 55 minut…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:53PMMonday, February 3, 2014
Choosing audition pieces, showcase monologues and so on is clearly not ‘one of your holiday games’ as T S Eliot might have put it. But even as someone who comes at this from the margins.…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:48AMThursday, January 30, 2014
Unicorn Theatre: This powerful and poignant piece does the presumed impossible - presents the dilemmas of grandparents for five year olds. Thomas Frere's Grandpa and Belinda Lazenby…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:56PMMonday, January 27, 2014
I’ve had an idea. Well two, actually. And the last time I had one it triggered the merger of Conference of Drama Schools and National Council of Drama Training to form Drama UK so I...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:31AMFriday, January 24, 2014
Fortune Theatre, London: It's a real joy to see a student showcase which features only 15 students each appearing twice in a contrasting role. It means they really get the chance to sho…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:28PMThursday, January 23, 2014
On Tuesday I saw, and thoroughly enjoyed an enchanting, pared down, moving version of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice (runs until Sunday 26 January) and it ticks so many education boxes that …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMMonday, January 20, 2014
Drama schools are often accused – not always fairly – of being full of privileged students whose families can afford to fund them. LAMDA, for one, is working hard to make sure drama scho…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:13AMThursday, January 16, 2014
Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon: This pared down Macbeth - on a strikingly menacing, smoky, brooding spider's web of a set with back projection (designed by Kate Unwin) - might just as well b…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:08AMHow do you learn a new accent? If you’re already in rehearsal then time will be very short and if you’re out of work you probably can’t afford a one-to-one voice coach. Enter voice coa…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMMonday, January 13, 2014
On Saturday I saw Thebes, the second show in Faction Theatre’s 2014 rep season www.thefaction.org.uk with runs at New Diorama Theatre www.newdiorama.com this month and next before transfer…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:46AMThursday, January 9, 2014
Well it’s January and my mind turns to auditions and the large sums of money which will move from student bank accounts to those of vocational training establishments during the next few m…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:02AMTuesday, January 7, 2014
On Friday I saw Peppa Pig’s Big Splash which has just come to the end of a phenomenally successful five week run at the Criterion (playing “under” The Thirty Nine Steps) before embark…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:15AMThursday, January 2, 2014
Books for winter evenings During the Christmas and new year break I have – among other festive pursuits – been catching up with some of the useful and interesting performing arts …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:59AMDuring the Christmas and new year break I have – among other festive pursuits – been catching up with some of the useful and interesting performing arts training and information books wh…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMMonday, December 30, 2013
As 2104 arrives this week what developments, I wonder, can we expect on the performing arts training front during the next twelve months? Well, given the phenomenal success of National Youth…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMMonday, December 23, 2013
This year I saw and reviewed my first Christmas show on November 23, exactly a month ago. And it’s been a pretty manic month. I finally finished my rounds with two shows in Tunbridge Wells…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:33AMTrinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells: The best things in this show are Tony Stenson's quirky, witty (recorded) music, the projection and animation which references the original book's …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:00AMAssembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells: This enjoyably glitzy and often very funny pantomime offers most of the traditional elements, including the ghost bench and slapstick scenes, with lot…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:13AMFriday, December 20, 2013
Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks: This clear, energetic show tells a strong story with refreshing directness. And many of the jokes are original - or at least I haven't heard them in every panto…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:38AMMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the PR and marketing people I work with during the year. Some of you are on staff at the companies and venues you work for. Others...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:03AMMonday, December 16, 2013
Unicorn Theatre, London: Originality isn't really necessary at Christmas, especially for very young children.
Read the full review
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:40AMPit, Barbican, London: Applying its usual fresh, playful physicality, Told By An Idiot has come up with a quirky, upbeat show for children aged four and over, which lives up to its name.
Re…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:30AMLast week I picked up what I thought was probably a training book of sorts from my ever-high desk-side pile and shoved it in my bag to read on the train – one of my...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:45AMThursday, December 12, 2013
For fifteen years Y Touring Theatre Company has been producing and touring plays which present and explore complex science-based issues. The company is supported in this work by Wellcome Tru…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:10AMWednesday, December 11, 2013
Stratford Circus, London: Tiny, barefooted children swarm around a circular sandpit in this multi-sensory show. They can physically feel the sand and the wind as well as seeing the action an…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:11PMMumford Theatre, Cambridge: The All-Male Amateur Dramatics Society of Creakebottom in remote Suffolk (sort of) stages a nativity play as its entry to a national drama festival. The play with…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:54AMMonday, December 9, 2013
Hazlitt Arts Centre, Maidstone: Maybe you don't look to pantomime for originality, but this one - which also includes traditional ghost gag and slapstick set pieces - also splices in so…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:47AMOn Saturday I attended an up-beat Christmas concert in St Paul’s Covent Garden, the actors’ church. It included numbers from musicals, carols, some traditional Christmas hymns and readin…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:36AM 
