Thanks for a great 2014. Here's to this year!

2014 Highlights: Having the chance to talk to and interview Warwick Davis, Joe McGann, Shobna Gulati, John Godber, Brian Conley, Johnny Pusztai, Howard Brenton and Marcus Romer with Roy Williams. Also having great mates in Rick and Janette Martindale , Cibele Ponces Alvarenga, Lena Maier, Thorsten Feldmann, Carsten Thein, Markus Kűnstler, and Paul Johnson and Fariba from Sardines Magazine. You guys at Sardines have made my year with all the opportunities to write and to be professionally published.

 

Thanks to the The Public Reviews for all the chances to review theatre and shows across the East Midlands. Your exacting standards make my writing better and my theatrical eye keener. Many thanks.

Especial thanks to all at the Jakobus Theatre for hosting my first professional show ‪#‎greetingsfromthetrenches‬ and all at the Theater Die Käuze for supporting it. Of course it wouldn't have happened with the fun and professional work of my great friend Emma Brown. Hopefully see you in Leiden again this summer honey.

Some new friends have entered my life in 2014 not least the wonderful Kev Castle. Many thanks to Jo McLeish for your great support likewise to Heidi McKenzie and all at Derby Theatre especially to Sarah Brigham to access to your rehearsals and to witness your directing styles.

For all the hundreds of followers and readers of my two blogs http://philloweactor.blogspot.co.uk and http://mugofstrongtea.blogspot.co.uk I wish you all a wonderful 2015 and can't wait to see what is around the corner to excite you all through my writing.

Finally thanks to all my colleagues at work who are genuinely interested to see me do well. You know who you are and I appreciate it. xx

 

Happy New Year all.

Warwick Davis at Derby Theatre. See How They Run review.

'Hits the stage running!'

Currently on tour across the UK Warwick Davis's talented group of actors (The Reduced Height Theatre Company) hits the Derby Theatre stage running with their fantastically silly farce – See How They Run by Philip King.

Originally written and played in the 1940s this production stays true to the period style with its costumes created by Top Drawer Costume Service and set designed and adapted by Barney George who recently created and designed the set for Derby Theatre's theatrical triumph – The Odyssey.



Of course, as well as the popularity of the farce that has been performed around the world since its conception the main draw for this show is the versatile and talented actor Warwick Davis, known mainly for his roles in film and television and now on stage live. The audience laps up every moment he appears as Reverend Toop and he is very funny throughout, especially so when skittering through the vicarage in his undies. When broad comedy is done this well it seems almost effortless but I know from talking to Warwick that an awful lot of hard work has gone into making the production the soar away success it is. The wonderful cast seem to be having as much fun as the audience.


The delight of this production is that plot wise it allows the remainder of the cast to shine whilst Toop is temporarily locked away in a cupboard with a drunk Miss Skillon (beautifully played by Francesca Papagno). Davis wanted the production to show off the talents of his actors and it does so in spades.

There are lots of memorable performances including Rachel Denning as Penelope Toop the former actress and flirtatious wife of Rev Toop. Her scenes with Phil Holden as Lance Corporal Clive Winton are comedy heaven as are her caustic comments about the interfering Miss Skillon.

The comic hit of the show has to be Francesca Mills as Ida the Maid. Every time she appears and disappears and quickly re-appears again through some entrance or other her stage presence shines out and her Ida must be rated as one of the funniest performances I have ever seen on stage. If should a thing were possible I think that there must have been a collective grin from the audience at each of her comical arrivals. Her timing is spot on and her expressive and 'farcical' body language is hilarious.

With a cast of nine the Reduced Height Theatre Company set the stage on fire with their energy. Davis has compiled a cast of experienced actors such as the marvellous Jon Key as the frightfully flustered Bishop of Lax and Raymond Griffiths as the German intruder. Alongside these theatre stalwarts he has Jamie John as a slightly camp Rev Arthur Humphrey and multi-talented Peter Bonner as the blustering Sergeant Towers. The play is directed with gusto by Eric Potts.

One of the signs of a super show is that you are still giggling the day after seeing it. I think I will be giggling for weeks. Here's to the entire cast of the Reduced Height Theatre Company and to their next success. Run to the box office and get your tickets now before it sells out. Run!!!

Runs at Derby Theatre from 7^th April until 12^th April.

Warwick Davis cover story with Sardines magazine

I'm extraordinarily pleased to announce that Sardines magazine are being gracious enough to publish not one but three of my theatre based articles in their forthcoming Spring/Summer edition out in May this year. There will be an article about my life as a theatre reviewer and why I do it, an article about The Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham and their theatre twinning adventures in Germany and finally; my major article is the cover story about the fantastic actor, Warwick Davis. I had the great pleasure of interviewing him half way through his national tour of the farce, See How They Run. Read how they had to take the wheels off a tea trolley to stop it falling into the front row and how fascinated the audiences are to see the Reduced Height Theatre Company's amazing to scale set of See How They Run plus lots of other amazing Warwick anecdotes and terrific pictures!

Sardines are publishing this interview with some brilliant photos from Warwick's wonderfully varied career so far in the Spring/Summer edition available from early May. Here is a sneak preview of the cover.

Sardines magazine is available through subscription and many other methods of purchase and all the details are at www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk.

Warwick's fantastic production of See How They Run is on tour at the following venues: Catch it while you can!

31st March - 5th April Wycombe Swan - High Wycombe

7th April - 12th April - Derby Theatre - Derby

14th - 19th April - Theatre Royal - Plymouth

22nd - 26th April - Darlington Civic Theatre - Darlington

29th April - 3rd May - Opera House - Manchester

6th May - 10th May - New Theatre - Cardiff.

News of See How They Run by the Reduced Height Company

Today I had the great pleasure of interviewing the charming and erudite Warwick Davis the founder and current producer of the newly formed Reduced Height Theatre Company. His company are currently touring a unique production of Philip King's classic farce - See How They Run. It is becoming a much talked about theatrical classic and selling out in many of its twelve venues as they tour until early May 2014. All of the reviews have been very positive. The audiences are loving it and recommending to family and friends alike. The tour dates can be found through this link. Don't leave it too late to book!

 

 

I am personally in great anticipation for the week of 7th April to 12th April when the show comes to Derby Theatre. The interview was arranged through this, my fave theatre in the East Midlands, and it will appear in May in Sardines Magazine along with Warwick on the front cover.

In brief Warwick was very keen to express that the show is definitely not about laughing at short people but within seconds the audience will be appreciating the often under used fabulous talents of trained actors and actresses that happen to be about four feet tall. He also discussed with me the practicalities of the wonderful set designed by designer Barney George (who also designed the recent Odyssey set for Derby Theatre) and how it has been adjusted to be realistic in scale to present the Reduced Height Theatre Company's production. We also spoke about his pre-fame experiences at school and at the Laine Theatre Arts School in Epsom. Warwick is one of the most positive people I have had the pleasure of interviewing for this blog and other media. He is an inspiration!



The talented cast of The Reduced Height Theatre Company.



For a recent update on Warwick please check out my other blogpost HERE.